Envy poked at Luxor. “I wish I could do that,” she said, and turned to Ayla. “Can you do something so I can be near my mother? Even for a few moments.”
Ayla lowered her lashes. “I can’t. There are certain lines I can’t cross.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Pandora said, her feline eyes narrowing into slits.
The bickering hadn’t eased between Ayla and Pandora and Luxor couldn’t pinpoint the precise reason. She figured it came down to Ayla being part of the celestial world while Pandora, like Luxor, resided in the land of nowhere. Whenever they had ventured into town, the dominance on who stayed closer to her became tedious. In the end, she implemented a two feet rule for social distancing until they could get their act together and work as a team.
“I don’t have the luxury of being morally grey, my father won’t allow it.”
“I am not morally grey!” Pandora growled.
“If you say so.”
“Cut it out, both of you. Have some respect,” Luxor hissed.
In unison Ayla and Pandora nodded and stepped back.
Meredith moved near Luxor, her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. “Take the opportunity, you won’t get another chance,” she said, walking away.
“If only she knew,” she said to no one in particular.
“Why don’t you tell her, and if she goes into ‘you’re crazy,’ get Castor and Theo to do their magic,” Pandora said.
“And you say you’re not morally grey,” Ayla snorted.
It would be an interesting thing to witness, Luxor thought. Maybe she could show Meredith her blood, and prove she’s not crazy, that the past wasn’t her fault.
Luxor stared at the plaque with such longing a pain hit her chest.
“Fine,” Ayla said. She hesitated and blew out an exasperated sigh, placing her palms together, and opened them up to resemble a book. A luminous baby pink beam of light projected it forth. Luxor smiled, and was infused immediately with a sense of weightlessness. “Two minutes, that should buy you some time.”
No amount of time would ever be enough, she thought, but she was grateful for this opportunity.
“Psst, privacy,” Pandora said to Ayla, and cocked her head.
Ayla none too happily stepped back. “I’ll be in the car.”
Alone at last.
Luxor kneeled, and placed the lilies below the plaque. “Hey mumma, it’s me.” She wrinkled her nose at the lameness of her words.
This was only the second time she had to construct a conversation, the first being when she had first seen the letter. Six feet and a wooden box separated them, but they might as well have been worlds apart. She had spent many nights crying for a phantom, an ocean of tears soaking her pillow, for the essence of a person who she could never meet.
“It’s strange, there is so much I want to say, even if it’ll be one-sided, I know you’ll be able to hear me.” It was a lie, Luxor would have been more at ease if she knew her words weren’t going unheard. But this was the closest she would ever get to her. “I guess I could tell you everything that has happened since I found out who and what I am, but I’m on a time crunch. Just know I’m doing fine—well as fine as I could be considering my father is a psychopath. You were right, he did come for me, and I’m afraid. God mumma, I’m so scared he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. I only wish I knew what that was.”
Luxor traced her finger over the grooves of the letting on the bronze plaque. A sizzle flowed up her finger. She winced, and retracted back, shaking the discomfort off. She had less than two minutes and she didn’t want to contemplate what the physical reaction meant during this time.
Astrid Celeste Sterling nee Everstone
25th March 1985 – June 6th 2004
Rest in Peace, my best friend and sister, you will be eternally missed.
Luxor mouthed the words, letting out a solemn smile until realisation dawned. A rogue tear escaped, and trickled down her cheek. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Sister and friend? She stared and digested the words once more, a sharpness striking her chest.
“She left me out, mumma, how can she do it?” she choked out, bowing her head, and digging her nails into the soft, brown earth.
Luxor felt her emotions switch, and she struggled to juggle both. Evil ran through her veins, and she had been dousing her anger to make sure she didn’t kindle a flame.
She had been disregarded as if she wasn’t worthy, or worse still, had never existed. For the vision Ayla had given her, Meredith wished she hadn’t, only acknowledging Cane by some miracle, and imprinting his surname.
