Split at the Seams

by Yolanda Sfetsos

  Mauricio continued to laugh. “You didn’t think your boyfriend was going to save you, did you?”

  I slid back onto the seat, feeling depleted. Pressing my face against the backrest, I let the tears fall down my face.

  “Just shut up, will ya? We’ll be there real soon.” Mauricio stared at me in the rearview mirror, obviously annoyed.

  I ignored him and continued to cry until the tears dried on my cheeks. I didn’t need saving, I would somehow get myself out of this. Hadn’t I told Papan I could look after myself not even an hour ago? It was time to stop moping around and get proactive.

  Pressing my cheek against the seat, I felt something dig into my ankle and remembered the athame. Carefully, so Mauricio wouldn’t notice my hand moving, I pulled my jeans over my boot. The reassuring weight of the dagger still in its case gave me some hope. The fact neither of my attackers noticed I was carrying a weapon confirmed Oren’s shrouding incantation had worked.

  Too bad the protective spells around my house hadn’t been strong enough to keep this dog and his mistress away.

  Just for a moment, I toyed with the idea of pulling the dagger out, throwing myself against the back of the driver’s seat and slitting his throat. But I wasn’t exactly in top shape at the moment and doubted I could outmaneuver anyone in this condition. My head still ached like crazy and I had the shakes after throwing up on the grass.

  Besides, if I killed him, the car would crash and I’d probably die with him.

  Mauricio had to let his guard down sometime. The rage and fear building up inside me would help keep me company until then.

  I lifted my head and pushed myself to a sitting position. “How did you break the protective spells around my house?” I asked, though I certainly didn’t expect an answer.

  He snickered and stopped at a red light. The loud noise of the city overtook every one of my senses and I glanced out the windshield. What the hell were we doing in the city? I’d expected him to drive me out to the sticks and shove me into some abandoned house where they could torture and use me up appropriately.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Oh, you’ll see soon enough. You’re not the only one with powerful friends.”

  This told me plenty. The Obscurus were certainly behind this, and one of them was strong enough to remove Oren’s protection spells.

  Fuck the waiting.

  Before he could put the car into gear again, I sat forward and held on to the back of the driver’s seat with one hand while carefully sliding the dagger from my boot with the other. The silver glinted inside the car.

  Mauricio glanced over his shoulder, giving me the perfect angle. I wrapped my hand tightly around the hilt and brought my arm around in front of me fast enough to catch him by surprise. I plunged the blade into his left shoulder, because he moved at the last second. I’d been aiming for his chest, but the satisfying feel of the double-edged blade slicing into his hairy skin was enough to keep me focused.

  “What the fuck?” he screamed, reaching for my hand. “What did you do, you bitch?”

  I pulled the blade out of his shoulder, intending to stab him again, but instead he took off before the light turned. Headlights whizzed past and someone honked, but he sped across the intersection. When he slammed the brakes, I was sent flying into the backseat and the athame slid out of my hand.

  Before I could collect myself enough for another strike, Mauricio took one turn after another until the car came to a stop. He leaned over the seats and grabbed me by the hair, forcing me to sit up or have it pulled right off my scalp.

  “Give me the knife,” he spat. The proximity meant his disgusting breath was right on my face and I wanted to gag.

  “I don’t have—”

  He shoved me away and jumped out of the car. When the door beside me opened, I haphazardly attempted to kick him but he dodged my attempt. He held my legs down while looking for the dagger on the floor and the seat.

  “Where is it?” he growled.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Mauricio slapped me in the face before wrapping his hands tighter around my calf to keep me steady. He continued to look for a weapon only I could see. His hand slid to my ankle and he frowned. He lifted the hem of my jeans, feeling around where the sheath was still strapped to my boot, as if he could feel it.

  I held my breath, suddenly nervous, because if he saw the sheath maybe the incantation had worn off.

  When he didn’t find it, he grunted, slapped me again, and locked me in.

