Chereads / Affliction / Chapter 14 - Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14 - Chapter Fourteen

"She saw us!" Arcus was stressed as he paced about.

"She looked right into my eyes,"  Methios said, a part of him felt intrigued at just how intuitive the mortal was as opposed to how oblivious he expected her to be.

"I am well aware of all of this, brothers however it does not matter," Athenios said, his eyebrows creasing in thought.

"Of course it does! Gods damned how did she even see us? We were cloaked, invisible."

"Arcus be quiet! Let me think." Athenios snapped.

The brothers had first landed at some park not far from the main road the descendant had just driven off on. They had been following her all afternoon, they used the Nexus to track her whereabouts. Methios had opened up a portal to this ginormous building that was overly crowded with mortals walking around in a disorienting buzz.

They didn't know exactly what she even looked like because Leodocus was not forthcoming with them but they used the Nexus to sense her out in the pool of mortals. It took some time but they finally found a strong enough sense of power following two mortal girls.

At first, Athenios and Methios had assumed it was the tall blonde because according to them she seemed to have the goddess look. But upon closer inspection, the much smaller curly-haired girl with the most mesmerizing grey eyes proved to be what they were searching for all this time.

"Such a tiny little thing." Methios had commented with a strange smirk on his face.

Arcus could not believe his eyes when they landed on her. She had to be one of the most beautiful creatures he ever saw. Then the guilt and doubt set in, not that he knew anything about this girl other than the fact that she is a hindrance to their destiny. But he couldn't stop wondering, what if the plan failed and this girl ends up dying for nought?

Zargreus did not feel anything other than impatient to get everything done but more than anything he was worried about what Leodocu was up to right now. A whole slew of questions entered his mind.  Was he safe? Was he passing the challenges? Did he fail and if not, when could they expect him to be back? He wished he could access his mind but Leodocus had learned a long time ago to block his thoughts from Zargreus well. He resolved himself with the thought that if anything had in fact gone wrong Leodocus would reach out from his side.

Methios also noted her beauty first then the second thing to enter his mind was how much power could possibly be contained in that small body. He smirked at the thought of facing off with her. He'd test her and break her like a flute and he would thoroughly enjoy it.

"What are we to do about her?" Methios asked.

"We continue to follow it, learn as much as we can about it," Athenios answered.

"We have already done that."

"I mean follow it home you imbecile."

"I do believe Leo made a rule against us referring to the mortal as an object," Arcus commented but he shrank away at the glare his older brother gave him at the offhand statement.

"I agree we've not seen her use her powers in public and that makes sense around other mortals but perhaps she does so in private," Methios smirked at the thought.

"Methios is right, Arcus take us to it's-- her home, we will surveil her in her sleeping chambers."

"What?!" Arcus asked.

"It is the best place to watch her."

"We can't all be in there, it is abnormal, perverse and it is highly likely she will notice us." Arcus cringed.

"Fine then Methios and I will go—"

"No you and I will go, brother, I am not certain Methios will be able to control himself if she does use her powers," Zargreus said.

"He is not wrong." Methios shrugged with a smile as they transported themselves following the lingering aura of the mortal to her home.

"Alright we must go, you two stay down here in case the mortal hosts are home," Athenios instructed as they stood in front of the residence the mortal had just entered.

"If they are?" Methios asked.

"Neutralize them." He said and the two brothers disappeared into thin air.

From then Athenios and Zargreus were quickly transported inside the house as Xanthippeia entered the kitchen trying to clean up as much of the sticky mess as possible. 

"Jesus Chris! The first day in my car now I gotta clean this shit!" Xanthippeia grumbled, continuing to wipe herself down with paper towels. She just grabbed her backpack and the shopping bags intending to go up to her room, but she stopped when she got to the arch. That bone-chilling feeling spread all over her body, she felt a presence again, like someone was here inside her house and she quipped it must have had something to do with those weird figures she thought she saw from earlier.

"Hello?" she called out in the seemingly empty house. "Is anyone here?" she tried again. She knew her mom was most likely at work and her dad would be here in an hour with her little sister so whoever was here, if there even was a person doesn't belong.

Since she couldn't physically see anyone confirming her suspicions she shrugged off the feeling. She was looking for the closest carwash around to get her car back to the pristine condition since it was now covered in frozen yoghurt. When she was done she rushed up the stairs to properly clean herself up. The feeling of being watched just would not go away but there was nothing she could do about it now without anything tangible. She dumped her stuff on her bedroom floor, locked the door, and went to the bathroom to shower.

