by Helen Scott
Spin My Gold
Lacey Carter Andersen
Helen Scott
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Also by Lacey Carter Andersen
About the Author
Also by Helen Scott
About the Author
1
Alexis
Blood runs down my arm, dripping with an eerie plop plop as I stumble along, using the wall of the alley for support. On my belt rests my gun and dagger, but I keep them sheathed. This bastard fought me. He hurt me.
There would be no more Ms. Nice Server.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” I call into the darkness, my boots soundless on the ground.
Overhead, thunder crackles and lightning splits the sky. I taste rain in the air, but it hasn’t yet fallen. Instead, the air hums with the sense of change, and I pray it’s only a change in the weather. Life has taught me that change often brings trouble, and I don’t need any more trouble. Not when I was currently in the birthplace of trouble itself.
I stop when I’m nearly to the end of the alley. My gaze runs from the dumpsters to the loose and forgotten trash and boxes and finally to a couch thrown on its side. Along the ground, a rat skitters and disappears into the shadows once more.
“I know you’re here. Why don’t we stop playing this game?” I taunt.
“Why don’t you go to hell, Server!” he snarls.
My lips curl into a smile as I head for the second dumpster, knowing he’s just on the other side. Ogres aren’t known for being smart. I know if I taunt him enough, he’ll give away his position. And with a guy as big as he is, I need the element of surprise.
Or as close as it could come when he knew I was drawing ever closer.
When I’m just a couple feet from his hiding position, I step down on something hard and crispy. It makes a sound that shatters the strange silence, and I sense more than see the ogre move, knowing our little game has come to an end.
From out of the shadows, the massive creature unfolds itself to its full height, nearly eight feet tall and easily as wide as the dumpster itself. He glares down, his big lips curling with anger as he sneers down at me. And truly, he might’ve been a frightening sight… if not for the terrible pizza delivery uniform that strained across his body. The tiny pair of red shorts and the striped red shirt are no doubt the largest size available, but they look ridiculous on the powerful creature.
“Come on, man. Can we be done with this?” I ask, and I don’t have to feign the annoyance that laces my words.
His eyes flash a glowing red. “It’ll be a cold day in hell when I take that paper.”
I smile and reach out, my entire hand and arm now coated in my own blood. He looks surprised when my fingers brush his wrist, and I know he must be thinking that I look like a human, with my earth-toned skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes, and smell like a human. So what could be so dangerous about me?
Then I see the moment he feels my powers. His eyes widen and he stiffens, but it’s too late. The arm I touch is already turning gold and hard. He can no longer move. He can no longer escape, and the golden curse spreads past his arm and onto his shoulder.
“What the hell?” he gasps.
“You better decide whether you’d rather be a statue or take the paper… fast… or else the choice will be taken from you.”
I see the moment the truth hits him.
“Death or the paper, buddy?”
He shudders as the gold climbs down his chest. “Give me the paper.”
I reach with my free hand and draw the paper from where I’d stuffed it at my back. I shove it into his working hand, and his fingers slowly close around it. “Craig Ray, you’ve been served divorce papers by your wife. If you do not appear in court on the appointed day, your heart will be ripped from your chest.”
“Bitch server,” he murmurs.
I release his hand. “The gold will fade over the next few hours.”
Turning, I walk away from him. His voice stops me. “One day karma is going to get you.”
I smirk. Karma couldn’t possibly kick my ass more than she already had. “Enjoy the single life!”
On the main road, people cast me and my arm strange looks, but I know most of them won’t intervene. Once upon a time I might have looked like a young princess. My hair, long and golden. My dresses, pastel shades and finely cut. But since running away from home, my parents would hardly recognize me. Not just the piercings that race along my earlobes, my collections of black t-shirts, and comfortable leather jackets and pants, but the vibe I radiated. The one which I know sends every person with even an ounce of logic running the opposite direction.
When I reach my beater of a car, I open the door with a groan that tears through the night. Climbing into the seat, I whisper several prayers that the old man will turn on, and hoot in relief when the engine starts. Then, in my seat, I pull up my phone and open my server app. The ogre’s name has turned to gold, and my fee for delivery has been deposited into my account.
Feeling lucky, I decide that rather than bind my wound, I can afford a little something special. Lifting my black tank top, I stare down at the expensive rune tattooed onto my belly. Whispering the words to the spell, I watch as the tattoo brightens. Within seconds, a tingle spreads over my stomach then over the rest of my body. I know without looking that the slashes along my arm from the ogre’s nails have healed.
The glow fades and the tattoo is gone.
I breathe a sigh of relief. Minor healing tattoos aren’t as expensive as some of the other tattoos I carry, but I still probably should’ve stitched up my arm the old-fashion way. But then, I wouldn’t be able to head out to my favorite Chinese food restaurant.