  I sighed, relieved.

  It didn’t take long for him to get back into the driver’s seat and on the road, but this time I could feel his malice like a heavy coat on my shoulders. My clavicle itched like crazy and thumped a pulsing beat, but I tried my best to ignore it. I also couldn’t help but relish the small victory I’d just had over him.

  The dagger was right there, on the carpet behind his seat.

  I made a big show of huffing and puffing while reaching for it and placing it back into its sheath.

  “If you try something like that again, I’m going to kill you!” he spat from the driver’s seat. “I don’t give a shit what plans we have for you. No one stabs me and gets away with it.”

  Next time, I’d have to make sure he didn’t survive long enough to retaliate. But that wasn’t going to be right now. I was spent, all the energy had drained out of me at my one attempt to escape him.

  I settled on the backseat, watching random cars whiz by on both sides of the road. It was too dark for anyone to notice my predicament. I waved my hands in front of me when we stopped at the next set of lights, trying to rouse the attention of the cars stopped alongside us.

  “They won’t see you.”

  “Why?”

  “No one is going to take notice of some niña in a car in the middle of the night. No one can hear you scream.” His snicker echoed around me, rousing gooseflesh along my skin. “I always wanted to say that.”

  So there wasn’t any magical explanation for his comment, just the sheer truth of it. He was right, who made a habit out of looking in dark cars for kidnapped women?

  “Ah, here we are.”

  I looked up just as Mauricio parked right in front of the Spook Catcher Council. There were plenty of parking spots in front of the huge revolving doors.

  “Why are we here?” My heart might have calmed down, but it picked up again.

  “Niña, this is where it all begins.”

  Suddenly, everything had just gotten a thousand times worse.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Stop resisting me. You’re only wasting energy,” Mauricio hissed near my ear. “No one can save you now. You might as well accept your fate because you are no longer free to do as you please. You belong to us now.”

  As much as the idea of having my free will stripped away made me want to stab my dagger into his throat, he was right—I couldn’t control fate. The best I could hope for was some quick thinking, the use of the protection incantation I kept repeating inside my head, and that he would at least lead me to Ebony.

  “What’s the time?” I asked, looking up and down the mostly empty street. There weren’t even any cars driving past, which was a little strange for a Saturday night in Sydney. Yet, we were totally alone, under the many lights illuminating the Spook Catcher Council Tower.

  We might as well have been the last two people left in the world, until I saw movement from inside the building.

  “Niña, does it look like I’m wearing a watch?”

  I gave him a sidelong glance, but all I could concentrate on was the blood now drying along the side of his shoulder. The wound hadn’t healed and actually looked pretty nasty. Hopefully, it was infected.

  “Ah, you’ve got an appointment to keep, huh?” He snickered. “Well, don’t worry about it. Thanks to me you’ll probably make it.”

  I felt like such an idiot, wasting time on planning an attack that would surprise Mace when he’d obviously h
ad several backups already in place. Oh well, at least I was now in the right state of mind. I wouldn’t be wasting any more time on hoping for help. It was up to me now. And although I couldn’t keep the vision of Papan being hit by a car from tumbling around inside my head until I wanted to cry, I refused to believe he was gone. He’d survived being shot, he would survive this too.

  I released a shaky breath. We were almost at the huge doors of the steel-and-glass monstrosity of the Council, which meant Mace Clamber had to be close. I really needed to keep my wits about me to deal with that bastard.

  “What are we doing here?”

  “Don’t pretend you don’t know, niña. You’ve got business before midnight.” Mauricio tightened his fingers around my forearm and practically dragged me the rest of the way off the sidewalk.

  There was no access through the revolving doors this late at night, but a side door would open to anyone with a security card. I had one while I was living here, but turned it in when I broke my contract with them. It looked like Mauricio didn’t have one either.

  A security guard spotted us from the other side of the door and held it open. As soon as we stepped into the building, the guard locked the door behind us.