"What is she doing?" Athenios whispered to his brother as they both reappeared in the corner of Xanthippeias' bedroom. Walking into this house Athenios had followed her honey, cocoa butter and cinnamon scent to detect which one was her chamber. Her scent was so strong in here it was almost suffocating but strangely a part of him found it pleasing to inhale.

"Be quiet."

"Is that running water?"

"Yes." Zargreus rolled his eyes at his brothers' constant yammering right in his ear. He was trying to focus on what happens beyond that door without completely invading the mortal's privacy.

"Where is it coming from?"

"Athenios hush!"

The two brothers were now visible as they stood at the door of this bathing chamber as they now come to know. They were waiting for her to come out or at least do something remotely related to her powers to be able to assess the best way to capture. So far, the only thing they observed is that she could sense them around her and in the house. No ordinary mortal would have been able to do that so they were now sure she was the descendant.

Xanthippeia stepped out of the shower after she heard what she thought were hushed voices with her inexplicably heightened hearing. She was getting paranoid now, she just wanted to get out of this house. Since she was already feeling weird she decided why not add more to the weirdness by playing with the water again as it proved to be something that calmed her.

She giggled to herself as she picked up the tiny droplets of water on her skin and levitate them in the air. Whatever this weirdness was, she was getting good at it. She looked up at the mirror at her purple eyes, deciding to challenge herself. She concentrated and in a quick move she whipped all the water off her body, directed it down the drain perfectly without a single splash and suddenly she was dry.

"Huh, that worked." She shrugged looking down at herself as she started to wrap the towel around her body. 

The second she opened the door her head snapped to the corner of the room sensing something was there. She ignored it and proceeded to finished getting dressed. As she went downstairs she heard her dads' car pull up in the driveway. She got excited as soon as the laughter of her little sister came in and ran up to her.

"Xany!"

"Hey, Luns." They hugged until Xan put her back down.

"I made a new friend in school today!" she grinned with her cute missing tooth smile. 

"Oh really,  you can tell me about it later at dinner?"

"Where are you going?" Luna pouted slightly, she had been so excited and didn't want her sister to leave until she heard her story.

"Just running an errand, I'll be back quickly Luns." Xan kissed her little sisters' cheek and tucked the towel under her arm.

"What errand sweetheart?" her father asked as Luna ran upstairs.

"To get my car cleaned."

"What did you do to it?" he perked up an eyebrow.

Xan was suddenly nervous.

"Funny story…"

"Did you crash it?" Matteo stared down at his daughter.

"No! I'm not Carey, I just spilt some frozen yoghurt on my way back from the mall."

"Middle of the week shopping? Okay, and what did you buy?"

"Some cute outfits, nothing too extravagant. I gotta go daddy."

"Be back for dinner."

"Okay."

Xanthippeia put a towel on her seat as she pulled out the driveway and headed to the car wash. On the way she thought about everything that was going on with her, one thing she couldn't stop thinking was who was in the house with her? Because as soon as her family returned home the presence left but now that she was on the road again she felt like she was being watched again.

When she got to the car wash she was on her phone while her car was being cleaned. The loud sounds of the busy workshop were making her head frazzled and sore so she told the guys she was going across the street to get some snacks for when she gets home and do homework. Jelly candy, some Oreos and vitamin water were just all the good sweet things that will get her through such boring work she needed to catch up on.

She stepped out of the shop and her heartbeat stopped as she saw them again. Across the street, there were the figures she almost ran over this afternoon. The very ones she thought were just a sick delusion but they were real.

This is not possible but somehow they were here now all making direct eye contact with her.

"It is looking at us." She thought she heard a deep stunning voice in her head.

"I can see that." Another deep once said with conviction.

"What should we do?" A nervous voice asked 

"Approach her." The decisive one said.

Just then Xan tilted her head and focused on them, suddenly their voices became a lot clearer in her head. She could hear them speaking about her but how? How could she possibly hear people that were all the way across the street from her?

"Look, can she hear us Methios."

"No that's not—"

"Yes, yes I can hear you." Xan suddenly said.

"No more wasting time, get her." The decisive voice ordered to the others and in quick succession, they stalked towards her.

What could she do? They were coming now, should she run? Should she scream for help? Alarms were going off in her head as they approached her. She could feel it, the familiar feeling bubbling inside her that wanted a release. Fear was fueled by fear. She was scared they were coming but she was more scared of what would happen when they get close enough.