by S. E. Smith
Lacey stood up and walked over to the bars. She jerked on them in frustration. She couldn’t take a chance of using her magic yet. She needed to know what was going on first. She needed to find Frost. What had happened after she had been hit? Had he escaped? Had he left the planet?
Her head fell against the cold metal bars as tears filled her eyes again. Pain exploded through her chest at the thought of losing him. This is why she didn’t want to love again.
Lacey pressed her fist against her lips. Love! Did she love Frost? They had only been together for a day. There was no way she could fall in love so fast!
Yes, there is, a familiar deep voice whispered.
“Sean?” Lacey’s voice shook as she whispered his name.
I’m here with you, my lovely Lacey, Sean assured her.
Lacey had often felt Sean’s presence over the last three years, had even had one-sided arguments with him, but never had he spoken to her again after he died. He had just been there, watching over her as she tried to learn to live again. Sorrow and guilt flooded her.
No, Lacey… don’t, he said.
Lacey’s eyes closed as she felt cool fingers run along her cheek before cupping her chin and lifting it. She opened her eyes and smiled as Sean’s handsome face shimmered before her. She raised her hand to touch his cheek. Her fingers skimmed along the surface, touching him… yet not.
“I miss you so much,” she said.
I miss you too, honey, but we’ve had our time. Now it is time for you to move on, Sean responded affectionately.
“We promised forever,” she said stubbornly, drawing in a deep breath. “We pinkie promised.”
The cool breeze of Sean’s laughter stirred her hair. We were in second grade, he reminded her before he sobered. I will love you forever, my Lacey doll, but I was not the one meant for you.
“What…? Yes, you were,” Lacey said in confusion. “You…” She stopped when she felt his fingers against her lips.
I had your sisters cast a love spell for your seventh birthday. I kept it and repeated it once each full moon, Sean admitted.
Lacey’s eyes widened in shock. A love spell… “Sean?”
How could I expect you to ever love a troll, Lacey? No one would play with me, talk to me, except this beautiful little witch who offered me a piece of her mud pie. You said you mixed it with love and made it just for me. You even ate a piece of it with me.
“You loved my mud pies,” Lacey whispered as tears filled her eyes. “I loved your pointy ears and button nose. I thought you were the handsomest boy on the playground and I was jealous one of the other girls would… would…”
Sean touched the tear that escaped. You made me feel like the handsomest boy on the playground. You made me the happiest troll in Magic the day you said you’d marry me.
Lacey sniffed and tilted her head into the palm of his hand. “You didn’t need the love spell. I knew I loved you when you sat down in the middle of that mud puddle with me. I loved you even more when you asked me to be your wife.”
We were good together, my beautiful Lacey girl, Sean said tenderly. But, it’s time for both of us to let each other go. I just couldn’t let you go until I knew you wouldn’t be alone.
“Frost…”
Is the perfect partner for you, Sean assured her. I looked high and low and even got Topper to help me find the perfect man for you. Someone I knew who would care for you and love you as much as I do.
“He…” Lacey’s voice trembled.
He’s here, Sean informed her. He needs you, Lacey.
“Where is he?” She asked anxiously.
Getting a little help from one very determined little mouse and an enchanted puppy, Sean grinned before he sobered. It’s time for me to leave, Lacey. I want you to be happy for me, my lovely Lacey. I’ll always love you from afar.
“Sean!” Lacey cried, reaching for him. “SEAN!”
Be happy, he whispered as he faded.
Sobs shook her shoulders as she slid down the cold metal bars. Wrapping her arms around her waist, she rocked as she cried. Each tear gradually washed away the pain that had torn her apart for the last three years at not being able to tell him one last time how much she loved and missed him.
“My, my,” a feminine voice commented dryly from the other side of the bars. “Calling for your dead husband is not going to make your alien very happy. My name is Dr. Alice Barker. You lead a very interesting life, Mrs. Adams. I think it is time you told me a little about it.”
