It all seemed very simple once I'd figured out the connection. The abducted writer Jack Walker wrote a book named The Monstrous Minotaur, a horror fiction about the beast on Crete. When I got home a few nights after we started looking for him, I borrowed Adam's copy and read ten chapters. They were full of bloody sequences and nasty exposure of what "evils" went on in the labyrinth. Honestly, it made me feel sick. But then I came to think of the piece of fur Barry found in Walker's house and the horn marks in the sealing…
"Someone's obviously mad about this book!"
Cisco, Caitlin, Barry, Iris and I had met up at S.T.A.R. Labs around lunchtime. I was holding the book in front of them and Iris smiled as she picked up her own copy.
"I think you're right, Olivia." she said. "And that someone wants to scare him."
"So, what, we're looking for a crazy historian?" Cisco wondered.
"Possibly."
Iris thought for a moment before adding to the theory.
"When I read the book," she continued. "I got the impression that Walker didn't really care about the myth itself. He describes the minotaur as nothing but a monster when it can also be seen as a victim of prejudice because of its hideous appearance."
I clapped my hands together and pointed out that I couldn't have said it better myself.
"Maybe Walker has bullied people for being different before and this is an act of revenge?" Caitlin added, making both Cisco's and Barry's eyebrows climb upwards.
"That still doesn't explain the fur, the marks or the fact that almost the entire building was destroyed." Barry pointed out. "That can't have been a really tall guy in a Halloween costume."
He was right, of course. The discussion sort of ended there and me and Barry went off again.
I have been home with really bad diarrhea for a week now, as far as Eric and the rest at CCMA is concerned. Being carried around the city by The Flash might seem like a chill way of working but it actually wasn't, since there's a lot more to it than that. I had to concentrate my mind on the feelings around me, in order to find Walker, and that took a lot of my energy - since I had to do it fast! All of us at S.T.A.R. Labs had grown disheartened from not getting anywhere with this case and I think we all feared what could have happened to Walker by now. Still, no one said it out loud.
After we'd searched ¾ of National City, I urged Barry to stop. He put me down on the roof of a skyscraper and put both hands on his knees.
"That was a lot of running!" he pointed out and a small drop of sweat glided down to his red-covered chin. "I'm way too proud to take a break on my own behalf, so thanks for that. Does your head hurt?"
He obviously noticed that I touched my forehead.
"Yeah." I confessed. "It feels like I've been at a museum and read all the information boxes."
He grinned and took off his hooded cap for a moment. All my anxieties came up to the surface in a second.
"We don't even know if this works!" I exclaimed. "What happens if I can't sense where they are?"
"Don't start thinking like that, Olivia. You're doing fine. It's hard for all of us to know what to do."
"I know, Barry. But you're more used to this kind of thing. I just…" I looked down at the tiny people moving on the street beneath us and took a deep breath. "I just realized I'm not afraid of heights. I've always thought I was!"
He walked up next to me and met my surprised face with a wide smile.
"And I used to be late all the time." he said. "Things change! Don't worry. We'll find Walker. When you stop trying to force the solution, it'll happen on its own."
His pep talk made me think of something I wanted to do: Do something fun to lighten our spirits up!
"...Before, I thought red was so much cooler than green but that's completely changed now!" Cisco said as we were eating tacos together that same night.
It was a very dark and cozy restaurant. The only light came from spread out candles and globe strings above our heads. The tables were set up around a small dance floor, though it was (sadly) empty.
"Thanks for the loyalty, Cisco."
Barry grinned and Caitlin gave away a crooked smile, saying Cisco sure picked a good time to talk about their secret professions. Iris couldn't make it, cause she had to work. Cisco giggled and picked up his wine glass.
"Who's talking about that? I just ranked colors!"
I took a piggy mouthful of nachos and the crunching sound echoed in my ears. The others laughed.
"I do love a girl with a decent appetite!" Cisco exclaimed and I looked meaningly at him. "I wonder how you eat in your home… Or what, exactly!"
I grinned.
"I'm actually good at cooking!"
"Sure, but if you're looking for the best scrambled eggs in Central City - I'm your man!"
"Only because you failed in frying them separately." Caitlin added, making us laugh again.
I said I'd love to try his eggs, anyway.
"... cause even if cooking is fun, eating the result is the best part."
They laughed again even though I was being very serious.