A crow swooped down and cawed, it’s wide and shiny obsidian wings raising the hairs at the back of her neck, and it perched itself on the plaque.
“Shoo,” she said, and made the hand motion. Another crow joined, and they cawed, their tones interchanging between a high and low tone as if they were singing. “Shoo, you stupid birds. Annoy me anywhere but here.” She looked around to try to find something to hit the crows with, and placed a hand onto the plaque.
An infusion of agony shot within her, an invisible flame flowing through her veins, paralysing her arms. A shriek forced its way out of her throat, and she desperately tried to move back, but her hand became stuck. Her eyes blurred, and the cemetery became deathly quiet.
A rainstorm howled and rain pounded in her ears as a knife-life pain gutted and flattened Luxor to her stomach. Screams vibrated in her ears, but they weren’t hers. She tried to pry her palm from the stone with her free hand with no success. Her fingers became detached from the plaque, and a salty aroma infused a wave in her. Encapsulated in a cocoon, a gentle breeze carried her on a bed of sunshine, and she floated in a wave of bliss until the fire was extinguished. She focused on the warmth, different from what the sun provided, and bathed in its peacefulness.
All too soon, she was laid out onto scorching asphalt. Once Luxor opened up her eyes the cruel brutal truth smacked her square in the face. The only way she was able to experience peace was if it wasn’t real. She wanted to weep but refused to let reality get her down.
Luxor hoisted herself up on shaky legs, using her palms for support. She yelped as a burn rapidly climbed up her arm, and peering down she found the entire expanse of her palm covered in blisters. She softly blew the specks of dirt off, and held her arm against her chest. She already anticipated the blisters to last and not disappear once she got her wits together. She hadn’t suffered a night terror like those she did with Cane, instead, she was fully alert and suffered as if on some hallucinogenic drug episode.
A bush rustled, and a twig snapped, stilling Luxor. "Who’s there?" She tugged down the edge of her denim shorts, and turned. She peered forward, and slunk a couple of steps.
It was a stupid thing to say, and what's worse, something a dumb blonde would say in a horror movie. Yet it didn't stop her.
The broad-shouldered figure partially emerged out of the darkness, and she was only about to discern he was a tall male.
"What do you want?" her voice quivered, although she tried to sound strong.
Silence.
“What are you?”
“What?” he said. He moved his head to the side as he examined her, and crept forward with trepidation. “Don’t you mean who?”
Luxor froze at his close proximity; he was well within her reach. "I don’t care for names, only titles.” She waved her hands across the dirt, trying to find a stone.
More silence.
"Are you okay?" his voice came out low, gentle as the wind. “I was visiting a friend when I heard you scream.”
He crouched on a nearby large rock. His cap lay low, and shielded part of his face. Despite the lack of light there was no mistaking his fair complexion, and the golden wisps of hair escaping from the bottom of his hat.
An unexpected flush of sunshine spread throughout Luxor from the inside, and against her will, her body loosened up, eradicating the fear instantaneously.
“Are you going to hurt me?"
"If I was, would I ask if you were okay?"
Valid point.
Luxor wouldn’t take any chances as rationale ruled her mind and she refused to let him catch her off guard. Even though his closeness no longer was intimidating, she still scooped up the nearest rock, and fisted it so the pointy end faced upwards. He closed the distance between them with a smooth swiftness until he was a metre away. He stepped forward and she stilled, her eye contact unwavering.
Luxor retracted her arm, and flung the rock with all her strength, connecting with the boy’s neck. He flew backwards metres in the air before slumping to his knees on the grass. He groaned, and in a flash arose to his feet. She seized the opportunity, her footsteps frenetic as she sprinted out of the cemetery. She glanced once over her shoulder to find an empty space.
Not a demon then.
Luxor reached the awaiting car, her heart beating at an erratic rhythm on the verge of exploding into a million pieces. She entered and slammed the door. “Time to go.” She struggled with the seatbelt until it clicked. “Now, now.”
“A bit melodramatic Luxor.” Meredith eyed her. “Did the dead come to play?”
