by JB Caine
I thrashed about again, more out of frustration than anything else. He just smiled and patted my leg. He knew who...what...I was! I wondered if this is what Claudia had meant with her veiled “one way or another” threat the first time we met.
“I’m sure this is quite a stressful situation for you, but it has to be this way because I need you to be completely focused on what I have to say, a ‘captive audience’ if you will. I should begin by telling you that may name isn’t Dominic Quinn, though I think I’ll refrain from giving you the real one for the moment. I have been keeping an eye on you, so to speak, for quite some time, because I was quite sure that it was only a matter of time before the card came to you and you became the Moon. I confess I expected it to be later, once you’d gone off to college somewhere, but it appears that the magic in your blood had other plans. Took me quite by surprise, you accidentally doing Blood Magic. That bodes well for how strong you will become in time.”
He paused here and examined my eyes. He seemed satisfied that the injection was having the desired effect, and he was right. The prickling feeling had all but stopped, and I was feeling a bit foggy again. Nothing a nap wouldn’t fix…
“No dozing off on me, now,” he chided. “Don’t be rude. Where was I? Oh, yes. Your play. It wasn’t a bad attempt, from a literary standpoint, by the way. Anyhow, I knew it was only a matter of time...vacancies in the Arcana don’t last forever. After your aunt relinquished her place, I rather wondered how things would play out, since your mother had no interest at all in her magical lineage. Seemed only logical that someday the card would find you. They do like to stay within the bloodline if they can.”
In the very back of my mind, all sorts of alarm bells were going off. He knew my aunt, my mother, my family history...and he sure knew an awful lot about how the cards worked. I wasn’t sure how I should feel about that, and the drugs in my system were making it hard to feel much of anything.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions, my girl, and if all goes well, I have all the answers you seek. But as I said, we need to come to an understanding. There is too much at stake for me to have you and your powers out there spitting into the wind, if you’ll pardon the metaphor. Your aunt seems somewhat content to let you discover your skills and develop them in a somewhat random fashion, but that is messy, and it just won’t do. You play an important role in the Pattern, Lia, and you need to be properly trained to do your part.”
The more he talked, the less I felt afraid. Part of that was probably whatever he’d shot into my arm, but part of it was something else. I just wasn’t sure what. One thing I did feel certain about, though, was that he truly didn’t want to hurt me. He seemed to feel like I was...necessary.
“There, now, it seems like you’ve calmed down quite a bit. Can I trust you not to scream if I take that cloth out of your mouth?” I nodded slowly, and he smiled. “Excellent. I’m pleased to see that you can be reasonable.” He pulled the wadded up washcloth (I’d been right about that) out of my mouth, and I worked my cramped jaw around a bit.
“Can I have some water?”
“Certainly, in a couple of minutes. Let’s try to establish some ground rules for our conversation first, shall we? We have much to discuss.”
“Did Claudia send you?” I asked, trying to give him as jaded a stare as I could manage. I was startled when he responded with laughter.
“Good Lord, no. No one sent me. As I told you, I’ve had my eye on you for quite a long time. She and her brother never would have found you, had they not managed to get a decent clairvoyant working with them. Alright, my turn. Did your aunt give you the card?”
“Not exactly. I found it in some of her things, though she said...she had not put it there.” I had almost told him about her burying the card with my grandmother. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like I shouldn’t share that. “If you’re not with the Tower, what Arcana are you?”
He studied me intently for a moment. “I am the Magician, my girl.” My eyes must have widened a little bit, because he added, “I see my reputation precedes me. I hope you will give me the benefit of the doubt and draw your own conclusions.”
“I don’t know anything about your reputation. Just that my grandmother doesn’t trust you.”
This time HIS eyes got wide. “Doesn’t she? Interesting. And impressive.” I knew I was oversharing, but I couldn’t seem to put a filter between my brain and my mouth. “Why don’t I get you that water now?” He stood and slipped out the doorway, the dogs padding after him. Within a minute, he returned with a bottle of water in his hand. He opened the top and tipped it to my lips. I drank greedily, grateful to get that horrible dryness out of my mouth. After gulping down half the bottle, I pulled back for a breath.
