Chapter 10
1265 Words
The room Jonah stepped into was no bigger than the bathroom in his old apartment. In other words, it was tiny and dark.
The walls were plastered with black. The small chair and table? Black. Even the mirror positioned across from the chair was dark.
“Ok.” Jonah jostled against the door as it shut. “This isn’t creepy. Not creepy at all.”
He shifted around only to fall into the chair with a grunt. But just as he reached out to feel for the door knob, he heard a strange whispering fill his ears.
Jonah jerked his head towards the mirror as the black began to shift into faces. A blur of eyes and mouths until, at last, it stopped.
“Your soul is so hard to read, Jonah Rowe.” The woman in the mirror pursed her lips together. “Oh, begging your pardon—spirit. What can I offer you?”
The image against the black shifted as she continued to speak. “Fame? Fortune?”
There were crowds of people screaming his name as they waved books in the air. That image faded into a vision of himself, dressed to the nines as he sat down in a chair on the set of a talk show.
Those crowds—all holding his books and shouting his name—that talk-show spot. Jonah didn’t even own a suit like that. It looked worthy of a designer collection. The type of clothing you wore when you didn’t have any cares in the world.
And then a scene came into the mirror. One that made Jonah’s eyes bulge. This one had Vera in positions he had only fantasized about. Hera didn’t make this one a glimpse. It lingered. Jonah should have turned away. But for some reason, that was an impossibility.
File it away, Jonah, He ordered himself. Scratch that. Forget it. You have more respect for Vera than just to regard her as a piece of meat.
File it away, JonahScratch that. Forget it. You have more respect for Vera than just to regard her as a piece of meatBut it wasn’t working. The woman had done it perfectly. The scene with Vera might as well have been a s*******n short video.
The image faded, and the woman chuckled.
“You enjoy happy endings, Blue Aura? I do as well. Get the Sybil on the Astral Plane at the golden hour on Sunday. Do this for me, and the fame, the wealth, and the woman of your dreams is yours. Sunday at the golden hour. That’s a sufficient amount of time to make up your mind. And, given your vision, time is something you long to enjoy. But there is more.”
"More?"
“I will give you access to the one place your Jonathan can’t get to. I will give you the key to the Other Side.”
Jonah stared as if transfixed by the image. When he started to respond, the woman cut him off.
“Don’t answer just yet, Blue Aura. There will be time enough for that. Consider my words. Consider what could be. Then, when the time is right, I will return to you.”
The woman’s face disappeared as quickly as it emerged in the glass. He stood there, frozen in place.
Jonah didn’t know what to think. Temptations with what he wanted? But it wasn’t the Sirens.
This was one woman, with eyes as green as his friend Elizabeth Manville’s. But Liz’s eyes were full of happiness, warmth, and joy. This woman’s eyes were venomous green, harsh, full of ambition and evil.
He’d read Greek mythology. Seen a bunch of pictures and depictions.
That woman looked like depictions he’d seen of Hera. But that couldn’t be, Hera was the goddess of family, marriage—wholesome endeavors. But that woman he saw in the mirror was a thug. A thug and a b***h, with a trace of sociopath. He had no interest in doing anything that she said.
The memories of his experiences in this house resurfaced. He hadn’t lied to Eva. He hadn’t heard of the place. He’d never known its name. He’d just been there.
The Covington House was the site of his first great victory as an Eleventh Percenter.
The memories weren’t pleasant. He’d nearly lost his physical life in an inferno in the basement. He’d gotten a deep muscle tear on his left shoulder, and that had been before the broken ribs. But he’d won that fight.
She’d also said that she could give him the key to the Other Side. Jonathan always said that that couldn’t happen. It was inaccessible. The Protector Guides couldn’t go there. The Spirit Guides couldn’t go there.
But Hera said she could. She’d described it like it was a door that simply needed to be unlocked.
Seeing Nana again could be that easy.
A surge of fear shot through him like an electric current. No. What Hera promised wasn’t natural. He couldn’t think about Nana.
NoHera wanted him to sell out Eva. Get her on the Astral Plane. Why?
“Jonah?” said Joey.
“What?” He said a little forcefully. “Sorry—I’m—”
He didn’t even finish.
“Dude, you look like you’ve seen a…nevermind.” Joey decided against it.
“Are you alright, Jonah?” Eva called out from her spot in the middle of the main room. “Find anything good in there?”
Jonah didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t up to telling her about his past with this house yet, and he certainly wasn’t going to speak on Hera’s visions. He thought the Sirens were bad, but Hera—he could never admit to the images she showed him.
“Old history,” He muttered. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Why did Elliott send us here?” She asked with heat. “I was so sure there would be more to it than just the episode. If it weren"t for Frederickson, this would have been a waste of time.”
Her voice caught on the end of that sentence, but it looked as if she swallowed down the emotion.
Jonah was fuzzy on that part, too. Elliott couldn’t have lured them here just for Hera to try to bribe him with fabulous prizes. She could’ve done that anywhere. So what other reason was there for them to bring Jonah and Eva to this place?
“We need to return to the estate and reconvene with Jonathan, Terrence, and Reena,” said Cyrus. “Eva, Joey, go ahead. I want a quick conversation with Jonah.”
Eva frowned. Jonah did, too. He wasn’t up for private conversation with the Muscle. Especially right now. He hadn’t had time to reorganize his thoughts.
Cyrus jerked his head towards the door and the other two left. He then looked Jonah right in the eye.
“What did Hera show you?”
"I don"t know what you"re talking about."
"Yes, you do. What was your answer?"
"It"s none of your damn business-"
"Did she ask you to betray Eva?"
"Why do you want to know?" Jonah sneered. "Afraid she gave me a better offer than she gave to you?"
Cyrus" eyes flashed. Jonah didn"t give a s**t. He stormed out of the room, still shaken by what he had seen.
It was Wednesday now. Hera gave him until the golden hour on Sunday.
He’d wanted this week to end as quickly as possible. Now he would have given anything to have more time.
- Writer
