A low-inaudible voice lightly woke Elouise up from her deep slumber. She turned to her side with a groan and nuzzled her face on a familiar vanilla-scented cover, as she slowly regains her consciousness she was welcomed by a throbbing pain in her stomach.
The sudden urge to throw up overwhelmed Elouise that she quickly got to her feet and scampered away from her bed and towards the bathroom. Elouise almost threw herself to the sink with her head lowered down and hands clutching on both sides of the washstand, she tried to heave whatever is causing her to be nauseated but nothing came out.
Elouise felt utterly weak and terrible as if she had the worst hangover last night, her teary eyes groggily traveled to her appearance on the mirror, seeing her disheveled hair, pale complexion and chapped lips made her grumble under her breath. She tried to reach for the towel in front of her, but she noticed something odd in the mirror. Her heart gradually thumped faster against her chest when she saw a silhouette of a person behind her back.
She quickly turned around only to see a woman with raging peach colored eyes and long- wavy light pink hair charging towards her with a knife. Elouise's fast reflexes prompted her to quickly step to the woman's side and block the attack with her right arm, as she paced from behind her attacker
Elouise grab hold of the woman's wrist and flexed it backward causing her opponent to fall to her knees involuntarily. When the knife fell from the woman's grip Elouise grabbed her by the nape and strenuously pushed the woman down to the ground.
"You better start talking or I'll yank your arm off your body!" Elouise demanded angrily and pulled the woman's wrist without hesitation to alleviate the pressure making the woman scream in pain.
"I s-surrender, I'm Lola Evergreen, one of the twelve signs" Lola stammered in distress but Elouise, unconvinced with her response, jostled her more unto the floor.
"Elouise! Stop it!" Upon hearing a familiar voice calling out her name Elouise hastily turned, only to see Ava and Veronica running to her direction, but as Elouise stood up everything around her changed , the once beige painted walls are now glass ones, even the hallway and her bedroom vanished in a blink of an eye. Elouise who is caught up with her situation looked stupefied across the spacious area around her.
"What the hell is going on?" she asked almost shouting at Ava and Veronica who approached Elouise with worried faces. She just stared at them with furrowed eyes, her expression giving away all of the questions in her thoughts
Ava sighed and reached for her arm, she was about to speak when a voice cut her off short.
"I can handle everything from here, ladies, just bring Lola to the infirmary " An old woman appeared, seemingly around her 50's. She was wearing a plain white shirt and a black pencil skirt with her dark grey hair neatly tied into a bun. Ava and Veronica obediently followed the old woman's command and proceeded to help Lola, when they were about to leave Ava glanced at Elouise for the last time and gave her an uneasy smile before turning away.
"Gianna Elouise, am I correct?" the woman said with a smile.
Elouise feeling threatened to be alone with a complete stranger slightly kept her distance from her.
"Who are you?" Elouise asked prudently.
"Oh silly me, where's my manners. I am Althea, the caretaker of this establishment, this place is the zodiac signs' premise of refuge or what your generation would refer to as, your headquarters. My vocabulary may not be up to date but I am trying the best I could to fit in despite my dizzy age, if you know what I mean" Althea cackled like she's some old goose from a barn, the way she laughs can make anyone's ear bleed especially of how loud her voice is, she then waved her hand gesturing Elouise to follow her.
"Did I accidentally travelled back in time to the days of yore?" she asked tailing from behind Althea, they took the curved path to their left
"No darling, you are in your present time and I am more than pleased to tell you that you passed the test by defeating Lola" Althea announced as they entered a transparent tube like hallway enclosed with tall trees and a variety of green plants,
"Test? If you're referring to last week's psychological test you're wrong. Especially now that I'm having a conversation with someone who looks like they just came out from a 17th century renaissance painting" Elouise hinted sarcasm on Althea's old Victorian style English while scanning through the deep forest.
The woman guffawed, but this time, it was much louder that her voice echoed throughout the hall. Elouise thought that she has to deal with Althea's nerve racking laughter for the rest of her lifetime
"Oh goodness me! You Geminis never fail to amuse me" she snorted and wiped off the tears from her eyes.
Elouise can't help but to grimace in disgust after hearing that menacing laughter of hers.
"By the way, what's the name of the girl who attacked me just now?" Elouise asked remembering the woman's scowl-filled peach colored eyes and long wavy light pink hair.
"Oh, I have not told you about Lola yet. She actually just came here before you, a week ago If my memory serves me right" Althea responded hesitantly unsure with the information she was giving out. Elouise sighed noticing that Althea did not really answered her question.
"I'm asking you who she is, not when she arrived" once again, Elouise spatted sarcastically but this time there's irritation rasping between her lines.
"Getting too eager are we?" Althea replied in a normal tone.
"Her name is Lorilae Evergreen, you can address her as Lola. Her star sign is Virgo, the maiden, she is a bit of a clean freak and a perfectionist but overall she's very nice. Lola, has healing and enhancing abilities just like her grandmother who was the late earthly virgo sign" the old woman finally gave an answer that satisfied Elouise.
"Wow, talking about monarchy " Elouise playfully said.
As they continued to walk, Althea explained to Elouise that they will undergo an intensive training to hone their skills as zodiac signs, also it is a part of the progress of becoming a full-pledged earthly star sign. Basically, they cannot claim the title unless they accomplish every single task that will be thrown at them, Elouise agreed with the demands since she is eager to know who she really is.
"With that said, let's begin your training" Althea expressed her excitement and pat Elouise's shoulder.
"I don't really mind, I'm always up for a challenge or two" Elouise replied as they stood at a door, when Elouise was about to open it Althea tapped her back twice drawing out her hand from the steel door
"By the way, do you know what happened before you lost your consciousness?" Elouise was taken aback when Althea asked her that question. Her eyebrows furrowed as she touched her temple trying to reminisce the events that took place when she fainted. Elouise has a difficult time remembering things whenever she passes out, including when she gets drunk or due to being tired.
"I was at a nightclub on a mission and I pretended to be a dancer to seduce a rich young man, we were tasked to kill him so I went out to drink with him and the last thing that I remembered was--Oh my god!" Elouise exclaimed when everything finally dawned on her, she grappled on her ash grey hair and pulled it down while whining at her own stupidity.
"He drugged me! He wanted to finish me just like what that Lola did to me a while ago! How can I forget that?!" Elouise began shouting in anger and disappointment for completely forgetting what happened to her, she can feel her blood boiling.
"You got nothing to worry about, my dear" Althea grinned widely and opened the door in front of them
"Because he will be your partner in your very first mission as an earthly zodiac sign"