Double Deal

Epilogue

The room was cold. There were icy cold metal chains that tied their hands up to the wall. They slowly came to consciousness, eyes opening. The room was made of stone. It looked abandoned. Vined crept up the walls, and pieces of grass peeked through the stone floor. There was a girl sitting on a chair in front of them, messing with her nails. There was a doorway behind the girl, but no door. “Astraya,” Their voice was raspy.

The girl looked up from what she was doing. “Oh, so glad to see you’re finally awake baby brother.”

Zephyrus looked at her with dead eyes. “Where am I?”

He couldn’t really remember what happened. The last thing he remembered was… his stele was broken. It must have been a dream. It had to have been. His stele was in his pocket like it always was… except it wasn’t.

It wasn’t a dream.

His magic was gone.

“Well, you’ve been out for three days.” AStraya said, snapping Zephyrus out of his thoughts.

“That didn’t answer my question-” Zephyrus said, Ajax and lola suddenly popping into his mind, “Where are my friends?”

“If by friends you mean Lola and Ajax,” Astraya said, going back to focusing on her nails, “They’re dead.”

The color drained from Zephyrus’ face. “What do you mean, ‘they’re dead’-”

“Don’t act surprised. I warned you when they were going to die,” Astraya said, her eyes flicking to Zephyrus.

She was, of course, referencing the death certificates that she had sent to Ajax. “But they said that I was going to die before them,” Zephyrus said,

“Well, that’s quite simple. I didn’t use your real name, so it became it invalid,” Astraya said.

That’s when realization dawned on Zephyrus. “You wrote Favonius.”

“Bingo.”

“What did you do with my friends?”

“Well, I didn’t do anything to them,” Astraya scoffed, “I’m just the puppet master.”

“What,” Zephyrus repeated more forcefully, “Did you do them?”

“Well, Lola Reeds, or Iris Wallus,whatever you want to call her, was turned into her father for a bounty reward, which I have the fortune of keeping 100% of since the two people who I had hired have met an unfortunate end,” She said, throwing two more death certificates at Zephyrus. ‘Kharis Wilson. Tom Collins.’ They both read. Astraya continued, “And Ajax Reeds was put in the possession of Holly Kalden. Both of them were tortured before being stabbed to death.”

Zephyrus was breathing heavy. They were both dead. “It truly was a touching reunion to watch as Lola met her father for the first time in about 20 years. You should have seen the look on her face-”

“You’re evil,” Zephyrus interrupted.

Astraya’s eyes thinned as she glared at Zephyrus. “I know.” She said simply.

Then Astraya stood up. “Well, I think I’m done here,” She said, turning to walk away.

“Wait,” Zephyrus called out.

Astraya turned back around, a smile on her face. “Yes, brother?”

“What do you want with me?” Zephyrus asked.

“I like when the things I want are nearby,” Astraya said simply, before turning around, “We’ll see how long you last down here. There’s no one nearby. No sunlight. No food. No water. Hope you enjoy your stay,” Astraya said, turning around once she had walked out of the room.

“Astraya, wait!” Zephyrus cried out, fighting his bonds, but Astraya was already reaching past the door frame to pull over a piece of stone shaped like a door.

She pushed the door in place, locking it in place with a key. She turned and started walking away.

Astraya could hear her brother scream after her as she let the key go over a grate. It fell through, clanking the whole way down until it came to a stop at the bottom of the drain.

“Astraya!” Her brother's voice echoed through the catacombs.

Astraya smiled.

“Remember brother,” She sighed as she walked away, the sound of his screams disappearing as she got farther, “No matter what cards are played,”

“The house always wins.”

The End