Valley of Dust (5 page)

L
UCIAN HAD PAGED Carla. He hoped Selene was faring well especially after the ordeal he put her through. When he heard a knock on his door, he knew it was Carla. “Come in, Carla,” Lucian said. “How is Selene? Does she look better?” “Oh yes, Mr. Lucian, she also plans to stay one more night. She really is quite interesting and well versed in the arts.” “So I am assuming she liked the room, Carla?” Lucian asked. “Yes, very much, sir. Do you plan to have dinner tonight with us? What should I tell the chef to make?” He thought for a minute, but he knew Selene, and she had enough surprises for one night. “Carla, tell the chef to keep it simple tonight.” “Yes, Lucian, I will do that right now,” and with a nod and a smile she was gone. He was happy Selene was recovering. He had paced outside her room all night wondering how she was, but he had wanted to give her privacy so he hadn’t barged in her room to check on her. After everything Anton had done to Selene, she needed her space. She needed to recoup from the mental trauma Anton had caused. Lucian was worried now for her safety, not that she could be killed but for possible encounters with Anton. He thought about finding a way for her to take a break from her job. He could easily have one of his workers work there for a time. This was a difficult decision; he wanted to protect her, but controlling her like she was his personal puppet was not the way he wanted to run things. He knew it had to be her choice about work. He just hoped she would make the right choice.

The council would know about her soon, especially if Anton had his way. It was just a matter of time before she knew the truth of what she really was. He knew she would be powerful, maybe even more powerful than him, but he didn’t know to what extent yet. He was glad he hadn’t shared all his suspicions of Selene with Anton. He knew the council would want to corrupt and use her, like they had tried so many times with Lucian. He feared most the council members that believed Anton’s philosophy: to rule the mortals and feast as they pleased. Lucian kept their society in secrecy, but Anton wanted the world to know they were gods and that mortal lives were there only for consumption. He knew if Selene stayed with Anton, she would surely lose all her humanity. He just hoped, unlike his brother, that she would use her powers for good and for the stability of not only their society but also the mortals’. He knew this was too much of a burden to put Selene through right now especially after all that had happened. But soon she would need to know everything, and Lucian dreaded being the one to tell her.

Before Lucian knew it, the clock struck six, and that meant dinnertime. He came down the stairs, and there he saw Selene wearing the gown he had picked out for her. Her pale skin and auburn hair complemented the blue empire-waist gown. His heart soared to new heights, and all the burden he had lifted just by the sight of her. Selene was truly stunning, and he was lucky to have this moment.

T
HE NIGHT HAD been amazing. Carla sat next to me and made me feel the warmer side of her boss Lucian. He was much nicer than our last meeting. He truly was a humble and generous man. Carla felt like a trusted older sister; she had even shown to be more than just an employee by staying longer than her work shift. Jacques had left after he had made our dinner, and I got a glance of the two housekeepers as they served us our courses. Carla had not described the difference between the two housekeepers. I wondered which one was Josephine and which one was Belle. I planned to meet them soon and ask them their names properly. This mansion was massive, and I knew there were many treasures to discover. When the dinner had ended, Carla had brought me to my room and showed me where my sleepwear was. She had chosen all the clothing and was excited to show me the dazzling pima cotton pajamas. When I put them on, they were so soft I thought about never taking them off. I asked her how far she lived. She had told me that all employees lived in private houses on the many acres of land near the mansion. Her house was the closest to the mansion. She smiled and told me how she was literally in walking distance compared to the others. She told me she would be by for breakfast, if I cared to join her. Learning that all employees got their own house and land free of charge made Lucian sound even better than I first had thought. In this economy, I wondered what he did to be able to afford such luxuries. It had also made me extremely curious as to why the workers lived so close. I decided not to rush the questions yet. It was still early, and I was just getting to know the place.

