by Julia Crane
“Yes,” he said, but then shook his head quickly. “I mean no. My feelings for you weren’t planned.”
He couldn’t take it back fast enough; the damage was done. Devastation hit her like a wrecking ball. Lauren doubled over, turning her back to him as she clutched her stomach. “You knew all along?” she screamed through her sobs. “You targeted me for my power? Our whole relationship was a lie?”
“Please, Lauren.” He gripped her shoulders, but she scrambled away from him on all fours, her hands slipping on the cold porcelain tile of the bathroom floor. “Come on, love. Hear me out. You don’t understand what it’s like to try to live up to my father’s expectations. I didn’t know I would fall in love with you. I didn’t know you would be so amazing. Yes, I planned on using you for your gift.” His heavy footsteps came near, and she felt herself jerked to her feet as he forced her to face him.
“You have to believe me,” he whispered, his face blurred through her tears. “I never wanted you to get hurt. I planned to use my gift of illusion to trick you into doing things so you wouldn’t even know. But now that’s ruined. Lauren, if you don’t help us willingly, you will be forced to by unimaginable methods.”
Just being in the same room with him repulsed Lauren. “If you really loved me, you would never consider controlling me like that.”
“That’s not true—”
“I will not help you commit mass murder,” Lauren snapped, cutting off his statement. “You’re insane. All of you. Do you really think genocide is the answer?”
“It’s the only way.” Tristen’s face became as hard as a stone mask. “Last chance, Lauren. Are you in or are you out?” She could hear the barely contained rage in his voice.
She paused for effect, crossing her arms over her chest. “Go to hell.”
Tristen backhanded her so hard that her ears rang. White-hot colors exploded in her vision as she hit the bathroom counter hard, her body bending over the marble. She fell into the mirror, but barely felt it. Through the haze of pain, she realized her hand had gone through the glass. She was bleeding. Lauren’s other hand flew to the side of her face as she gasped for air. A coopery taste filled her mouth.
“You ungrateful bitch,” Tristen bit out. “I just gave you a way out, but you think you’re so above the rest of us. You make me sick.”
This man had made love to her, pledged his devotion to her. She had given him all of her time, even at the expense of her best friends. And he hurt her, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Fueled by rage, Lauren spat at him. Bloody bile dripped down his white shirt.
He stared down at his stained shirt, and his wild eyes turned back to her. “You made me do this, Lauren! You made me! This is all your fault!” He didn’t even look like himself anymore as he grabbed her by the arm and pushed her into the bedroom. His three thugs stood waiting.
Tristen shoved her forward, and she fell to her knees. She cried out.
“Take her to the safe room,” he yelled, and his minions hurried in to collect her.
Chapter 20
Garret wrapped a hand around her arm, yanking to her to her feet. She yelped as pain tore through her shoulder. Her head still felt light from Tristen’s blow. She couldn’t focus on her captors as she blindly struggled against their hands.
Stubbornness welled up inside of her—she would not help them. She would make it as hard as possible. As Connor and Garret dragged her down the hallway, she struggled the whole way, kicking and screaming at the top of her lungs. She caught sight of Galen’s face as he trailed behind them, and she could have sworn he looked amused.
Lauren got a few good kicks in on each of the two men, earning a sense of satisfaction from the pained grunts she heard when her foot connected. They managed to get her into one of the guest rooms, and Connor and Garret hung on to her arms as Galen moved towards the wall.
Lauren watched in surprise as he pushed aside an abstract watercolor painting, revealing a small pad of numbers inset in the wall. He punched a code into the keypad, the beeps of the keys loud and final.
Beside the keypad, a panel opened in the wall, revealing a pitch dark room beyond. Connor and Garret threw her roughly inside, and Lauren grunted as she landed on her knees again.
“Maybe some time in the dungeon will smarten you up,” Connor mumbled under his breath.
“Lauren, just do what he says. You’re going to eventually whether you like it or not,” Garret said evenly.
