4. FIRST KILL

"You can't just leave me after telling me you exist, sir." Zoie said as she looked up at the man in front of her. "I'm not asking for much but if you won't tell me who you are then can you at least be kind enough to answer a few questions?"

Cronos gave Zoie a soft smile. He knew that she was almost ready. He knew that Zoie was about to burst out of her bubble and stop caring about what people thought but he refused to have her go through anything alone. Grabbing her by her hand, Cronos walked her over to the piano.

"Yes." He replied.

Looking over at the beautiful man, Zoie cleared her throat and prepared herself to ask a question. She never expected him to say yes and now she was having a hard time trying to think of a question. Looking around the familiar ballroom, Zoie knew what to ask.

"Where are we?"

Cronos raised a brow at her question. "Even I don't know that but I believe this is a place you're drawn towards."

"I've never seen this place a day in my life."

"Zoie, remember when I told you that I really existed?"

"Of course!" Zoie replied.

"This place exists just like I do. You possess many abilities and know how to control them all except for this one in particular." Cronos revealed.

Zoie froze in her place. She had no idea what he was talking about. With every conversation between the both of them, he left her even more confused.

"What are you saying?"

Cronos smiled. "This may be a dream but it's all real. This is the only way you and I can communicate until I am free."

"Free from what?" Zoie asked. She watched as Cronos smiled at her softly.

"Why don't I show you?" He asked. Nodding her head, Zoie followed behind Cronos as he lead her to one of the doors in the room. Opening it, Zoie gasped at the sight in front of her. They were standing in darkness. In front of them was a surrounding wall of bronze and a pair of gates guarded by something Zoie had never seen ever.

"Let's just call them giants." Cronos said as he looked down at Zoie who stared at the Hecatoncheires in shock. Cronos smirked to himself as he realized that Zoie wasn't afraid of them. "They guard those gates. They have fifty heads and one hundred arms."

"Why are we here?" Zoie asked as she took her eyes off the gigantic beast.

"Whenever you open yours eyes and wake up from your slumber, I sit behind that gate trapped. The only time I'm able to exit is when you fall asleep and you bring me to that ballroom." Cronos announced.

Zoie shook her head. She couldn't believe it. She knew there were many things that were considered impossible yet they were possible but she just refused to believe this. She could hear the sounds of what sounded to be hundreds of people talking from behind the gates.

"What is this place?" Zoie whispered.

"They've been fearful of your arrival since you are the only one who can free me other than the one who banished me here." Cronos explained. He knew that it would be too much to tell Zoie that she was in Tartarus and the one who banished him there was his own son. Looking around, Cronos knew that Zoie would wake up soon. This was the only way she would be able to get him out of the hell without catching the attention of Zeus, Hades, or Chaos and Gaia.

"Banished?" Zoie asked.

"Set me free, Zoie." Cronos replied. "I'll tell you everything as soon as you free me."

Nodding her head, Zoie slowly turned towards the three large giants. They hadn't noticed that she was there which caused her to be even more confused. Raising both hands in the air, Cronos watched as Zoie's eyes changed to black. Smirking to himself, he watched as one of the giants screamed in pain.

Zoie moved her hand forward as the arms on the giant were ripped off. She did the same to the other two giants who looked around to see who was doing the torture. Suddenly, Cronos heard the sound of Zoie groaning. Turning around, he stared at her as she pulled the gates apart. Before he could do anything else, Zoie ripped the Hecatonchires apart.

"Zoie?" Cronos whispered.

Zoie opened her eyes slowly as the sunlight beamed through the blinds. She felt different than usual. Sitting up slowly, she looked around and realized that she was now in her room meaning only one thing...

She had woken up.

Groaning, Zoie stood up from her bed as she marched towards the door to her bedroom. Zoie made my way towards the large occupied kitchen. She watched as Sabrina went through the fridge, Crystal and Chanel sat at the counter on their phones while Matt, Ross, and Oscar stood behind the counter joking off. Tossing a dirty look towards Oscar, Zoie walked passed them all and went straight to the fridge.

Sabrina moved back and smiled. "Morning Z!"

"Morning!" Zoie greeted. Zoie grabbed a water bottle before slamming the fridge door shut and turning faced them only to see that Sabrina watched Zoie with wide eyes and Crystal gasped before tapping Chanel on the arm.

"Wow Zoie!" Sabrina exclaimed. "Is it me or are you glowing?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You just look really pretty!"

Chanel squinted her eyes at Zoie as she placed her phone down on the countertop. "There's something about you but I can't put my finger on it."

Crystal shrugged. "Keep it up."

Chanel nodded her head in agreement. "You don't look like you smell."