"Cheers, you guys!"
We clinked our glasses together but then Barry seemed sad, all of a sudden!
"Oh, that's right." Cisco remembered. "We forgot to bring a special treat for you, Bear."
Barry filled me in that he can't get too affected by alcohol ever since the incident with the explosion.
"Not even 500%!" Cisco added. "Shame."
"I'm only 26 and my drinking days ceased to exist a year ago." Barry chuckled. "Kind of the downside to all this."
I exhaled and shook my head, cause (if anything) I know that people sticking with the idea that you should be drunk to have fun is nothing but an illusion. A way to hide and do things they're usually too scared of doing.
"If that goes for me too, it wouldn't make any difference." I said. "I prefer not drinking, cause I know how to have fun without it!"
The others looked at me in a growing silence, surely wondering about the playful grin on my face.
"Just watch!"
I quickly left the table and found the man responsible for the music. I whispered in his ear and then took my place in the middle of the dance floor. Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" started playing through the large speakers. God, I love that song! My body swinged through salsa moves all the way to jazz and after a few moments I got company on the platform. (Not by Caitlin, Cisco or Barry - but other people!)
"She's crazy!" Cisco exclaimed, widely smiling.
"No." Barry contradicted. "She's probably the sanest one of us."
We left the restaurant around half past ten, since we figured everyone needed rest before continuing the search. I wasn't tired (dancing usually puts me in a cheerful mood), so I decided to stop by at the docks. The air was breezy but warm and I felt relaxed as my hair brushed my face. I was surrounded by stony streets and grey boathouses. The dark blue water glittered like gold all the way out to the place where the moon touched the sea. I smiled at the smell of fish…
Then I felt it! The anger. My heart started shining through my chest and out of intuition I started walking down the wharf. After about ten minutes, and I'd turned left when the one wharf became two, I found myself standing outside one of a large, brick boathouse. I was well away from the visited area - this building was abandoned or at least that's what it looked like. I put a hand on my chest and felt the heat. I conjured a fireball in my right hand (just to be on the safe side).
As I walked around the house, I wondered about why I only sensed the anger and not the fear like last time. A rusty metal door showed itself on the side. It was slightly open. Inside, a couple of brown stairs lead the way upwards and the darkness made room for my light. I heard something in a distance… At first it sounded like the vast echo from when you've hit metal, but then I realized it was a voice! A dark and rough voice.
The stairs ended and I was standing on a short scaffold with a room in front of me. The light in my chest shone intensely and I couldn't believe what it allowed me to see! Down in one corner, a beast-like creature was leaning over a sealed trapdoor! The creature was larger than many of the abandoned boats, it's skin was dark (a combination between grey and purple) and it had brown fur all over the body… On top of that, two sharp and thick horns pointed up from its head! I didn't have to do anything to get its attention, cause the light was so strong that it turned around voluntarily. The muscular shoulders were crowned by the head of a bull, though the hands were human, and black hoofs constituted its feet. Red eyes spotted me through the light and I knew at once that I was in trouble…
The minotaur screamed and ran unbelievably fast into the scaffold, making it break and I fell a few meters before hitting the ground. My legs hurt, but I didn't have time to react on the pain before the beast came towards me. Out of mere desperation I threw a ball of fire at it. Luckily, it blasted in its face and almost made it lose footing. I hurried behind one of the bigger boats and tried to look for a way out, but I got interrupted when the minotaur started smashing it to pieces. I had to do something! I closed my eyes and welcomed my flames. The heat was too much for my clothes to handle, although, seeing my moss green superhero suit made fresh courage root inside me (even if the minotaur's scream roared in my ears). I jumped away from the trashed boat and formed a wall of fire, which I pressed at the attacker! When it hit, the minotaur was thrown to the ground. It stood up quickly, screamed at me more violently than before, and ran a hole in the building. Then it was gone!
My palms were still burning when I sensed a vague fear in the air. It came from the trapdoor! It took a lot of my strength to wind it open and when I managed to do it, I saw nothing but darkness.
"Hello!" I cried. "Is anyone there?"
"I… I'm…" a subdued voice answered.
I lit a fire in one of my palms, again. The face I saw was a lot more pale and dirty than it looked on the book cover. Nevertheless, it was the same man.
"Walker!"
Olivia Zoe
12th of May 2015