Lauren had time to think, Dungeon? Then the wall closed behind her.
She was alone.
In the stillness that followed their exit, her body reacted violently to the episode. She curled into a ball on the floor, shivering, her pulse beating in her throat. It was black as night; not even a strip of light beneath the door. She couldn’t see a thing. Darkness had always terrified her.
Tristen knew that well.
Everything on her hurt—her face where Tristen had hit her, her hand cut by the bathroom mirror, and her knees and arms from being tossed around like nothing more than a piece of meat. She could feel the cold of the concrete floor, unforgiving beneath her. Her sobs came hard and fast, and she cried until she couldn’t breathe.
Calm down, she willed herself after some time. It’s just a room. As long as they kept her there, they couldn’t make her do anything.
Slowly, Lauren made herself stand up. She felt a little dizzy, but she placed a hand on the wall and waited for it to pass. Then she moved forward, trying to count her steps to measure the room. Ten steps forward, and she banged into the wall. She slid her hands over the surface; it felt like large cinder blocks, wet and…sticky? She yanked her hands away.
What the hell? Gross. She wiped her hands on her shorts.
The musty smell of mildew flooded her nose. She heard the scurrying of little feet, and her heart leapt in her chest. Oh my gods, please don’t tell me there are rats in here. But how could there be? She was in a safe room, hidden in the guest bedroom of Tristen’s brand-new home.
Think, Lauren.
Something crawled up her skin, and she squealed like a little girl, swatting at it. She hated bugs more than she hated to be in the dark.
A flicker of light illuminated the room for a split second, the brief flash showing several large rats scurrying around the floor, layers of spider webs dangling from the ceiling, and big bugs climbing the walls. She really was in a dungeon. Rusty chains even dangled from the wall.
The flash blinded Lauren. Panting, she fought against a panic attack. It’s an illusion. Just an illusion. She repeated the words over and over again, but it didn’t take away the cold fear in the pit of her stomach. Perception was reality and, right now, her reality was going to give her a nervous breakdown.
She didn’t dare move or sit down. She stood there, muscles locked. She could hear a strange whimpering sound, and jumped. Then she realized it came from her. A drop of water landed on her cheek, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She wiped the water away and screamed, “You’re not real!” Another drop fell on her scalp. Please, please get me out of here.
The darkness terrified her.
What was taking Anna and Keegan so long? Hell, she didn’t even know how long she’d been gone. It could have been minutes or hours. She had no concept of time in the darkness. And all of it could be real—or none of it. She couldn’t trust her senses if Tristen manipulated them.
She needed to sit down. Her legs, numb with the cold and damp, trembled under the weight of her body, but she had no idea what she would sit on—bugs or worse. She thanked the goddess that she’d never told Tristen about her fear of snakes.
Her legs started to get stiff. Afraid they would give out, she took a couple of slow steps forward, and then backwards. She kept it up, going back and forth, over and over again. On some level, the repetition calmed her. They had to let her out eventually, she thought bitterly. Tristen needed her—or, at least, her gift.
She still felt numb after witnessing Tristen’s
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. She wanted to kick herself—it shouldn’t have surprised her. She’d had warning signs. He was always on the edge, secretive, manipulative in such small ways, like with the tests of her powers.
Love had blinded her.
The more she mulled over her situation, the angrier she felt. She paced faster and faster in the small, dark room. She had to figure a way out of this nightmare. Maybe she could trick them into believing she would do as they wanted, but then sabotage their insane plans.
Screw them. They wanted to leave her in the darkness? Well, she could do the same to them.
Ignoring her nagging fear of creepy-crawlies, Lauren closed her eyes and spread her hands over the wall. She cast out her senses, searching for the main source of power in the house. It wasn’t hard—the condensed electrical panel felt like a beacon to her gift. As she connected to it, power coursed through her body and, one by one, she systematically shorted the fuses.
