“Who are you visiting?” I asked curiously.
She chuckled, and her wrinkled fingers played with the shining pendant that hung from her necklace. “It would seem the only one I’m visiting with at the moment is you! How’s that sound?”
I straightened, but my ankle rolled over a rock and I pitched sideways. The old woman grabbed my arm to right me, but I cringed as pain exploded from several fresh bruises. She released me when I cried out, but surprisingly asked no questions. She simply shuffled her feet and turned toward me with empathetic eyes. I realized just how short she was. The disfiguring hump on her back forced her slight body to bend over at an odd angle.
“Do you have grandkids?” I looked around again, wondering how an old woman who could barely stand got to the park.
“I will someday,” she laughed again and gestured to the flower I still clutched in my hand.
“May I?”
I handed her the fragile flower and she inspected it with interest. She had to be at least ninety years old. If she was going to have grandchildren, wouldn’t it have already happened?
Another odd feeling of familiarity passed over me, as I watched her hold it to her nose and breathe deep. She closed her eyes and smiled as if it were the sweetest thing she’d ever smelled.
“They say Sweet William will always find his Black-Eyed Susan,” she mused.
“Who’s Susan?” I asked. I had no idea what she was talking about. “Why does she have a black eye?”
“Their story is one of America’s oldest and least known romance tales,” she explained, and held up the flower with raised eyebrows. “Actually, this particular flower was named for her. This is a Black-Eyed Susan, named such for its dark center.”
She handed the flower back to me as she continued, “After meeting beneath the silver light of a full moon in a field of wildflowers, William asked Susan to marry him, presenting her with a bouquet of those very wildflowers. Only one day before their wedding, sweet William was taken prisoner on a war-bound vessel set for the high seas. Throughout his plight-ridden journey, her memory kept him alive; the hope of seeing her again pushing him to survive. Upon his release a year later, William was informed that Susan had run away to evade an arranged marriage. After searching for his true love for months and months, sweet William decided to return to the field where they had first met. That night as the full moon rose, William finally arrived at the field to find his dear Susan sleeping. She clutched a dried bouquet of wildflowers in her hands…the very same kind of flower you hold in your hand today.”
I glanced down at the yellow flower in my hand and smiled. “I want a sweet William.”
“Maybe you already have one,” she wondered with a conspiring grin.
“I doubt it. Plus, I don’t really want a black eye,” I clarified with a giggle.
Chapter 21
“I told you I would figure it out.” Nadia’s muffled voice scratched across my eardrums. “How could you have ever doubted me?”
I groaned and painstakingly forced my way into a sitting position against the cool stone wall.
The leftover lightness from my dream disappeared, and I leaned my head back in an attempt to hear Nadia’s voice more clearly. I couldn’t tell if it was coming from next door or below me. The acoustics of the stone room created a confusing echo, and made it difficult to discern the origin of the sound. At the contact of the jagged wall, my head exploded into a million shards of pain. I automatically reached up to touch the throbbing knot that Nadia had bestowed upon the side of my head, and I regretted it just as quickly. My hand came away covered in warm, sticky blood. I tried to wipe my hand on the floor, but only succeeded in spreading it across my entire hand and the floor beneath me. The thin tank top and cotton shorts I was wearing gave me a hint as to what had happened right before I woke up at this god forsaken spider web.
The last thing I remembered was resting on my bed after a warm shower, but I didn’t recall falling asleep. Could Nadia force me into a reverie, or did she have to wait for me to fall asleep before taking me captive? Whichever her method, it was successful every time. I had to figure out a way to block her advances.
I concentrated on the sprinkling of sand near my feet that had been tracked in by Nadia’s shoes, and sent my energy flowing towards it. I willed it to draw together and create sole pile, but not even the smallest of grains so much as moved a millimeter. Next, I concentrated on the breeze that flowed in the window. I tried to wrap my energy around it and pull it towards me. Still nothing. Had she taken all of my essence!? Was that even possible? Or had she just created a vacuum similar to the one in her cavern? The inability to draw on my essence resulted in a sharp pang of panic and a dread that hovered over my throbbing head. Although I knew I didn’t know how to harness most of my abilities, it was still comforting to know they were there. The army of spiders that surrounded me did nothing to ease my nerves. I closed my eyes and forced my ears to strain and listen.
“Don’t crown yourself Queen of the Underworld just yet, Nadia. There is still much to be done,” a smug voice replied with contempt. A smug voice that I recognized from my vision on the plane. A smug voice that belonged to the woman with the glowing, pulsing orb…the same orbs the Auras wore around their necks. Suddenly the woman from my vision, the Auras, and the velvety voice floating up to me in that moment collided into a dizzying mass of understanding. Selene, the moon goddess. She was the woman in my vision. She had descendents at Eventide. And she was…working with Nadia? Things were going from bad to worse.
“Selene is right as always,” purred a third voice. I recognized it, but its owner eluded me.
Most importantly, there were three voices belonging to three women. My vision couldn’t be far from coming to fruition. My eyes darted toward the window, which glowed with the colors of the sunset.
Night was approaching. “Tonight’s ritual will prove to be the turning point. Without the Prime’s full essence, there is a good chance this will not be successful.” Unfortunately, the speaker’s next words revealed her identity and clicked the last puzzle pieces into their final resting place; tombstone and all. “We don’t know the extent of her powers yet, so it is imperative that I am as strong as possible. I will NOT be overthrown by Thetis’s bastard child. Do you hear me!?”
Keto. Keto wanted our essence, not Nadia. And she was going to use it against me! So the worst possible scenario had come to pass. Keto and Nadia had teamed up against me. Add the goddess of the Moon to the equation, and you’re left with one very screwed Stasia.
Nadia’s laughter singed my ears; reheating my anger. “Which brings me to my next announcement. I have a little surprise for you.” I could picture the proud smirk on her face, and my blood boiled.
“Oh?” came Keto’s intrigued reply. As their voices faded, I had a bad feeling I knew exactly what Nadia’s surprise entailed. Footsteps sounded outside the wooden door that sealed my arachno-prison, and I struggled against the enchanted chains around my ankles. They instantly squeezed tighter, cutting off the circulation to my feet.
“We may not have all of Finn’s essence,” I heard Nadia’s arrogant voice outside the door as it creaked open “…so I brought us someone with an even more powerful essence. I give you…Thetis’s bastard child.”