The doors opened and everything was pitch black, with a couple of dim candles in the corners of the hall. I can't work in pure darkness. We walked through the hallway and came to a stop in front of three doors. Hades, Olympus, Underworld. Sylver knocked lightly on the door with Hades above it and opened the door, allowing me to walk in first. The office was large, with four large tables and one table at the end of the room where Hayden was sitting on the phone. Sylver placed his finger to his mouth, signaling me to be quiet, and walked me over to Hayden's table. The office was a lot lighter than I had thought it would be. The outside was pitch black, but three bright lights on the ceiling were lighting up the room. Hayden looked up at us for a second, brushing his thick hair out of his face and nodding to somebody on the phone.
"I know, I know, look can we talk about this later?" He stared at some paperwork on his table. "Well because I have better things to do. I have a new starter. I don't have time for this. Okay. Bye, bye." He hung up the phone and exhaled annoyed. "Welcome Miss Lockwood. Thank you Sylver for helping her find her way. I will give Toru a call and let him know you are on your way." He smiled politely at Sylver and me.
"Thank you, sir." Sylver smiled and turned to me one last time. "It was nice to meet you, Miss Lockwood." He shook my hand again and walked out of Hayden's office.
"You're an hour early. Your uncle did tell me you were eager to learn. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to send you any directions to my office, it completely fell out of my head." He got up from his seat and walked over to me. "You can set your things down here. I will get you a login for the computer and get your laptop calibrated to our server." He opened the chair for me, and I sat down. I took out my laptop and handed it to him and he placed it on his desk. "Were you able to look through the file I gave you?"
"Yes sir. I have them right here. I found all the mistakes in the system and wrote my answers on the back of the page. I didn't get a chance to get myself an entrance card, due to nobody believing that I am working with you, but other than that I think I've done everything you've asked for." I chuckled and he stared at me concerned. He always looked serious; I could hardly notice his eyes slightly soften.
"No worries, I will take care of it." He walked over to his desk and picked up some papers. "I need you to sign this form."
"What is it?" I took them from his hands.
"Underworld is a dangerous place for a human. This is just to say that you will not leave the premises without an escort or unannounced. I promised your uncle I would take care of you, so I intend to keep that promise." He smiled, but his face was still profoundly serious.
"Okay." I signed the document and he took it back to his desk.
"I will get you a temporary login for now and here's a phone so you can reach me if you need anything." He handed me a phone, that looked to be a little bit more advanced than an iPhone and handed me a piece of paper with my login details. Hayden walked back to his table and sat down. I began to log on and the computer began to start up, but a weird sound was echoing, and the screen went completely blank. Assuming that this was normal I proceeded to wait for it to load.
Suddenly I could smell something burning and I turned to Hayden, but too afraid to say anything, I waited for another second, before looking over to him again. This time I caught his attention and he looked over to me just in time. An explosion echoed through my ears and I felt somebody carry me away from all the smoke and shattered glass. Dust filled the room and my computer was alight like a firework. Men rushed through the door, putting out the fire with extinguishers.
"Miss Lockwood? Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Hayden's tall figure was aligned to mine as he stood in front of me, shadowing my view of the fire. His arm was still softly wrapped around my waist.
"I'm okay," I said as my heart was inside my throat and I could barely breathe through the smoke. I could hardly put the pieces of what happened together. I knew the computer had exploded, but I wasn't sure how Hayden had gotten us across the room so quickly. Hayden walked over to the men putting the fire out and talked to them for a second, before returning to me.
"You're bleeding." He calmly said pulling up a chair for me to sit down and getting down on one knee in front of me. I looked down at my ripped skirt and a thick line of blood had run down my leg. I lifted my torn skirt, revealing a piece of glass wedged in my skin. I exhaled a deep breath and looked away. "Does it hurt?" Hayden asked and I shook my head, looking at his beautiful eyes. He placed one of his hands on the side of my thigh, pulling my leg closer to him and I could barely catch my breath as my chest filled with cold air. Shivers ran down my spine as his hands ran across my leg. "I'm going to pull it out on three. Take a deep breath and hold on to the edge of the seat." I nodded and took a deep breath trying to focus on the pain and not his hands on my thigh. "One, two, three…"
"Ouch!" He pulled the glass from my leg and it immediately began to bleed even more. The pain ran through my body like a bullet, but I refrained from crying. He placed his hand over my cut and held it there for a moment. I felt something soft brush against my skin and as he lifted his hand my cut was completely gone with a light scar left and blood running down my leg.
"Much better." He smiled and walked over to the bathroom, coming out with a wet towel, handing it to me.
"Thank you." I stared at him as he nodded like it was nothing and walked over to see if the fire had been put out. I could see several figures outside of the office, waiting to see what happened. Suddenly a slender girl with long, red hair ran through the door and hugged Hayden. I broke my stare immediately. Though I had seen more than enough on Earth, I was still amazed at Hayden's ability to heal my leg.
