**** Chapter Fifteen: MAYHEM IN THE CLOSET

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Chapter Fifteen: MAYHEM IN THE CLOSET

The hallway was quiet and deserted.

I stepped outside and headed left, almost tiptoeing until when I heard someone talking. I stopped and looked around but there was nobody. Where was the voice coming from? I had better hurry and get to Demon’s closet before someone saw me.

So I ran. And the world around me blurred. I stopped. And the walls and floor solidified again. I stood near Demon’s bedroom door although I had started walking from my room literally seconds ago.

What just happened? I ran too fast? How fast? Supersonic fast? Wait. So I had bionic powers? I looked back down the hallway. There was no sign of either my door or any other door. Just for kicks, I walked back for some time but no – there was just the long silent hallway. No door. No room.

I turned around and ran again to Demon’s room. The door was shut. I put my hand out to open it.

Crash!

I stood in the doorway to Demon’s bedroom staring at the door on the floor, splintered to pieces. What had I done? Had I done it? What was wrong me?

Oh no – I was Hercules!

And I had broken down Demon’s door. Oh, he was so gonna kill me! I jumped over the splinters and cautiously tiptoed across his room. Couldn’t afford to do any more damage. At least not before I found something to wear. There was no sign of him anywhere so I hurried to the closet.

I walked into his closet and looked hungrily at all those clothes. There were so many! Though he really needed to venture into the color wheel. Most his stuff was black or so dark that it would pass off as black. Some was white.

I grabbed a black shirt off the hanger and put it on. It wasn’t a fit – of course – but it fell long enough to cover the lingerie. Sniff! The lemony scent of fresh laundry!

Well enough ogling the shirt. Now, something for the legs. Just then I thought I heard a sound. It was rhythmic and consistent. Like footsteps. Someone walking. And nearby. I cautiously peered out of the closet but the room was empty. I came back inside.

The sound grew closer and closer until I realized it was perhaps just outside the room. But how could I hear anything happening outside while I was inside a closet? Did I have super hearing too?

A scream confirmed that.

I poked my head out of the closet again and saw Azure frozen by the dead door.

“How? What?” His eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets. Seemed to me he was holding his breath too.

“Hi, Azure.” I stepped out and faced him.

He jumped back in shock and, grabbing the empty doorframe, let out a loud gasp.

“God!” I frowned. “You seen a ghost?”

Azure stared back. “YOU CAN HEAR AGAIN!”

I covered my ears. “Yes, I can hear you. Why are you shouting?"

“I AM NOT SHOUTING!” He said. Then he cleared his throat and stepped forward.

“I’m whispering now.” But his voice seemed normal to me.

“What is happening?” I removed my hands from my ears. “How come I could hear Rumir just fine? But you – first you’re shouting and now whispering? You sound fine to me now.”

“Oh – wait.” He took out a tiny bottle from a small pocket in his loincloth. It reminded me of the clear liquid he had helped me drink during my sleep spells. “Your powers are manifesting and your ears are making my words seem loud. But this potion will help restore them until your body adjusts to the change. I’ve been giving it to you every day and I guess its effect must’ve worn off. That’s all.”

I drank the potion. It was tasteless, like water. “How long before my body adjusts to the change?”

“In time and with practice. It’s like a skill you master – like a toddler learning to walk or talk. Meanwhile you’ll have to take the potion to keep them under control.” “Are you whispering now?” I asked and he smiled and shook his head.

“The potion works instantly,” he said.

"Ok, so I have super hearing and everything is bright to me?" I said. “And I can move with the speed of light.”

"Much more than that Aoife,” he said. “You should be able to see things clearly from great distances. Your strength will overpower any creature. You’re a Syhlain warrior Aoife – the perfect match in power for any Demon of Volttus. Er – which brings me back to now – and – I –” his voice trailed off as he got busy gawking at the broken door, then at me in Demon’s shirt.

“Did you see the rags I was wearing?” I glared at him. “And sorry about the door. I didn't know I was that strong.”

“Okay we can fix the door but – you’re wearing his shirt!” He sounded nervous.

“Because apparently there is no other decent piece of clothing in this entire

slutville.”

“Yes, the lingerie was a bad choice.” He frowned thoughtfully.

“Who helped me into it?” I had to know!

“Kara. The housekeeper – uh, she’s a girl.” He smiled and I heaved a heavy sigh of relief. “But you must take off his shirt he doesn’t approve –”

“What?” I cut in. “And let him see me like this? You know how that would go, I don’t trust him one bit. Na-uh! The shirt is mine now. And now I need pants.” I walked back into the closet.

Azure followed me still protesting but I paid no attention and started scavenging for a pair of something to cover my legs with. There were pants – thousands of them it seemed for every occasion from breakfast in bed to a bowtie affair. I picked one at random and draped it against my waist to see if I should try it on. It was really like shopping – only in a men’s store.

“It’s too long for you,” Azure said quickly. “You’re five four. He’s six two. Now please put that back!”

I did and started combing another row. “Doesn’t he have any trunks? Shorts? Anything with a drawstring that I can pull and tie to fit my waist and not too long to drag behind me like a veil?”

“Look I’ll buy you new clothes. Will you please stop touching his?”

“Ha! Look at you all lily-livered. He can touch me anyhow he likes and I can’t touch his shirts?” I laughed and it wasn’t nice. “Okay I have an idea.” I pulled out another pair of trousers and walked up to a chest of drawers resting in one corner of the mammoth closet.

“What are you doing?” Azure was bursting with exasperation.

“Scissors.” I rummaged through the drawers, all filled with nicely folded – ahem – men’s lingerie! “Or maybe I can just wear one of his boxers.”

“Aoife!” Azure hissed this time. “Why do you want scissors?”

“So I can cut these trousers to size.” I said it plainly, blinking to declare my honesty.

“No!” He was completely freaked out by that. “Gimme that!” He grabbed the trousers from his end and tried to pull them free from my grip.

“Let go, Phromaz!” I fought back and pulled the garment toward me.

That soft little sound sent Azure into an unexplainable frenzy. “Aoife! Drop the pants!” He pulled again.

“Sounds like something your master would enjoy saying!” I said. “Let go or it’ll rip more!”

That sent a direct message to Azure’s nervous system and he reacted immediately by letting the pants go free just when I was pulling the hardest. The result – in the wake of my newfound herculean strength – I bumped into one side of the chest of drawers and sent it flying into the nearby rows of hangers and shoe racks.

CRASH!

Before I could blink and wish it hadn’t happened – it already had. The entire wall on one side of the closet came crashing down. Azure and I gasped in real fear this time. The debris of soiled fabrics and leather hadn’t even settled yet when I heard – what I did not want to hear just then.

Holding my breath and half hoping I’d drop dead or melt, I slightly turned my head and saw from the corner of my eye.

Demon – stood in the closet doorway.