Soon enough, Akali found herself situated in one of Evelynn's many ridiculously expensive cars, strapped into the passenger seat. No, it was not some vehicle; her heart sank a little when she saw the same machine Evelynn had driven when she offered her freedom, releasing her from inevitable sorrow and mediocrity. With nothing of any interest to do, she leaned toward the window, enjoying in silence the surroundings passing by as the lawyer sped through surprisingly deprived-of-traffic streets. Looking at her phone's display, she frowned, reminding herself of how ungodly early hour the meeting with Mister Winsome was scheduled. It was 5:45 am, Tuesday. She slowly let go of a somewhat heavy and tired sigh and locked the piece of technology, trying to find something positive about the current situation. But … no matter how she approached it, she could not. Eve remained silent, seemingly trapped in her own imagined world with problems she would never admit aloud. However, the siren's fatigue could not be entirely masked, even using her costly and extensive makeup. She must have stayed up throughout the previous night, overthinking what was beyond her reach. Sure, Akali had her fair share of worry regarding the meeting. It would not have been an overstatement if she had said the whole situation looked strange, fabricated even. Yet, without taking risks, she knew she would not go far. Hence, the insecurities must be discarded and replaced by a perfect mask that ought to fool the man.
In any other scenario, the dark-haired teen would have been happy, for the rising day shaped to be sunny and warm, a perfect one to spend outside whilst fooling around. However, acts like these would have to be postponed. After all, there was no telling how long the encounter with Mister Winsome would last. Other than that, Akali still had classes to attend.
As if her mind was somehow telepathically connected with the lawyer, the latter extended her right hand, grabbing the girl's left and squeezing it reassuringly. There was no need for the silence to be disturbed, as words would not bring any semblance of solace. Yet a wordless promise was bound between them: they would go through whatever fate had in store for them together.
The next couple of minutes passed like a heartbeat, unnoticed and too rapid to follow.
The so-called `diva` parked at the underground lot that the businessman had informed them about, facing only a marginal inconvenience in the form of a singular guard who quickly let them pass. The whole place was enormous; as their reserved spot was on the 3rd level, they needed to circle a tad around the maze-like construct, forced to acknowledge the sheer size of the construction.
Soon enough, the teen and her legal guardian exited the vehicle, smoothing their clothes as they wrinkled slightly throughout the ride. No matter, they needed to hurry up as time was short, and it would be insulting to be late. Keeping their thoughts to themselves, the pair pressed on, cruising through the parking lot and reaching the nearest elevator in what felt like a record time. As the lift's wings slowly parted, its sole occupant was revealed. Considering a quiet, barely audible scoff drawn from the magenta-haired beauty, Eve must have recognised the woman. Yet, Akali remained unsure whether the guardian truly knew her, not that it mattered much. She was clad in a carbon-blue business suit consisting of a jacket and a knee-height pepit skirt. Paired with a snowy shirt and black crossover tie, the combination was more than presentable – it was stylish and elegant. The woman was relatively short, more-or-less of Akali's height, slim, and fragile like a glass. Her lengthy, platinum-blonde hair was put into a high ponytail. A few tiny freckles stained her porcelain-like skin. It was a tad too bright for her liking, but it looked well taken care of. Her big, sapphire eyes regarded them from behind a simple set of half-rim glasses.
Seraphine Mell looked at the diva and her protégé, allowing a small smile to creep in. For a fleeting moment, the assistant had her doubts about these two coming for the scheduled meeting. After all, her experience with Miss Smith has hardly been pleasant so far. Nonetheless, they made it here, which was appreciated.
"Good morning, Miss Smith," Mell greeted the older woman. "And … you must be Akali, right?" she said towards the teen. "Of course, you must be … pardon me for this silly and apparent mistake," she added, not waiting for a response of any kind.
"It remains to be seen, Miss Mell," the siren retorted, tensing a little. "Alas, could we proceed? Akali has school to attend."
"Good morning," the dark-haired girl said, trying to keep at least a semblance of positivity going forward. "My name is Akali, but … you seem to know that already. What is your name?"
"Seraphine Mell, it is a pleasure to meet you in person, Akali finally," the assistant replied, pleased with how the event unfolded. "I would love to stay a tad longer and chit-chat, but we are going to be late for the meeting. So, follow me, please," she added, encouragingly gesturing for them to enter the lift.