Without being able to see it, she knew the house had gone dark. She felt a little smug. For good measure, she sent out a strong electromagnetic pulse from within the panel and killed the batteries on all the cell phones in the house.
Take that, you bastard.
A moment later, she heard banging on the door. “Not very bright, love.” Tristen’s voice was muffled through the door. “Now we can’t let you out. The lock is electronic.”
Crap. She hadn’t thought of that. But at least if they couldn’t get to her, they couldn’t use her.
“Go to hell!” she shouted.
“Are you sure you don’t want to change your mind? There’s no food in there and we know that, with your metabolism, you won’t last long.”
Panic flooded her again. He was right. She would starve to death in a dark hole with rodents and bugs. Not exactly the way she pictured her life ending. Even so, she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. She kept silent even though she wanted to scream and beg him to let her out.
“Ouch!” Something bit her ankle. She kicked her leg; whatever it was went flying and landed with a thump. That bastard.
“Come on, Lauren,” he cajoled. “You know I can make things much worse for you. Just turn the power back on.”
He was met with silence.
“Well, when you’re ready to talk, I’ll have a burger waiting for you.”
Her stomach growled, but she refused to give in.
Lauren stood eerily still for a long time, waiting to see if he said anything else. The layer of wall between the dungeon and the guest bedroom was thick—too thick for her to hear any ambient noise like footsteps or the rustle of clothing, anything that would show he was still on the other side.
After some time, she shifted on her feet. Something was different, but she couldn’t figure out what. Then it dawned on her.
The moldy smell was gone.
She took ten slow steps forward, hoping to confirm what she hoped was true. She hit the wall and ran her hands across it. It was smooth. The illusion was gone.
Tristen must have left the house.
Keeping her hands on the wall, she made her way around, counting the steps. The room seemed to be about twelve feet by twelve feet. She leaned against the wall and lowered herself to the ground. It felt good to sit down, and even better to not worry about something crawling on her. Hopefully, he wouldn’t come back anytime soon.
She wondered if Keegan and Anna were looking for her. At least they knew where Tristen lived, and she’d parked her car out front. She would be saved soon. Her friends always came through.
But…what if they didn’t? What if she had been such a brat that they decided to ignore her? They might leave for Lake Tahoe without her if they thought she’d chosen Tristen over them.
Lauren dropped her head into her hands, crying hot, silent tears. Everything in her just felt so hopeless.
Chapter 21
“We never should have let her leave.” Keegan’s voice rang loud in the heavy silence of the living room.
Anna, curled up in a corner of the couch, bit her nails constantly. Her worried green eyes caught Keegan’s gaze. “I know. I know. What in the hell’s bells were we thinking?”
“How long has she been gone?”
Anna looked down at her watch. “An hour and twenty-three minutes. I wish we had a car here.”
“Do you really think she went to the pharmacy?” Keegan asked softly, voicing the worry they both felt.
For a long, silent moment the two girls stared at each other. Anna shot forward, reaching for her purse on the coffee table. “I’m calling Calvron.” She dug deep into the canvas bag, spilling half its contents on the couch before she finally pulled out her phone and dialed.
“He’s going to be pissed,” Keegan warned her. “He told us to keep an eye on Lauren.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Anna said with a sigh. She looked away and said, “Calvron? It’s Anna. We have a problem.” She spoke briefly into the phone, giving him a rundown of their current situation before she clicked it off. She balanced it on the arm of the couch and said, “They are all on their way.”
“Thank goodness. We have to find her. Soon.”
“Maybe there’s a line at the pharmacy and we’re overreacting.” Anna stood up and walked to the window. She searched the ground below for any sign of her best friend, but saw nothing. She paced slowly around the room, touching photographs of them and straightening knickknacks. She had a bad feeling; she had to keep moving.
“Right—a line at the pharmacy,” Keegan scoffed. “Then why is her phone turned off?”
“Maybe her battery died.”
