From the Frying Pan into the Fire
Not quite six o’clock in the morning with the first rays of the morning dawning in the east, Cerys ascended the dimly stairs to the second floor of the Omega house. The whole affair of trying to recapture Oliver coupled with back to back late night shifts at the hospital had left her utterly drained, tired, and eager for bed. Stopping at the door to her room, she looked down at the neatly folded towel barricading the space under it. It had been disturbed. One of the other girls? Dropping to her haunches, she examined the disposition of the linen. The towel looked like it had been disturbed, but the loose corner drawn inside as opposed to pushed in from the outside. There was zero doubt in her mind any of the other sisters would have the audacity or temerity to stage something like this to mess with her head. No. There was only plausible explanation for the towel being this way, Oliver was in her room. A cool smile crossing over her pink lips, “Well now,” she chuckled softly to herself before lifting the towel and entering the room.
Clicking on the light switch, she bathed the room in illumination and turned, re-folding the towel, placing it in the gap at the base of her door. Standing back up, she walked to her bed and set her purse down, letting out a long sigh as her eyes swept the interior of the brightly lit room. “I know you are in here Oliver,” she said, voice soft, almost hushed.
Moving over to her tall dresser, she pulled open the top drawer, removing a bottle of Nestle water and a foil wrapped Kellogg’s NutriGrain cereal bar. “I suspect you are probably pretty hungry,” she said, opening the packaging on the bar and unscrewing the green plastic cap from the water.
“These are for you,” she stated, setting the bar down on the floor before pouring a small measure of water into the bottle cap and placing it next to the bar.
Returning to her bed, she sat down on the edge, hands folded neatly in her lap. “I know this whole situation has to be hard for you right now and as the bearer of ill news, and I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse. I don’t know if you remember the gray haired woman from the ritual or not, her name is Edith Frost and she has set a deadline of tonight for your recapture. She said if we, meaning the sorority sisters, that if we have not found you by then, she will. She seemed pretty self-assured. How she planned to do it, I don’t know, we’ve all speculated she has some type of arcane ability, but,” she shrugged.
Seeing no indication of movement, “I can only imagine the jumble of thoughts going through your head right now. Let me start off by saying time is against us but let me try to explain a few things and in the end, my hope is you will surrender yourself to me,” she stated.
“There are two factions within our sisterhood, the larger and more powerful of the two are the traditionalists, those who wish to continue ritual harvesting as we have been doing. The other group are those who think the practice needs to be changed to protect not only our male offspring but others gathered for the harvest. Your mother Samantha belongs to the second group. Please Oliver, understand she did not want this for you, ever. I know what you’re thinking, if that was the case, why are you here then? There was no way she or the others seeking to bring about change could openly defy the ruling council of the sisterhood, they are just too powerful, too well engrained in positions of power everywhere. Where could she take you where you would not be found? Nowhere. So in order to maintain the illusion of loyalty to the sisterhood, and more importantly to protect the movement, you needed to be subjected to the reaping. She asked me to lay claim to you because she knew I could get you away from here without suspicion. Unfortunately, I won only a second draw and Sersei established first rights to you. Because of your escape, I asked if formal claims were to be superseded, but was told no. If you turn yourself over to me, I cannot just whisk you away, no, that would also jeopardize our movement. If you surrender, I will be compelled to return you to Sersei and you would be hers for seven days before my claim becomes valid. Once that happens, we should be in the clear. I have made a point of getting the other sisters to believe I have a taste for littles so it will be easy enough to relay to them that when I was finished playing with you I ate you. We have been able to abscond with one of the Weeping Stones and so far have been able to save two others in my three years here. It’s up to you. If you think I’m lying, you don’t have to reveal yourself but I can guarantee Miss Frost will ferret you out, if Sersei doesn’t beat her to it. I think she is going to petition her grandmother for aid in about an hour or so. I can’t promise you restoration, but I can offer you a chance to survive this,” she finished, patting her palms against her thighs before getting to her feet.
“Whichever way you choose,” she said, walking toward the window, “I’ll leave the blinds up a bit so there should be enough light for you to be able to see by.”
Tracing a finger over one of the thick leaf of the Aloe plant on her sill, she turned away, walking to her closet where she began to strip down to her brassiere and panties before pulling out a nightie and donning it. Removing her bra from beneath her nightshirt, she padded over to the bed, pulling the covers back and climbing in.