It took them a moment to follow, yet a quick and uneasy glance they exchanged did not go unnoticed. No matter. Seraphine opted to play clueless, allowing the wings to close slowly as the silence kicked in.
Mister Winsome was a man of average height, Akali deemed the moment his assistant had led them into a spacious conference room bounded by thick painted purplish walls. His short, recently trimmed dark hair was neatly slicked back with some already visible strands of grey. Yet, it was hardly the only sign of the passing time. The man's skin had long lost its elasticity, leaving his face covered in many wrinkles. Nonetheless, a pair of keen, blue eyes stared at the teen as if trying to look deep into her soul. Looking at him, she was reminded of extensive descriptions and detailed pictures of grandfather's figure she had encountered so many times in books in the past. Nonetheless, whether this first-glance resemblance would pass the test of time remained to be seen. Akali did what she deemed the best, keeping her distance.
"Good morning," Mister Winsome said, gracefully standing up. "I am so happy you found a sliver of time for us to commence this meeting," he added, approaching the newcomers.
"How long will it take?" Evelynn immediately asked, her voice unusually cold, indicating she was about to snap at the moment's notice.
"Unfortunately, I do not know, Miss Smith," the businessman replied, not even slightly bothered by an abrupt and rude question. "Though … I wish I knew. The longest trial lasted approximately thirty minutes," he explained, providing an apologetic smile.
"Please … excuse me for my forwardness, Mister Winsome," Akali started, deeming it necessary to take the lead in this conversation. "What did you mean by `trial`? Is there anything I should be aware of?" she questioned, picking her words carefully so as not to offend the older man.
"Pardon me, child," the man retorted, sighing. "Even though I know better, my mind likes to play games with me. For example, it urges me to believe that you are somehow familiar with this whole trial concept that your potential father had developed. Yet … it is inherently absurd, as you can not possibly know about it. So … follow me, please. I will try to explain this whole … partially uncommon occurrence," he added, evidently mixing facts with what he deemed white lies.
"What you said, sir does not make much sense," the teen commented, trying to stay as polite as possible.
"A mumbling of an old man," Mister Winsome said as if referring to himself. "I was reduced to something I wholeheartedly despised throughout all my life; what a pity," he continued. "You are right, Akali. I will explain everything when we get to the room where the trial takes place."
"How about you telling us what's going on right here, right now?" Evelynn questioned, approaching the man. "If I understood you correctly, you expect us to follow you deeper into this very complex. To that, I have one question: why?" she added, fixating her glittering gaze on the businessman. "Why can't we conclude this trip here?"
"Please, Miss Smith, as I told you before, we need to go through a trial to conclude our business here," the man replied, but his voice lacked confidence.
"What do you mean by `trial`? Let's start from that."
"Eh," a heavy sigh escaped Mister Winsome's throat as he covered his eyes with his right palm. "You are right … perhaps it is high time for me to reveal a silver of secrecy," he resumed after a short pause.
"So? What do you mean by `trial`?" Evelynn repeated her question, filling it with near-physically oozing venom.
"Fine," the businessman sighed again, finally putting down his hand. "Let me first warn you that things I am going to mention might sound like the rambling of a madman," he added, fixating his sight on the lawyer.
"Keep going," the magenta-haired woman commented, not all bothered with Seraphine, who was shooting thunders from her eyes.
"Seraphine, it is fine," the man smiled at his assistant, trying to get a hold of the quickly deteriorating situation. "The `trial` I mentioned requires you to face an artificial construct my friend had devised before his death. As far as I can tell, it possesses a fraction of his memories and behavioural patterns. It determines whether the person trying to access the vault is Patrick Winter's daughter. So far, all we know is that it asks various questions. Some of them are general, commonly accessible things, but some are much more personal," he explained.
"It sounds like a bullshit," Evelynn said flatly.
"As I warned you before, it does sound surreal," Jeff Winsome retorted. "I am afraid I can not say anything more as I simply do not know," he added.
"Eve," the girl cut in before her guardian could express her discontent. "Let's play along for now," she added, flashing a reassuring yet small smile at the diva.
