Trapped (Book Three of the Hollow City Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel

by Hazel Hunter

  “What the hell is going on?”

  Shayne came out of the darkness like a freight train, barreling into Mathias and knocking the smaller man to the ground. The sword went clattering away. Shayne ran into the water, scooped up Gillian, and ran back to the fire.

  “Gods, you’re bleeding,” he said. He stripped her frigid trousers, socks, and shoes from her. But the tunic he removed gingerly. “You’re going to need stitches.”

  Gillian heard Mathias approach. “Is she–”

  Shayne jumped to his feet, hands ready. “Stay back,” he warned.

  “No, Shayne,” she managed to get out. “It wasn’t his fault.” He looked between her and Mathias. “Please.”

  She hugged herself against the cold, beginning to shiver.

  Though Shayne didn’t look convinced, he knelt next to her again. Two new fireballs appeared, one over her clothes and the other over her. She was instantly bathed in warmth. But as she relaxed, the pain in her shoulder seemed to increase.

  “I can help,” Mathias said.

  “Not until you explain yourself,” Shayne said, moving to his pack. He removed a first aid kit.

  Gillian chanced a look down at her shoulder. The gash was barely two inches long.

  “Are you sure it needs stitches?”

  “Myself says I don’t know what the hell happened,” Mathias said. “Myself says I don’t want to be tackled again. And myself says I can help. You know I’m a better field medic than you.”

  At that Shayne grimaced.

  “It’s all right,” Gillian said. The gash was starting to burn. “The sooner this is over, the better.”

  “All right,” he said quietly to her. But in a sterner tone to Mathias he said, “If you so much as make one suspicious move, expect to burn.”

  “Gillian,” Mathias whispered, as he knelt close. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It wasn’t you,” she said, through clenched teeth.

  “We need to sterilize it first,” Shayne said. He had a small bottle and gauze pad in his hands. “This is going to hurt.”

  “Hold on,” Mathias said. “Not necessarily.”

  Gillian felt a gentle pressure at the base of her neck, then an electric buzzing. The burning sensation disappeared.

  “A nerve pressure point,” Mathias said, offering her a little smile. He nodded to Shayne. “Go ahead.”

  Working together, it only took them several minutes. True to his word, Mathias seemed to have done this before and was quick. By the time they were done, Shayne’s fire had dried her clothes.

  “That’s going to be sore,” Shayne said, helping her on with the tunic.

  They both helped her to stand. Mathias retrieved her trousers. He looked like he wanted to crawl into any hole, while Shayne looked like that would be acceptable.

  “Well this is a turnabout,” she said, attempting humor. “I’d hoped to have you both undressing me, not the opposite.”

  But neither made a reply.

  Shayne stood back, eying her and Mathias.

  “I want some answers,” he said. “I woke up and found that the woman I am protecting is being backed into some kind of underground lake, and my ex has a sword. Why do you have a sword, Mathias? When did that happen?”

  Mathias shook his head.

  “It’s going to sound like a cop-out, but I have no idea. I was filtering more water, watching the two of you, and keeping an ear out for any Templars that might have made it through the rubble. Then it’s one big, murderous, incredibly upsetting blur, until you tackle me to the ground. Which wasn’t pleasant, by the way.”

  Shayne ignored him.

  “You were both talking in a language I didn’t understand,” he said. “You both sounded upset.”

  Gillian wasn’t sure if her memories were simply better than Mathias’s or if he was refusing to elaborate.

  “I can’t speak for Mathias,” Gillian said slowly, “but I think that for a moment there, we were kind of…overwritten.” Shayne frowned. “When I woke up, Mathias was having some kind of meltdown by the water. When I got close, he looked up. He called me Galia. He told me that he would fix it, that he would take care of me. And then he had a sword. Apparently taking care of me meant killing me.”

  “I promise that I have better problem-solving skills than that,” Mathias said.

