Magic Awakened: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set

by K.N. Lee

  She looked slightly embarrassed at what she had said and so retreated, leaving Anais alone once again.

  It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that she reappeared bringing Anais’ dinner with her.

  She placed the spaghetti bolognese on the side table along with a small bottle of red wine and a glass made out of the finest crystal. These people sure know how to kidnap in style thought Anais. She watched silently as Aethelu went about her business, emptying the chamber pot and taking away the dirty dishes from the previous meal. Anais knew it was pointless asking why she was here as much as it was to be set free.

  Aethelu stopped and looked at her as if she was expecting her to say something.

  Well, Anais wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. Let Aethelu speak to her if she wanted.

  Finally, Aethelu broke the silence.

  “I really am sorry you know.”

  Anais thought she was beginning to sound like a broken record. ‘She was sorry’; ‘it wasn’t her fault.’ For all Anais knew, there was only Aethelu here.

  She kept silent as Aethelu approached her.

  “Here I brought you these.” Aethelu placed some puzzle books on the bed including a couple that were cryptic crosswords only. “I bought them especially for you. I thought you’d like them more than those rubbish magazines my Mother reads.”

  Anais was surprised that Aethelu had guessed how much she liked puzzles. The short time she had spent locked in the room had dragged, each second ticking by excruciatingly slowly, each minute seeming to last an hour. It was, perhaps, the hardest part of being locked in a room for Anais. Her usually active mind, devoid of stimulation, had become very bored, very quickly. The puzzle books were a very welcome gift, although she wasn’t going to give her kidnapper the satisfaction of knowing that. She composed her face into what she hoped resembled complete indifference.

  “Ok then, enjoy your meal.” Aethelu seemed downcast as she left the room, pulling the bolt back after she left.

  Anais jumped off the bed and went straight to the food. It was laced with heaps of garlic, just as she liked it. It was delicious, just like Winnie made. A lot of the food she’d had since coming here could rival Winnie's. The thought momentarily made her feel sad, but she was too hungry to dwell on it for too long. She’d never been much of a wine drinker, but the small bottle, which, when she poured it out, fit neatly into the glass and tasted wonderful with the pasta dish.

  After dinner, she sat on the bed and spent the evening filling out crosswords. She was so glad of them. The magazines she had been given earlier were so trashy that they were barely readable. Even so, she’d read them all cover to cover three times, including the adverts. The hours dragged in here with nothing to look at except pretty wallpaper, with only her own thoughts for company. A couple of crossword books were fine to occupy her for a few hours, but even with them, the relentless boredom of inertia was sure to kick in again as soon as the last crossword was completed. Sleep was the only sure fire way to pass the time without feeling bored and hopeless, and she found herself sleeping more now than she ever had in her life.

  Aethelu made her appearance early the next day and she seemed in a much better mood than she had been the previous evening. She chattered away in her singsong voice as she cleared away yesterday’s dishes and emptied the chamber pot. She’d brought another wonderful breakfast which Anais was now wolfing down. The meals she was brought were the only thing, besides sleep, that broke the monotony. Mind you, she mused, with food as good as this, it was almost worth being kidnapped. This morning, it was Eggs Benedict with salmon, another favourite of hers. Seriously, how did Aethelu know? It was like she could read her mind.

  By the time Anais had finished breakfast, Aethelu had exhausted such topics as the weather (heavy snow again), what her brothers were up to (fighting over the same girl), and what she was going to bring Anais for dinner later (chili, Anais’ favourite meal). She was already looking forward to it despite feeling stuffed from breakfast)

  Aethelu was talking to herself as much as she was talking to Anais, so Anais was surprised when Aethelu asked her about her life.

  “Tell me about yourself.” Aethelu seemed sincere in her curiosity, so Anais granted her request.

  She told Aethelu about how she had grown up in Los Angeles, which her mother had loved, and how she had practically grown up on various movie sets when her mother became a makeup artist.