  The cold of the air conditioner affected my body and I shivered. The heavy and stifling sensation that made me squirm the other day was once again present, ominous and sinking right into the very heart of me, making my head throb.

  “Looks like he’s got the machines on full blast tonight,” Mauricio said, with a low whistle. “I’m glad I’m not going to be stuck in here for long.”

  He might be muttering to himself, but I knew exactly what he was talking about. The amount of energy collecting around me and pulsing up beneath my feet was enough to drive any remotely, magically sensitive person a little batty. I also suspected it was coming from the chair—the thing that had taken Mara’s living energy and plucked it out of her body so her shell lay useless. Where were they hiding the contraption?

  Another two guards approached us and I prepared to be dragged away, but the two continued past us. I glanced over my shoulder and watched as they reached the revolving doors and stood on either side of the first guard.

  The Council owned the building, but they leased out quite a few floors in-between the accommodation levels to other businesses, which obviously had no clue about what was really going on.

  “Ah, Mr. Marquez, good work! I see you’ve kept your end of the bargain.”

  Mauricio smiled and I tried very hard not to look up at the other asshole, the one who was continually trying to ruin my life. The fact Mace even knew this man sealed the fact he was also involved with the Obscurus organization.

  “She’s a hard one to catch alone,” Mauricio said.

  “Yes, she always seems to have someone hanging around.” Mace stopped in front of me but I kept my head down, staring at his shiny leather shoes. “What happened to your shoulder?”

  “She stabbed me, it’s no big deal.”

  “Did you check her for weapons?”

  “She doesn’t have any,” Mauricio replied a little too quickly.

  “Good,” he said. “Aren’t you going to greet me, Sierra?”

  I lifted my head and spat, “Fuck you.”

  He laughed and it echoed around the large foyer. “You’ve become quite the charming rebel.” He stepped closer, until his lips were practically pressed against my ear. “As I recall, it was really hard to get you to say anything dirty to me when I requested it in the bedroom. What happened, what changed you?”

  Mauricio chuckled.

  When Mace stepped back enough to give me the room I needed, I slapped him in the face with my free hand.

  A slimy smile curved his lips and the three guards began their approach. He raised a hand to keep them at bay. “No, it’s okay. This is how she usually acts when she’s around me. She loses total self-control, but she’s harmless.”

  Mauricio growled, his fingernails digging into my forearm. I looked down and found his hand had changed, so his claws were scratching my skin.

  “Calm down.” Mace grabbed my other arm and slowly pulled me away from him. “I’ll take it from here. You wait outside in case any of her friends decide to show up.”

  Mauricio took a step back and nodded.

  “If you do see any of them, kill them!”

  “No,” I said, trying to pull away from Mace’s grip.

  “Relax, will you? I’m going to take you to Ebony. It’s why you’re here, right?”

  “Are you totally insane? I was dragged here—”

  “Yes, but you would’ve come anyway. I know you, Sierra. You might hate me now, but we know each other very well. I didn’t forget a single detail about you. You wouldn’t leave your pretty friend here alone, not at my mercy.” He winked and all I wanted to do was smash his face in.

  I couldn’t, though. I needed to save my energy for when it counted. It was probably the only thing Mauricio had said that stuck, because it made sense. Struggling was a waste of energy. I was already captured and there was nowhere to go but up. Right now, if I just let the ball of rage build in intensity, it might help me later.

  I’d show this bastard he was wrong, I wasn’t harmless.

  Mace seemed pretty sure about his ability to read me and recognize what I would do next, but he didn’t know me at all. Actually, he’d never really known me because when we were together—in the loosest meaning of the term—I wasn’t myself. I became the willing student, and he the teacher keen to educate me beyond what was in the curriculum.