“Thanks. But why the restraints? Why couldn’t you just introduce yourself to me and have a conversation like a normal person?”
“Well, I suppose neither of us is exactly normal, wouldn’t you agree? But the fact is this. I have some rather ambitious, rather important plans, and I want you to be part of them. I needed you to hear me out without interference from anyone else. And I need you not using any of your own abilities upon me while we talked.”
“Seems a little unfair. You can use yours.”
“Well, I certainly could. But at the moment, I don’t really need to.”
“But you needed to pull me into a van and drug me.”
He smiled. “It’s a fair criticism.” He set the chair at the foot of the bed and sat down.
“Look, I’m feeling awfully sleepy because of the sedative you gave me, so I don’t really have a lot of bandwidth for being polite. What is it you WANT? What’s the bottom line here? Is that about that same political stuff Claudia and John wanted me involved in? Because I don’t really think I’m going to do a lot of messing with people’s free will anymore. I’ve made a mess of things, and I’ve learned my lesson about that.”
“I appreciate your candor. Your boldness may be a little ill-advised, but I can forgive that for now.” He paused, perhaps considering how much to tell me. “I’m not particularly interested in politics in the sense that the Tower is. My politics are more personal, you might say. Let me ask you this: with what goddess have you aligned yourself?”
“Selene.” Dangit. I hadn’t meant to tell him that.
“Ah, yes. Illusion, insight, gravity? I take it your abilities are connected with hers?”
“I suppose. Who are you aligned with?”
“Mercury,” he said simply.
I struggled to remember what I knew about Roman gods. “So...the messenger. Communication? Speed?”
“Yes, you could say that. I can be quite persuasive. Mercury also has excellent business sense. That, as you might imagine, has a variety of benefits.”
“So this is about money?” I asked.
“Nothing so base. Think about this for a moment: What if Mercury’s skills and Selene’s were combined? Skilled communication plus intuition plus business acumen. The ability to move quickly combined with the ability to move objects. It creates some interesting possibilities, does it not? Begs for experimentation, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Think of this: what might be accomplished if all the Arcana could be assembled in one place? The powers of so many gods at my...OUR fingertips. What might we accomplish? What might we create?”
I blinked at him. I knew there must be quite a lot that the power of 21 deities could do. But it seemed to me that it could do as much--if not more--harm than good. I was pretty sure he didn’t see it that way, though. Claudia and John had mentioned a similar philosophy, but it hadn’t seemed particularly scary then. Looking at Blair, I began to realize how very dangerous the temptation could be. His eyes were alight with the promise of that much power.
He looked as though he was about to say something else when his chest pocket started buzzing. He pulled out his phone to check the identity of the incoming caller, then abruptly stood up.
“I have to take this call, my dear, but we can continue this conversation in a little while. I’m sorry I have to do this…” He shoved the washcloth back into my mouth and strode out the door, closing it behind him and the dogs. With the combination of the quiet and the sedative, it wasn’t long before I lapsed back into darkness.
There was no way of knowing how long I had been out, though it must have been a few hours because the light had shifted measurably, and a dusky twilight filled the room. My head felt like it was full of cotton...with a few toothpicks thrown in for good measure. Whatever he had shot me up with, I definitely didn’t want any more of it.
Think, Lia, think, I told myself. There has to be a way out of all of this.
I tried to concentrate on my senses and filter out the headache. I closed my eyes and focused on what I could here. Every few minutes, there would be the very faint hum of a vehicle driving by. If there had been any noise in the room at all, I would not have heard it. So that told me that there was a road nearby that was regularly traveled. That was good. I also couldn’t hear movement anywhere else in the house, so that was also good. It was possible he had gone out for some reason, once he realized that I had passed out again.