  Aethelu listened intently when Anais talked about the movies (“Hey, my sister works in the movies too”) and when she talked about her mother, but it was when Anais talked about her father that Aethelu seemed the most interested. She wanted to know everything about him from what he did for a living to what he liked to do on a weekend.

  Anais told her about how her father had been a historian and a lecturer at York University when he had met Sarah. About how they had fallen in love despite it being disallowed by the University. Lecturers were not allowed to date students so when Mr Hockley, as he was known to his students, had fallen for the eighteen-year-old Sarah it caused quite a scandal. He lost his job, and Sarah was unable to study there anymore. So when they found out that Sarah was pregnant, they all moved to Los Angeles where Alistair took up a post of lecturer in history and literature at UCLA.

  There she was born and lived happily until a year ago when her parents decided to move back to York. When Anais got to the part where her parents were killed in a car crash, she was surprised when Aethelu began to cry. It was a strange reaction from someone who had never met her parents. Anais wondered if she just had a heightened sense of sympathy. Watching the tears roll down Aethelu’s face, Anais had an overwhelming urge to comfort her. It was a weird situation to be in; wanting to comfort someone who had been holding you against your will, but almost without thinking she moved over and put her arms around Aethelu, who flinched slightly but did not back away. They sat that way in an awkward embrace for a few minutes until Aethelu’s sobbing finally subsided.

  “Sorry,” she said repeating her mantra “I should be the one comforting you not the other way round.”

  “It’s ok,” said Anais although she was confused. She hadn’t realised it until now, but she had wanted an excuse to put her arms around Aethelu. She had enjoyed the touch of her, the warmth and the slight smell of raspberry shampoo. It felt so natural. The thought that she had enjoyed hugging her kidnapper made her feel strange, so she quickly changed the subject.

  “What about you?” Anais said. She was intrigued by this strange woman who was keeping her captive, although it was more than that. She genuinely wanted to know about Aethelu and her life. She told herself that if she could befriend Aethelu then maybe she’d let her go, but the reality was she was beginning to enjoy Aethelu’s company.

  Over the next few days, as Anais got to know Aethelu, she began to wait with mounting anticipation for her next visit, more than she’d care to admit to herself. She wondered if she had some kind of Stockholm syndrome, but she knew that Aethelu was the kind of person she’d like to hang out with if they had met in a normal situation. It was a shame that they had met in these weird circumstances, because Anais knew that if they had met in a coffee bar, for example, she would have become friends with Aethelu. Something, she reminded herself, that was impossible now.

  Aethelu didn’t hold back. She talked about herself freely. She seemed to have done so much and she was well versed on any topic Anais cared to bring up. She was so knowledgeable about history that Anais asked if she had studied it at university. She was surprised by Aethelu’s answer that she had studied at the University of Life. When Anais expressed her disbelief, Aethelu told her that there was an extensive library downstairs and she was a voracious reader.

  Anais was surprised to learn that Aethelu’s favourite book was the same as hers. Her father had read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to her many times as a child, putting on silly voices for all the characters, and her copy of the book was one of the few possessions she had brough
t from America with her.

  The day after finding this out, Aethelu turned up with something behind her back and a grin on her face.

  “Close your eyes and hold out your hands.” She was practically bouncing up and down with anticipation.

  Anais almost laughed. She doubted any other kidnapper would be able to make her close her eyes without her being terrified of the result, but there was something about Aethelu that inspired trust. She did as Aethelu asked and something heavy was placed on her outstretched palms.

  She opened her eyes and there sat a book. It was Alice in Wonderland. It wasn’t a modern copy, though. Anais knew enough about old books to know this was something special. She examined it more closely. Bound in red leather with the date 1866 printed on the inside. It was a first edition.

  “Do you like it? You can keep it if you like.”

  “Like it?” Anais was amazed. “Do you realise what this is? It’s a first edition! It’s worth thousands of pounds, hundreds of thousands. This is very rare. There are not many remaining.”

  “It’s ok; we’ve got another first edition copy downstairs.”

  Anais was stunned. To own one copy was amazing, to have two was unbelievable.

