"Iapetus, the maid appointed to Kitty's room, Sylvia? Get her to the office, now!" Erebus yelled to the phone as he headed to the elevator.
"Right away." Iapetus's calm voice came through the phone before Erebus hung it up.
"Good luck on a FUN interrogation day! I think I might just get myself a date!" Curtis yelled at Erebus as the door of the elevator closed slowly, and satisfied with the murderous look on Erebus's face.
Curtis pulled his phone after the elevator was closed: "Medusa, have you got eyes on the maid?"
"Yes, prince. I'm looking at her as we speak." A cold, sharp voice came through.
"Get what you can out of her and dispose the garbage, cleanly. You know what to do." Curtis's voice was not even bit warmer than the voice from his phone.
"Yes, prince."
"Like I have said before, you don't have to call me prince. You are a princess yourself, my little sister." Curtis softened his voice.
"Yes, my prince." The cold sharp voice had a bit naughtiness in it now.
"Keep me posted." Curtis shook his head with a smile and hung up the phone. The sky was clear with no cloud in sight. Curtis turned to gaze upon the city, with only darkness in his eyes...
"What do you mean she's missing?" Both hands held on Iapetus's desk, Erebus was obviously not happy.
"I'm sorry, my Lord. She left a few minutes before you called, and we found her turned into a dead-end alley with no camera in there, but she was gone. We are looking for her as we speak." Iapetus stood straight behind the desk with his always cool and calm tone, but it was obvious that he was nervous, too.
"Where's Metis?" Erebus nodded. Someone who can hide right under his nose as a spy won't be that easy to catch once she's in the wind.
"I'm here, my Lord." Metis rushed into the door right the second when Erebus asked the question. Looked like she just hurried here from the bar "We are looking into this right now."
"What's her background?" Erebus turned to look at her.
"I don't know yet. I'm sorry, my Lord." Metis lowered her head.
"You don't know your own people?" Erebus asked slowly.
"She's not mine. She came to me on Tartarus's command. He knew he was responsible for the surroundings, but he said he wouldn't be at ease if he didn't know what was going on in the hotel, so I let one of his unit in. There were four of them, including Sylvia."
"You didn't do wrong. Get to the bottom of this. I'll pay a visit to Tartarus." Erebus nodded and put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, "Everyone who have access to her goes through you from now on. "
"Yes, my Lord." Metis nodded, but she quickly turned to face Erebus when he was leaving, "My Lord?"
"Yes?" Erebus stopped.
"Thank you, my Lord." Metis bowed deep towards him, her eyes glittering. It was a serious mistake on her part, so she was deeply grateful that Erebus doesn't punish honest mistakes.
"I didn't 'spare' you. I'm not punishing you because you didn't do anything wrong. I trust you." Said so, Erebus nodded at her and headed to Tartarus's place.
Tartarus owned a billiards "palace" underground. It was a seven-floor-deep enclosure. In the center of it was a ten-meter-tall stage, with enough room for nine pool tables. There were seven floors with no walls surrounding the central stage on all four walls there, every one of them seven meters wide, as if grandstands high above in theatres. On all these floors there are also pool tables, except on the top floor of the east side wall, that was where Tartarus lives.
And where a man was whispering to Tartarus now--
"Lead him right to me." Tartarus's rough voice rose in the empty room.
"Yes, master." The man bowed and left, and soon returned with Erebus.
"My Lord." Tartarus stood up and bowed at Erebus.
"How's the palace?" Erebus nodded at him and stopped by Tartarus's French window, looking at the billiards heaven.
"All well and good, thanks to you, my Lord." Tartarus followed Erebus and answered.
"You know why I came, Tartarus." Erebus waved his hand at Tartarus's praise.
"Yes, my Lord." Tartarus bowed again, "My deepest apologies. I only wanted to keep an eye on The Fort for security reason, and those four people were trusted. She had been with me for years, and I had no reason to suspect her before this. I take full responsibility for this and I'll provide an explanation soon."
"Don't be too hard on yourself. I trust you." Erebus nodded, "What was her duty before this?"
