175 SHUT UP
During the entire journey to the frozen lake, Zuri spent her time by sleeping it off and only woke up when July nudged her shoulder.
Her eyes immediately turned sharp when she was jolted awake, only when her eyes met with July’s, did she relax slightly.
On the other hand, July said nothing about her behavior and told her that they would be landing in ten minutes, as she handed her a warm towel to wipe away her tiredness.
Zuri wiped her face with the warm towel and sighed deeply. It was a bad dream. No one would be able to hurt you again. She kept repeating the words, but the more she said it in her head, the more she felt so pathetic to herself, since she knew they were only empty words.
The dream came to her again and again, torturing her day and night. The same scene kept repeating in her head when his rough hands touched her and how his warm breath traced her skin...
“What happened?” July looked at Zuri, who tossed away the towel from her hand, as if it was on fire. “What is it?”
Zuri shook her head, she could feel her heart thumping wildly against her chest when she realized what she had done.
“Nothing,” she muttered to herself and picked up the towel from the floor that was still warm to the touch and put it away from her.
July looked at Zuri deeply for a moment before she pretended like nothing happened, since it was what the girl wanted.
.....
“Put on your seatbelt,” she pointed her finger to the warning light, as they were about to land. “I need you to be on guard for this job, so if you feel you can’t do it, tell me now.”
“You don’t need to worry,” Zuri said.
“Great,” July replied curtly.
“Are you sure you are okay with this job?” Hades asked her, he was sitting in the empty seat beside July. Tilting his head a bit, he looked at her with a teasing smile. “If you can’t handle yourself, you better stay with me in this luxurious plane.”
And as usual, Zuri ignored him completely.
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“Here, you will go to school tomorrow.” Biel, the woman that was supposed to be the mother of the two children, handed Eros his backpack. She was beaten and bruised from her last night’s fight with Josh, since the man vented out his anger on her because the children locked him out.
“I don’t want to go to school,” Eros said. If he left for school he would need to leave Emily alone in this house.
“You can say that to Josh,” Biel replied dismissively, waving her hand toward the family room. “There is food there, you can eat. Clean up the room before we return.”
Biel looked a little bit sober today and she would remember to feed them if she was in a good mood like this. The woman didn’t hurt them, but she didn’t help as well when Josh hit the children. She would act as if she saw nothing, but then she didn’t blame them for last night’s beating either.
“He will not agree.”
“That’s your problem.”
And that was the only little conversation that they had after the few days Eros started living in this house. The two of them would leave in the morning and return at night, and both would be gone for the entire weekend. Those were the only days where Eros and Emily could sleep peacefully, knowing no drunk man would beat them.
“You will go to school?” Emily peeked from behind the sofa. She has been hiding there since their little conversation started, as she thought no one could see her, yet Eros knew that Biel was aware of her presence, it was just that she didn’t care enough to do anything about it.
“I think I have to go to school,” Eros replied, and then watched how her small face frowned.
“Can I go with you?” she added with her small voice. “Please...”
“I don’t think you can come,” Eros said and tears welled up in her hazel eyes, her lips trembling. “You will be fine here, I will come home before they return.”
But it meant, Emily would be alone again in this house.
Before Eros came, the little girl had this complicated thought about which one was scarier, being alone the whole day, especially during the weekends, or having Josh and Biel around and having to face the possibility of being beaten up.
Emily glanced at the backpack that Biel gave to Eros. “I can fit in inside there.” She pointed to the bag. “I promise, I will stay silent so no one knows,” she promised.
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The cold wind hit Zuri’s face, it felt so great to get woken up from her own thoughts.
“We will stay until night comes and we will move to the site where The Hound built a camp,” July said, as they entered the car.
There were three cars for seven of them. Nathen drove the car with July and Zuri, they would enter the same city that Zuri visited for the first time with Chaos in the past, where she had sensed his shattered soul for the first time.
But now, when they were here, Zuri could feel this strong pull from a certain direction. It was Chaos, he was nearby.
Zuri shuddered when she realized it. This was the closest they were since the last eight years.
The pull was so strong, until Zuri felt uncomfortable in her seat and wanted to dash toward the source of her discomfort.
She wanted the night to come faster and they could put their plan in motion.
“You didn’t forget what I said, right?” Hades asked Zuri from the front seat, which was supposed to be empty. “You shouldn’t wake him up.”
Zuri averted her gaze and looked at the snowy land from the window. “Shut up.”
“Hah?” Nathen looked at Zuri through the rearview mirror. “But, no one is talking,” he said in confusion.
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This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