After a while, Nadine knew she had to go to her father’s office downstairs to tell him the updates. Lena entered her office to give her another bunch of reports she needed. She gathered everything tightly between her hands and stood up. 

She took a deep breath and went directly to the stairs to head to her father’s office. Her feet were hurting her from wearing the heels, she hated them. She took her time going downstairs. She wanted to focus her feelings on the pain rather than on her overwhelming anxiety.

The clicking sound of her heels echoed in her ears like her heartbeat; unsteady, yet strong. Her eyes focused on her feet. The stairs seemed infinite. She looked up at the floor she was on. It was on the ninth floor. “What?!” she said.

She looked around, confused. She went down again, yet this time her eyes were right at the end of the stairs. Her eyes widened and her breath stopped for a long second. The number beside the door was nine. “What the hell?!” she said, whispering.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. She put the papers she was holding on the last step of the stairs, closed her eyes tightly and inhaled a deep breath. “Don’t freak out.” She expected the usual two floors down—no more, no less. But with each step, the stairs refused to end. They spiraled downward endlessly, coiling like a serpent beneath her, floor numbers vanishing into a white blur. The hum of lights faded, replaced by a wind that didn’t belong indoors—cool, but not from the AC. It carried the scent of blooming lotus, thick and haunting, as if time itself exhaled a forgotten memory. “I’m okay…. I’m not dreaming.”

She grabbed the papers and went down yet again, her eyes slightly closed and focused on her feet. When she reached the last step before the next floor door, she shut her eyes once and raised her head, slowly she opened her eyes and saw the number beside the door. “Nine!” she said and sneered. “Someone must have changed all the numbers to nine.”

She rolled her eyes and held the doorknob. Nadine decided to take the elevator to get to her father’s office faster. Anxiety was taking over her. She opened the door harshly and stepped inside in a fast irrevocable move.

The door opened to an empty hall. The floor was awfully quiet. Each floor in the building was identical, and all halls ended with the emergency stairs mostly crowded with photocopiers and employees. Nadine looked around as she walked down the long hall. It was empty, with everything looking unused, and the floor felt cold and abandoned. The scent was long gone.

The end of the hall ends with the beginning of the enormous floor that is mostly filled with a number of desks occupied by busy employees, yet the one Nadine walked in was empty. No one else but her. “Hello?” her voice reverberated loudly. “Where is everyone?!”

Heavy footsteps lightly stomp the floor. She cocked her head back as the noise coming from the hallway behind her crept into her ears. She scanned the empty hallway with her eyes, trying to locate the noise’s source. Even though it was coming closer, nothing embodied it. Whatever was making these noises appeared to be moving slowly in her direction.

Along with the pounding of the steps, she could feel her heart thumping quickly. She felt a gusty breeze penetrate her body and awaken all her senses. For a split second, the air was gone, and her heart halted. Every inch of her was drenched in the breeze as if something had gone right through her.

As the footsteps moved, Nadine’s breath was forced back into her lungs. “Our women inherit the key for a reason,” Nadine heard an elderly woman’s voice suddenly resound in her ears, along with some heavy, angrier-sounding footsteps. “That’s what we get for raising a frivolous boy.”

From the opposite end of the hallway, more footsteps followed Nadine. “Stop saying that, mother, he is your grandson,” a second female voice stated. “He must have a reason for using the key.”

The distance between Nadine and the two distinct footsteps increased. She didn’t hesitate and followed the sounds. “A reason! He let living souls get in! You must be blind to the mess we are in. They summoned us, the oracle won’t let it go easily.” the older voice said.

“Yes, mother, but there must be a good reason. He would never put us in danger.” To follow the two female voices, Nadine continued to move between the desks. The older voice said something, but Nadine couldn’t hear it.

She was in front of a door to an office. She could clearly hear the two voices inside fighting. They spoke one name loudly and clearly enough for her to hear despite the door blocking her ability to hear any other words. She got curious, grabbing the doorknob and jerkily flung it open.

It felt like an electric shock hit her. The open-door frame revealed her father, who was enraged. “Don’t you know how to knock first?” he inquired sternly. Everyone was looking at her with concern. Everything in her mind vanished at this point. She bit her bottom lip hard, feeling the unusual tension in the room.

“My apologies,” she said, clearing her throat and looking at the papers between her delighted fingers, “I called our law department, and we worked it out.” She handed him the documents.

“How could you let those idiots put me in this situation!” he raged, hurling the papers at her. The papers slammed into her and landed on the ground, leaving everyone gasping.

“I did everything correctly, and they received everything on time,” Nadine defended herself. She looked at everyone except her father, who was sitting at his desk in the middle, surrounded by the heads of every department. His office was the largest in the entire organization. Divided into two sections — one with his desk and the other with a large conference room — crowded with managers who all had the same anxious, almost fearful reaction.