Grinning, I smooth my shirt back into place, use some baby wipes to clean off as much of the blood as possible, and shift my car into drive. Hard rock comes pounding over the stereo, and I unroll my windows to let the fresh air in. Trouble might have brought me back to my hometown, but having a successful person served this quickly since coming back is a good sign. Maybe the ghosts from my past will stay there long enough for me to do what I have to do and get out.
If I’m lucky.
Not that a girl whose own mother sold her is exactly lucky.
I don’t mean to take that familiar road, but when I come to a red light, I realize that I have. Far up above, on a hill that overlooks the city, is a massive castle. Despite all the flowers and lights that try to give it a peaceful ambience, nothing can take away the knot of dread that tightens in my belly at the sight of it.
When the light turns green, I finally release a breath and turn away from it. The castle and the people in it didn’t bring me here. There’s no reason to think about my childhood pains. Tonight’s about Chinese food and getting to lay my head down on a hotel bed that doesn’t smell.
Before I have to do the impossible tomorrow.
And then I’ll run out of town the same way I did when I was eighteen. Because even though I’ve heard news that the man who owns me is dead, I know better than to think that means anything.
As long as any of Rumple Stiltskin's blood lives, the
debt can always be collected. And I happen to know for a fact that he has three sons. Three handsome sons who I’ve never forgotten about, and the three men who own me now.
I pull up in front of my favorite restaurant and kill the engine. Then I sit in the dark for a long moment, trying to shake off the lingering feeling that I should’ve never come back to this place. But when the sky opens up and the rain pours down, the feeling remains.
I might have changed. But somehow the monsters that hunted me as a child are still living and breathing in this place. I only wonder if I’ll have the strength to escape them again.
2
Hyde
The rain lets up a little so I dart out from my car and head to the restaurant, my jacket offering shelter from the remaining rain that falls. A glint of gold draws my eye. Seeing Alexis in the take-out place that I frequent freaks me the fuck out. I had just reached the door, my fingertips wrapping around the silver handle, when that head of golden hair caught my eyes. No one else has hair like that. In all my travels I'd never seen it again, until now.
I swerve at the last minute and don't go into the store. Instead, I cross the street and hide myself away in the shadows. My gaze eats her up as she chats with the owner like this is her favorite take out place too, even though we know she hasn't been in the city for a while. I mean, their pork soup dumplings were the best I'd ever had, but I hadn't thought that was what would help us find our missing prize.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out, swiping on the screen to see the notification.
Z: Can you get me some spring egg rolls, too?
Me: What am I, your fucking delivery service? I hit send, then pause for a moment, debating telling them that I've found her.
C: Oh, I want fried rice!
Me: Fuck you both. If you wanted dinner you should have asked before I left. Also, I found our blonde prize.
My phone immediately starts to buzz in my hand. I groan as my brother's smug face fills my phone screen.
"What is it with you and texting? Do you have something against it ethically or what?" I grouch at Crax.
"I can't rely on you to pay attention to what I text you, so voice is better. Do not engage. You'll just tip our hand and you know it'll take more than one of us to grab her. Just because you think you're hot shit, that doesn't mean you actually are, so do us a favor and stick to the shadows until she's gone. And I want to change from fried rice to beef lo mein," Crax rants at me, only sounding reasonable when he’s talking about his food.
"Why do you think I told you in the first place, asshole? I knew I wouldn't be able to grab her myself. I'm going to put a tracker on her car, then we will always have an idea where she is. I'm not asking your permission either. I'm telling you what I'm doing, and I don't care whether you're okay with it or not," I hiss at the man on the other end of the conversation.
“Just get the food and get back, that’s it,” Crax says, his voice taking on that controlling tone that grates on me.
"Sir, yes, sir," I snark before hanging up on him. I was still going to do the damn tracking spell, screw Crax. My eyes flick up to find the cashier handing Alexis a giant bag of food. There is no way that is all for her. She is tiny, almost like a pixie or elf; her body doesn't have room for that amount of food.
I glance up and down the street and take a guess at which car is hers before heading in that direction. Not going to lie, I'm pretty confident in my guess. She might have that sweet and feminine look to her from the back with that glorious, long mane of blonde hair, which looks like it’s made from spun gold, a taunt in and of itself, but the rest of her gives off a distinctly do not approach vibe, possibly even going so far as a fuck you vibe. Her black leather pants and jacket match the black t-shirt with some band logo on it that is underneath . The piercings are new, glittering in the dim light of the dark street. Part of me wonders why someone trying to hide in plain sight would get something so distinctive.
