The Broken Girl

Chapter 2

She woke up in the cave again. She knew Viktor and Ambrose were out today, so she got up. Though she lived all of her life in the cave, her father still brought her books to learn about the world. After all, she was supposed to be a perfect creature. Getting educated was thus part of the whole project. She grabbed one of the books and started reading. 

After a few hours, she finally finished the book. It was the last one. Not knowing what to do, she sat there. The only other thing she did when she was bored was to practice her fighting skills. But she was not in the mood. 

She glanced at the staircase. When would they be back? Not that she wanted them to come back, because it would mean more experiments. It hurt. She did not like it. But these experiments were the only way to see her father and the happiest moments of her life were when he smiled. She knew he did not smile to her, but only because he succeeded in his experiment. But that was the best she could hope for. 

What time was it? She did not know. She did not know when they would be back. Sometimes they left for an hour, and sometimes for days. She had food and water of course. But it was a long wait. 

She looked at the staircase again. She did not know what was upstairs, she had never been there. And she knew she wasn't allowed there. So all she could do was imagine. She glanced at her books. They were all she had. They taught her everything about the world and about the people populating it. She sighed. She would never know a romance like in her books or discover the world. She was stuck here. 

She laid back on her bed and looked at the ceiling. Her mind wandered, dreaming of adventures, while her body was stuck in that gloomy cave. 

A noise made her come back to her senses. She turned her head. One of the other experiments, a chimaera made of a cat's head and a dog's body had woken up and was starting to wander around. It was not a rare phenomenon. There were a lot of creatures in this cave and seeing one of them get up was quite common. Most of these creatures did not live really long. But this dog-cat creature was at least a few years old now. She had baptised it Dat, mixing "dog" and "cat" together. She was not good at finding names. Dat was her only friend in that cave. She got up and knelt down next to it. 

«Hi Dat. How are you feeling today? » 

The creature looked at her and meowed. Then, it turned around and left her to explore the room. Hestia sighed. I am so lonely... 

Suddenly, a noise was heard. Were they back? More noise. 

Ambrose appeared from the staircase. He was running. 

What is happening? 

Ambrose ran to the girl and put a finger on his lips as to order her to stay silent. She obeyed. More noise upstairs. Hestia looked at her father, giving him an interrogative look. However, he did not look at her and his gaze was focused on the staircase. She knew he was scared. But why?

Something broke upstairs. Maybe a vase.  Ambrose quickly grabbed the handle of his sword and drew it out of its sheath. Something was definitely wrong. He stood in front of the girl, who could now only see his back. 

Suddenly, cries were heard. There was a fight upstairs. Hestia grabbed her fathers coat, as to ask for him to comfort her. However, he did not react, keeping his attention on the stairs. Then the noises stopped. Was it over? 

Then, steps were heard. There was a lot of people upstairs. What was going on? A man appeared in the staircase, then another, then another. In total, five men arrived in the cave. They all were wearing uniforms and carried swords and wands. 

« It's over, surrender! » yelled one of the men. 

« NEVER » shouted Ambrose. He then attacked the man who had talked. 

Surprised by the rapidity of the attack, the man stepped back a bit before coming back to his senses and fighting back. The other men quickly surrounded Ambrose. Despite his talent as a swordsman, it was too much for him. Two soldiers were wounded before Ambrose was captured. 

Hestia stepped back as far away from the men as possible until she was blocked by the wall, terrified. She did not make any noise but was crying. The two non-wounded men grabbed the defeated Ambrose and carried him out of the cave, out of Hestia's sight. She was now stuck with two wounded soldiers and their chief. The latter turned to the cave as to estimate his surroundings. As his gaze went around the room, it finally stopped when it met the terrified girl. 

The man seemed surprised at first, not knowing what a girl was doing here. But soon, he noticed her white hair crossed by a single black strand of hair, her pale left eye and her scars, not to mention she was unarmed. She was not a threat. He put his sword back in its sheath and started approaching the girl. 

« Hello. I do not wish you any harm, see? » He raised his hands so she could see he was unarmed. « My name is Ethan Chapstein. And you? » 

The girl was trying really hard to disappear into the wall, away from the intruders. 

« Hestia », she said in a really quiet voice, trying not to look at the man in his eyes. 

He smiled. « It is a nice name. » He paused. « I am sorry about... that. But I assure you I do not wish you any harm. » He took one slow step forward. « These men were wanted by the Ministry of Magic. They are not good people. »

Hestia shook her head. No, it couldn't be. They were not bad people. It was not possible. Ambrose was her father! He could not be a bad person! She fell on her knees, crying. It was too much. 

Chapstein kneeled next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. « It's ok, it's over now, we will protect you. » 

He turned to his two soldiers that had stayed in the back and made a sign. They nodded and started to search the cave. Then he turned back to Hestia. 

« We're leaving this place. »