Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Prologue
“Why are you just sitting here?”
I looked at the food on the plate in front of me, figuring it was self-explanatory, then back to Davis. “I need to eat and rest occasionally or I won’t be able to do crap.” I told him wishing he would just go away. He was a magic user himself, or I’d try to make that a reality. I didn’t know enough about this mage stuff to be sure it would work, and worry that he would do something worse in retaliation. Then again, if he kept getting in my face I may have to find out what I could do to him.
If it hadn’t been for him talking my best friend Erin into meeting all these power hungry, demented morons, she would be here still—then I could drag her, kicking and screaming if need be, far, far away. So yeah, Davis was at the top of my wish list to have something bad happen to him.
He gave me an unamused look.
Like I cared what he thought of me.
“It is working though, isn’t it? You assured me you could work it from this distance.”
It had been working for over a week, and he just thought to ask me that now? Sighing, I set down the sandwich I really wanted to eat, deciding if I answered him, he’d go away. “Yes. It took a few days to find one that I was able to get into.” I’d never encountered so many closed minds as I had in that search. I was almost afraid to see the bodies that went with them. Good thing for me I didn’t have to. Other than the one I was mesmerizing, I’d never have to see these royals Davis and his crew had so many issues with.
“Are you certain it’s one of the royals? If you’re tapped into some servant, it’s completely useless.”
My first thought was to pour my juice over his head and walk away—but then I’d be thirsty, and he’d probably just follow me. “You make it sound like it’s as easy as scrolling through a list and picking one.” I cocked my head to the side and gave him a blank stare. “People don’t walk around thinking my name is Bethany. My name is Bethany. All day long.” Great, now my appetite was gone. “Yes. It took me an entire day to find his name and reversing it. Just to do that, and be sure, cost me another day to recharge.” I scowled at him. “Magic—my kind of magic comes with a price, using my magic too much, knocks me out.” He continued to stand there and look at me like I wasn’t even speaking. I sighed again. “His name is Leone.” I waved my hand at the door. “What’s his face said that was one of the royal brothers.” I pointed a finger at him. “Are you sure they’ll trade Erin for him?” A look of what may be described in a comic book as ‘pure evil’ appeared on his face. It was creepy, to say the least.
“Oh, they’ll trade one of their brothers for anyone we say.” He grinned. “Tomorrow we’ll move you to the other side so you can draw him in.”
I shrugged. “Sure. Just as long as I get Erin back, I’ll,” I made quotes marks in the air, “draw him in.” Dropping my hands to the table, I gave him my best ‘go away’ look and held it, hoping he’d go be creepy in someone else’s face.
He nodded and then turned to walk out of the room.
I exhaled, letting my shoulders sag. The sooner I was rid of that guy, the better it would be. Looking back at the plate, I picked up the sandwich again. I wasn’t hungry now, but I knew if I didn’t keep up my strength, I’d never get Erin back.
Taking a bite, I chewed it slowly. It was like chewing cardboard, no flavor at all. I looked at the drab colored walls of the wrecked building they had some of us in. Talk about no flavor, this crumbling place had seen better days.
Pausing with the juice bottle raised to my mouth, I checked to see if Leone was still sleeping. He was and I was happy about that. I took a few sips and picked up the bread again. A mesmerizing spell could almost be left on autopilot when the person was sleeping, taking very little effort. But when he was awake, it took every ounce of my energy to stay in his head. If he hadn’t had a weak moment, I never would have gotten in to begin with, so there was no way I was losing it and starting all over again. Usually when doing this spell, the person was within sight—I still didn’t know how I’d managed to without even having a visual target, but somehow, I had.
I didn’t know where we were going. The other side didn’t tell me much. Other side of the city, other side of the lake? Who knew? If it was closer to him, it would take no time at all to draw this Leone into the trap creepo and his friends had been working on. I frowned at my juice bottle, I didn’t have any more details than that. I should be asking more questions. Just like I should have dragged Erin out of here when she’d brought me to some of them. Any and every sixth sense alarm had been going off when she did. The warning bells in my head, a feeling of dread in my stomach, my skin crawling, and just about every other descriptive phrase that meant ‘run the other way ’.
These people were lunatics and should all be locked up. And what was with the weird colored contacts these people used? Sure, getting a bit freaky for a rave or party was doable, but they did it for no reason at all. To add to their complete weirdness, half of them were deep into medieval roleplay and dressed like they should be running a dungeon.
This crap about bringing down the gate, or wall, or whatever they called it, to allow people to cross over… I snorted out loud. Pretty insane. Dropping what was left of the sandwich, I rubbed my temples. My head had a dull ache that wasn’t going to go away until this was over. Grabbing the juice, I got up and walked to the corner where my cot was. Laying down was the only way I could maintain contact when he woke up. If I tried standing, my legs would just give out and I’d do a face plant on the floor.
I thought of Erin for a moment. She was going to owe me for a long, long time after this. Setting the juice on the crate, I sat down and rolled my shoulders. “Okay, Leone, lets pick up the intensity a bit.” I lay on my back and looked at the cracked ceiling, that I knew every mark on now.“What am I saying to you today?” I closed my eyes, “not that it matters, all you want is me out of your head.” I felt bad, but there were no other options.