No even worse.
Ayla and Pandora inched closer together from the back seat with identical worrisome expressions. Luxor mouthed “later.”
Meredith pulled out from the curb and drove five minutes before turning into a cul-de-sac. She parked outside a house with a white picket fence and stuck the car into neutral.
“You see that house?” she said. “That’s where you were born, right there in the lounge-room.
Luxor unclicked her seatbelt and exited the car. She leaned against the car at the place which caused birth, death, and sorrow. And held the moment Meredith began to loathe her.
Meredith joined her. “There’s a lot of memories in there. This was where I grew up, where your mother shared her milestones with me.”
A little boy came out squealing from the front door, closely followed by a man. They kicked the football to and fro and the boy became increasingly frustrated when he couldn’t catch the ball. The man knelt in front of the boy, the similarities striking with their thick, straight sandy hair. He cradled the boy’s face within his big palms. The boy’s features softened as his father whispered in his ear.
“Your mother had such patience, she would have loved teaching you new things and playing games with you,” Meredith said. “We had a basketball ring at the back, unlike me, she managed to get the ball through the hoops most of the time.”
Luxor averted her eyes from the father and son to find Meredith’s eyes glassy. She wished she could ease her guilt, but apart from a couple of memorable instances, her upbringing remained the same. Not to mention the shock of the vision Ayla had infused her with. Her despair remained deep at being abandoned the second she was born so Meredith dealt with her grief.
“The past is the past,” Luxor said, and re-entered the car.
Only the present was important, and she was adamant it be free of danger.
Homecoming wasn’t as joyous as anticipated. When the car rolled up the long driveway of The Chalet, Ayla paled and her eyes widened. She all but jumped out of the car, her hand plastered across her mouth, making gagging sounds as she dashed to the front door.
“Where is she going?” Meredith said, and switched the engine off. Ayla’s shoulder see-sawed and in the next moment she had disappeared from view. She swiftly jumped out. “The door is open?”
“Meredith, wait, no.” Luxor scattered out and followed close behind.
Shards of glass from the bay windows sprinkled the grass and porch like sullied diamonds, the full extent unknown in the dead of night. The sensor light had been blown, leading Luxor to use her enhanced sight to fully scour the scene. The method was messy and unlike how a Habiti would attack. Then again, she had only seen the damage of their extent on people. Crouching down, she saw a dusting of black which so easily could have been mistaken for dirt coated the frame. To be sure, she skimmed her finger along the wood and hissed.
“Don’t need to be a genius to figure what that is.” Pandora twitched her nose.
“Meredith, get back here.”
Luxor shook her head and sensed danger as acute as a sniffer dog the moment she entered the foyer of The Chalet, with Pandora plastered to her side like glue. Baby pink flecks, the hallmark of Ayla, floated around the doorknob, unseen to the human eye, leading its way from the foyer, through the lounge-room, to the kitchen and up the stairs. Nothing was out of place, but the close proximity of the Habiti’s presence shouldn’t have been possible.
“Ayla,” Meredith called out.
“Meredith, let’s go outside and call the police,” Luxor said.
Thump, thump, thump.
He breath hitched in her throat. Her ears perked up, and she held a finger on the flesh of her inner ear.
“We can’t leave Ayla,” Meredith replied.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.
“She’s coming down the steps,” she said, and removed her finger.
Meredith scrunched up her face. “I didn’t hear anything.
A minute later Ayla appeared and wiped her mouth for a great show.
“See?”
Meredith came over to Ayla. “Are you okay darling?” She gave her a comforting hug. Ayla nodded. “Okay move, you don’t want to taint the crime scene.”
Luxor rolled her eyes and moved ahead per Meredith’s request. She now accepted they would never have a loving relationship, despite the truth that had been revealed. Instead, theirs would be one of obligation. And she strangely had come to terms, and was fine with that. One day soon, Meredith would be alone, unlike Luxor who would never be alone, as Ayla would forever be there for her, just as she had always been.
