by Ashley McLeo
“As soon as I read this I tried calling Evelyn. When there was no answer, I filled Sonja in. We checked around and none of her friends have spoken with her in over a day. That never happens. She’s very communicative, our daughter.”
Are we searching for the same person? Lily frowned, remembering all the days when she and Evelyn had barely exchanged a word.
“So no leads, but we can guess that this Roman Simons is in on the abduction,” Brigit mused.
James and Sonja nodded. Despite having learned some serious truths about their daughter, they looked less fearful than when the witches had arrived.
“Well, I suppose our road is clear then. We need to get in touch with the supernatural community. We’ll ask if anyone has seen this guy and knows of his whereabouts. I’ll keep in touch with you two and inform you as soon as we find Evelyn. If you give us a number we can reach you at directly, we’ll be on our way.” Brigit rose, ready to get down to business.
“Actually,” Aoife said, “I have one more question. What’s going on in your office? I find it hard to believe you told your entire staff about your missing daughter . . . am I right?”
Lily’s eyes grew wide. Aoife was right. There was no way James and Sonja had sent out a call about their missing daughter. They hadn’t had the time. They had been wracking their brains to digest the message when the witches arrived.
“Oh, that.” James collapsed in his chair with a wave of his hand, as if the chaos in his business empire was of little consequence. “There was a security breach last night. Someone hacked into our system and accessed a number of our clients’ accounts. All in all, about two million dollars disappeared from our books.”
“Can you imagine being so nonchalant about losing two million dollars?” Lily asked, pressing the elevator for the lobby.
“Aye. It’s a pretty penny. His reaction speaks to his character. He’s letting others figure out the business mess while he brainstorms a way to save his daughter. Didn’t even balk at having to shell out one hundred million for her. That’s a dedicated da if I ever saw one. Reminds me of Aengus,” Aoife said as they rode the elevator down.
“Me too,” Brigit agreed. “I only hope we can find her, for his sake as much as ours.”
“So, onto the Sisters of Salem safe house?” Mary asked. “We can make calls to the local community and get intel on this Roman Simons character from there. They’re one of the largest covens in the world with lots of eyes on these streets. Maybe someone saw Roman taking Evelyn somewhere.”
Everyone nodded, unable to come up with anything better.
We’re going to need help if we’re going to find her fast, Lily thought, recalling the panoramic views of the city out James Locksley’s window.
The elevator door opened. They strode past Rose, who looked more bogged down by phone calls than an hour ago, and out the front door of Locksley Enterprises, arms readied to hail the first cabs they saw.
Broken Soul
Evelyn’s broken body curled in on itself for protection as another day dawned and metal scraped upon stone.
Noooo. Evelyn buried her face in hay and winced as her nose collided with the cold stone below her bed of hay, which had flattened under her weight as she slept.
“Good morning, Eve darling!” Noro called out. “Rise and shine! I have another full day planned for us.”
Her body rose and floated to the other side of her cell unaided by her muscles and bones.
A couple days in the dungeon had taught Evelyn there was no use in fighting the fata. He was the strongest creature she’d ever met. She hoped this was only because Noro had been on Earth for millennia and been able to build his magic in that time, as Seraphina had spoken of in her tale.
Noro lowered Evelyn’s body onto a narrow metal table resembling ones used for gynecological exams. The table was covered with a threadbare towel and shackles were welded to the sides where a person’s hands and feet would lay.
Evelyn’s feet fell like bricks into the stirrups as her bruised arms rested protectively over her internal organs.
“I hope you slept well, Eve, for today is a big day. Dimia is anxious for progress and has commanded we open a portal today. I negotiated for you, I really did. Tried to buy you another day or two of training. You are not as strong as I would like you to be for this task. I’ll be honest, he didn’t appreciate the news, but I made sure he knew your weakness was all down to your human blood—that, Dimia could understand, as I have told him many tales of weak humans in my time on Earth. That being said, I suggest you try your hardest to open the portal even if it must be short lived, my love. Dimia has waited many years and has grown impatient. It is not in our best interests, yours especially, to fail him. As long as Dimia makes it to Earth, he will be happy and more amenable to wait a few days for another to open for his subjects.”