The sense of smell wasn’t much help. The fabric softener was strong enough to drown out all other smells, as well as to add to my headache. I also couldn’t see much other than this room, since the door was closed. I couldn’t do much with my fingertips either...or could I? Slowly and quietly, I tried to roll from my side up onto bent knees, hoping I could reach the rope and fiddle with it enough to untie it. I made maybe ten attempts before coming to the conclusion that physics had beaten me on this one.
I wondered if my head had cleared enough to use my abilities. I concentrated on my mental closet, and found it very dark. The labels on the boxes were hard to read. I looked at each, squinting, trying to make out which box was which. Frustrated, opened my eyes and tried to remember how it had felt the first time I had levitated things without meaning to. That time, I had just willed it to happen. Maybe I could do that again.
Despite the stabbing pain in my temples, I focused hard on the light switch. On. But nothing happened. ON. Again, no luck. I felt the rage and vexation rising in me. One more time. ON! Third time was the charm, and I was rewarded with a satisfying click. Ironically, nothing turned on, because there were no actual lamps in the room. It didn’t really matter, though. The important thing was that my mojo was working.
I stared at the knot in the rope tying me to the bedpost. Slowly, and very painfully, I pulled the short end of the rope through the knot, loosening and eventually completely untying it. The rope fell away from my ankles and I was able to sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed. Too bad I couldn’t work that same magic on zip ties. I stood up and very slowly hopped my way to the window. Quinn may have gone out, he may well have been sitting across the room, reading a book and waiting for the dogs to alert him to any movement coming from the room where I found myself.
I finally made it to the window and used my nose to scoot the blinds out of the way. Just my luck; the window faced the fenced-in backyard, so there was no chance anyone would see me and send for help. Still, I had made a little bit of progress. I knew that I was in a residential neighborhood. My mind was clearing a little bit from the adrenaline now pulsing through me. I had committed myself to an escape attempt; there was no way to quickly re-knot the rope around my feet, so I needed to think of another plan.
I slowly hopped my way across the room to the door and laid my ear against it. I couldn’t make out any sound of movement. Selene, I thought. How about a little help here? There was no response, which flared the anger in me anew. I used telekinesis to turn the knob millimeter by millimeter, then to pull the door open just the tiniest crack. I could see that I was at the end of a hallway, and that there were two rooms on the opposite side. The one directly across from me was closed, and the one a few feet away was cracked open. I used my chin to open the door just a little bit wider and poked my head out into the hall.
From this angle, I could see that the hall was actually a fairly short one. It opened out into a larger room maybe twenty feet from where I was standing. I could see the back of a brown leather couch, and there didn’t appear to be anyone seated on it. Maybe he really wasn’t here. The dogs probably were, though, and that would mean big problems for me.
I knew I had to risk it, so I opened the door enough to slide myself out into the hall. Even though my headache remained, my head was no longer full of cobwebs. I willed the doorknob across the hall to turn, and the door popped inward just a crack. I moved at a snail’s pace across the hall and peered into the room directly opposite my prison. It was dark, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust.
I couldn’t believe my good fortune...it was a garage. Maybe I’d be able to find something sharp to cut the zip ties with! I nearly toppled over crossing the threshold, because I had missed that there was a two-inch drop onto the concrete floor, but I managed to catch my balance by throwing my weight against an old refrigerator which was positioned just inside. My shoulder landed with a dull but resounding THUMP.
I froze in terror. From down the hall I heard the sound I had been dreading: a short clipped bark and the clicking of dog’s nails coming up the hallway. With my cover blown, I yanked the door shut with my mind. Snuffling sounds emanated from just inside the door, followed by the impassioned barking and howling of the dogs. I whimpered in panic and looked desperately around the garage for things I could throw with my mind if that door should open. Darcy and Tess started scratching madly on the other side, but there was no sound of footsteps rushing to investigate. I breathed a sigh of relief.
