Blood Magic (Blood Magic Series Book 1)

by Ann Atkins

  “I’m not the one who ate chalk in kindergarten,” I said weakly.

  “Yeah, because you drew red lines on it and told me it was a peppermint stick,” he said wryly.

  “This is so much worse than that, Mattie. I’m sorry.”

  “Hey, don’t give up. You’re gonna get us out of this. I know it,” he reassured me.

  “Yes, she will,” Ella chimed in.

  Both Matt and I turned to look at her.

  “How come he sees and hears me now?” I asked her.

  “Because you brought him into the dream,” she answered.

  “Wait! What? A dream? I thought we were about to bust outta here.”

  “Not yet,” she said sadly, “but soon.” Then, she turned her attention to me and reached out her hand. “Allison, we’re running out of time.”

  I took Matt’s hand and squeezed it tightly. Then, I slowly got to my feet and walked to her. As soon as I took her hand a faint golden light wrapped around me. My whole body felt warm and tingly, my mind cleared, and my strength returned. The light continued to grow brighter and hotter, and then in a quick, bright, white flash it was gone.

  “What was that?” I asked in astonishment.

  “You’re not the only one who can heal, child. Some of us just go about it a different way.”

  She started to flicker and fade away, but she left me with words of encouragement and hope.

  “Remember, when you wake up in that little cell that just because you’re by yourself, doesn’t mean that you’re alone.”

  And when I opened my eyes I smiled. I hadn’t been alone this whole time; God was with me, and Ella was proof of that, because she was definitely the answer to my prayers.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Test Subjects

  It had been three days since Ella had first visited me in my dreams, and it had become a nightly occurrence, one that I both depended on and looked forward to. Each time I was with her she was able to hold the dream a little longer and weaken the barrier a little more, but unfortunately, she could not say with any certainty exactly how much longer it would take for the barrier to break—it could be a day, a week, or even a month.

  I paced back and forth in my tiny cell praying that it was sooner rather than later, because I honestly didn’t know how much time we had. How many more tests were there that he could run on me? How long before the next series of tests began? How long before he decided I had outlived my usefulness?

  I hoped his plans for me were long-term, because as soon as he was done with me, Matt and Snowflake were dead. I couldn’t believe I was wishing for that, but it was our best chance for survival.

  Ella had come to mean a lot to me as well, and I was determined to do everything in my power to save them all. At least Mason wasn’t in here, because I definitely didn’t need one more person I loved in danger.

  My eyes filled with tears at the very thought of him, because now that I was trapped in here, I understood what he’d done even less, but at the same time, I understood it better than ever. This wasn’t a place that you’d want anyone you loved to be trapped in. It was a living death, and the risk of dying once out there was better than the certainty of dying everyday in here, but deep down I knew that if they’d fought—they’d have had to fight her too, because she had been desperate to save me.

  They had probably believed they could find her before it was too late, and I knew they had tried. They’d never intended for either of us to die; they’d just been making sure that we both stayed alive long enough to be rescued. What I was doing now, to protect Matt, wasn’t much different. I was just trying to keep him breathing long enough to set him free. And if two people I loved were being threatened, I might’ve done the same thing they did.

  It had been cruel of me to accuse them of not caring about her, because I knew it had ripped their hearts out to watch her go, and I knew that they still blamed themselves for the decision they’d made; It wasn’t right for me to add to their pain. The decision had ultimately been my mother’s and they’d simply abided by it, but I still couldn’t keep myself from wondering, “what if.”

  What if they had fought? What if my mom and I had both survived? What if David and Sheridan had been killed? What if all of the threats were gone? What if my mother and father had raised me? What if I’d never had to live with a “parent” who despised me? What if I’d been given hugs and kisses and bedtime stories, instead of cold disdain? What if they’d made the wrong decision? What if ridding the world of those two had been vastly more important than saving the life of one little girl? What if, with him gone, none of these creatures had had to suffer? What if?

  My emotions were all over the place. My only certainty was that I loved him; I didn’t know how not to. It was as natural as the beating of my heart or the rise and fall of my chest with each breath; it was irrevocable, unchangeable, irreversible. In other words, I was screwed, because in one form or another, I had always loved him.

  I guess I’d never really thought about how boring prison could be, especially if you were in solitary confinement, which pretty much summed up my current situation. I knew I should just be grateful that no one was poking and prodding or poisoning me, but being trapped in a small cage twenty-four/seven with nothing to do was starting to make me nuts. I wasn’t the kind of person who could sit still and do nothing for hours on end, at least not without a book or a game or TV or someone to talk to.

  I had not seen Sheridan since she’d tried to barbecue my guts with vervain, and I could only hope that she was in itty-bitty pieces at the bottom of a lake somewhere, but I knew I wouldn’t get that lucky. David had definitely been angry with her, but since they were in some kind of sick, twisted relationship, I was pretty sure he hadn’t killed her.