Meredith paced back and forth, her eyes wide and alert, her hands shaking as she punched numbers on the screen of her mobile.
“Okay, what’s the damage?” Luxor said in a low tone.
“All the windows have been smashed, the barrier I put on the house protected from anything coming in.”
“Shouldn’t it had not smashed in the first place?” Pandora asked.
“Excuse me for doing the best I could in the shortest amount of time possible. Do you know exactly how big The Chalet is?”
“Relax your wings, it was a question,” Pandora huffed.
“With you, who knows what your context is.”
“Both of you. Shut. Up.” She let out a heavy breath. “So, the police will think it’s a usual break and enter?”
“Not quite.” Ayla pursed her lips. Luxor arched an eyebrow. “I wasn’t able to get to your room, and because your balcony is technically not inside, it’s kind of obliterated.”
“Obliterated? As in kaboom?”
“That’s an understatement,” Pandora said, skipping over. “A pile of rocks.”
“You’ve seen it? How?”
“I’m quick.”
Luxor speedily moved away to view it for herself. A murder of crows blanketed upon rocks piled upon each other in different shapes and sizes, their innards on the outside being festered on by ants. Resorted to blobs, which could have been mistaken for coal, the stench of sulphur wafted from them.
“We need to call Castor and Theo before this spreads into a bigger problem.” Pandora kicked some rocks to punish the crows further.
“Except Meredith is still holding my phone hostage.”
“I’ll grab it,” Ayla said, looking over her shoulder. “We better get back before she sees this.”
Luxor exchanged a furtive glance with Pandora and followed close behind, wondering if the same thoughts were being shared. What had happened to the crows? Their bodies looked as if they exploded.
“Yes, yes, thank you,” Meredith said, and hung up on the call. “Officers are on their way.”
Ten minutes later, a whirl of lights shone up the driveway and parked alongside Meredith’s car. Two men stepped out, put their hats on, and walked over.
&n
bsp; “Good evening, we received a call of a break-in tonight,” a stocky man said. He had a hard-set face, and small squinty eyes which seemed to be swallowed by the chubbiness. “I’m Sheriff Darebin, and this is Deputy Bosch.” He flashed his badge and indicated to a slim young man in his early twenties, who did the same. “Can you tell me what has happened?” He slipped his badge into his pocket and replaced it with an open notepad, clicking on the pen.
“We arrived about thirty minutes ago to find the front door opened and the window smashed.” Meredith moved to stand near the door, and pointed to the window.
“Deputy Bosch, go investigate.”
Sheriff Darebin tucked his notebook into the pocket of his beige slacks. He retrieved a pair of latex gloves from his other pocket and slipped them on with a snap over his chunky hands. He bent over at eye-level with the door handle. “And you said the door was open?”
“Yes, my niece’s friend was about to be sick and ran inside.”
“How did she know the door would be ajar?”
“How would I know? But when I saw the handle, it was ripped off. I don’t understand who would have done this? Isn’t this a safe town?” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat.
Sheriff Darebin narrowed his eyes until his pupils were pinpoints. “This handle? Looks intact to me.”
Meredith cast a glance around, and grabbed the knob. “It wasn’t like that. It was detached. Luxor, tell him.” Her voice took on a begging edge.
“I can’t be sure, I was running after Ayla,” she said, and joined Pandora and Ayla.
Was it cruel for me to have Meredith question her sanity?
In a twisted way, Luxor felt it was deserved, a karma of some sorts, to give her a taste of what she had endured. Besides, if she agreed it would have raised greater questions.
“Ayla, that small girl over there, she would know. Ayla, come here.” Meredith waved her over.
“We could always confess and have Castor and Theo do their voodoo and problem solved,” Pandora said. “I can see it now. ‘Hey cops, there’s these people, who now belong to Lucifer, and are now after his daughter, this sweet girl here.’ If they don’t believe us, do a wipe and insert.”
Betrayed: The Chronicles of Luxor Everstone Book Two Page 2