  “Yes, but I don’t think that Mina does.” The effect of hearing that name was immediate. Mathias looked as though he’d been struck. “For a little while, I wasn’t myself,” she said softly. “I was someone else. I think Mathias was too.”

  As Shayne glanced at both her and Mathias, and then at the lake, his jaw muscles were working.

  “Well, whoever you all thought you were,” he said, “I think it’s best if I hang on to that sword.” He looked pointedly at Mathias. “Where is it?”

  Mathias blinked. “Where it fell, I suppose. I was busy being tackled.”

  Without another word, Shayne headed for the lake, Mathias trailing behind. Still barefoot, Gillian waited by the fire, watching them. Cautiously, she moved her shoulder. Though it stung, it didn’t feel half as bad as she would have thought. She looked at the gauze bandage through the cut in the shirt. She pinched together the cleanly sliced fabric. Maybe she could mend it.

  “It’s gone,” Shayne said, as they approached.

  “What?” Gillian said. “I heard it hit the ground.”

  “We all did,” Mathias agreed. “But it’s not there.”

  “It has to be in the lake,” Shayne concluded.

  All three of them looked at the dark and quiet surface. Gillian shuddered.

  “I’m going to get it,” Shayne said.

  “No!” Gillian said, just as Mathias did too.

  “There’s something about that lake,” Gillian said, panic rising in her chest.

  “You don’t know what could happen,” Mathias said.

  Shayne half-scowled, half-grinned at them.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” he asked. Gillian and Mathias exchanged a puzzled look. “I’ve already been in,” Shayne said. He pointed at his wet pants. “Nothing happened.”

  “Oh,” Gillian said.

  “Right,” Mathias muttered. “Right.”

  Without further preamble, Shayne stripped, handing each piece of clothing to Gillian as it came off. Despite having almost been naked herself earlier, she felt heat rise to her cheeks. She remembered the first time she’d seen him naked, after they’d crashed in the forest, and he’d bathed in the river. She cleared her throat.

  “Be right back,” he said.

  “You better be,” Mathias said. “You don’t want me coming after you.”

  With that, Shayne went to the edge of the lake, followed by a fireball. He stepped down into the water, walked a few paces, then dove in.

  Gillian watched, clutching his clothes to her chest.

  “You can probably set those down,” Mathias said.

  He moved closer to the fire, and held out his hands to it.

  “He’s going to be fine,” she found herself saying to him.

  Mathias snorted, shaking his head.

  “Gillian, I may not know much, but the last thing any of us can claim to be is fine. Particularly you or me.”

  The sentiment seemed to come out of nowhere. But as they stood there, in a dark cavern, unable to explain what had happened, Templars likely on their trail, his words came home––and they stung.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, still clutching the clothes, but slowly kneeling to sit. “The last thing I wanted to do was involve someone else. The last thing I wanted was to see someone else get hurt.”

  “Does that ever get old?” he asked, taking a seat next to her.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Being so goddamned self-sacrificing. Does it ever get old?” She blinked at him, unable to keep up with his mood changes. “No, it must not,” he continued, speaking almost to himself. “Otherwise Shayne wouldn’t be so damned in love with you.”


  “I don’t even know where to begin taking that apart,” Gillian said sharply. “Shayne isn’t in love with me.”

  Mathias’s laugh was amused, but there was a bitter edge to it.

  “Gillian, to be terribly indelicate, I know when Shayne’s in love, and he’s in love with you.”

  There was the sound of water splashing, and they both looked up. Shayne had broken the surface of the lake––and she nearly got up––but he’d only paused at the edge and was gone again. For a few moments, she only stared at the dark surface. Finally though, she turned to Mathias.

  “And you?” she asked quietly. “Do you love Shayne?”

  He laughed a little.

  “I’m not nearly as sweet and good as Colonel Savatier would obviously prefer.”

  “That’s not what I asked,” she said.

  There was a long pause. She wondered if Mathias was going to toss off another quip, or change his mood.

  “Yes,” was the quiet reply. “Always have been.”