*.*.*
Frost came awake so violently it took him by surprise and he suddenly found himself lying on the floor. His head jerked up and he blinked to clear his vision. He was in a brightly lit room surrounded by four solid white metal walls. He pushed up from the floor and rose to his feet. One wall had a door in it with a narrow window that was sealed shut. There was a one inch gap under the door. A tray of cold, congealed food lay in a paper tray.
His eyes swept the ten by ten room. He turned and glared up at the video cameras mounted in the ceiling. In fury, he strode over to the corner and ripped the first one out before moving to the next. He was walking to the last one when the small window in the door opened.
“Go ahead and tear it out, man,” a man growled. “Doc said if you took out the last camera, me and Willy get an hour with your woman. She isn’t bad looking either.”
Frost clenched his fist and dropped his hand to his side. He glared over his shoulder at the male peering at him through the bars. Ice shards formed over his hand, lengthening until it appeared he had grown long blades from his knuckles.
The man chuckled and shook his head. “Doc’s with your girl right now,” he goaded. “You fuck up and the doc will have fun with her. I’ve seen what the bitch can do. It isn’t pretty, but she appears to enjoy it.”
Frost raised his fist and pointed it at the man. “You will die,” he said coldly.
“Yeah, yeah,” the man replied. “That’s what they all say, just before another one gets dissected.”
Frost slammed his fist against the metal door after the male closed the window. Frustration poured through him. He was helpless as long as they held Lacey. He believed the woman when she said she would hurt Lacey. There was a coldness to the female that he had seen countless times in the fugitives he had hunted down. Killers, all of them, determined to use those weaker than them.
He drew his foot back and kicked the tray back under the door as hard as he could. The sound of laughter echoed in the long corridor before it was silenced by the sound of yet another metal door closing. The lights shut off until only a sliver of dim light shone under the door from the corridor outside of his cell. The darkened room matched his mood.
He returned to the bed. A tug on it proved it was securely bolted to the floor. He turned and sank down onto it. Leaning forward, he grabbed his head and fought the urge to just explode. He rocked back and forth as his mind flooded with all the horrible things that could happen to Lacey.
“Oh Goddess, please keep her safe,” he whispered, uncaring who heard his plea. “Please let nothing harm her. I love her so much. Please, I beg you.”
For the first time in years, he thought of the legends of the Goddess Icela. She had answered the warrior’s plea, surely she could hear his. His eyes burned as he pictured Lacey’s glowing face as he made love to her last night.
“Please, help me protect her,” he groaned.
Chapter 17
Jones Redman leaned back against the plush chair in the office of Dr. Alice Barker. He smiled as he accepted the drink she had poured from the tray on the side table. He studied the amber liquid for several seconds before he drained it with one swallow. He held out the glass for a refill, relaxing when she handed it to him.
“Have you had any luck finding his spaceship?” Alice asked, walking over to sit in the high-backed leather chair behind her desk. “Surely, it couldn’t be far from where you found him?”
Red
man relaxed as the expensive brandy flowed through him. It was the first time in five years that he had allowed himself to have a drink. The first one since he was almost blinded during a mission and reclassified to the dusty Department of Paranormal and Extraterrestrial Division. It was the joke of the government and buried so deep in the bowels of the of the capitol that only a handful of people knew it existed.
There were piles of documents purporting to support claims about creatures that go bump in the night. All of them were slowly disintegrating in paper boxes. Now, he wasn’t so sure they were all just quack reports.
Finding not one, but two live aliens had made him a very, very rich man. Perhaps there was truth to some of the other stories and he should actually read the reports. If he found more, he could become one of the richest, most powerful men in the world. Governments around the world would bow to him if he could produce a real live witch or fire-breathing dragon.