“Who doesn’t have a car charger these days? And this is Lauren we’re talking about. Her gift could fix a dead phone.” Keegan threw her head against the back of the couch. “This is not going to end well.”
Anna’s head snapped around. “Don’t say that, Keegan.”
Keegan rubbed her hands over her face. “Why do we keep finding trouble everywhere we turn?”
Anna sank down into the couch next to Keegan and leaned her head against her shoulder.
Twenty minutes later the doorbell rang. Relieved, Keegan jumped up and threw the door open.
Calvron had called in the troops. He walked in, looking agitated, with Spencer, Sam, Donald, and a striking girl with pale blonde hair behind him.
Calvron shook his head in disbelief. “I told you not to let her out of your sight. You should have known she would go running to that fool.”
“She tricked us,” Keegan said lamely.
Calvron just stared at her, an eyebrow raised.
“We did as you said. We even talked her into going out of town for the rest of the week, and she said Tristen seemed fine with it. She was just running to the drug store. At least that’s what she told us…” Anna’s voice trailed off.
“Do you guys know where Tristen lives? Maybe we’ll get lucky and find her there,” Donald spoke up. Keegan couldn’t help wondering if the girl at his side was the shape-shifter Thaddeus had “seen.” She seemed shy, or maybe unsure of her welcome.
“Are you Audrey?” Keegan asked.
The girl smiled hesitantly. “Yes. Sorry if I’m intruding. I don’t know Lauren that well, but I want to help if I can.”
“Lauren told us about you. Thanks for coming,” Keegan said, offering her hand.
Audrey smiled warmly as they shook.
Keegan heard a slight sound and glanced back at Donald; he seemed uncomfortable. She tried to catch his eye, but he wouldn’t look her way.
Anna nodded. “We went to Tristen’s for a party. I’m pretty sure I know the way.”
“What are we waiting for?” Calvron headed to the door, and they all trailed after him.
Anna and Keegan hopped in Calvron’s truck, while the guys and Audrey took Donald’s car. Once they got on the road, Keegan asked, “Can’t you use your wizard skills to find her?”
“Oh, I plan on using my skills all right, but on a certain dar
k faerie. He’s not going to know what hit him,” Calvron said in a dangerous tone. His knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. “Lauren is like a sister to me. You all are. He’s going down.”
But the threat lost steam after an hour of driving in circles. It had been night when the girls went to Tristen’s for the party, and neither Anna nor Keegan could remember the exact location.
“Damn it!” Calvron slammed a fist against the steering wheel, frustration in his voice. “We’re lost.”
“No we aren’t,” Keegan responded, rubbing at her temples with both hands. “We’ll figure this out.”
“Pull over,” Anna said loudly.
Calvron turned on the blinker and pulled into a nearby parking lot, no questions asked.
“I should have done this from the beginning,” Anna said, irritated. “I’ll be back in a few moments. Keegan, you can come with me.”
Anna walked briskly to the back of the parking lot with Keegan on her heels. A thin line of trees skirted the edge of the asphalt and, through the trunks, Anna could make out another strip mall, but there were no cars at this end of the lot. Not complete privacy, but it would do in this situation. She looked up at the sky and sank to her knees facing north. Ironically, she had used the same spell to track Donald last year.
Keeper of Lauren, hear me now…open your ears.
Find for me where we need to be.
By moon, sun, earth, fire, and sea.
Someone is lost I need to find.
By the power of three, this spell I bind.
Anna repeated the chant three times, picturing Lauren’s dark hair, pale skin, caramel eyes, and big smile. With her physical eyes closed, Anna willed her mind’s eye to open. At first, she only saw blackness. Where are you, Lauren? Give me something.
Anna gasped as her mind’s eye zeroed in on a small, dark room. She saw Lauren huddled in a corner, her head in her hands, weeping.
Focus, Anna thought, looking around. Lauren appeared to be locked in a room with white walls and nothing else. Anna tried to get a grasp on the location, but she couldn’t make sense of it. It must be cloaked with magick.