"Are you okay? What happened?" I heard her say. She seemed eagerly clingy and Hayden pulled her hands off himself and quietly explained what happened, before asking her to leave and take everyone else with her. She nodded and walked past me with a stern look, taking everybody else with her.
"Perhaps you should return to your room for today and get some rest. I apologize and I assure you that I will find whoever is responsible for such a cruel joke." His face was still as serious as ever, but it seemed like a mild inconvenience to him. If that is their way of greeting me to the Underworld, I wonder what else is waiting for me. I couldn't possible cop-out of my first day working with the King of the Underworld when I was no longer hurt.
"I am okay to continue sir. You've taken care of my leg, so there is no reason for me not to continue." I smiled, but he shook his head annoyed.
"You don't have to do that. I know everyone has already warned you that I am a heartless workaholic, but I know that humans handle pain differently, with which comes shock and exhaustion. I won't think any less of you or your work if you go back to your room and rest." He seemed emotionless. I got up from my seat, ready to prove myself. I was just as good as any Underworlder there.
"I assure you that I am okay to continue sir." I smiled and he nodded agreeing with my decision.
"Well you still need to go and change, your skirt is torn." He pointed to the large rip in my skirt.
"Oh, that's okay." I smiled and walked over to his table taking a pin and pining my skirt together. "It will do for today." I smiled as Hayden stared at me potentially impressed. His facial expressions were hard to distinguish.
"If you say so, Miss Lockwood." He smiled and walked over to his table picking up my laptop and taking his out of his draw and walking us out of the dirty, dusty room. He led us both into the Underworld office and placed my laptop down at a table. He picked a flash drive from his pocket and stuck it into my laptop.
"Should be ready to go for now." He sat down at his table with his laptop and continued to work as if nothing had happened. I opened the laptop, allowing it to start up as I looked around. The room looked like a normal office, but I couldn't help and imagine the number of gods that had sat in those chairs over the centuries and I was sitting there with the God of the Underworld. Me. Little tiny human.
"Perhaps I should get Sylver to help train you on our system, that way you'll be more comfortable having already met him," Hayden asked and I nodded agreeing. "I will give Toru a call and see if he's available." Hayden picked up the phone and called Toru. He then called somebody else and asked them to help me get to Sylver's office. I collected my things and waited patiently for somebody to come and take me. A couple of minutes passed, and the same skinny, red-headed girl entered the office.
"Rose, can you help Miss Lockwood to Sylver's office please." She looked up at me annoyed and exhaled a deep breath with a smile.
"Of course, sir." She turned back around and walked out of the office and I followed her. We stood quietly by the elevator door, waiting for it to come down and I could tell she didn't like me very much. I had given her no reason to, but that didn't seem to matter.
"I really shouldn't have to do such menial jobs, with Hayden being my boyfriend and all." She said rolling her eyes, clearly marking her territory with Hayden.
"I'm sure he gives you anything that you can handle." She smiled at me stepping into the elevator, not realizing that that was more of an insult than a prays. Hayden must think very little of her to not consider her for my position. We stood in silence and I tried to compose myself and be friendly, despite everyone else treating me like I'm a piece of trash on the street. We got out of the elevator and she walked me across several booths and glass offices until we approached one at the very end of the room.
"He's in there." She pointed to the door and turned around to leave. Suddenly, I felt something vibrate in my bag and I quickly fetched it out, realising it was the phone Hayden had given me. The number was unknown to me and I quickly answered it.
'Hello?'
'Eve?!' I knew that voice immediately, it was Max and I quickly scanned the room for a bathroom or somewhere more private than in the middle of all these booths. Across the room, I noticed a bathroom sign and quickly walked over to it.
'Max?! This is my work phone number; you can't call me here!'
'I need your help, Eve.'
'You always need my help. Call Dorian. Don't call me here!' I hung up and exhaled a deep breath, getting my thoughts together before leaving the bathroom. I opened the door and there's a man standing in front of me, tilting his head back and forth as if examining me.
'Ex-boyfriend?' He asked staring at me. I thought it was rude to eavesdrop.
'No.' I began to slowly walk away from the strange man and knock on Sylver's office door, before walking in.
'Hey, I heard what happened, are you okay?' He approached me from behind his desk and hugged me like we've been long-time friends.
'I'm fine. Thank you.' I smiled as he let go of me.
'I can't believe somebody would do that to you on your first day. Good thing Hayden was there.' I nodded smiling and hoping to move on from the embarrassing conversation.
'Can I ask you a question? There was a man standing outside of the bathroom, just staring at me and eavesdropping on my phone conversation. He was wearing a grey suit and had short brown hair.' I walked over to an empty table and set my things down.
'On this floor? Phoenix. Hayden's brother. He shouldn't be listening to your conversations, that's not right.' Sylver shook his head. He sat down beside me and began to show me how to use their system and make my own login.
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