So had I.
“The guy who stayed with us was monitoring us, but someone came up and distracted him. I don’t think he saw Sway or I leave.”
Charming’s eyes narrowed and I could tell he was unhappy. “I’m sorry. I promised you safety and my security team screwed up. I will handle this after we find Sway.”
I was frustrated, but mistakes happen. It sounded like this abduction was planned. The security guy had been distracted on purpose so that Sway could be taken. “Mistakes happen and I’m sure distracting him was part of the plan.” I turned to Perry and asked, “What happened next?”
“Mark offered to take Sway to get a drink. I had a weird feeling about him, so I discreetly followed behind them. As they were walking away, another guy Mark had been hanging out with started following him too. Mark led Sway here, and then they all went into this room.” He pointed to the large French doors in front of us. “I’ve been trying to decide how to attack. I thought about trying to find you, but I didn’t want to risk the chance of them leaving and me not knowing where they’d gone. I’m a good fighter, but I don’t know how many people are in there, and you know my magic doesn’t work quickly.”
Perry’s magic was pretty incredible but the side effects hit people later. He was smart to not go in there alone. “You did the right thing,” I reassured him.
I turned to Charming. “We know we have at least two people in there with Sway. Maybe more. Are you ready for this?”
Charming gave me an amused look. “I won’t have a problem.” And with that, he kicked open the door, his magic pushing out and the air spiraling around him like a hurricane he could control with laser precision.
We walked in to see Sway sitting in a chair, being held against her will by two men I hated with my whole soul: my cousins Mark and Kory. They were taller now, and they’d filled out, but their beady eyes and disgusting smirks were exactly the same as I remembered. Sway’s face was a study in condensed rage, and I knew she was itching to get up and use some of her karate skills on them both. I would have happily paid to watch that fight, and would have liked participating in it even more.
Mark and Kory each gave me a terrible smile that was so awful I immediately wanted to wash their gazes off. “Long time no see, El.”
“Yes,” another deep, familiar, and horrifying voice said from the other side of the room. My head swiveled in his direction at the same time my stomach knotted.
I froze, paralyzed at the sight of him. My uncle, Robert Dodd. The man I’d run away from years ago, and hoped I’d never have to see again. My whole body ached with rage and fear as my mind raced. I was going to be sick—but not until I stopped Robert, Mark and Kory.
My uncle gave me an appraising look. “You turned into quite the lovely young lady. I see you changed your hair. It used to be long and blonde, like your mother’s.” I’d changed my entire appearance when I’d run away because I knew he’d be looking for me. My skin crawled at his visual appraisal and his words. “In fact, I wouldn’t have known it was you at all if it wasn’t for your name.” He shook his head slightly. “You’re pretty, but you never were the smartest. Using your mom and dad’s names to create your fake name was a poor choice, El.
The more he spoke, the angrier I became. My real name was Ella Hart, and it made me furious that he’d used my nickname. That name was a name my parents had lovingly chosen and used. He wasn’t allowed to use it too.
“Do you have any idea how long I searched for you?” he asked. “Years, Ella. Every time news about a fire mage came through the gossip circles, I would increase my efforts with the hope that we could find you, but you covered your tracks well. Until now. Thanks for making it so easy for me. Had I known I just had to take someone you cared about, I would have made more of an effort to keep your parents alive.”
Blood drained from my face and I felt like I’d been stabbed. I knew my parents had been murdered by someone heartless, but I hadn’t guessed that they’d been murdered by a family member. There couldn’t be a worse betrayal. I felt faint and the icy prickles of shock started to set in. At the same time, I felt Charming’s hand on my back, steadying me. His touch grounded me with support and I came back to the present. No. This was not happening again. I was not losing another person I loved. I would deal with my uncle and the revelation of who murdered my parents, but not until I saved Sway.
I wanted to kill him, slowly and with a lot of pain. But right now he was deliberately using my emotion to try and distract me. I couldn’t let that happen. “Let her go,” I growled through my teeth.