The night was young, and I found myself pacing my room; for some reason, I could not sleep. I decided to take a stroll. I put on my robe next to my bed and headed downstairs toward the kitchen. The housekeepers kept the house immaculate; everything was polished and put away nicely. I knew if this was my apartment I would have a clutter of junk lying around waiting for me to get to it. As I went further in the kitchen, I saw the garden lights were still on, so I took a bottle of water and went outside to gaze at the enchanting garden. The garden was massive, and without Carla here I had more time to give it a thorough look. It was enormous. Flowers and trees were everywhere. There was even a gorgeous artificial waterfall with bamboo and lilies all around the cascading water. Then I saw it, my favorite tree in the entire world, a weeping willow, and underneath it was a stone bench. I ran as fast as my feet could take me to sit down underneath the gorgeous willow. I slipped off my shoes and put my bare feet in the grass. The grass was just the right temperature and felt so soft underneath my feet. It was thriving, so full of life. I was jealous.
How could this grass look so beautiful underneath this tree?
I could tell this garden was cared for with much attention to detail. I wished growing up that I was treated like this garden, instead I was raised with criticism and neglect. Was this what it felt like to be loved, even if it was just grass? I wanted to be the grass, the trees, the earth so bad. Then I felt energy surge through my body, and when I looked down the luscious grass was gone. There was nothing left but ash. “No,” I cried, “come back. I am sorry.” Depression overwhelmed me. This had happened to me before when I was a little girl. Only my father believed I had burnt his grass intentionally while he was asleep. I remembered being dragged by my hair into the house and my shirt ripping on the staircase. He was furious; all that time he had put into his grass and now there was a large patch missing and I was standing there dumbfounded. My gut wrenched as I remembered being thrown into my room and kicked. Why? Why were these memories coming back? Why did the grass die?

I cried uncontrollably. It must have woken someone up because there was a light heading my way. As the light came closer, I saw it was Lucian. I was so worried what he would think of me after this. Would he hate me for what I had done? I ran as fast as I could to get away and hide. I got inside the house, running up the stairs to my bedroom. When I got to my room, I slammed the door behind me and ran to the hamper to find my old clothes. I found my clothes and threw them in one of the bags I found in the closet. I knew it wouldn’t take long before Lucian would find me and I would be blamed and punished. As I threw the bag over my shoulder and started to head for the door, I heard a knock on my door. “Selene, are you okay?” Lucian said. I started crying even more; how could he ask me that? I had destroyed something that obviously took a long time for him to perfect. Why wasn’t he screaming and yelling at me? I curled up in a ball on the floor and lost control of myself.

That’s when I saw Lucian open the door. He was being so sweet, even apologizing for entering without my permission. I couldn’t take it anymore; I had to ask. “Aren’t you mad at me, Lucian? I ruined your garden.” He just looked at me and laughed. “You mean the grass; is that what your worried about? I can have that sodded in a day or so by my gardeners. I was more worried about you.” His intense blue eyes looked sincerely worried, not at all angry like I had imagined they would be. It was still hard to believe he was not mad; instead he was kind and gentle to me. He even tried to hug me while consoling me. Lucian told me that he knew I could absorb energy by will from the elements. I was shocked at this since I did not even know I had that power. I also cringed that I could steal such life, first from the tree in the hospital and now the grass under my feet in his garden. Then Lucian told me he could help me control my powers just as he had learned to control his own. I wanted to learn about my powers fast, especially how to control them. I didn’t want to ruin Lucian’s garden any more than I had without knowing it. What scared me more was the question of whether I could hurt people too. Lucian must have seen the fear in my eyes, and he did something I thought was unexpected. This is when Lucian offered me the room to stay in for keeps. I couldn’t believe I could have this room. I felt like it was too much, especially for someone like me. I felt like I didn’t earn it. Lucian also thought it would be wise if I stayed out of work until we knew the full extent of my power. I knew it was for the best. I didn’t want to be found out as a freak or hurt someone accidentally. Lucian told me he could take care of my apartment and get all of my stuff brought here. I was relieved that I wouldn’t be jobless and still have rent to pay. I wondered why Lucian wanted to do this for me. I wondered what he wanted from me. Lucian had assured me that I was not an inconvenience and it would be a pleasure for me to stay in his mansion. It made me happy that I was wanted, but I felt like I needed to do something to make up for my room and board here. He assured me that controlling my powers would be plenty enough for the two of us, and I definitely agreed with him there. I was scared at first; this was all too new for me. I knew I would have to call work and ask for leave; also the detective had to be reached too since I would no longer be at the address I gave him when we first met at the hospital. For now I just needed to sleep my wandering mind off. There was so much to think about, and all I could do was worry about the what-ifs. As I lay down in bed, I wondered what exactly I was.