Even though Akali was young and vastly inexperienced, she read him like a book, separating potential lies from the truth. Perhaps her life in the orphanage forced her to quickly distinguish people and solve the puzzles of their facades. No matter, it seemed baffling that someone of Mister Winsome's calibre had such terrible control over his emotions and body language. The businessman appeared to be a nice person for all it was worth, but unfortunately, her first impression had already been formed, tainted with what he most likely deemed white lies. Lying was an aspect of humankind that she detested. Nonetheless, she opted to play along, curious about what would happen next. Hence, she followed him, trusting that there must have been a reason for this strange behaviour and secrecy. Regardless, the decision was not made lightly as it sat uncomfortably with her. Akali had never been a person who would willingly put her trust in someone she knew close to nothing about.
Then, Mister Winsome exited the room and led them down a long corridor. The dark-haired teen swallowed hard, abruptly feeling strangely trapped. As the pathway went straight ahead for some time with no branches in sight, the claustrophobia sensation only grew stronger with each empty office suit they passed by. Perhaps an early hour was to blame for this unexpected occurrence, yet the girl increasingly doubted this theory. No matter, she found a temporary solution for her anxiety, allowing her inherited curiosity to reign for the time being. With that, she began paying more attention to her relatively quickly changing surroundings, trying to inspect each passing room as thoroughly as possible. It worked, to some degree, preventing her from complaining or overthinking the current situation.
Thankfully, the stroll ended at some point, leaving the group standing in front of a heavy-reinforced door. A biometric reader could be spotted, seemingly dead, unpowered, on a nearby wall. That, however, changed the moment the businessman approached. Its display flared back to life, flashing a notification she had no way of reading due to the font size and distance. If she were to guess, it asked the man to provide a sample to verify him. To her surprise, Jeff Winsome started typing on its surface, clearly entering some passphrase - credentials of some sort. Then, however, he leaned in, exposing his eyeball for a scan.
It lasted perhaps a few moments, but it felt like hours had passed for Akali. The reader was visibly satisfied with the provided data, painting its display a livid green colour. With that sequence finished, the reinforced door slowly started parting. The dark-haired girl was full of questions yet somehow miraculously contained her curiosity, remaining silent and eagerly awaiting further development. To her right, Evelynn stood, clearly irritated with the unnecessary waste of time. Her goddess-like face was disfigured with a twisted grimace. Yet, she said nothing, opting to remain as still as a statue. With her right hand gripped on her waist, she looked imposing, intimidating even. She would have paid dearly for a piece of her guardian's mind, as the current situation must have been as stressful for her as it was for the teen, or perhaps there was more to it than meets the eye.
Soon enough, a room hidden behind this steel-enforced gate was revealed. The first thing Akali noticed was an apparent lack of colours aside, of course, eternal white and black. Like in many books, one could identify it as a timeless conflict between good and bad – a power struggle as old as time. However, it would have been a too far-fetched description, too deep and sophisticated for the current situation. It was most likely an intentional decision to leave the compartment as empty and bland as possible. After all, as far as Akali could read the context, it was only meant as a container.
When they finally crossed the threshold, the true enigma was presented. Another reader could be spotted in the room's far left corner, seemingly detached from the whole system. Given that Mister Winsome immediately headed towards it, this must have been a part of the construct he had mentioned earlier, as if someone had whispered a magical phrase and all the pent-up hesitation and anxiety washed over Akali. She stilled momentarily, unable to move. Undoubtedly, it would have lasted far longer had Eve not closed in, trying to comfort her protégé, even though she had no clue how.
"Oh, welcome back, Jeff," a disembodied man's voice filled the room's emptiness. "I gather you bring another girl who could potentially be my creator's daughter?" the same voice followed up with a question.
"Good morning, David," Jeff Winsome greeted back. "Yes, that is a correct assumption."
"A thrilling thing, indeed," so-called `David` commented.
If Akali had remained still previously, she froze now. All she could hear was the man's voice- a familiar sound she could swear she had heard somewhere. Oh … no. It was her supposed father's voice in her dream. Could it be all true? And if so … what would it mean for her? How many dark and uncomfortable secrets had been hidden, sealed from her?
Author's notes section:
I'm deeply sorry for this chapter's length. I wanted it to be longer, but could not do so. Writing this was rather painful and difficult for me. So ... once again, I'm sorry.
Please, note that the dialogues written in italic are thoughts.
As always, I would like to thank you for everything. See you soon :)
Changelog:
[2023-12-26]: A preview has been released.
[2024-01-15]: A minor update was applied, focused solely on developing and enriching the piece.
[2024-02-02]: A major update was applied, focused solely on finishing this piece.
References:
- I'm still standing - Mystic Prophecy
- I'm still standing - Elton John
End of the author's notes section.