His eyes flashed with challenge and his lips lifted in a terrible way. “Come with me, and I will.”
“No,” Charming said, stepping forward. His voice was solid and brokered no argument.
My uncle laughed like Charming’s denial was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “Do you really think you can stop me from getting what I want, Hurston? Trust me, you can’t. And neither can your family’s security team and investigators combing everywhere from the tunnels in the city to the forest surrounding Everly looking for your sister.”
Charming’s eyes hardened with fury and he looked like he wanted to commit murder. “How do you know about my sister, the security team, and the investigation?” he asked, his voice dangerously soft.
My uncle lifted his shoulders. “Your sister has been missing for days. Everyone knows about it.”
Charming eyed him. “No, they don’t. We’ve told very few people and only our security team knows about the rescue efforts, or where the searches are taking place.”
My uncle’s lips spread into a smile that showed his teeth, and they looked ready to bite something in half. “Maybe your team isn’t as loyal as you thought. I know a lot of things.”
Charming’s face morphed into a blank mask. It was the same face I’d seen him make in the tornado video right before he’d made the twister crumble into nothing. “Do you know where my sister, Sarah, is?”
My uncle lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “I might.”
Charming’s hands clenched into fists and the air around him started whipping into a frenzy. I stepped back, trying to shield myself from some of the wind. “Tell me,” Charming said through his teeth.
My uncle inclined his head in my direction. “Give me your girlfriend, and I will.”
Anger flashed across Charming’s face. He was absolutely seething. “You’re the lowest form of human scum that has ever lived, Dodd. People aren’t things. They’re not made to be traded or given to anyone.”
My uncle gave him a bored look. “Do you want to see your sister again, or not?”
Charming’s expression shifted, determination mingling with fury. “If you think you can fight me, you’re an idiot.”
My uncle’s lips curled into a twisted, evil smile. “Let’s see how much of an idiot I am.”
The air around us started to shimmer and in seconds, there were at least fifty versions of my uncle surrounding us, all smiling the same, evil smile. I couldn’t tell the difference between them, and couldn’t figure out who was the real one. My uncle didn’t have magic of his own, and had always been angry about his lack of power. Since he wasn’t born with magic, this meant he’d harnessed his magic from some other mage, in his own personal Jekyll and Hyde lab—something he’d been trying to perfect for years. Either that, or he’d paid the Magic Harnessers a great deal of money to transfer magic to him.
“Who did you steal your magic from, Robert?” I said, my eyes going around the room and trying to pinpoint who my real uncle was.
All fifty versions of my uncle laughed, creating a vile concert of noise. “A better question would be: who didn’t I steal from? I’ve had goals for a long time. You know that, El. If you hadn’t run away, I’d have your magic too.”
Memories of my past and that awful lab sprung into my head and threatened to cripple me. I couldn’t let that happen. I dug down into the well of anger that consumed me and pulled from the fury, determined to use my rage for f
uel.
The fifty versions of my uncle all spoke at once. “I knew you had magic. So did your parents, but they weren’t concerned until the night you tried to start poor Mark on fire after he was just playing with your cat.
“He wasn’t playing with her,” I snarled. “He was torturing her.”
Robert shrugged. “Tomato, tomahto. When Mark came to tell us what you’d done, your parents were worried and discussed sending you to a school for mages so you could learn how to use your powers. That just wouldn’t do for my needs. You were clearly a powerful mage to be able to use your magic at such a young age, and with no training. I knew if you were sent away, you’d be protected and I’d never have the chance to take your power from you. So I sent a shifter to abduct you, one known for his fierce protective instincts—because I didn’t want you to come to me dead and useless—and one who was also incredibly strong and powerful. My shifter tried to get into your room that night, but couldn’t. Someone had put an incredibly powerful protection spell on your door. When shifters can’t complete a task, they get angry. So it went looking for another way to reach its goal. It found your parents and killed them instead. It was an unfortunate turn of events. I would have just as soon preferred to only take you and leave your parents alive, but it all worked out. Once your parents died, I became your legal guardian and got you anyway, like a gift from the universe wrapped up in a pretty little bow. In retrospect, I could have saved myself a lot of time and trouble by just killing them to begin with.”