  She sighed. Complicated didn’t even come close to describing this.

  “And then there’s you and I,” he said, as though he’d read her mind, as though he knew her that well.

  And maybe he did. From the moment they’d met, they’d both felt it. And now there was the lake.

  “I know,” was all she could say, aware of the pain in her shoulder.

  Shayne surfaced a second time, but this time he climbed out. Dripping wet, he trotted over to them, his arms full of what looked like rocks.

  “No sword I take it,” Mathias said.

  “It must have sunk too deep,” Shayne said.

  He crouched and released his collection in front of her. They clattered to the tile floor. As he retrieved his clothes from her, Gillian took a closer look at what he’d brought. Mathias picked up one of the stones.

  “What are these?” he mused.

  The largest was only about the size of his hand. The smallest was barely as large as Gillian’s thumb. They were carved from a beautiful, translucent white marble that was streaked with blue. In the light of the fire, the carvings glowed with a warmth that looked like flesh.

  “There has to be a river that feeds this lake,” Shayne said, getting dressed, “because there’s definitely a current. It’s carved ledges in the rock. There must be thousands of these things down there.” He paused. “And there’s a statue.”

  “Another one?” Gillian said, almost whining.

  Mathias stopped his examination of the stone to look between her and Shayne. Her experience with the statue in the Midnight Market had haunted her dreams ever since.

  “Yes, well,” Shayne said, “you’re not going to need to touch this one. It’s enormous. I could see the top of her head. I could see that she went all the way down into the darkness.”

  “A temple,” Gillian said, imagining it. “It must have been a temple. These are votive offerings, left for the goddess.”

  “Any guess what this one was for?” Mathias asked. He handed it to her.

  It had unmistakably been carved into the shape of a phallus.

  “A fertility offering,” she said. “Or rather, prayer.”

  “Or virility,” Shayne offered, examining some of the stones.

  Gillian picked up another. When she turned it over, there was a round and sleepy face carved into it in low relief. Stylized lines around the chin must have been swaddling. It was obviously a baby in wraps, a plea for a child.

  “They’re beautiful,” she said.

  “Well,” Mathias said, standing. “Not that I’m one to turn down virility, but I suggest Shayne gather water instead of rocks. Who knows when we’ll come across more. Either way though, we need to get going. Our food won’t last forever.”

  Despite the feeling that they’d just connected with very real, ancient lives, Gillian nodded. Without the light of Shane’s fires, they’d be sunk in impenetrable gloom. She didn’t have to let her gaze wander far to be reminded of that. She looked in the direction of the next tunnel. As she stood, both Mathias and Shayne lent her a hand.

  “I’m ready to be out of here,” she said.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THOUGH NONE OF them spoke, there was urgency to their steps. Gillian breathed hard, doing her best to keep up with Shayne and Mathias’s long strides. Maybe because she was already laboring, she was the first to notice.

  “We’re going uphill,” she said.

  Shayne, who was leading the way, cocked his head. “The air feels a bit fresher.”

  Gillian could feel that it was warmer as well. There was even a breeze that ruffled her hair, making her smile. In the distance there was light.

  “You want to dim that fireball a bit?” Mathias said from behind.

  It died down with a muffled flutter.

  Up ahead was a thin, vertical line of sunshine.

  “That’s the most beautiful thing in the world,” she said.

  But as they approached, dread began to build. The gap was small. There had obviously been a cave in at this end as well.

  “I think I’ll fit through,” Shayne said. “It’ll be close, but I can do it.”

  “Well, no time like the present.”

  Before Gillian realized what Mathias was doing, he pushed by, shucked off his bag, and squirmed through the opening.

  “Dammit,” Shayne growled. “He never thinks ahead.”

  “I think he does,” Gillian said softly, taking off her backpack. “I think he wanted to make sure it was safe.”

  Shayne scowled as he took off his pack.

  “Hey,” Mathias called to them. “You’ve got to see this.”

