Into Darkness

f i v e

f i v e

I'M BEING PULLED to my feet and out the door into the hall before I can even get over my shock. Two years of hiding, being reckless, and pure nonchalance to whether I was discovered is wiped away by the fact that they know. They know my true identity, and I am terrified by the truth I tried to conceal by apathy all this time. The truth that if I got caught, I would feel this crippling fear so intense it would steal my breathe away. The truth that if I got caught, there would be this guilt that I didn't try hard enough and that it was all my fault. The truth that if I got caught, I would die.

Raul is yelling at his friends to hurry, but his voice is so dim to me. My body and all it's functions seem to have stopped working, making his two friends have to practically drag my numb feet to stumble between them. It's as if I'm underwater, a million miles away, and I'm no longer present.

My parents' sacrifice. My brothers'. It's all for nothing and I never even considered that.

I'm aware of a door being opened before me, and a bright light shining in my face. I can feel the sensation of a rug beneath my shoes and hear the overly polite voices that were talking about nothing fall into silence. I'm staring down at the ground at the overly expensive purple rug from a nation far across the sea, it's golden designs swirling through the fabric. I don't want to look up. I don't want this to be real, but the abrupt silence jars me from my stupor, bringing back to the reality that can't be ignored any longer. I somehow find the strength to look up.

We're in one of the sitting rooms of the manor, a room Lord Lumen creatively decided to call the Purple Room as the rug, the duvet, the sofa, and even the wallpaper exude that royal color so as to brag to any guests of his wealth. The bright light from the window shines upon Carter, who breaks the silence with his struggle as he's dragged forward to stand beside me. His lip is split and his left eye is starting to swell but his expression is stoic as he stares coldly in front of us. I follow his gaze past Lord and Lady Lumen and my heart stops as I see him.

Erebos is casually sprawled across the wide sofa right in front of me, leaning back against the cushions with complete and utter confidence. As my gaze meets his, I see a gleam of pure triumph in those pitch black depths, and he moves to stand slowly, deliberately, a hunter about to strike.

When his boots hit the rug softly and he straightens, his height towers over me. In his blazoned white attire —crisp, clean, and elegant as it strikes out in glorious contrast against his olive toned skin and ink black hair— he is the picture of power, perfection, and royalty. In all his might, he stares down at me in my raggedy servant's uniform, plain and brown in color with dark mystery stains and tears, his eyes narrow with a flicker of what could be disappointment. He stares at me for a long moment, not saying anything, but the mute tension in the room makes me feel like I'm suffocating. My heart is pounding in anger and anticipation, a drum beat in the silence that they surely must hear, but all is quiet except for the ticking of the grandfather clock on the edge of the room and our steady breathing.

Finally, he moves. His gargantuan hand reaches out, grabbing a strand of my silver hair roughly and the grip of Raul's friends on my arms tighten out of either surprise or eager anticipation. Erebos ignores them and examines the lock with an almost unreadable expression.

"I'm impressed you made it this long." He says after long last, but his icy voice only seems to increase the tension.

I curl my lip. "Your guards made it easy for us."

"Yet you and your filat were caught all the same, Thea Greyborn." He replies and looks up, his pitch black gaze boring into me.

"We were." I agree coldly, meeting his state with equal conviction. "And I suppose now you're going to kill us."