I stared at him, bile rolling in my stomach and wrath rising in my throat. “My parents’ lives weren’t things you could just discard.”
He gave me a condescending look. “But I did.”
My blood felt like it was boiling. I’d never been so angry in my life. I wanted to reach over and rip his heart out of his chest. I’d have to settle for burning him to death. If I could kill him twice, I would. We needed to save Sway and Sarah so I could.
He’d chosen the wrong mage to play his illusion game with. He didn’t know the extent of my magic, but his trick was about to become useless. Fury surged within me; anger at my uncle for what he’d done, and how he’d ruined my life in multiple ways. Anger that he was trying to hurt Sarah in the same way he’d hurt me, and anger that he was threatening my friends and using them as a bargaining chip.
All of the versions of my uncle lifted their arms, pushing Sway toward my cousins, and the two of them took off, holding Sway’s arms and legs so she couldn’t wrestle away. Perry tried to catch them and Charming tried to slam the doors shut, but they were both a second too late. I wanted to take off after them and save Sway, but I couldn’t. I had to stay and fight my uncle. I was the only one who could.
I focused my anger back on Robert, and all fifty copies of him. Flames danced in my eyes and fire burst around each version of him, surging up like a spiral around them. His face was a mask of anger, and as the fire continued, growing hotter, turning from orange, to blue and white, some of the anger was replaced with uncertainty and fear. The various fake Uncle Roberts’ started popping out of existence as soon as they got too hot.
Charming held the doors shut with his magic to make sure no one else could get in or out. My uncle wasn’t leaving here unless one of us let him.
I heard a creaking noise and looked up. Another chandelier hung above us, just like the massive one in the lobby. And it started to sway. Violently. Charming wasn’t paying any attention to it.
“Storm!” I yelled, panic ringing in my voice. I pointed up and watched as the chandelier snapped. It all happened in slow motion.
Without even looking Storm moved, pulling me with him as he twisted out of the way of the chandelier, and raising his arms at the same time. A gust of wind came out of nowhere and captured the chandelier, setting it down gently on the floor. If it had crashed, we would have been crushed and the glass would have shattered, slicing us all.
Charming and I looked at each other, relief washing over both of our faces. Perry stood off to the side of us, his eyes wide with shock. I turned back to my uncle Robert, and my breath caught in my throat. One of the doors was wide open and he was gone. “Where is he?” I asked.
Fury radiated from Charming. “I couldn’t hold the doors and the chandelier at the same time. He must have realized that and escaped.”
My heart sank at Charming’s words. I’d brought my friends with me and put them in danger, and now they were in even worse danger and it was my fault. I needed to do something to fix this, but had no idea where to even begin. I didn’t know where they’d gone, or what they planned to do with Sway. I’d failed to protect the people I loved the most. How could I right such a massive wrong?
I looked around the room at the shattered glass, torn curtains, and destroyed furniture, and came to terms with reality. My uncle and cousins were gone. And so was my friend. I collapsed on the floor, my head in my hands.
Chapter 5
My emotions were all over the place, despair and anger, hopelessness and determination. One minute I wanted to sob into my hands, the next minute I wanted to use them to fight my uncle and cousins until we were all bloody and I’d stopped them from hurting any other person ever again. Sway was my family, and now my uncle had her. He’d taken my family before, and now he was doing it again. I had no idea what he wanted Sway for, other than leverage. He wanted me, undoubtedly for my magic—he’d always wanted it—and hostages were helpful in getting your way. Knowing he had Sway brought back every horrible memory of losing my parents. And now I knew that I’d lost my parents and Sway to the same man—but Sway wasn’t dead yet. That was the thought that pulled me from my despair. I would find Sway and I would fight to get her back because there was no way I was letting that malevolent man take any of my family again.
