Don't Tell My Brother

Chapter 14 - Goddess of the Rainbow

"Well?" The voice said again, authoritative despite its high pitch.

Damien and Lucas turned slowly, Lucas mentally preparing himself to be thoroughly berated by whoever ran this place. Instead, his eyes fell upon a small child, standing at the entrance to the corridor. A very petulant small child, with one hand on her hip and a head of dark curls sticking up in every direction. Lucas felt himself sag against Damien with relief.

"Uh...hello?" He offered. He hadn't spoken to a little kid in...well, he wasn't sure he ever really had. Too busy for babysitting, and he and Mark didn't have any cousins. Her voice was loud, especially given her small stature, and Lucas couldn't help but glance over his shoulder. "Can you keep it down? We're just—"

"You're not answering my question." The girl said, giving Lucas a scowl that an expert like himself had to respect. Her pudgy face held the expression surprisingly well, glaring at him with big brown eyes full of obvious dislike.

At a loss for what to do next, Lucas glanced at Damien, and found he wasn't where he had been. Damien was walking towards the little girl, hands outstretched in an exaggerated 'we come in peace' sort of gesture.

"Sorry about all of this. Bit of a rude entrance, I know." He began, his voice light, casual, calm. Trustworthy, Lucas might've thought, if he didn't know Damien was exactly the opposite. "We're just looking for who's in charge. The boss, y'know."

At having her question answered, the child seemed to relent a little, thought she was still frowning up at Damien. It was almost comical, seeing as she was half his height. She couldn't have been more than seven.

"Who are you?" She asked, eyes narrowed as she glanced from Damien to Lucas.

As if to accommodate for the height difference, Damien knelt down in front of her, until they were eye level. "I'm Damien. That little dickhead over there," he jerked his thumb over at Lucas, "is Lucas. He works for me."

Lucas didn't know which to be more outraged at, the fact that Lucas had called him a dickhead, or the fact that he'd suggested Lucas was his employee. He decided on both. "I'm not your employee." He hissed, scowling at the grin Damien shot him over his shoulder. "And you shouldn't swear in front of a child."

"Yes he can." The child cut in, giving Lucas an especially hard stare. "I already know that one. I know other ones, too. Do you want to hear them?" She opened her mouth, evidently prepared to let loose a barrage of profanity, but to Lucas' surprise Damien stepped in.

"I'm sure you do, but before we hear them, we've got a quick little job we need to do first. Do you know where we can find someone in charge?"

"An adult." Lucas cut in, because it really seemed like the girl might suggest herself as an option, and they were supposed to be doing a job.

The girl huffed at that, before turning her attention back to Damien. "I can get you my dad. He's the boss." She said, drawing herself up to her full height. Which wasn't very tall.

"Wow, really?" Damien said, sounding genuinely interested. "No way."

The girl nodded eagerly. "Yeah way. He's Nicholas Matthiou, and I'm Iris Matthiou. So I'm his daughter. We've got the same name, see?"

"I do see." Damien said, nodding along with her. Lucas tried not to roll his eyes. The first time he'd ever seen Damien try to take anything seriously, and it was this? "Iris...that's the name of some goddess, right? Greek goddess of the rainbow?"

"Yeah!" Iris said, beaming at the recognition. "And she sends messages and stuff."

"Pretty cool." Damien said. "Well, since you're named after her, do you think you can do me a huge favour and go and send a message to your dad? Tell him we're from Weiss', and we want to see him about his order."