TWENTY FOUR

ELOISE

I woke up to the noise of people arguing. Or maybe arguing wasn't right; it was more like an angry and aggressive shouting match. The voices were muffled through the walls of my room, but I could still hear them.

“How did she get exposed?” A male voice shouted. It was my father and I knew the man to be a man of few words. If he was pissed, it had to be something unforgivable. "Eloise is still a child! She's not ready for this sort of meeting. She still has nightmares and now you want to open all those wounds that have barely healed?”

"I know but it is not like I have a choice. She is in potential danger and she deserves to know. We've kept up this act of fragile little human for far too long. She is no weakling. Now, where is she?"

The other voice sounded familiar. It sounded like a man. From the baritone laced in his voice, I could tell he was old but I could not shake the feeling that I had heard the voice somewhere. But that was not the only thing that caught my attention. T