"She was in charge of the security here at the palace, my Lord." Tartarus answered with a frowning. He was grateful that Erebus forgave him, but he couldn't forgive himself as easily.
"How long had she been with you?" Erebus rose an eyebrow. You don't put people you don't trust on security. If this maid was really a spy, then she went really deep.
"Two years after I followed you, my Lord." Tartarus answered.
"You are not at fault. I'm glad she exposed her this way." Erebus put a hand on Tartarus's shoulder.
"My Lord?" Tartarus was now really surprised. He might have understood Erebus forgiving him, but he didn't see Erebus being "glad" about this coming.
"Someone put deep thorn in us, and they reminded silent for so long. I'm glad their first action failed, AND we realized their trace. I'm not gonna punish my own people for the enemies’ scheme." Erebus turned to looking through the window again.
"Yes, my Lord! What do we do, my Lord?" Tartarus nodded his head.
"Now, we wait. Any reaction from us would make them hide deeper." Erebus said, "Give me Sylvia's whole file, her background and every mission she had been in."
"Yes, my Lord. Right away." Tartarus yelled to the door: "Ladon, get everything on Sylvia right now."
"Yes, master." Ladon closed the door and left.
"Tartarus..." Erebus mumbled.
"Yes, my Lord?" Tartarus had never seen Erebus said anything in such a hesitating tone.
"Why do you think they put a spy in your people?" Erebus was still in that hesitating tone.
"I don't know, my Lord! But I, I never--" Tartarus's voice was trembling. He didn't know what Erebus meant.
"It's okay. I'm only thinking out loud." Erebus shook his head hinting there was no reason for Tartarus to get nervous, "I gave you my forgiveness, and that means I don't think you held ill-intention. I need you to think with me, and that's the only way we can catch this invisible enemy."
"Yes, my Lord!" Tartarus nodded his head hard. He was never the talkative type, but he had always been loyal to Erebus no matter what.
"The bartender we hired for Kitty, turns out he is our prince." Erebus told him.
"Prince Charlie?!" Tartarus gasped.
"Yes. And he told me something interesting today. He said according to a witch prophecy, Kitty shall be his queen." Erebus nodded.
"But... marking is never wrong." Tartarus looked up with confusion in his eyes.
"That's what I told him." Erebus turned to look at him: "I want to see that prophecy."
"Yes, my Lord. I'll get on it right away." Tartarus nodded.
"No, let Theia deal with this one." Erebus said.
"Yes, my Lord."
"Tartarus, would you happen to know something about the three princesses our queen gave the King?" Erebus asked.
"You mean the new queen, my Lord." Tartarus corrected Erebus.
"Haha, yes, new queen. You realized she has been on the throne for almost ten years now." Erebus laughed.
"She will always be the new queen to me." Tartarus growled. He was very old schooled.
"I'm guessing you have a special fond to the prince, too?" Erebus rose an eye brow.
"No, my Lord. I pledge my loyalty to only the King and you, my Lord." Tartarus shook his head, "I just don't think it's right to betray a mark."
"I know what you mean." Erebus nodded, "Any progress on the treason of our queen?"
"Some, my Lord. You can take the file with you today." Tartarus nodded, "But it's not much. There was little record of that case."
"Of course." Erebus said, "The three princesses?"
"The queen has been keeping the oldest princess by her side all the time after the second one went missing some years ago. And the third princess is always in and out of the palace. But word is, she was never favored by her mom."
"I see." Erebus nodded in deep thoughts, "When was the second one went missing?"
"That was before I even followed you, my Lord. She must be very young when that happened." Tartarus sighed.
"You have a soft heart, Tartarus." Erebus commented, smiling at his sigh, "Was any effort put into finding her?"
"Yes, of course, my Lord. But no fruit was bore." Tartarus shook his head.
"I see. Well, I'll leave the cleaning of your people to you, then." Erebus pulled back his drifting thoughts and grabbed the files Ladon delivered on the table, "Keep me posted if anything happens."
"Yes, my Lord." Tartarus bowed as Erebus leaving for the door.
"Tartarus," Erebus suddenly turned back, looking at him, "You marked Theia soon after you followed me, right?"