Crystal giggled as Ross tossed an empty water bottle at the both of them. He walked over to Zoie and placed his hand on her shoulder causing Zoie to immediately tense up. "Stop being that way and give her a compliment without insulting her."

"Agreed!" Sabrina shouted.

Ross turned his head and looked down at Zoie with a soft smile, "You look lovely!"

In Zoie's head were voices telling her to snap his neck. It was beginning to become a little hard to ignore the voice in the back of her mind as she felt the urge to do exactly what she was told. Balling her hands into a fist and smirking, Zoie turned faced Ross. "Thank you, Ross."

She watched as the smile on his face dropped and he backed away from her quickly. Chanel stood up and stared at him in shock as Oscar and Matt walked closer.

"You alright there?" Crystal asked him. Ross nodded his head slowly before shaking it.

"I thought I saw something."

Zoie tuned them out as they began their childish antics. She leaned against the counter and stared at the photo of the man on her phone screen. Zoie remembered her mom showing photos of him and saying how much she missed him. He smiled brightly as he gave a thumbs up.

"Justin Payne becomes the second richest man in Boston as Payne Enterprises becomes the biggest company in Massachusetts." Zoie read to herself.

Her Uncle.

Zoie quickly went to google before searching for plane tickets only to smile at the sight of a ticket for $323. Sighing heavily at the thought of digging into her savings for the trip, Zoie carried on with booking her flights immediately.

"Hey Matt?" Zoie called out. Matt turned faced her and raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Would you mind driving me to the airport in Seattle? I'm supposed to be meeting someone there."

"Where are you going?" Sabrina asked.

"Nowhere. I'll be in Seattle for a few days. I'm meeting someone to discuss school."

"You have a friend?" Matt asked shocked.

"Of course not! Whoever the person she's meeting is only doing it for business. She said that the person is discussing college with her so it could possibly be a recruiter." Chanel said.

Matt shrugged. "Sure."

Within the next few hours, Zoie was in the passenger seat of Matt's car as he drove her to Seattle with the plane ticket hidden in her bag. The ride was about an hour in a half then Zoie was on the plane headed to Boston. After being on the plane for what seemed like forever, she arrived at Logan Airport. Zoie kept her head down with the black hat over my head as she made her way towards the women's bathroom.

Zoie stared at her reflection in the mirror as she took her deep breath. There was no going back. Zoie knew that it wasn't the greatest idea to attempt to meet her uncle but she wanted to at least see what he would be like in person. To protect her identity, Zoie knew that she would have to use her abilities.

"Let's do this," Zoie whispered to herself. She closed my eyes as I felt the change. Zoie could feel as her body completely changed from the inside and outside. She stood there with her eyes closed until the process was over.

Slowly, Zoie opened her eyes and stared at her reflection in the mirror as she took in her new appearance. Zoie's long brown hair was now a lighter shade with highlights, her face was nowhere near the same as her eyes were now a light shade of brown, her lips were a bit smaller than normal as was her nose. Quickly, Zoie went into her bag and put the clothes on. She wore a black suit with white heels that she had managed to borrow from Sabrina's closet.

Grabbing the sunglasses that she owned, Zoie placed them on and made her way out of the bathroom. Zoie took the little amount of money she had left to get a taxi to the well known company. Slamming the door behind her, Zoie looked up at the huge building. She pushed the tall glass doors open as people in suits walked around in a rush. Zoie laid eyes on the two women who at the front desk.

"Sir, are you sure?" Zoie heard a man say. "You don't think you're just overthinking it?"

"Of course not." She heard a man respond. I wasn't in my right state of mind when I first did it. I don't have any kids so I just planned to give it all to my mother but now she's on her death bed so I will give everything to my wife."

"So you're changing the will, Justin?" The other man asked.

"Yes."

Looking ahead, Zoie watched as the elevator doors opened and a woman stepped off. She walked towards the receptionist and began talking to her. Zoie looked up at the camera then over at the security footage that was on the monitor beside the woman. Squinting her eyes at the camera, she watched as a small spark appeared. She turned her attention back on the monitors to see that all of the cameras were now out as the screen was black. Smirking, Zoie sped past the women and to the elevator as it almost closed. Zoie sighed in relief as she made it through.

Zoie went to the highest floor as the sound of their voices got louder which let her know that she was close. The elevator doors opened as Zoie was greeted with two large glass doors. Zoie knocked on the door softly as one of the men groaned. The door was slammed open and she was greeted with a buff man in a suit.

"Yes?" He asked. He wore a navy blue suit, he had a bit of a tan, brown eyes, black hair, and a small beard.

"The cameras are out, Tony! Go see what is going on!" A voice demanded.

