Page 94 of Akarnae

“It’s no problem,” Alex said, but she didn’t know what else to say after that. He looked guilty, and she wanted him to know that it wasn’t his fault.

“When I was seven, my parents took me to a dinner they’d been invited to,” she told him on a whim. “It was some sort of awards night to acknowledge the difference they and others around the world had made in the scientific community. It was a huge deal and they wanted to make a good impression. I’m still not sure why they let me tag along.”

Jordan gave her his full attention and she wondered if perhaps she should have thought of a better story.

“What happened?” he asked.

“We were seated at a long table beside the most important people, including all the major sponsors and the potential future investors. Halfway through the main meal I reached for a bread roll and accidentally knocked over someone’s wine glass. When I tried to help clean it up I slipped off my chair, and as I fell I grabbed onto the tablecloth, which caused everyone else’s food and wine to end up in their laps. We were escorted from the event, despite the fact that the awards hadn’t even been announced by that stage. My parents were so embarrassed that they grounded me for a month.”

Jordan laughed, the first proper laugh she’d heard from him all night.

“It’s kind of different to your situation,” she admitted as their song wound to a close. “But if it helps, most families are dysfunctional in some way. I’m the odd one out in mine, as are you in yours. Us weirdos have to stick together.”

“Thanks, Alex,” he said, hugging her tightly in the middle of the dance floor. “What would I do without you?”

“You’d be a mess,” she told him as he let her go. “Crying your eyes out, snotting all over your tux. Believe me, that’s not something anyone wants to see. So be thankful I’m here, saving us all from that unpleasant sight.”

He laughed again and then turned serious once more. “Bear told you about Luka, didn’t he?”

She was startled by the unexpected change of topic. “How…?”

“I was watching you guys after my parents dragged me away. It was written all over your face. Am I right?”

In a quiet voice, Alex admitted, “Yeah, he told me.”

Jordan looked into her eyes for a moment before he finally nodded. “I’m glad you know.” He didn’t say anything else. Instead, he reached for her hand and led her off the dance floor.

“Time for a bathroom break,” she said once they were with Bear again.

Jordan gave her directions and she hurried off before she could forget them. She retraced her steps out of the ballroom and walked down the corridor until she came to a massive winding staircase. Supposedly the bathroom was on the next floor up, at the end of the hallway, but Jordan had failed to mention that the staircase was designed to spiral through the centre of the chateau, which meant that it opened out in the middle of the floor. The hallway led in both directions, so Alex did a mental eenie-meenie-miney-moe and chose to head down the left corridor.

The hallway was long, really long, and much darker than the ground floor had been. Paintings hung from the walls and hollow-eyed statues stood at attention in between closed doors.

Alex picked up her pace, wanting to finish her business and get back to her friends—or just people in general.

Finally she arrived at the end of the hallway only to find two doors, one on the right and one on the left. Not sure which one to enter—and cursing Jordan for his lack of proper directions—she decided to try the right door first. She opened it but it was too dark to see so she stepped into the room and the lights came on automatically. Instead of a bathroom, it was a storage room of some kind, so she quickly backed out and stepped across to the opposite door, hoping that she wouldn’t have to trek back down the hallway to the opposite end.

Just like the first room, it was too dark to see what was inside until she walked far enough forward that the lights turned on.

Still no bathroom.

This time she’d entered a professional-looking study. She was about to back out again when something mounted on one of the walls caught her eye and she found herself walking towards it unconsciously.

It was a sword. The weapon itself seemed normal—as far as Alex’s limited knowledge went—but the blade was something else entirely. It was completely black, swirling with an inky darkness that was almost identical to whatever was inside the ring Blake had given her for Kaldoras. In all the holiday excitement she’d never had the chance to ask anyone about it, much to her annoyance now.

She was just about to grasp the hilt of the sword and pull it off the wall for a closer look when a voice startled her.

“What are you doing in here?”

Thirty-One

Alex jumped and turned around.Standing in the doorway was a burly man covered in dark tattoos—even his bald head had thorny swirls of ink ingrained into the skin. He was without a doubt the scariest-looking person Alex had ever encountered.

“I-I was looking for the bathroom,” she stuttered.

“This ain’t no bathroom,” he said, pulling out a long, jagged knife. “And you ain’t supposed to be in here.”

“Whoa,” she said, backing up with her hands in the air. “Take it easy. I’m just in the wrong place. And I’m leaving.”

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