The relief didn’t last long, though. Even though there was no immediate threat, I was still bound and stuck in a strange house. And who knew how long it would be before Quinn came back. A quick survey of the garage proved disappointing. Whoever heard of a garage totally devoid of tools? Two motorcycles, but no tools. I couldn’t find a single sharp edge within my reach. What I did find was a side door, and bound or not, that was looking like my only option. Since it was at perfect hand-level, I was able to unlock it with my fingers and then turn the knob. I pushed with my shoulder and, though it took some effort, the door finally opened. I was overjoyed!
Until I realized I was inside the tall wooden fence that ran the perimeter of the back yard.
If I hadn’t had a washcloth in my mouth, I’d have screamed.
The latch for the gate was at the very top of the fence, maybe six inches above my eye level. In itself, that wouldn’t have posed a problem, thanks to my new abilities, but a silver padlock held it tightly shut. I started scanning the fence, looking for missing boards, and finding none. I couldn’t believe I had made it outside, but still couldn’t escape. I was no less trapped than I had been when tied to the bed.
Just then, I felt a whoosh in my mind and felt Selene’s presence swirling around me.
About time! I thought.
Don’t be impudent. Selene responded. You’ve were hidden, even from me. The house is bespelled.
It must take some pretty powerful magic to hide someone from a goddess. How do I get out of here?
You must stay hidden. I may be able to reach out to your aunt.
What if he comes back?
Pray he doesn’t.
Consider this a prayer.
And then she was gone. I hopped a few feet and crouched down behind the air conditioning unit. If Quinn came back, it wouldn’t take him long to find me, and at most this would buy me fifteen seconds, but I couldn’t think of what else to do.
Night fell, and I shivered against the wall of the house, my heart thudding in my chest while I waited. It wasn’t long before I heard a car pulling into the driveway. The car door opened, just one. I began to tremble, and I could hear the dogs barking inside.
Their master was home.
Chapter 26
I couldn’t hear the key turning in t
he lock from my vantage point, but I did hear the front door open. I couldn’t make out the words, but I could tell that he was greeting his dogs.
Selene! I screamed in my mind, but she did not respond. I could only hope that meant she was bringing help. I retreated to my mental closet, now brightly lit and clear. I searched for something that could be of help in my current predicament. I pulled the box for illusion, deciding that this was probably my best hope. I could not make the hand movements Selene had taught me, but I hoped that it would still work. In the box, I found a small paintbrush. I pulled it out, and wracked my brain for the right illusion. I knew I wouldn’t have much time.
As if in response to this thought, I heard a shout from inside. He had clearly discovered my absence. He might search the house first, maybe, and that might buy me maybe two minutes.
I didn’t think I had the skill necessary to make myself invisible. What might not seem out of place in a somewhat unkempt backyard? Especially something that was girl-sized? I closed my eyes tight and held the paintbrush in the forefront of my mind. The bristles were suddenly covered in a dark green paint, and as I waved the brush around, I imagined myself as a large, weedy, dandelion bush, growing waist high against the house. I had seen a few dandelions dotting the yard, so I hoped he would see me as part of the natural greenery.
I heard the interior garage door whip open.
“Lia, I know you’re here somewhere. You couldn’t have gone very far with those bonds. I can feel the traces of your energy. Don’t be foolish. Come out now.” I could hear him rustling through the garage, searching any place that might be big enough to conceal me.
He said he could feel my energy. I certainly hadn’t accounted for that in my illusion, nor did I know how to. I’m a plant, I’m a plant… I thought desperately. It seemed like a pretty lame idea, but if magic was directed intent, as my aunt said, then it just might work.
The outside door that I had thought would mean freedom burst open. I was amazed he couldn’t hear the panicked pounding of my heart. He strode out, confident and angry...and stormed right past me. I almost wept with relief. He walked the perimeter of the lawn, searching and clearly confused. He walked more slowly, retracing his steps back toward the gate. Would he walk past me a second time without noticing? I’m a plant, I’m a plant…