  “You are kidding me, right?”

  “No,” Aethelu grinned. “It’s yours! Well, it’s mine, but you can have it. I’ve wanted to give you something to make up for keeping you here, and when you said that you loved Alice in Wonderland, I knew exactly what to give you.”

  “So why am I here?” It was the one subject that Aethelu steadfastly refused to discuss. Anais knew she would be spoiling the moment by asking, but a rare book did not change her situation, no matter how wonderful.

  “I can’t tell you” Aethelu repeated the familiar answer, looking wholly disappointed with what was obviously not the reaction she was expecting. She left before Anais could ask her again.

  Anais examined the book more closely. She ran her fingers over Tenniel’s beautiful drawings and hoped that she’d be able to leave soon so she could show this to Winnie. There had never been something so rare and so expensive in the Antique Book Emporium. It was exquisite and perfect in its condition, amazing for its age. Winnie would love this as much as she did.

  Aethelu’s visits carried on in much the same way over the next few days. She had obviously forgiven Anais for her lacklustre reaction to the Alice book. Anais, in return, had softened and thanked Aethelu for such a precious gift, and vowed to herself to refrain from asking why she was being held here, for a few days at least. They spent hours talking, mainly about art and literature. Aethelu was so pleased that Anais loved the Alice book that she brought more books for Anais to read. Anais only accepted the other books on the condition that Aethelu take the Alice book back and store it in a manner much more beneficial to such an old book. She was sad to see it go, but she couldn’t just have it lying around like a cheap novel. She explained how to keep a book this old safe and Aethelu promised to follow her instructions. Thankfully, the other books brought up from the library were old, but not rare, and Anais felt quite happy to handle them albeit carefully.

  After hearing about this library, Anais hoped she’d get to see it before she left.

  The vow she had made to herself, not to ask Aethelu why she was being held prisoner lasted only a day. She tried many times over the course of that first week to get Aethelu’s reasons for keeping her locked up, but it was the only subject Aethelu was not forthcoming on. All Anais could get out of her was that her father was making her and that Anais was needed for something, although she refused to say what.

  Any mention of leaving caused Aethelu to clam up, and if Anais pushed the subject, then Aethelu just left, sometimes not coming back until the next day.

  As Aethelu was her only source of company, Anais eventually stopped asking.

  Aethelu would quite happily talk about her family, though, a topic which Anais was eager to keep on. Any nuggets of information about the house’s other occupants would come in handy should she try to escape. Of course, Aethelu didn’t realise that’s why Anais was asking, putting it down to mere curiosity. Aethelu obviously loved her family, that much was plain. She talked about them all proudly, making it sound like they were the happiest family in the world, the happiest family who kidnapped teenage girls at least. They sounded blissfully happy as far as Anais could tell, so why would they want to spoil it by doing a spot of kidnapping?

  As far as Anais could tell, there was Aethelu’s mother and father, Astrid and Aldrich, who were both away from the house at the moment visiting relatives (although Aethelu wouldn’t tell her where). The siblings were: her oldest brother, August, who apparently cooked all the amazing meals, sister, Arcadia, who was living in the South of France at the moment, and finally the twin brothers, Raphael and Alexander. Aethelu was the youngest. There was also a friend of the family living in the house called Andrew.

  Anais noted all the A names and found it strange. Perhaps it was a family tradition although that wouldn’t explain Andrew. She wondered why Raphael was named differently. Perhaps it was just coincidence.

  One day, after about a week of being locked in the room, Aethelu was late bringing Anais her breakfast. Anais had persuaded Aethelu to bring her a clock a few days previously, but now it was mocking her with the late time.

  Breakfast time came and went as did lunch, with no sign of Aethelu. Anais realised that it was not only the food that she missed but Aethelu’s company. She felt silly thinking it in the circumstances, but she wished Aethelu would hurry up and come back and not just for the food, although she was terribly hungry.

