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"Yes, exactly. You'd think I could name this place, but I've been to too many holy places, so I lack objectivity." Tensely, he ran his fingers through his blond hair.
"I know two men who could help us," I interjected calmly.
Tanael looked at me piercingly. "Who exactly are you talking about?"
"My brother Chris and our friend Edward."
Tanael's eyebrows shot up. "Are you saying two humans can figure out what I seem to be missing?" he asked, challengingly.
"That's exactly what I'm trying to say," I said triumphantly, smiling sweetly at him.
"Then let's pay them a visit right now and see if your trust in them is justified." His cocky grin was dripping with arrogance.
He bowed to me elegantly and held out his hand in invitation. Next to the desk, a portal opened. Without reacting to Tanael's gesture, I walked towards the glistening light. With one foot already on the other side, I realized that this was the third portal I had passed through in a day.
I could get used to this way of traveling between worlds.
CHAPTER 15
As soon as I stepped out of the light into the other world, I looked around in confusion. Had I even traveled? This garden was precisely like the one I had just come from in the underworld.
Tanael appeared next to me in the deep black shade of a palm tree. He looked around with satisfaction.
"I love the Hamptons." He sighed with a longing I only knew from myself when I thought of the sea and the beach. The Hamptons? Now, I could hear the sound of the sea not far from us. The real sun shone warmly on my skin, and the breeze swirled through my black hair, carrying the scent of the salty water, the tangy sand, and the sweet jasmine of the garden.
Freedom! That's what freedom smelled like! But it was only an illusion, deceptive because there was no more freedom for me in this world.
"Where are they?" I asked Tanael without looking at him. I was too busy trying to hide my feelings and the pain from him that thoughts of the cage were causing me. I had been trapped behind its golden bars for what felt like an eternity.
"Your family?" he asked the counter question.
I nodded silently. Loneliness had accompanied me for so long in this world, and the memory of it crashed over me like a wave. My body reacted reflexively as if it knew what awaited me here.
Everything inside me urged me to return to the underworld, back to where I had finally been myself again for a long time—confident, self-determined, and, above all, not alone. I even preferred Tanael's company to the lonely hours with my embroidery thread.
"They're in the house. Your brothers and your father. I've informed Sam that we're coming."
Before he had finished the sentence, I had already started walking along the path that would lead me safely to the magnificent beach villa. It wasn't long before it appeared in front of me. This beautiful, peaceful-looking building I had lost my heart to. Although the villa in the underworld gave it a run for its money.
Without stopping, I stormed into the house via the terrace.
"Dad!" I shouted loudly as I ran through the various rooms on the first floor.
"Chris! Jordy! Rick!"
Suddenly, a door opened behind me, and my father stepped through with a surprised facial expression.
"Myrina? Is that you?" he asked, his eyebrows drawn together. Almost as if he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Dad!" A tear stole onto my eyelashes, and I couldn't suppress a happy sob as I fell into his arms.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, hugging me tightly. "You're supposed to be with your uncle in London."
Uncle in London? We had no family in England, let alone an uncle at all. My parents had both been only children. Disturbed by my father's words, I peeled myself out of his embrace.
"London? ... Uncle?" I stammered incoherently.
"Yes, you're visiting there all summer," Dad told me worriedly.
