Deadly Eternities

CH9: Unrelated

       UNRELATED || 09

      The tinkling sound of shattered glass falling to the floor brought me from my whirring mind. Warily, I half-opened my right eye. As expected, Lord Cochran’s dark blue suit pants were barely a yard away from me, blocking my view of anything else. I gulped and finally dared to look up.

      Blood red eyes, narrowed in fury, met my gaze. “You’re not concentrating, Braelyn. You did exceptionally yesterday; what’s happening? Are you worrying about what happened at dinner yesterday—because, if so, cast that from your mind, worrying about things will not do any good for your concentration.”

      Fighting the urge to cower away from his glare was hard and I only managed not to, because I knew it would anger him even more if I did. “I guess so—I’ll start again.”

      He nodded. Before I could close my eyes again, the shrill ring of a cellphone interrupted the silence of the hall. Lord Cochran pulled a small, black flip top phone from his suit pocket and pressed answer. “Lord James Cochran, Head of NYSHQ speaking.” He frowned. “No, I was not aware she was coming today. Tell her to wait, and I’ll be there in a moment.” He sat it back in his pocket with a heavy sigh, “My apologies, Braelyn, but I am going to have to dismiss our lesson for today. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Please show yourself from the hall.”

      As soon as he disappeared, my thoughts returned to the book Adrien had snatched this morning. The four and a half words I’d seen made my stomach twist uncomfortably. The picture itself was chilling, but those four and a half words made me feel entirely sick. The only words I could think of starting with ‘destr’ were destruct and destroy—and all the other tenses of the root word. Both incited just as much terror as the other inside of me.

      I pressed number fourteen when the elevator doors finally opened for me. I leant against the mirrored wall and groaned; I knew what I was going to have to do. Otherwise it would keep haunting my mind until I knew the rest of that sentence.

      I had to figure out where Adrien put the book—and I was pretty damn sure it wouldn’t be in the bloody library.

      Much to my pleasure, the living room was empty and Cole was nowhere in sight when I reached the living room.

      I pulled the door to the bear room open carefully, determined not to make any noises that would notify anyone (Adrien to be exact) of my presence. Unlike the previous times I’d been in here, I didn’t need to step over any broken furniture and shards of wood. The room was still disheveled, but the hole in the floor had been patched over and one of the bookcases had been stood back up.

      I clenched my jaw as I neared the staircase. My hands refused to stop shaking as I gripped the banister and began to slowly creep upwards, closer to the landing. It took every slither of courage in me, to continue up the stairs. I’d been into the bear room twice and never been as scared as what I was now—I was heading into Lord Cochran’s personal living area. And if I got caught, I would be dead before I even got a glimpse of the rest of that sentence.

      It seemed to take forever for me to finally reach the dimly lit landing. I kept my ears pricked as I cautiously stumbled further into the devil’s abode. The landing lead to a long hallway, packed with a number of extravagant, although worn, oak doors. The hall was silent apart from my chattering jaw and tense breaths.

      I leant my ear against the closest door and frowned; silence. I pushed it open a smidge and cringed at the loud creak. I could just make out a number of sofas in the dark room. I quickly shut the door and continued to the next one.