Chapter 58 Chapter 58
Shoot. Now, we were going to be in an even smaller space with not even the cabin crew around.
“Want to freshen up?” He asked and I nodded, heading for the washroom. A single light was flickering in the corner, throwing shadows all around.
The water was cold and the air chilly as I walked in the empty space and stared at myself in the mirror.
I looked like I had been picked up from the streets with my disheleved hair, swollen eyes and dry lips.
My stomach rumbled so I did my business in the toilet, and walked back to the sink to wash my hands and face.
I had forgotten to carry my purse with me so did my best to comb my hair with my fingers and not look like a freak.
The light went out and the already dark space turned darker. I meant to grab a tissue and wipe my hands but then the light flickered again at a much greater speed.
As if it was blipping furiously. I looked up at the light for a moment but a movement caught my eye. I felt something was moving but not around me.
It was inside the mirror.
I peered at it and felt something swirl inside the mirror, something dark and hazy. But I coudln’t quite figure out what it was.
It felt like smoke curling up and engulfing the entire mirror.
Confused, I stepped back and the fog started getting darker. The light flickered at an even rapid pace and I clutched my chest tightly.
What was going on?
And then I felt I heard something. Startled, I looked around and then there was a knock on the washroom door.
“Violet!”
I hurried towards the door and tugged against it but it was stuck so I tried harder. But my fingers felt like they had frozen while I furiously tried to pull at the handle in vain.
“Elijah!” I screamed in terror and he must have heard it because I instantly heard him shout.
“Violet! Are you okay?”
The light was flicking so fast, I felt my brain turn foggy and it switched off again, making me let out a panicked scream.
“Violet, step away. I am breaking the door” I heard Elijah shout and barely had time to step away as he crashed the door open and almost went flying into the opposite wall.
I stood rooted to the spot in fear as I saw him fall on the floor but hastily get up and rush towards me.
“What is the matter?” He asked, cupping my face.
“The…the light…its flickering” I mumbled, unable to look at it but pointing my finger in that direction.
“Its just malfunctioning. Nothing to worry about” He said and I shook my head but when I dared to look up, everything seemed normal.
There was no darkness, the bulb was twitching but not at a dizzying pace and the mirror was decidedly empty of any smoke or darkness.
“I…” I trailed off, unable to explain what had just occurred. My head felt heavy and I rubbed my sore temples with one hand.
“You are probably jetlagged which is making you queasy. Come” Elijah looked at the washroom one last time before leading me out of the washroom.
His warmth oozed out of him and I felt grateful for his support even if I didn’t quite understand why my brain was hallucinating.
Was this a side effect of taking a flight? But then why did I feel I had experienced something similar before?
I couldn’t quite remember anything as my head felt like it would explode due to the pain. Thankfully, Elijah didn’t ask for more details and neither did he say a word to me as he let me in the passenger seat in the back, allowing me to lie down a bit if I wanted.
It would seem like he was my driver but thankfully he didn’t object.
I felt like a wreck and slept through the entire drive from the airport to the Ironcrest Manor. I had been eager to look around and observe but I was passed out in the backseat.
I was only woken up sometime later when I felt a sharp tug on my shoulders and somebody screaming my name.
“Violet! What happened to you? Are you alright?” I heard a familiar voice and groggily opened my eyes.
It took me a few seconds to adjust to the surroundings but I could see Cassie bobbing up and down her heels frantically.
“I…just jetlagged” I croaked, unable to explain anything.
My headache had reduced to a dull ache but it was still very much there. I looked around but it was quite dark to make out where I was exactly.
“Cassie, you left me” I squeaked as my brain shrugged off sleep and memories of the entire day came flooding back.
“Yeah, I know, sorry, I will explain everything later. Let's get you inside, it's freezing cold outside.”
“Where’s Elijah?” I asked after not seeing him around and she answered, “he already went to his room to rest.”
“Oh” I managed.
The world around me felt half unreal, as though I was drifting through a corridor between waking and sleep, and every sound came through a thick layer of fog.
The majestic manor loomed over me but I was whisked inside before I could take a good look at the tall, imposing structure.
Someone had draped a shawl around my shoulders and I became vaguely aware of two staff members walking beside me, guiding my steps across polished stone floors that seemed to stretch on endlessly beneath the soft echo of my heels.
Cassie hovered near my side, talking in that bright, bubbling tone she used when she was excited or nervous or both, her words spilling one after another about the history of Ironcrest and the wing we were passing through and how the manor had been renovated three times in the last century without losing its original architecture.
But I only caught fragments of it, unmoored details drifting past me.
It felt like I had stepped back in time, a few hundred years ago when Kings and Queens used to rule this land.
Paintings taller than me hung all around the even broader walls and chandeliers were glowing like captured constellations.
I tried to lift my head, to take it all in properly, because this was Ironcrest, the kind of place people spoke about in hushed voices, its name laced with old reverence and something sharper beneath it, but my eyes refused to focus.
It might have overwhelmed me, under different circumstances.
Right now, all I could think about was warmth that didn’t come from the shawl or Cassie’s incessant chirping.
It came from a memory of his arms.