Noro landed next to her and his mouth opened wide as he took in Evelyn’s body. “Of course, it would please me, too, if you succeeded. I have waited thousands of years for this, to see your lustrous power emerge again in such a glorious manner. I’ll admit, you are not what I expected being so—human. Yet, what you lack in the fata magic of your ancestor, you make up for with relative submissiveness. It’s a trait I find attractive in my partners.”
Evelyn shuddered. While the torture had been bad, Noro’s insistence that they were together as “partners and lovers” was far worse. Evelyn hoped being a lover meant something different to a fata, because picturing Noro’s gaping black hole of mouth on her mouth was almost more than she could bear. And as Evelyn had learned since her abduction, she could bear a lot more than she’d ever thought possible.
For two days a tray of bread, fruit, and water slid into her cell at an unknowable time and Evelyn bolted down the food, knowing it was the last sustenance she would see for the day. Then she laid back down on her bed of hay to wait. Noro arrived minutes or hours later, there was no way to be sure, and Evelyn’s fata magic lesson began.
The navy fata expected Evelyn to replicate his magic mere minutes after he taught it to her. These were the same high standards thrust upon Dimia’s daughters when they’d trained on Hecate (or so Noro claimed). The difference was that the original triplets succeeded, whereas Evelyn failed to meet most of Noro’s expectations, and a single failure meant enraging Noro and hours of torture.
And Evelyn had the marks to prove it.
Scalpel lines ran the width of her belly, back, and other parts of her body not covered by the scraps of what Noro deemed vile human clothes. The scraps remained only because of Evelyn’s insistence that she’d freeze to death at night without them. On her inner right thigh two new marks glowed, one a white spiral, the other a navy eight pointed star. Evelyn had received both Dimia’s and Noro’s brands the day before. Contrary to her expectations, it hadn’t hurt when Noro branded her with his magic, but the fact that he'd marked her, claimed Evelyn for himself, infuriated her.
“You will receive your own symbol with which you may claim human slaves once the fata have taken over. I’m sure Dimia will approve you anything you’d like. He would not dare deny you that basic right, Eve, but everyone, the king excluded, must have superiors, am I right? And who better to be your superior than your lover?” Noro had insisted as his navy star appeared on her skin along side Dimia’s spiral.
Other marks Noro left deep inside her. Like the time he twisted Evelyn’s intestines into knots when she failed to levitate more than a few feet across the room in the graceful fata manner. The pain had been excruciating, and it was the only time being deprived of food seemed a bonus. Or the time he’d attempted to force Evelyn to pull the life force from a kitten. She’d been pleased when she’d failed that one. But Noro hadn’t, and in the end, Evelyn was forced to watch the kitten die, his little eyes blinking up at her as he crumpled to the ground. Evelyn moved its tiny body to the opposite side of the dungeon and hid it from sight beneath a bloody rag. For once she was grateful the dungeon was cold; the corpse hardly smell
ed at all.
“Does that sound amenable to you?”
Noro touched Evelyn’s arm, and the sensation reminded her of a small tornado of air hovering and whirring on top of her skin. His dark eyes stared at her and she realized he was waiting for her to respond to some asked question. She nodded, wondering why he bothered to ask her opinion. It’s not like I have a choice in the matter if I want to survive.
“Perfect,” Noro squealed and pushed his dark, sausage-resembling limbs together in a soundless clap.
“Skipping levitation practice will allow you to conserve your energy for the opening of the portal. I realize it will be embarrassing that you have not mastered levitation and must walk on the ground when Dimia arrives, but I’m glad you recognize the predicament we are in. The king’s wishes must always supersede our own vanities.”
Evelyn barely repressed her eye roll.