  So when Mace grabbed my right hand and started to lead me toward the reception area, I let him. I quickly peered over my shoulder and caught Mauricio staring at me. He was licking the blood he’d scrapped from my arm and I instantly flashed to Travis doing something similar in this very building when he’d cornered me in the stairwell and licked the blood from my face.

  I cringed at the thought. Were these people try-hard vampires or something?

  “See, it’s not so bad, is it?”

  I turned to glare at Mace. “What isn’t so bad?”

  He raised our joined hands, squeezing his fingers around my hand. “This, you and me holding hands, it’s kind of nice. Do you remember our midnight strolls in Hyde Park? It always helped calm you down after a night full of catching, and I enjoyed helping you. In spite of the years that have lapsed and what’s become of us, I actually miss you.”

  “You know talking about the past isn’t going to affect me.” It might be a lie, but I was positive it sounded convincing.

  Mace wasn’t the scout just because of his good looks and natural ability to spot a catcher. He had a way with females and knew just the right words to help worm his way deeper into their psyche. I’d been young and dumb enough to let him in completely once upon a time, but not now. Still, my cheeks warmed because walking wasn’t the only thing we’d done under the moonlight in the park.

  “I hate you, Mace Clamber, and no amount of reminiscing is ever going to change that.”

  “Oh, you’re so dramatic.” A small grin curved his pouty lips but I looked away. We were still headed for the reception area, which was now unmanned.

  I glimpsed the bank of elevators on the other side of the foyer, wondering why we weren’t heading that way instead. I didn’t say a word as Mace maneuvered us around and behind the tall counter, headed right for the water wall behind it.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Relax, it’s a shortcut.”

  I opened my mouth to respond but didn’t get the chance because he pulled me through the wall! We crossed past the wall of water and instead of meeting any resistance, the slight sense of floating took over my body. For just a split second, it felt like I was walking on air. Then, we appeared inside a room I hadn’t seen before.

  “Wasn’t that exciting?”

  I yanked my hand away from his to pat down my top and jeans. I was perfectly dry, and my dagger was still hidden.

  “Wh
at the hell was that?”

  “Like I said, it’s a shortcut.”

  “A shortcut into where…?” I took my time looking around, taking in the activity—or rather, the lack of activity.

  To the average eye it seemed like nothing was going on. On the surface this majestic, windowless and very sterile white room was lined with at least twenty of those horrible chairs I’d seen in Mara’s vision. Two rows of ten, adjacent from one another and each occupied by a young girl. They all lay motionless and strapped in, as if they were sleeping or waiting to get a facial, but the awful attachments on their bodies spelled out the truth.

  I took a breath, trying to calm my heartbeat. This wasn’t what I’d imagined when I’d first seen the chair and Mara. I’d assumed there was only one, but now the buzz in the air made sense. It made my whole body feel like an electrical current was running through it. I could only imagine what it was doing to these poor girls.

  Concentrate, look beyond the seemingly normal.

  When I focused and opened myself up completely, the cold air hit me so hard my lungs contracted. I gulped in a quick breath and got swept up in an unseen wind. The room faded to a murky gray and I noticed some of the girls weren’t just lying down, but also standing around together, talking. Others sat next to their motionless bodies, as if caught up in some sort of macabre bedside vigil.

  The longer I looked around, the more I realized this murky gray wasn’t mist or even a place, it was caused by the succession of ghosts twirling in and around the girls. There were too many to differentiate real bodily shapes, but I knew what they were.

  I’d seen spirits since I was a little girl and what I was seeing made my gut clench.

  These spooks were being forcibly pulled away from wherever they remained and sucked into this room.

  I watched as the ever-growing whirlwind formed, and couldn’t take my eyes off their wispy, almost not-there frames as they were absorbed into each girl. It happened so quickly and so often, none of the spook catchers seemed to register what was happening. Each spook smashed into a girl’s chest, went right through them and then bounced off, becoming a ball of blue energy that was sent flying across the room—to a spot on the wall resembling a wavering mirror.