Alexis's whole look is one of ass-kicking efficiency. I know because it is eerily similar to my own. Crax and Zard have a hard-on for this girl, but I don't understand why, and I probably never will. She escaped us once before, and I'm determined not to let it happen again, not when we are getting so close to being done.
Just as I suspect, she heads to the beat-up POS that I'd parked behind when I arrived. It feels like more than coincidence is at play now. Seeing her in the restaurant I could write off, but parking behind her as well? Coincidences are never really coincidences. Flukes happen, but coincidences? I don't trust them as far as I can throw them.
I pull on the magic that runs in my blood and fish a marker from my pocket. Without waiting to see what she plans on doing, I swiftly move from the shadows of the alley to the rear end of her car, my marker already writing before I even settle into a crouch. The spell is short and sweet, just enough for me to find the car again. It may not take me directly to the girl, but I’m fairly certain if we find the car we will find her too. With a whisper, it fades into the metal. It will look like nothing more than a smudge of dirt to most people.
The click-click of a temperamental engine gives me just enough time to finish what I'm doing and retreat to the shadows before it turns over and the car starts, expelling a cloud of smoke behind it as it does so. As I hear her start to pull away, I step from the shadows of the building, moving forward until I can watch her go.
I get the sensation that she sees me a moment before the engine revs and the car speeds away. May not have been my best decision, and it will definitely piss Crax off if he ever finds out, but it’s done now.
The girl will be ours soon enough and the debt will be settled. For now, the growl of my stomach reminds me it's food time. I grab the handle of the door and go in, placing my order and paying without really paying attention to the cashier or what they ask me. The minutes tick by as I wait for our food, but all my mind wants to focus on is the girl.
I'm sitting in the red plastic chair, waiting, when I notice the ruby-colored droplet on the ground. Had she been injured? She wasn't holding herself that way when I was watching. So maybe it was someone else's. She could have healed herself, but she didn't look like she had enough money for those kinds of spells. Maybe a tattoo? My mind spun with possibilities.
She'd certainly changed from when she was eighteen. Rumple had sent all three of us to pick her up, so proud of his new investment. The memory was a bitter taste in my mouth and left me feeling pissed off, even though I know I should be over it after the last few years. We had been tasked with capturing the girl who had hidden herself away in the house.
Crax had been so sure of what to do, and I hadn't doubted him at that point. He let me get turned into gold, though. Fortunately, it didn't kill me. Something about the magic coming from Rumple let the effects take hold without causing the pain, and ultimately, death, that they should have. Crax didn't know that though. He'd left me to die as a statue of gold, all for the sake of pleasing our father, only to leave a year later so he could go to law school.
"Hyde, your order's ready," a male voice calls from behind the counter.
The interruption couldn't have come at a better time. If I kept thinking about our past, I would be even more of an asshole than usual by the time I got home.
"Thanks, man," I say as I grab the plastic bag, the brown paper crinkling against the sides as I lift it down from the counter. He hands me another bag and all of a sudden that ruby red droplet is something I can't leave behind. I set down the bags and pull out one of the napkins that had been shoved in the top. I swipe the white material over the floor, picking up the blood, before folding the napkin and shoving it in my back pocket.
I pick up the bags of food, nod at the man who'd just watched that whole thing, and head out. Apparently I'm the only responsible one that thinks of food out of all of us, so I know I need to get home as soon as I can, otherwise Zard will get all whiny, and that was something I couldn't abide. My foot presses on the gas as I speed away, and I can't help b
ut wonder what ran through Alexis's mind when she saw me standing behind her.
The smell of the Chinese food makes my stomach growl and I try my best to push the thoughts of the golden-haired girl from my head. We were going to catch her soon enough, and then she'd be ours to do with as we pleased. And I, for one, was going to make her pay.
3
Alexis
My heart races as I park my car behind the crumbling building and look back, waiting for any hint that Hyde might be following me. But when I don’t see him, I don’t feel any calmer. There are a number of people I’m supposed to avoid in this town, but no one more so than the Stiltskin brothers.
The men who owned me.
I grab my takeout bag, close and lock my door, and head for my old hangout. The door is concealed behind a dumpster. The space between the wall and the forgotten dumpster is smaller than I remember, but luckily for me, I haven’t gotten much bigger. I manage to maneuver in, then cautiously shove back the door and enter, drawing my dagger out from my belt.
The room is cloaked in shadows. It could be just as I remember it, or it could have been ruined by some stray person who discovered its secrets. I move slowly along and hold in a curse when I stub my foot, then adjust my course until I think I’ve reached the right place. Lowering my dagger, I find the little table, and it takes me a second to fumble a match free and to strike it to life. But in the glow from the match, I discover the familiar half-spent candle and light it, then move around the room and light three more before the match burns out.