“Now then, Eve, we shall first review what the Ancients—the oldest and most powerful fata on Hecate—and I believe are the basics of how to create a portal. To our best knowledge, this has to do with distorting space-time. The Ancients have been trying to work out how Dimia’s daughters managed to open a portal for thousands of years. As you can imagine, many attempts were made after Lilith, Eve, and Seraphina left. None succeeded but their failures were useful as teaching tools.”
There it is again. Evelyn’s mouth flattened in annoyance. Noro was always referring to the “human part” of her genome. No matter how much she insisted that after so many generations of human ancestors it was unlikely she had anything but a human genome with magic-giving witchy genes mixed in. I suppose learning science is beneath a fata.
“The Ancients’ current hypothesis is that the original portal was more a loss of magic and energy than a use of magic, meaning Dimia’s daughters expended all the talents they had on Hecate to gain new ones on this planet. Powers that do not exist on Hecate, such as the ability to manipulate fire magic. They traded the magic Hecate gifted them, as the planet does with each newborn fata, for magic they could reap from Earth. I concur with this theory, as when I met up with Seraphina and my dear Eve, their Earthly powers differed greatly from their powers on Hecate. My powers, on the other hand, have only grown since coming here as I have been able to access some of Earth’s magic while my magic from Hecate never left me. I believe this to be because Eve created the portal that brought me over. Therefore I did not need to expend the magic Hecate gifted me at my birth. Are you following?”
Evelyn shrugged. What does it matter? I doubt this will work anyway.
“Very well,” Noro eyed her suspiciously before continuing. “We believe one way for Lilith, Eve, and Seraphina to have expended so much magic is to have undertaken the enormous task of bending space-time in the opposite way it wishes to be bent. It would have taken a staggering amount of power, but I can assure you Dimia’s daughters were no normal fata. They, like you, were stronger than all others. Of course, they benefited from the best fata tutors their entire lives and knew how to leverage their powers. Had your stupid mother not hidden you from me, you would perhaps be the same and I would not have to fear for your life as you undertook this task.” Noro shook his head in disgust.
It’s like he actually cares if I can handle this, Evelyn mused.
“Once Dimia’s daughters succeeded in bending space-time and it created a hole through space, they used what was left of their power to travel through the hole or portal to Earth, the planet I discovered. The closest thing I’ve heard a human do is hedgecrossing, which is analogous to my own talent of sending my pneuma through space separate from my body. Alas, all humans who had accomplished hedgecrossing have died, their souls lost somewhere in the space or time between your world and others.”
A conversation flashed in Evelyn’s mind: Mary telling the triplets about hedgecrossers, witches with immense power whose souls traveled out of their bodies not just on earth as witches more commonly did during astral travel, but also in space. Mary had spoken of how other supernaturals had desired to use hedgecrossers for their own means, which led to many suppressing their talents or ignoring them. But Mary said it took years to develop the talent and . . . Didn’t she tell us a story about Empusa and Amon hunting hedgecrossers to use them? Evelyn eyed Noro warily.
“I see you are familiar with the term,” Noro said, assessing her reaction. “Fear not, my dearest Eve. Those other humans did not have a fata’s help. More to the point, they were not you. I realize it will be farther than you’ve ever allowed your soul to travel, but with a fata’s guidance and access to our magic, the magic of your ancestors, it is possible.”
But I can’t even astral travel! It was too ironic for words. The one skill Evelyn needed to appease Noro, save herself another round of torture, and possibly negotiate a way out of this basement was a branch of magic she had never had any success with. She sighed.
“So let me get this straight. You want me to bend space-time in a way it doesn’t want to be bent, then send my soul through it? What if that takes so much energy it kills me? You said it depleted Dimia’s daughters’ power. And that all the hedgecrossers who have tried to travel have died. The odds don’t seem too good.”
Noro’s black eyes glimmered as if stars were twinkling in and out of sight within them. “After you open a portal, you will be depleted. You may even, as you have guessed, die. A fata’s pneuma is more robust than a human soul, after all. However, I will do everything in my power so that you may live, Eve. And as you know, I hold much power. Tell me you will try, my love. I have already promised our king. If I have to tell him otherwise, I will be most unhappy.”
