Presage

Chapter 4.5 ♚ Horrors Of Remembering

A/N: Madame Victoria's Rose Garden

***

"He's gone," Darcy's voice pulled her from her trance. He turned to face her, giving Zoe time to search his face. Somehow, the tension settled like the sickness in her stomach.

Then she struck with her lava lamp, only to fall victim of his clutches.

"Where have you been? I didn't give you any permission to leave!"

"I don't need to ask for your permission, I am simply looking after you. I was hired by your brother, meaning, I work for him and not you."

"Even so!"

She passed the lamp to her free hand and attempted another attack. However, Darcy was faster. He snatched her weapon before she could even tighten her grasp and used it to hit her forehead with a soft thud.

"Hey!" Zoe tried to retrieve her lamp, grabbing nothing but air. Darcy simply raised it, that even with the help of tip-toeing, it was impossible to reach.

"That's so brave of you," he said, his expression slowly shifted to its default setting. "But you're still moons away from hitting me with your amateur skills."

Zoe pulled her hand and stepped away, giving him her signature smug smile.

"I may be an amateur compared to your skills, but the key to success is perseverance! One of these days, I will definitely hit you!" She pointed her index finger at him, craning her neck just to meet his gaze, "Remember that, because a Beauprè never goes back on their words."

"I would love to see you try," her bodyguard chuckled. "And if you die, the last phrase you would hear is 'nice try'."

"We'll see about that," she smirked, crossing her arms. "Anyway, I didn't know people from your world are also afraid of mascots."

"Mascots?" his expression was completely puzzled that she was tempted to bully him, nonetheless, curiosity went first.

"Yeah, that one a while ago is called Cookie Monster, one of the characters from Sesame Street," she said. "But there shouldn't be mascots in today's party. They were long banned from entering this mansion."

"I see," he nodded, placing the lava on the window sill. "So these creatures from the realm of Sesame Street are your foes. Then we should follow it."

He turned on his heels and started walking when Zoe suddenly pulled his coat, making him frown at the small girl.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! First of all, Sesame Street isn't a realm, it's a T.V. show. And second, that mascot is a human wearing costume."

His face appeared more puzzled.

"Never mind," she said. "We should follow it."

The two continued down the hallway, with Zoe ranting about human technologies, T.V. shows, and a bunch of interesting stuff, but Darcy wasn't listening.

"And now, we have mobile phones where-"

"Why were they banned from this place?" the young man interjected.

"Excuse me?"

"Why are those mascots banned from this place?"

"Well... it's an incident during my seventh birthday," she explained, slightly running to catch up with his pace. "But I can't remember what happened. The doctors said I went through a huge shock, causing memory loss. I tried asking my parents and siblings, but their stories keep changing. They're definitely hiding something from me, right?"