¹Royal Cries, p. jackson

007.

ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter seven

━━ "SO, WHAT'S YOUR greatest fear?" Pollux asked Elisa curiously, sitting inside Cabin Twelve. He and Castor were lounging on their beds; Castor was sleeping on the bottom bunk while Pollux slept on the top. Elisa figured that fit them pretty well.

               "Why are you asking?" she asked, brushing her hair down. She had changed into what she normally wore to bed; an oversized shirt she had taken from Callum those years ago and a pair of pajama pants she had taken from a store a year ago.

               "What you're most afraid of can tell a lot 'bout you as a person," said Pollux. "Mines flying. I've always hated heights."

               "Then why is your greatest fear flying and not just heights?" asked Elisa.

               "The thing about heights is you're not in the air, flying you are," said Pollux.

               "What's yours?" asked Elisa, nodding to Castor.

               "Dogs," said Castor, shrugging. "I was attacked by one as a kid."

               Elisa's features twisted into an expression of sympathy. "Geez ... Who's dog was it?"

               "Our neighbors at the time," said Castor. "They didn't leave there very long after that. Mom complained, and I'm not sure if they got kicked out of their home or if they moved out themselves."

               "Castor had this really cool scar on his arm, though," added Pollux, throwing himself onto his back.

               Castor scowled and hit the bottom of Pollux's bed. "How many times do I have to tell you? Stop that! You might break the bed one day!"

               Pollux rolled his eyes, moving to lay on his side that would face Elisa. "What's yours?" he pried.

               Elisa shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "Fire," she said. "Just ... bad memories."

               She hoped the two would pick up on the hints to not pry any further, and luckily, they seemed to get it. Fire wasn't something Elisa was too fond of after what had happened back in Durango; that and empousai. Many nights, when Elisa had managed to finally fall asleep, there was a fire at her feet, licking and snapping at her ankles, wanting to swallow her whole.

               There were times that was all it would be; her fear of the fire is enough to drive her mad, but there were times it seemed the fire wanted to torment her more. The orange flames were turn blood-red, wrenching screams escaping the flames that licked at her skin, causing burns.

               No matter how fair Elisa ran, the flames followed her. Her feet felt as if they were going to melt off, the fire slowly moved from her feet and over her calves, up to her knees and waist. Eventually, the flames reached her chest, and that's when she could hear the panicked yells of her old neighbors' last moments of life. She could hear the taunting laugh of the empousa and Gabrielle Barnett, an empousa who had tricked Elisa into trusting her.

               Worst of all, Elisa could hear the last words Silas had told her; panicked and desperate yells for her to come back, to not run into the flames to try and save Liliana. Even though Elisa had never witnessed her mother's death, it still haunted her. The unknown gave Elisa just enough for her to form her own details of what happened to her mother; a horrific death caused by meeting Dionysus and having Elisa. Silas and Liliana's deaths were completely avoidable, Mr. Ortiz and everyone else who lived in that apartment complex.