Holy shit! He’s batshit crazy for thinking I can do this! I’ll have to trick him into thinking I’m trying hard. Or maybe I should try really hard until I become depleted in magic and can’t do any more? Then he’ll have to leave me alone until my power returns. Hopefully, that will be long enough for someone to come looking for me.
The Locksleys may have already called the police, but Evelyn knew the police would be useless in this scenario. Only the McKays could get her out of here. She thought of Brigit, her aunts, and sisters at Fern Cottage and how they weren’t expecting her for a month. It wouldn’t be Lily who called to check on her. Sara would, but how long would that take? Why do my only options suck?
Evelyn lifted her eyes to find Noro’s level gaze on her, waiting for her reply.
“So how do I bend space-time?” she asked, settling on option one for the time being. She listened as Noro related all the possible ways the Ancients had postulated to bend space-time. Everything he said sounded complicated and unnatural, so unlike her lessons with Brigit. Witches needed only spells, incantations, willpower, and intention to work magic. Fata needed something else, something Evelyn felt sure she didn’t have.
Hours later Evelyn’s head hit the cold metal of the examination table with a thud and a groan escaped her chapped lips. She was as close to bending space-time as she was to sprouting wings, though she thought she had noticed the air before her shimmer a bit. Once. Her inability to pull off the impossible had become increasingly infuriating to Noro. While he had yet to cut or manhandle Evelyn, she sensed a punishment building as the fata’s navy body grew darker and darker. By the time he called off their session he was bordering on black, a shade Evelyn had yet to see him achieve.
“This did not go as I had hoped, Eve. Not at all. You leave me with only one choice. A choice I was hoping to save as a reward for after you constructed the portal. But now . . . now I see your human shell limits you more than I thought. You must be stronger to negate that shell. My children will not like this one bit, but your weakness leaves me with little choice.” Noro floated toward the door. “Felix!”
The door squeaked opened. Felix peered in and smiled at the sight of Evelyn lying half naked on the table.
Her blood froze. Please don’t let him in here.
Noro waved his arm and cold encased Evelyn’s ankles as the shackles near her feet bound he
r to the examination table.
“Shut the door and lock it. Eve is weak but the wards on this room remain down. I will return,” Noro instructed Felix.
Evelyn exhaled when the door closed, grateful for the barrier between her and Felix, even if it was keeping her from her freedom. She took advantage of the fact that Noro had only bound her feet and combed her hands through her hair. She shuddered and willed herself to ignore the parts of her usual silky blonde hair that had been hacked or burned off. The gesture almost made her feel normal. And if she closed her eyes she could imagine herself elsewhere, like getting ready for a party or work. Too soon, the hard note of stilettos hitting stone cut through the silent basement dungeon and Evelyn’s fantasy dissipated.
Noro is bringing Empusa? Evelyn had seen the vampire only twice since Empusa had tossed her in the basement. Both times the purpose of Empusa’s visits seemed to be to remind Evelyn how helpless she was. Empusa’s favorite topic was what she and her brother would do to James and Sonja if Evelyn didn’t help their cause. But why does Noro need her help? He’s more powerful than a vampire.
The door flew open, flooding the room with blinding beams of light. Evelyn squinted and saw Noro hadn’t only brought Empusa. Amon stood behind his sister as did creatures holding the flashlights that blinded Evelyn. Roman’s tall, muscular stance was absent but that was no surprise. No one had even mentioned the incubus since the night Roman brought her to the manor. The closest thing to an interaction she’d had with Roman was his voice, arguing with Felix in Evelyn’s dreams the night before.
Evelyn’s fingernails dug into her palms. I bet he’s already crawled back home. Or is hiding out somewhere.
The Acolytes filed in behind Noro to form a circle around Evelyn. It was only when her eyes had readjusted that she saw all the faces of those Noro had called to assist him.