“I gave them the designs and the instructions correctly—” she looked at her father, her breath stuck in her lungs yet again, and time was frozen, everything and everyone in their places.

Behind her father’s desk was a floor-to-ceiling glass wall with a panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea. On the other side, a swarm of golden strings shot into the air, gradually transforming into an angelic golden bird. Its almond-shaped eyes and incandescent blue fire gaze astounded her to the core. The bird vanished when Nadine blinked. “—that’s not my problem.”

“You’re in charge of design and implementation; it’s your responsibility!” he said, pointing to her. Nadine sighed as she realized she couldn’t convince him it wasn’t her fault. She returned her gaze to the wall behind him, which was nothing but a glamorous sea view.

He kept blaming Nadine for everything that went wrong with the Sweden project and how she turned out to be a complete failure — Nadine felt a burning sensation in her chest as if her heart were being eaten away. She wished she could pause everything for a moment. It wasn’t her father’s rage or what had happened two days before. It was something more, something she couldn’t put her finger on — he finally ended his lengthy speech by telling her how irresponsible she was.

“I alr—” Her father motioned for her to leave when his phone rang; on the other end was the executive manager of the Sweden company. She was embarrassed, and her cheeks turned a darker pink than usual; she looked around at the other managers, who gave her apologetic looks.

Nadine left his office feeling oppressed, the floor crammed with employees all staring at her like a lost puppy. She despised the way her father treated her, but she couldn’t change it. She pressed the elevator buttons, feeling all eyes on her. She walked into her office after reaching her floor and told Lena to arrange a meeting with the project’s executive team in half an hour.

She walked away from Lena and headed to the rooftop. She took in the breathtaking scenery that surrounded the company. There was a vast garden on one side of the street and the Mediterranean Sea on the other. She stepped up to the rooftop railing and removed her heels. She cried as soon as she placed her hand on the railing, and a flashback of the previous few days flashed before her eyes.

Alexandria, Egypt, December 15, 2009, 8:30 pm.

It was a lovely evening. Nadine and Adam were at her favorite restaurant for dinner. “How was your day?” Adam asked, smiling. He kissed the back of her left hand. She slid her hand across his smooth, shaved face; she despised it when he shaved his beard. Adam had an uneven, thin beard that gave him the appearance of a teenage boy, but she wanted him to grow it. She never told him that having facial hair was preferable to having none.

She didn’t care enough.

Adam was a tall, thin man with fair skin that turned reddish most of the time and silky chestnut-colored hair that he ran his fingers through every two minutes. He didn’t entice her; he was the kind of safe, comfortable love that made her smile every now and then but wasn’t passionate.

She never admitted to anyone, including herself, that her heart does not belong to him, and it never has. She moved her hand away from him and gazed deeply into his brown eyes. “Long boring day, as usual, and yours?” she asked, her dimples deep on both her cheeks.

The night passed quietly. They got coffee after leaving the restaurant and headed to Adam’s car. Adam drove them to their favorite café, which took them ten minutes to reach. While Nadine waited in, Adam got out of the car to order. He left his phone, which kept making noises. Someone was sending him a flood of messages.

Nadine couldn’t stand the constant ringing of the phone, so she took it to turn the volume down, only to discover that Adam’s sister was the one sending the messages. She knew his sister wouldn’t send anything because she was preoccupied with her three-year-old triplets.

Nadine looked around the café. He won’t get mad, she thought. When she opened the most recent message, her expression changed; she appeared devastated. Nadine took a deep breath and looked out the café window, where Adam was waiting for his turn.

Adam returned twenty minutes later with two cups of coffee. “God! the whole place is packed,” Adam said, not looking at Nadine. She was on the phone, speaking sternly.

“Are you getting close to the house? good, just give them to Camellia, no one else,” she said as she hung up the phone, then glared at Adam.

“Are you okay?” he inquired, feeling the tension from her abrupt harsh look.

“Yes,” Nadine replied, looking out the window next to her. “I’m fine.”

“Okay... are we going home?”

“No, to Camellia’s,” she said, taking a deep breath.

Adam nodded and began driving. He kept talking all the way to Camellia’s house, where her parents were hosting a gathering of family and friends to celebrate the opening of their new hospital. Nadine felt a rush of rage in her body. Every time he held her hand, she glared at it. His gaze fixed on the road. He didn’t seem to notice her discomfort.

When her phone rang with Camellia’s name on its screen, Nadine was distracted by her thoughts. “Nadine! what happened?” Camellia said it loudly, almost shouting. Adam turned to face Nadine, who forced a smile and turned down the phone volume.

“I’m going to tell you everything, just do what she told you,” Nadine stated calmly. Adam fixed his gaze on her. “It’s a wonderful surprise.”