That night I had a dream. At first I was in a forest with a lake, and it was wonderful. I could feel the air, the moisture in the grass, the earth; it was flowing through my body with such ease. I bent down and looked into the lake. That is when I saw a reflection of myself, except my reflection didn’t entirely resemble me. The me in the water was older and her hair was longer and wilder. My reflection in the lake was truly beautiful and mysterious. Out of nowhere my reflection smiled at me, and with a blink of an eye she was gone. That’s when I sank back down in the grass and felt the wind tussle through my hair. It was a perfect breeze, and the scenery was gorgeous. My feelings for this dreamland overcame me, and I felt the same power overwhelming me that had happened earlier in Lucian’s garden. I opened my eyes, and as I gazed around, I saw that there was nothing living around me anymore. I was all alone with nothing but dust flying in the wind. The strangest part was how I felt. It was not sadness and the total emptiness of this dream world; instead it was happiness from nothing existing. It was so terrifying I woke up screaming Lucian’s name. I was shocked that he came within mere second of my scream. He apologized for entering my room, but I was so scared I hugged him shaking. “Don’t worry, Selene, it was a dream. I am here.” Lucian helped me back into bed and brushed my hair from my face. Lying back down in bed was hard even though I knew Lucian was beside me, but I somehow did fall asleep praying the dream would not return to me tonight.

In the morning I remembered my dream and cringed. I saw next to me Lucian sitting in a chair. It was amazing; he stayed all night making sure I was okay. I smiled as he woke up and apologized for being in my room. He left and wished me good morning while I still wondered what my dream meant. I knew I needed to get my mind off the dream, so I decided to call my boss and ask for a leave of absence. It was shocking to hear him agree to me with such ease. He had told me a neighboring bar had offered some of their employees to help while I was recovering. I knew right then it had to have been Lucian; who else would have known I was taking a leave of absence? I was thankful that Lucian had made taking time off work a breeze for me. Most things in my life were never that easy, but since meeting Lucian and Carla, it felt like things were running smoothly; maybe too smoothly. The next person on my list was the detective. I looked at the card and saw his name, Detective Michael Jones. That was such a generic name; he must have hated school. I was shocked I didn’t remember his name from the hospital. I knew it must have been the drugs the nurse and doctors kept putting in my IV. I decided the detective would be the last person I would call for the day. I dialed his number and told him I was living with a friend for now and to keep me updated on anything else that comes up in the case. That is when he told me his case was taken away. I was shocked to know some higher-up agency had taken the case over and not even contacted me, the prime witness. The detective thought it was strange too and told me to keep my eyes out for anything suspicious. I wondered what he meant by suspicious. There was many things going on that were strange and suspicious with me already. Especially the fact that I could absorb energy from the land. I was happy that the detective assigned to my case was a stubborn cop, and I knew he was going to keep digging into my case no matter what anyone said. It gave me peace of mind that I could trust him. I gave him my new phone number and address and told him if he needed me for anything not to hesitate to call.

I felt annoyed not remembering the other attacker that had killed the guy trying to rape me, but in a way I didn’t care. The guy had saved me and left me without attacking me. I knew he obviously wanted to help me; he just overkilled the way he did it. Everything felt so unreal until I heard bad news from the detective. Him losing the case was the only thing that didn’t feel like a fantasy. I felt for once a little grounded since I came to Lucian’s house. I mean, after all, Lucian’s house was like a wonderland filled with the most exquisite furniture I had ever seen. I worried about what exactly would happen to my case and how the detective was handling losing something under his nose. I knew, however, from my first impression of Detective Jones that he would try to solve it on or off duty. The only thing left on my list was breakfast, and boy was I hungry. I got dressed in something simple from my closet and hurried downstairs to the kitchen. That’s when I saw Carla sitting down at the table. I was extremely excited to see Carla’s face this morning. I now would have a lot more free time on my hands, so it would be good to have someone to spend it with. The thought of having Carla as a friend was a thrilling and new experience for me. I hoped, however, that I wouldn’t intrude too much on her schedule. I wondered exactly what she did for Lucian and why she lived the closest to the mansion. As we sat down to eat, I found out from Carla that Lucian had an important meeting to attend and she would have three days off from work. I smiled at my good luck. I knew now she and I would have plenty of time to explore and get to know each other better.