Page 13 of Taurus's Quest
“On my phone. I had it on speaker.”
She pursed her lips. “Did you let me out last night?”
“Out of where?”
“Here. I was accidentally locked inside.”
“No, you weren’t.”
The gaslighting ignited her annoyance, and she snapped, “I most definitely was. How else would I know about your secret door in the basement that you keep locked and the stone arch you have hidden behind it?”
“Listen, lady, I don’t know what game you’re playing, but there was no one in here when I left last night, just like there was no one here when I opened five minutes ago. And I most definitely don’t have some secret door in the basement. I think it would be best if you left now.”
She wasn’t crazy. Or was she? Because everything that happened after she found that arch had the hallmarks of insanity.
“I’m sorry to have bothered you.” She pivoted and marched back onto the street, keeping her rigid pace until she reached work. People greeted Circe, and she absently replied, her mind a muddle as it tried to sort fact from fiction—and failed.
Despite the urgency of the asteroid, it proved impossible for her to concentrate, her mind straying constantly to Taurus and the things he’d claimed in her dream. When she found herself opening a browser window to do a search on Zodiac Warriors, she gave herself a shake.
Stop dwelling on last night. It would accomplish nothing. She had work to do. Work that threw out the same results over and over. The asteroid wouldn’t hit Earth.
Perhaps Andreas was right. An antique couldn’t reliably predict events happening today. Was she determined to prove otherwise because it would make the paper she wrote more interesting? She hoped not, as she’d never wanted to be that scientist who manipulated results to prove her own theory.
A pounding headache led to her leaving work early. The construction blocking her usual route had barely begun, and she debated taking a different street home to avoid the Zodiac Emporium.
How cowardly of her. She set her lips and deliberately forced herself to pass the shop, glancing inside for a second, only to halt abruptly.
The man with the hideous beard sitting with his feet on the counter looking bored was none other than Taurus from her dream.
In that moment of recognition, his gaze happened to meet hers. His eyes widened.
She entered bellowing, “I want to talk to you!”
Chapter 5
Fuck me, but minding shop is boring. As to how Taurus got stuck twiddling his thumbs…
After Taurus left Circe, he had debated returning to Tower. However, a text from Aries kept him in Athens.
Find out how the astronomer managed to use the Athens portal.
The how part proved easy. Libra hadn’t done his job. Which left, why?
He could have gone banging on Libra’s door demanding an answer—after all, he lived just upstairs—but instead, Taurus chose to squat in the shop, which got boring real fast. Given the store wouldn’t open for another few hours—assuming Libra even showed—he decided to speed things up by thumping on the ceiling which also happened to be the floor of Libra’s apartment.
When Libra arrived, his eyes went wide. “What are you doing here?”
“Checking to see if you still actually work here,” Taurus had sarcastically drawled.
“Of course I do, and I resent being asked if I’m doing my job.” A disgruntled reply.
Of all the Zodiac Warriors, Libra had become the most distant in the last decade. He rarely visited Tower anymore and forget him keeping in touch with his brothers. Taurus reached out a few times, only to get rebuffed with I’m busy. We’ll catch up later. The reason for the distancing appeared to be twofold.
Firstly, Libra became tired of their lifestyle. To him, an apartment in Tower wasn’t a true home but an extension of the office. Libra decided he needed more balance when it came to work and life. Being understanding, Aries told Libra he could start a business in the shop and live in the flat overhead so long as he promised to keep watch over the portal while also keeping an ear out for local issues. Greece had long been a hotspot for supernatural shit. After all, the myriad legends emerged from this area for a reason. The stationary mission seemed to do the trick. While Libra didn’t visit often, he seemed happier, and the city had never been safer.
About five years into his new job posting, Libra met a woman and fell in love. A woman who knew nothing of their secret. It led to Libra distancing himself even further, and now, it appeared, he might be shirking his duties.
“You forgot to check for clients before leaving last night.” Taurus didn’t mince the reason for his presence.