Redman studied the amber liquid thoughtfully. “Not yet, but it shouldn’t be much longer. The equipment you sent appeared to be having technical difficulties,” he replied, lifting the glass to his lips. He paused and lowered it. “It will cost you more. I want another twenty million… pounds for it.”
Alice’s mouth tightened and her eyebrow rose. “Pounds? Why? Is the American dollar not good enough for you any longer?” She asked with a saccharine smile.
“Pounds have a better exchange rate,” Redman replied with a grin before it faded. “What have you learned from the Adam’s woman?”
Alice shook her head. “That she is boringly enough just a human. The silly twit is totally clueless. She is still grieving for her dead husband. She was bawling like a baby when I went to see her. For crying out loud, she was calling his name!” Alice laughed and rolled her eyes in amusement.
“Did she tell you anything about the man?” Redman asked in surprise. “You are normally very good at getting information out of people.”
“That’s true,” Alice sighed. “Just that he called himself ‘Frost’ and that he appeared the day before yesterday at her animal shelter. She was very upset that one of your men killed her dog. How many people know that you were… where was it?”
“A place called Magic, New Mexico,” Redman replied, lifting his glass. “The only one that knew we were there was the local sheriff. I had one of your teams take him out.”
“What about your superiors?” Alice asked, sitting forward with a worried frown. “Won’t they know and investigate?”
Redman snorted into his glass. “All the men with me worked for you. My ‘superiors’ don’t know their head from their asses,” he stated roughly. “I haven’t sent in a report in months and I haven’t heard a word from them. As far as they are concerned, I no longer exist.”
Alice sat back in her seat. “Then, to you no longer existing!” She laughed, raising her glass. “Cheers.”
“Cheers,” Redman chuckled, raising his glass and draining it again.
Alice watched as Redman’s face creased into a frown as he began to lower the glass. He glanced down as a drop of liquid fell into the empty glass. He stared at the bright, red drop. His fingers trembled as he raised his right hand and touched under his nose. He looked at his fingers. Bright red blood coated three of them.
The glass shattered on the imported Italian tile of the office floor as it slipped from his left hand. He leaned forward, grabbing his stomach as it twisted. His good eye blurred as he looked in shock at Alice’s smiling face.
“All in the name of science, Jonesy,” she said sipping her drink. “Thank you for your discovery. To no longer existing.”
Alice watched dispassionately as Jones Redman fell forward, dead. She pulled the tablet next to her closer and swiped her fingers across it. She typed in several observations before she switched over to watch the video of Frost’s interaction with the guard. She zoomed in on his hand, playing it in slow motion as the blades of ice formed.
“You, my amazing alien, are just full of secrets,” she murmured. “So, your name actually means something and so does Lacey. I’ve found your Achilles heel, my sweet science experiment. Tomorrow I’ll take my time seeing just how much the weak and clueless Mrs. Adam’s means to you.”
*.*.*
The tiny brown mouse paused and rose on his back legs to sniff the air. He was tired, but determined. He leaned back down and began running as fast as his little legs would go. He stayed close to the wall as he ran so the cameras in the ceiling wouldn’t see him.
He finally reached his first destination. He quickly squeezed through the door when it opened and one of the guards started to step out. He ran under the table next to the door and waited. His heart beat frantically in his chest as he peered up at the other guard standing in front of the cage.
“The damn thing bit me,” the guard said, holding up his finger. “I thought puppies were supposed to be sweet and cuddly.”
The other guard laughed. “Nah, puppies are piranhas with fur. They bite and chew everything. Hell, the last litter we had chewed through my living room furniture in a single afternoon. I would’ve drowned the damn things if my wife would’ve let me.”
“I hope he doesn’t have rabies or anything,” the guard said, holding his finger up to the light.
“You better just hope it isn’t an alien pup,” the other sneered. “I heard the tech helping Doc Barker got stung by that little lizard creature and his insides melted into mush.”
“Oh God,” the first guard groaned, paling. “You don’t think he could be, do you?”
