ZOLA'S P.O.V
I was flipping through a book that I'd found in some random bookshop when the door flew open, revealing Zelda. She managed to keep her name a secret for a short time. At least until Kiren assigned her as my assistant. Much to her dismay, he introduced us formally, which means I now knew her name.
When I say she was furious, that was an understatement. Her face turned so red that Kiren thought she had a sunburn. Shows how much he had been paying attention prior to his announcement.
"What is it now, Legend?" I asked with a hint of humor in my voice.
She let out a sigh of annoyance and, I must admit, it was a tad bit immature of me. But she had already set the tone for our relationship, so I was just playing my part. Plus, the nickname I gave her wasn't rude, it was actually kind of cool if you asked me.
"He has asked that you join him in the office."
"And he sent you to fetch me?"
"I happened to have stopped by to check on if he needed anything. Turns out, he just needed you. Lucky me."
I looked her up and down, examining her outfit.
"Guess the services you offered were unavailable?" I then asked her sarcastically.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't keep Kiren waiting." She then said with a swift exit.
I wasn't jealous that other girls showed him attention. That was probably because he wasn't mine to be jealous over. Kiren and I were strictly partners. Not the dating kind. No. We were actually just the kind of partners that teamed up to solve a case. Sort of like detectives. The only difference was that we sucked at it. Which makes me wonder if this was really even something to solve or if it was merely fate that brought us together.
I raised my hand to knock on the office's big oak door. But before I could touch the grain, Kiren hollered out 'You don't have to knock, Peach.'
I opened the door, peeking in before fully entering.
"You and I both know what happened when I didn't knock on the last door. I won't repeat that mistake."
"Are we talking about that again? I mean, if you want a play by play, all you had to do was ask." He responded with a hint of laughter in his voice.
"I won't need a play by play. I saw it for myself."
His violet eyes felt like they were burning my flesh. I quickly looked down to make sure that I wasn't actually on fire. Anything was possible with this unpredictable behavior. When I looked back up at him, his tongue gracefully glided across his plump pink lips.
"You're thinking about what I want from you right now. Aren't you?"
"Wha- What? No. Why would I think of anything like that?"
He tilted his head to the side to study me further. I always felt so jittery under his glare. It gave me mixed emotions.
"I was referring to why I called you here."
The scrunch on my face must've been apparent because he laughed.
"What did you think I was referring to?" He then asked when I didn't respond.
I swallowed the saliva pooling in my mouth before opening it to speak.
"Same thing, of course. What else?" My voice was a slightly higher pitch than normal.
His eyes traveled slowly down my body before resting back on my face, with a cocky smirk on his.
"Zola," he said with a serious voice.
Him calling me by my government name made me internally flinch. I know that I've once told him not to call me peach, but I'd grown used to it. Maybe I even liked it.
"Let's cut the flirtiness. What did you need?" I asked confidentially.
"Who said I was flirting with you, Miss. Harkness?" His tone was still serious, which made my heart sink to the pit of my stomach.
First he called me Zola. Now it was Miss. Harkness. What the hell was going on?
"What's wrong?" I asked, confused by his sudden standoffish behavior.
"I think I found someone who knows about our connection."
"Why didn't you just start with that?" Relief flooded my senses.
"Because then I wouldn't have gotten the reaction I got, now would I?"
"Quit playing around. Where did you find her? How did you find her?"
"Not her. A he."
"Okay, and when do we meet him?"
He looked at his watch for a moment and then his eyes met mine.
"Now," he replied before hollering out, "Please enter."
Immediately following his command, the office door opened with a creek. A moment after that, a man who appeared to be middle-aged stepped in. He had a strikingly similar appearance to another, which made my blood feel like it was pounding in my ears.
"Welcome to my home. Thank you for taking the time out of your day and making the trip here to hopefully give us some answers."
But he didn't respond to Kiren. His eyes were fixated on me. The lump in my throat felt like it had gotten even bigger.
Do I know him? I mean he had familiar rare eyes. But what else was it about him that I found so familiar?
"Sorry, do you guys know one another?"
I wanted to answer Kiren. But I didn't know how.
"So, we meet again. Zola." The mysterious stranger with a deep rumbling voice spoke.
I looked over to Kiren, who had an equally confused face.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" I then asked.
He smiled at me as he approached.
"No. But I know you."
Kiren must've been on high alert because he somehow managed to cross the room in record time, getting right between us in a protective manner.
"I'm no threat to you. I am here to help, remember?"
"How do I know you?" I asked again.
"You don't. Not really at least. But I bet you have a vile of me hidden somewhere. If it's not already inside of you."
"What kind of weird joke is that?" Kiren asked in disgust.
"If you know, you know." He responded to him lazily.
"Look, how about we start over. It seems like we got off on the wrong foot. Normally, it takes us longer than a few minutes to do that. But, we are the ones who asked for your help. So, please take a seat so we can talk." I said, trying to be reasonable.
Kiren's eyes watched me closely. When I went to take a seat next to the strange man, he spoke again.
"Actually peach, I think you have a more comfortable seat over here."
He patted his leg with a smirk on his face. I quickly shot my eyes over to look at the stranger sitting beside me, a feeling of embarrassment taking full control.
"Interesting. I must say I didn't see this part in your future."
"You saw my future?" I asked him, astonished.
"Futures tend to change. But yes I did."
"How about let's start by introducing each other?" Kiren said, interrupting our moment. "I'm Kiren. This is-"
"Zola. We've covered that part." He said, cutting off Kiren.
"But what we hadn't covered was your name."
"I thought you found him?" I asked Kiren curiously.
"More like he found us through a grapevine of us trying to find answers."
Now all eyes were on our guest of honor. Something that he seemed to enjoy. The center of attention. All eyes on me, that kind of guy.
"Anyone want to know how I know Zola? Or maybe how I found you? What about how I know about the curse that involves both of you ? Or maybe how is it that I knew Zola is the cursed child?"
"Who are you?"
My heart was racing in my chest waiting for his answer.
"How rude of me. My name is Josiah. And man, is it nice to finally meet you again, Zola Harkness."
His dangerous aura was beginning to suffocate me. I need more information. Like, for instance, what was it about me that caused all these different curses to plague my existence? And how did he know about it?