  A thought, like a weight, came crashing down on her that perhaps Aethelu would never come back. Perhaps that was the plan. Kidnap her, befriend her and then what? Leave her to starve? Something else? Her breathing began to get more erratic as thoughts of being trapped here forever resurfaced. All kinds of scenarios were running through her head and none of them were good.

  “Calm down, calm down.” she thought to herself. There must be a good reason why Aethelu hadn’t turned up yet. Perhaps she’d had a late night and slept in, or maybe she’d had an accident? The last thought depressed Anais even more as she realised her sadness was not fear of being left here alone, but fear that she might not see Aethelu again.

  A sound came, interrupting Anais’ thoughts. She found herself praying it was Aethelu, and her heart leapt when the door opened and Aethelu finally walked in. Aethelu came through the door, full of apologies and dripping wet. She handed Anais a shop-bought sandwich, explaining that she had gone into town before breakfast, but the car had got stuck in the snow, forcing her to walk three miles home in a snow storm.

  Anais was ready to shout at Aethelu, but looking at her face, full of guilt she softened.

  She didn’t want to let her off too easily, though, so she used the opportunity of Aethelu’s contrition to ask one more time about why she was here, hoping that the walk in the snow might have tired her enough to put her off guard.

  Aethelu ignored the question as Anais had expected, but she suddenly brightened up.

  “I have an idea!” She disappeared through the door being careful to bolt it first. Minutes passed and Anais wondered if she was going to come back, but soon enough there was the now familiar sound of the bolt being pulled back.

  Aethelu entered the room with another table and a towel. The table was much taller than the small side tables that Aethelu had been using for Anais food. She set it down right in the middle of the room and then fetched a couple of chairs she had left just outside. She placed the chairs opposite each other, at either side of the table and beckoned Anais to sit on one of the chairs.

  Anais cautiously sat on the chair, whilst Aethelu took the other one. Aethelu stuck her head under the table which surprised Anais. She wasn’t sure what Aethelu was doing, but it looked like she was searching for something. Aethelu muttering “where is the bloody thing?” confirmed her suspicions. Suddenly, Aethelu reappeared from unde
r the table with a big grin on her face. Anais noticed how much her face lit up when she smiled. She also noticed that Aethelu’s hair was dripping onto the table top. It unnerved her a little when she realised she was staring and she quickly looked away. Aethelu noticed the drips and picked up the towel to dry her hair with. The table had started to make a whirring noise. Some mechanical feature had been set off by a button under the table. The top folded in on itself and then flipped inside out and came back up to its original position. Instead of the rosewood surface that had been on top before, now there was an odd looking chessboard. It was the same dimensions as a normal chessboard, but with the nearest two rows and furthest two rows missing. Instead, there were two rectangular holes. The whirring continued, and Anais was delighted to see chess pieces emerging, already in their correct position, from inside the table. They were being raised up by the rest of the missing chessboard which slotted into place with a click. The whirring noise finally stopped and the manoeuvre was complete. Anais was spellbound. If she’d not just seen the chess set emerge as it had, she would never have guessed that it was made up of three parts. The white squares were inlaid with mother of pearl and the black were some dark wood, possibly ebony. The chess pieces were intricately carved, but they were not traditional. She picked up what she took to be a knight. It was an intricately carved horse with an equally intricate person on its back. The detail was amazing. The tiny figure was so lifelike carved into ebony. A young man with a strong face leaned forward as if giving a war cry. His front was inlaid with a light sapphire.

  Anais was so absorbed in this little character that she almost didn’t hear Aethelu saying her name. She looked up as

  Aethelu passed her another chess piece, this time a white one from her own side of the chessboard. It was a bishop. Anais took the chess piece and examined it. It was Aethelu in miniature. She looked up at the real Aethelu to find her beaming. Pure joy brightened her whole face, giving her an ethereal quality. It only made her more beautiful. Anais turned her attention back to the chess piece. The artist had done an amazing job of capturing every detail in ivory, from the curls, which were almost the exact same colour as the real Aethelu’s hair, to the pixie-like expression on her face.