I got up, steel in my eyes, resolve coursing through me. I wouldn’t let them have Sway, or anyone else. “Come on,” I said, motioning for Charming and Perry to follow me.
“Where are we going?” Perry asked.
Charming was looking at something on his phone as he ran next to me. “We had a security team outside the hotel. They saw Sway in a car with your uncle and cousins as it sped out of the parking lot. My team has eyes on their vehicle. We’re following, and we’ll know where they’re going.”
Charming’s security team was handy to have around. I already had a suspicion about where they were going, however. It was a place that haunted my nightmares. When my uncle found out I had magical powers, he’d been incredibly jealous. He’d always wanted magic, and wanted his sons to have it too. They didn’t, but I did. He’d built a makeshift magic siphoning lab in the basement of his vacation home. It was only about an hour from the city, nestled into a quiet piece of land by the beach, and it was rarely used unless he needed it for his own nefarious purposes. He’d tried to take my magic there repeatedly with his own resources. And when it hadn’t worked—because of his lack of experience stealing magic and my sheer anger and will, he’d decided to send me to the Magic Harnessers so they could take it for him. Magic siphoning was dangerous, painful, and often killed the mage the magic was being stolen from. I refused to let that happen to me. When I’d found out my uncle’s plans to send me to the Magic Harnessers, I’d decided to run away to save my life. I’d never shown my uncle the extent of my magic—but I would tonight.
“I think he’s taking her to his magic siphoning lab in the basement of his vacation home. I’m almost certain of it.” I said as we got to Charming’s car, a black Escalade with chrome trim. It shined like a diamond and practically screamed money.
“He has his own lab?” Charming asked, stunned. He got in the front seat and I jumped in the passenger side. Perry got in the back.
We sped out of the parking lot with Charming following the directions that were being sent to his phone from his team.
I nodded. “He wanted his own magic, and wanted his sons to have it too. None of them did.”
“What about your aunt?”
; “She didn’t have magic either.”
“Where is she now?” Charming asked.
“She died when my cousins were young.”
“Of what?”
I’d never actually been sure. “They told us it was an accident, but now I wonder if that was really the case. She was a kind woman, but she wouldn’t have stood for my uncle’s magic obsession. My uncle is a lunatic and I wouldn’t put murder past him. I don’t remember her well because I was only four when she passed away.”
Charming’s eyes hardened and his anger seemed to be building even more. “I have no tolerance for people who hurt others.”
Neither did I; I’d spent my life fighting against it.
I had a good idea of why my uncle wanted Sway—to use as a bargaining tool to get to me, but I still wasn’t sure how Charming’s sister fit into this, or what Robert wanted from her. “Why does he want Sarah?”
He pressed his lips together and slid a glance toward me, then to Perry. “If I tell you this, it has to stay between us.”
I nodded in agreement and Perry shrugged and nodded as well.
Charming’s grip on the wheel tightened, his knuckles going white. “She has a unique magic. Our family has kept it a secret for years, but she used it to help someone a month ago and we weren’t able to completely contain the information.”
“What is her power?”
He took a deep breath and then answered, “She makes the transfer of magic seamless.”
I stared at him. “You mean she can perform a magic transfer on people without any Harnesser intervention?”
He nodded slowly.
“How long does the transfer take?”
“It’s immediate.”
I gaped at him.
“What’s the success rate?”
“One hundred percent.”
My mouth fell open even more. The transfer of magic had become a science that had been learned through years of trial and error. A gifted Magic Harnesser could control the amount of magic being taken, and most Magic Harnessers could take magic from mages and transfer it to others, but the process was long—days depending on the amount of power and type of magic being transferred—and painful, and it didn’t always take. If his sister’s magic had the ability to make the transfer of magic quick, easy, and painless, that could change everything. Everyone would want her…especially people like my uncle.
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