The man whose name was Tony sucked his teeth before marching out of the office. Zoie watched as he stepped on the elevator and the doors closed behind him. Giving herself a quick pep talk, Zoie pushed the office doors opened to the office and entered.

"Who are you? How did you get here? What do you want?" The man asked without looking up at me.

"Hi!" Zoie greeted. "It's nice to meet you."

"What do you want? Make it quick because I'm about to call security."

"Are you Justin Payne?" Zoie asked.

"Obviously." He shot back. Zoie squeezed her eyes shut as she heard the voice that always sounded like her demand that she stab the man with the ink pen that sat on his desk.

Clearing her throat, Zoie walked forward. "My name is Brianna Moore. Do you know this woman?" She placed a picture of her mother on his desk.

He took the picture and stared at it before sliding it back towards Zoie. "Alice."

Zoie scoffed. "That's it?"

He sat back and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why does this matter? She was my sister. What does this have to do with you?"

"Was?"

"Yes as in I am no longer in contact with her. She fell in love with this broke guy she met and got pregnant. I haven't heard from her since the huge argument with the family. I don't know where she, her boyfriend, or the bastard went." He shot back. "Whatever she did, find her. I'm not paying for it!"

Zoie laughed loudly as he looked up at her in confusion. She could feel herself losing control and did much as she could to keep herself from doing something that she knew she would regret. Justin bought his hand towards the phone to call security but Zoie walked closer and kicked the chair back causing him to slide away from the phone. Justin stared at Zoie with wide eyes as Zoie looked him directly in the eyes.

"Alice is dead. Your sister passed away two years ago by overdosing on drugs. Her boyfriend passed away two years after the baby was born." Zoie revealed.

"What?" He asked obviously shocked at the reveal.

"And you're looking right at the bastard." Zoie finished before giving him a soft smile.

"Excuse me?"

Zoie nodded. "Uncle Justin, I would say it's an honor to meet you but it's not."

"You look nothing like her." He mumbled.

"Oh! This?" Zoie said while pointing to her face. She stepped back and shape-shifted into her original form as Justin's eyes widened at the sight of her obviously shocked by what Zoie had just did. "Do I look like her now?"

"You're one of those things!" He said as he pointing. "You're not supposed to be here! You're supposed to be in Runne or Zims!"

Zoie smirked. As Zoie stepped closer and closer to the man on the floor, she just felt a deeper urge to kill him right then and there.

"What do you want?" Justin asked.

"I wanted to meet my uncle but I know how you feel about me and my family."

"Ok." Justin said as he stared at the girl with disgust.

Nodding her head, Zoie shifted back to the other form before opening his desk and laying eyes on a gun. She picked it up as he flinched.

Motioning for him to step forward, Justin did as he was told. As Zoie gave him a soft smile, Justin grabbed her wrist and twisted it before grabbing the gun with his other hand.

"You're stupid. I'm going to show everyone the footage of you in my office because I'm sure the cameras are back on. They'll see you held me at gunpoint and you'll be locked up for good. Was it worth it?" He asked as he pointed the gun at Zoie who stood there with a smile on her face.

"Who do you think cut the cameras off?" Zoie asked. "They will not come back on until after I leave. I'm not afraid of you with that gun either."

He loaded it up. "You should be,"

"Shoot." Zoie demanded.

Zoie watched as he pulled the trigger and the bullet came flying her way. The bullet hit Zoie directly in the chest before hitting the ground. Justin looked at Zoie in shock as she smirked.

"What?"

Justin watched as Zoie stared at him with black eyes. Zoie dropped the smirk from her face. "Aim the gun at your head!" She demanded.

Justin followed directions as he stared at her as if he was in a trance. He put the gun to the side of his head and waited for the next instructions.

"Now shoot." Zoie said. She stood there and watched as he pulled the trigger causing him to drop to the floor as blood splattered across the walls. Zoie smiled brightly at the sight of the blood before walking towards the door. She pushed it open as a group of men stood there.

"Please help! Justin!" Zoie cried. "He shot himself!"

"What?" One of the men yelled as he entered the room.

"Mr Payne!" The men shouted.

"Who are you?" The security guard asked.

"I'm a family friend. I was in town to finally meet him as a surprise. We talked for a bit before he started going on about life and not wanting to live anymore. He told me about his will and then shot himself." Zoie lied.

"Good Lord!" The security guard whispered. He pulled Zoie near him before walking towards the elevator. "Let's get you out of here. Go down to the first floor. I'll be right there!"

Zoie nodded. Stepping on the elevator, Zoie pressed the button to take her back to the main floor. She stared at the chaos that she had caused with a smirk on my face.

"See you in Hell, Uncle." She mumbled as the elevator doors closed shut.