A Siren's Echo

Chapter 10: A Place Of My Own Pt. 2

I lean in and awkwardly hug Dimitri. He seems surprised after our last father daughter hug when he realized I hug like a blind child trying to catch a ball, but he happily accepts it. "Cmon." he says and we walk out to the hall. "Downstairs on my side is a large meeting room. When I have company in there make sure you arent too loud while we are discussing business. I highly doubt that will be a problem though" he winks. "There is also a small kitchen for night time snacks and things like that. Make a list of things you like so I can have Hannah pick it up from the market. I already had some things I thought you might like put in there."

"Whos Hannah?"

"She will be your lady in waiting. Basically helping out with anything you need." My heart is racing. There is so much going on at once. I havent had a lot of chances to make friends because we are always moving and the idea of having someone around to talk to is incredible. "What is she like?" Dimitri's eyebrows raise and I assume it is because she is a servant. "Well Hannah is lovely. She is around your age and is very funny. She's a little quirky though sometimes." I smile and look up at him. "And the gardens?" I ask

"Ahhhh you saw those did you? They lead out in a hedge maze but each path leads somewhere different. Theres a pond, flowerbeds, a swing, and garden party tables. Its one of my favorite things on the property. Also the other door downstairs leads to our library. It has a lot of books if you would like to go look through them."

I'm so happy I'm almost skipping. This is all completely new for me. As we near the doors I notice they are different from Dimitris. The handles are 'E's and they are silver. The frame is done with sparkling crystals and I start to think the room might not be so bad. He looks at me and I take a deep breath and link my arm in his. He opens the doors and we step inside. Tears fall down my face when I see the room. Apparently its a really emotional day for me. There is a small hall when I enter the doors that goes up a little and veers off to the left but I can already see how beautiful it is. The walls are textured and a beautiful white with trim at the top and bottom with more crystals. My name is hung on the wall made of silver. It curves and winds in a beautiful calligraphy shape. When we turn left it immediately opens up into a sitting room. Everything is silver and white. The carpet is fluffy and white and the chairs look completely regal. They too are white with small silver pillows. I grin at Dimitri. "This is mine?" he nods. I sit on to the lounges and sink in. Over to right is a large grey and white brick fire place with what looks to be a giant fluffy pillow. The whole thing is big enough for three people to fit on. To the left are white bookshelves filled with books. I walk over and run my fingers along the spines of the books and sigh. I return back to the fireplace and sit on the pillow. "Don't pick at that." Dimitri says suddenly " Fiona made that for you to lay on in the winter when you read."

"What? What do you mean?"

"You may not think I do but I watch you. You did it when you were a little girl too. You made holes in almost all of your dresses. Its a bad habit Echo." he says sounding like an actual father. "You're always yanking and twisting and snapping the threads on everything. "

"I'll take good care of this I promise." I say. He smiles and nods at me. I look at all of the paintings on the walls. They are mostly music notes or mouths with notes coming out of them. Towards the back of the room is a single door decorated like the double doors we entered. I open it and walk into a beautiful bedroom. on the far side is three steps leading up to a platform with a bed covered in white sheets and a huge down blaket. There are so many pillows with silver 'E's on them. along the left wall is a clear set of double doors leading out to a balcony that overlooks the gardens. Directly to my left in the corner before the balcony doors is a white desk with ink quills and bound parchment books with my name. "What are these?" I ask Dimitri as I walk over to the desk.

"They're journals to write in."

"Thank you. Theyre beautiful."

I go over to the double doors on the right near my bed and see a single door on the right closest to the door we just entered. "Which one should I go to first?" He points to the one closest to us and I reach for the single door. We walk into a hug bathroom. It is all white marble and has a large square pool in the middle. every side of the pool has stairs leading down into it. On one side the whole wall is mirror and there is a small room door in the corner. I assume thats for the bathrooms actual purposes. The wall that is a mirror has a wide white counter going halfway across it with a beautiful chair. Its covered with make up and brushes and hair tools. "I didn't pick that out. Hannah did. I described you to her. I didn't think youd want it too crazy so she got a lot of natural colors and some sparkles here and there."

"Its perfect. If this is my bathroom that means the other doors go to-"

"your closet"

I turn and dash towards the double doors and when I open them I enter a room the size of my sitting room. Its lined with walls that cave in holding tons of white dresses and a glass casing for about 20 circlets and head pieces. One side has beautiful white shoes and jewelry. The far side is a mirrored wall and there are round seats and couches in the middle of the walk way. "Now these I picked out mostly with some of Hannah's help. I thought you'd look beautiful in all of these."

I look at him and try to form words. "Nobody has ever taken the time to do something like this for me." I realized right then how happy I was not just because it was so incredibly beautiful but because for once I know someone spent not only minutes thinking about me but hours, days, weeks and from the looks of Dimitri's face, years. He runs his fingers through his greying hair and smiles. "Well I did." he says "Come here." Dimitri leads me over to the mirrored wall and i see there is a small groove in the mirror. He grabs it and slides the mirror open. Behind it is a glass case. And inside it is the most beautiful bow I've ever seen. The string is silver and the bow itself is white with white roses on it. Below it is a white quiver with arrows in it. "This is beautiful but why did you get it for me?"

"Well you're a Siren so you shouldnt need any close range weapons. You shouldnt need any at all. But I like to stay on the safe side and I'd like you to practice with this." I nod. "Well I will send for the maids to bring up your things and Hannah should be back soon. I'm sure you'll want to settle in so I will leave you to it." I give him a quick hug and he smiles then leaves. I spend the next half hour trying on clothes and writing down food I'd always wanted but never had the chance to ask mother for. Its strange to wish your whole life that someone would love you this much only to realize that someone already had.