Mount Asteria

Chapter Forty

Sunlight streaming in through the windows woke Alexandra. She had forgotten to close the curtains the previous night, she realised as she slowly rolled over and looked at the old-fashioned alarm clock - complete with two large bells on top - on her bedside table. It was half past eight.

Not an unreasonable hour, she thought, deciding to get out of bed. She changed into a tracksuit - a little more appropriate than her teddy-bear covered pyjamas - brushed out her hair and made her way downstairs. She somehow located the kitchen - she could hear the low murmur of voices in a room off the main hallway, towards the back of the house.

"Good morning," she said shyly from the doorway. A woman wearing a smart black dress was sitting at the counter, her back facing Alexandra. She turned around now, a smile on her face.

"You must be Alexandra," she said, extending a hand. "I'm Celine, Hestia's Mum."

"Hi," Alexandra returned the smile. Hestia's Mum, with blow - dried hair, discreet make-up, and in her simple but flattering black dress and slightly-higher-than-usual-for-a-woman-of-her-age heels, looked exactly like what you would expect the head of MI6 to look like. Smart and slightly intimidating.

"I'm so sorry we weren't home to meet you last night but we were working late."

Very late, Alexandra thought.

"That's my husband over there. Laurence, dear!"

Celine was speaking to a newspaper at the table, behind which appeared a man as she called him. Laurence Brown, in contrast to his wife, looked every bit the mad-scientist. His grey hair was ruffled and uncombed, his glasses slightly askew on his nose and his tie hung loosely around his collar.

"Oh, Larry, for heaven's sake! Pay attention, would you?" Celine chastised him. "This is Alexandra, Hestia's friend."

Laurence stared at Alexandra in surprise, as if noticing her presence for the first time. "Oh! I'm so sorry," he said, getting out of his seat. "Hello, Alexandra, I'm Larry."

"Hi, Larry," Alexandra said, suppressing a chuckle.

"Right, I've got to get going," Celine said, checking her watch. "Alexandra, there's cereal in that cupboard there, bread by the toaster and everything else is on the table. Help yourself to whatever you like. Hestia should be down soon enough."

"That's great, thanks, Celine."

Celine nodded and rushed out of the kitchen. Alexandra heard her say 'Good morning, Daniel' somewhere down the hall and sure enough, Daniel appeared in the room a few seconds later.

"Morning," he greeted them, making his way over to the kettle which he set to boil. "Sleep well, Lexa?"

"Yes, thanks."

"So," he yawned, stretching. Alexandra tried not to eye his muscles as they flexed beneath his rather tight white t-shirt. "What would you like for breakfast? There's pretty much everything..." he moved to the cupboard behind the counter and started taking stock of everything there. "Cereal, porridge...toast, obviously. Or eggs?"

"No eggs left, Daniel," Laurence's voice came from behind his paper, where he had once again hidden himself from view.

"I'll just have toast, thanks," Alexandra said.

"Anything interesting in the news, Dad?" Daniel asked as he put two slices of bread into the toaster. "Butter, jam or nutella?"

"Not much."

"Nutella."

"There was an article on curfews."

"Curfews?" Daniel said, confused.