  Shayne nodded for Gillian to go through first.

  She turned and easily sidestepped her way through. In a matter of moments, she was blinking in daylight. Behind her, she could feel Shayne making his way through the gap as well. She turned to see him reaching for her. His thick chest scraped, trying to leave his tunic behind. With both her hands, she took his and pulled. For one panicky second he seemed stuck. Then he popped loose. Though she stumbled backward, he kept a grip on her. Then they were standing in the bright light together. Shayne squinted as Gillian shielded her eyes. Finally she turned to see where they’d emerged.

  “Oh my goodness,” she whispered.

  The cliffs around them were tall and sheer, soaring hundreds of feet above their heads. The valley was broad with a flat, sandy bottom that was strewn with architecture. Obelisks tilted toward the cloudless sky. A half circle of arches, most intact, stood close by. Next to them was a structure that might have been a fountain. Far across the valley’s floor, there were the remnants of an amphitheater.

  “Is this Tenebris?” Shayne asked.

  Gillian couldn’t respond. Instead, she walked in a daze toward the ruins, barely aware of the two men trailing behind her. In her head, she cleared away the rubble. She imagined fallen pillars that stood upright again. She thought of the arches whole and graceful, stretched over a marble plaza.

  Lastly she imagined the people. Turkey had always been a crossroads, a gate between east and west. But it had also been a crossroads for people of power, people called witches, warlocks, sorcerers and Wiccans. She imagined men in the dark robes of North Africa under the arches. She imagined women in Viking apron dresses at the fountains. The ancient world that had birthed the Wiccans came here, and now she stood in its shadow. She paused in the shade of a broken arch, touching the stone with her gloved hand.

  “This is amazing,” she whispered. “This is where it all began.”

  “Actually, what’s amazing is that I have a signal here,” Mathias said.

  Startled, she spun around to look at him.

  “You what?”

  He held up his smartphone with a grin.

  “We can get a rescue out of here in hours. The valley walls are too sheer to climb without equipment.”

  “We’re not leaving yet,” Gillian protested.

  Mathias shrugged.

&nb
sp; “You can have two days. There’s only so long we can stay out here without supplies. Take your notes. Do some searching. I’m in charge of guiding you in and out, and I say that in forty-eight hours at most, we will all be getting on a helicopter.”

  “Forty-eight hours isn’t a lot of time,” she said.

  “Then you better hurry,” he retorted.

  Gillian would have snapped at him, but he turned on his heel and strode off, looking at his phone. Making a face, she pulled out her own phone to start taking pictures. As she crossed the entry into the interior of the arches, she saw symbols of Linear B carved at the apex of the arch. Though the lettering was finely etched on the smooth stone, there wasn’t a single other mark. Not a scratch or blemish, and certainly not a tool mark.

  “That would have been a rock-witch’s work,” Shayne said. He strolled quietly next to her. “He or she would have pulled that straight out of the ground.”

  “I had always wondered if geomancers might have been active in Tenebris,” Gillian said.

  But even as she said it, something about this place settled deep in her bones. She walked to the fountain and looked into its dry bottom. Then she sighed and took a seat on its wide lip.

  Shayne came to sit next to her. “What’s the matter?”

  “This isn’t Tenebris.”

  He blinked. “What are you talking about? Your research led us here.”

  “It did, but look around. Tenebris was a city. There isn’t any place for people to live in this valley.”

  Shayne frowned. “We’re sitting on it.”

  “No,” she said quietly, shaking her head. “The ruins are grand and lovely. I would have loved to see them when they were still standing. But where are the ancient apartment buildings, or villas, or palaces for that matter?” She gazed to the distant amphitheater. “As far as the eye can see it’s just public buildings.” She glanced at the sky. “And Mathias is going to call a helicopter? If the ruins can be reached by helicopter, how would they have stayed hidden for millennia?” Gillian took a deep breath. “Whatever this place is, it isn’t Tenebris.”

  “So all of your research…”