"Yes, my Lord." Tartarus was a bit surprised at the sudden change of topic, "Why, my Lord?"
"Just wondering how you would feel if a prophecy came to compete with your marking." Erebus laughed, "You are the only one of us who marked anyone after all."
Tartarus: "..."
"Well, good day now." Erebus waved his hand and shut the door.
"My Lord, we are not the only ones. There IS one more among us, who has been suffering for a mark, for too long..." Tartarus murmured to himself.
"I'm sorry. My deepest apologies, I'm really sorry..." With an apologizing smile, Erebus stood in front of Kitty's room with his palms together, begging for her forgiveness."Hmph." Kitty stood there with her arms up in front of her chest, not answering."I got caught up with an emergency. I'm really sorry I kept you waiting." Erebus lowered his body to try to look Kitty in the eyes, "Pleaseee forgive me?""We said 'after breakfast'. I guess 6pm in the afternoon tech
"Hmm?" Erebus took the plate and returned to her side, "What's wrong?""Nothing. Where do you want to eat?" Kitty quickly wiped the confusion on her face and asked."Somewhere near the sea, hopefully. How about the rock over there?" Erebus looked around and hinted Kitty with his head."Cool." Kitty skipped a few steps to catch up with him.
It took them only half of the time when they went there to get back to the bar. Kitty thought she was nervous and a bit excited, but the stress was much more tightened as she felt Erebus hitting on the gas."Metis, talk to me." Erebus asked as then stepped in the bar."Some of Perses men got into the city right after you left for the village that day." Metis came to Erebus and started walking with his as she spoke, "From what we know now, they came FROM the village.""They took something from there?" Erebus rose an eyebrow."More like someone." Metis nodded."Emma!" Kitty gasped."We think so. And we think she's the only survivor, except Kitty, now it seems, which is why they had been hell bent on Killing Kitty." Metis said."Not really." Kitty said in deep thoughts."What do you mean?" Erebus asked."They could have killed me right where they found me, the first time AND the second. They were trying to kill me only because the order was to wipe out the city, I feel. I didn't feel like
"She is brilliant!!!" Iapetus exclaimed with applause, as if he just discovered some treasure."Iapetus, not now." Metis warned him with a low, calm voice.Kitty was not at all affected by his passion. She was now all sullen and sad in her memory. No, the people there wasn't particularly good to her. Yes, she lived a miserable life there. But it was still her home, they were still the people who helped her to survive by occasionally giving her a bread or so. And there was her family, to cute little sisters and a naughty but brave young brother. All of them, gone overnight, because a witch wasn't sur
Did Erebus just say "my King"?!!Kitty and Metis looked at each other in shock, and to their surprise, Iapetus also looked very much surprised. Guess this is not something usual to them either. Kitty thought.Erebus supported the King by his arm and led him inwards, but the King shook his hand lightly to refuse: "Right here is fine. I have to leave soon."There they were, in the empty hall of the bar, with an old rickety man dripping from all over his hood and robe i
"Well, at least I know what he meant by 'You will know when the time comes', because I certainly don't know much now..." Kitty sighed darkly, looking at the drawing with a puzzled face."Naughty." Erebus pressed her head for a sec and took the roll to have a closer look, "We need to get more information on this, maybe it involves a legend or something.""Looks like it has something to do with witches." Metis said with her fingers on her chin, thinking hard."Maybe...
"I'm sorry!! I totally forgot..." Kitty jumped out of the car and remembering that Erebus was still in there, so she turned to him and apologized, "Sorry, I have to go...""No problem, see you." Erebus gave her a smile, ignoring the angry man by her side. He just drove away.It was Curtis."This is the second time that you disappear on me!" Curtis turned to Kitty after Erebus was out of sight.
"You--" Kitty gasped, didn't even know how to finish her sentence. She didn't know she was so upset at his lying to her.Deep down, she knew he did what he did out of kindness, but it made her feel stupid and ridiculous to find out that she was even dreaming about being with him when her everything was given by him, without her knowing no less.She felt like a bird kept in a golden cage."Kitty." Erebus turned, actually not that surprised as how she imagined, "Please