“You’re such an idiot,” the other guard replied as he good-naturedly slapped the first guard on the shoulder. “The tech was dead in seconds and you’ve been sweating longer than that. Besides, my wife likes to raise Golden Retrievers. That’s a real one.”
“Ah, you turd,” the first guard growled. “I’m still going to go to the infirmary and get one of the nurses to clean it. You go do the rounds on your own.”
“You owe me one,” the guard laughed as they walked out of the room and shut the door.
The mouse waited several minutes before it tentatively crawled out from under the cabinet. It rose up on its hind legs again, sniffing the air around it. Satisfied that no one else was in the room, it twitched its nose.
Bright brown eyes gleamed with mischief and pride. Shaking his body to brush off the dust he had collected under the table, Jonah raised his hand to push back the white cowboy hat sitting low on his forehead.
“Hey, Little Bit,” Jonah said with a grin. “You ready to help Aunt Lacey and Frost?”
Little Bit jumped up and clawed at the metal gate on the front of the carrier crate. She sat down as Jonah opened it and lifted her out. She excitedly licked his face over and over, pulling muffled giggles from him. She suddenly sneezed violently as she breathed in some of the dust still attached to him.
Jonah touched his cold nose up against the pup. He grinned when he caught his reflection in the polished metal cabinet. He raised one paw up and inspected it. He turned it over and extended the claws.
“While I’d love to be a bear,” he giggled. “I think that might be a bit noticeable. It’s going to be hard enough to get you through the hallways without being seen.” Little Bit’s tail wagged excitedly back and forth. “Let’s go find Frost. I smelled him so I don’t think he’s all that far away. Joseph is gathering re-enforcements.”
Little Bit growled softly and bared her tiny, sharp teeth. Jonah grinned. He bent and set Little Bit down before he walked over to the door. He listened at the door before he turned and frowned down at Little Bit.
“This may tingle a little,” he whispered before he waved his hands over the puppy.
Little Bit whined, but remained still as the magic flowed over her. Soon, she was the same size as the tiny brown mouse. Jonah stepped closer to the tiny puppy and rubbed his nose against her before he turned and crept under the door. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he took off back do
wn the hallway. Neither of the guards sitting in front of the video monitors saw the small brown mouse or its tiny golden shadow moving along the wall.
Chapter 18
Frost was laying on the bed. His mind ran through one scenario after another trying to think of a way of breaking out so he could get to Lacey. Until he knew she was safe, his hands were tied. He could not risk doing anything that would endanger her.
He closed his eyes as a wave of defeat threatened to drown him. There had to be some way to escape. Even if they escaped he had no idea where they were located. He had been unconscious during the trip. Hell, he didn’t even know how long he had been unconscious!
For all he knew, his transport could have self-destructed by now. He sat up as another thought occurred to him. What if Redman had found it? The explosion would incinerate this entire complex when it blew. He didn’t care about his own life, but Lacey was here.
“Goddess, help me!” He whispered again.
His eyes jerked down when a shadow paused in the light under the door. He frowned as a small mammal slipped under the door and into his cell. A moment later, a small….
“Little Bit?” Frost whispered in shock as his eyes picked out the features of the puppy.
He fell backwards as the puppy suddenly grew, and grew, and grew, and… grew. The massive wiggling body hit him square in the chest, its paws driving him backwards until he was trapped under the soft furry body. A tongue, half the length of his bed, unrolled toward him. Frost gasped as he tried to draw in a breath. The paw that was holding him down was half as big as he was.
“Oh shoot! Little Bit, down girl. Come on. Sit down. There’s a good girl,” a young, familiar voice coaxed.
“Jonah?” Frost wheezed as Little Bit sat down.
Frost eyed the puppy in astonishment. Even sitting, he had to look up at her. She leaned forward and swiped her tongue around his face again. The damn thing soaked his face, hair, and the top half of his shirt.
