The whole journey to the frozen lake, Zuri spent it by sleeping it off and only woke up when July nudged her shoulder.
Her eyes immediately turned sharp when she jolted awake, only when her eyes met with July's, she was slightly relax.
On the other hand, July said nothing about her behavior and told her that they would landing in ten minutes, as she handed her a warm towel to wipe away her tiredness.
Zuri wiped her face with the warm towel and sighed deeply. It was a bad dream. No one would be able to hurt you again. She kept repeating the words, but the more she said it in her head, the more she felt so pathetic to herself, since she knew it was only an empty words.
The dream came to her again and again, tortured her day and night. The scene kept repeating in her head when his rough hands touched her and how his warm breath traced her skin…
"What happened?" July looked at Zuri, who tossed away the towel from her hand, as if it was on fire. "What is it?"
Zuri shook her head, she could feel her heart thumped wildly against her chest when she realized what she had done.
"Nothing," she muttered to herself and picked up the towel from the floor that was still warm to her touch and put it away from her.
July looked at Zuri deeply for a moment before she pretended like nothing happened, since it was what the girl wanted.
"Put on your seatbelt," she pointed her finger to the warning light, as they were about to landing. "I need you to be presence in this job, so if you feel you can't do it, tell me now."
"You don't need to worry," Zuri said.
"Great," July replied curtly.
"Are you sure, you are okay with this job?" Hades asked her, he was sitting at the empty seat beside July. Tilted his head, as he looked at her with a teasing smile. "If you can't handle yourself, you better stay with me in this luxurious plane."
And like usual, Zuri ignored him completely.
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"Here, you will go to school tomorrow." Biel, the woman that supposed to be the mother of the two children, handed Eros his backpack, she was beaten and bruised from last night fight with Josh, since the man vented out his anger at her because the children locked him out.
"I don't want to go to school," Eros said. If he left for school he would need to leave Emily alone in this house.
"You can say that to Josh," Biel replied dismissively, waving her hand toward the family room. "There is food there, you can eat. Clean up the room before we return."
Biel looked a little bit sober today and she would remember to feed them if she was in good mood like this. The woman didn't hurt them, but she didn't help as well when Josh hit the children. She would act like she saw nothing, but didn't blame them too for last night beating.
"He will not agree."
"That's your problem."
And that was a little conversation that they had after a few days Eros lived in this house. The two of them would go in the morning and returned at night, and both gone in the weekend. That was the only days, where Eros and Emily could sleep peacefully, knowing no drunk man would beat them.
"You will go to school?" Emily peeked from behind the sofa. She has been hiding there since the first conversation, as she thought no one could see her, yet Eros knew that Biel was aware about her presence, it was just she didn't care enough to do anything with her.
"I think I have to go to school," replied Eros, he watched how her small face frowned.
"Can I go with you?" she added with her small voice. "Please…"
"I don't think you can come," Eros said and tears welled up on her hazel eyes, her lips trembled. "You will be fine here, I will go home before they return."
But it meant, Emily would be alone again in this house.
Before Eros came, the little girl had this complicated thought about which one scarier, being alone the whole day, especially in the weekend, alone or having Josh and Biel and had to face the possibility to be beatened up.
Emily glanced at the backpack that Biel gave to Eros. "I can fit in inside there." She pointed the bag. "I promise, I will stay silence so no one knows," she promised.
====================
The cold wind hit Zuri's face, it felt so great to wake her up from her own thought.
"We will stay until night comes and we will move to the site where The Hound built a camp there," July said, as they entered the car.
There were three cars for seven of them, as Nathen drove the car with July and Zuri, they would enter the same city, which Zuri visited for the first time with Chaos in the past, where she could sense his shattered soul.
But now, when they were here, Zuri could feel this strong pull from a certain direction. It was Chaos, he was nearby.
Zuri shuddered when she realized it. This was the closest they were since the last eight years.
The pull was so strong, until Zuri felt uncomfortable in her seat and wanted to dash toward the source of her discomfort.
She wanted night came faster and they could put their plan on motion.
"You don't forget what I said, right?" Hades asked Zuri from the front seat, that supposed to be empty. "You shouldn't wake him up."
Zuri averted her gaze and looked at the snowy land from the window. "Shut up."
"Hha?" Nathen looked at Zuri through the rearview mirror. "But, no one is talking," he said in confusion.
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THIS BOOK PUBLISHED ON WEBNOVEL.
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