  In the last three days, I had only seen David twice a day when he brought my food tray. He obviously didn’t trust anyone else to do it, but it really didn’t matter because I’d been too afraid to eat or drink anything on it, anyway. That had lasted for the first two days. Today I’d been brought a cheeseburger, a mountain of fries, a small pizza, and a can of coke. I’d tried to resist but I was starving, and he’d promised me that nothing was in it.

  I didn’t trust him, of course, but I was desperate enough to check it out. Touching vervain would also burn my skin, but I ground my teeth together and reached for a french fry … and nothing. The pizza and cheeseburger were also fine, but last time it had been cleverly concealed in my water, so I stuck my finger in the coke before I drank it. After ensuring that everything was edible and drinkable, I inhaled every last bit of it.

  So with my body healed and my belly full, I paced my cell and wondered what he had in store for me next, but I was pretty sure it could not be more horrible than what he’d already done to me. What could be worse than being sliced open and completely aware of everything that was happening to me? If there was anything worse, I didn’t want to know what it was!

  I was also pretty certain that I was being watched, and if I’d had any sense I would’ve stayed on the cot and feigned weakness, but I was packed with too much nervous energy to be still. I hadn’t sat or laid down all day, so unless he was a complete idiot, he could clearly see that I was recovered.

  It was probably only a matter of time before Dr. Frankenstein struck again, and as much as I hated to admit it, I was scared. Exactly what was he planning on doing to me, and why did I need to be completely healed first? Maybe it was worse than before. Maybe he was afraid he’d accidentally kill me if he didn’t allow me to regain my strength first. Maybe he had only “fixed me” so he could inflict even more pain—kind of like putting your fist through a wall, patching the hole, and then beating it full of holes with a baseball bat. How many times would he do that? How many times would he nearly kill me, allow me to heal, and then nearly kill me again? How long before I went completely insane? I was halfway there already, and if—

  My thoughts were abruptly silenced as the door swung open and David walked in. I
stopped in my tracks as the thundering of my heart filled my head, but I forced myself to snap out of that and flopped down onto the cot with a loud sigh. He probably knew how terrified I was, but I wasn’t going to cower in front of him if I could help it. Plus, if I wasn’t my usual bratty self he might grow suspicious.

  “Where’s Sheridan?” I asked with a sneer. “Is she still in time-out?”

  No answer.

  “Did you at least spank her and send her to her room?” I asked with a snicker.

  Still nothing.

  “She left you, didn’t she? Did she fly off on her broom to visit her sister, The Wicked Witch of the West?”

  Finally, he turned around with a look of annoyance on his face. “She has been dealt with, and that is all you need to know,” he said sternly, before turning back to his work.

  My heart was still stuck in my throat, but my inner brat refused to be silenced.

  “Sooooo, Should I be singing Ding, Dong, The Witch Is Dead?” I asked in a singsong voice.

  A loud sigh and a glare preceded his reply. “Unless you can utter something remotely intelligent and cease your inane prattle, you should shut your mouth!”

  “Am I allowed to ask what that is and how you’re going to torture me with it?” He was fiddling with all kinds of computers and machines and wires, and I was certain they were for me.

  “I’m going to do an EEG on you. It monitors brain activity—that is, if you have any. All of these little electrodes will be pasted to your scalp and connected to an amplifier and an EEG recording machine. All of the billions of neurons in your little pea brain are communicating with each other, and I am very interested in what they have to say. They will create electrical currents that will show up as wavy lines on this computer screen, allowing me to listen in on the conversation,” he explained.

  “How is that going to help you learn about my powers?” I asked in confusion.

  “You are going to use them, of course.”

  My mouth fell open in shock. “But I can’t! It’s not possible! Magic is blocked down here!” I tried to keep the panic out of my voice. Was this a trick? Did he know the barrier had been weakened? Was he testing me? I took a deep breath and tried to calm down, because the answer to all of my questions had to be, no. If he had any idea that I might actually be able to touch my magic, he would never encourage me to reach for it, so exactly what kind of game was he playing with me?

  He rolled his eyes. “Of course, you won’t be able to actually use it, but you can try, and I can record what part of your brain is most active when you do.”

  “This is why you let me heal, so I could focus on the magic instead of the pain?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is an EGG painful?”

  “It’s an EEG, and no, at least not for you,” he replied.

  “What do you—”

  I never finished my question, because it was answered for me when Matt was shoved roughly into the room.

  “What is he doing in here?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

  “He is here to ensure you’re cooperation,” David replied, as several men held Matt down and strapped him into that horrible chair.

  “You don’t need him! I’ll cooperate! I swear!”

  “For young Matthew’s sake … I hope you do,” he said with an oily smile that made me feel dirty.

  “I hate you!” I spat, shooting daggers at him with my eyes.

  “Good. Go ahead. Channel it into reaching your magic!”

  “You better hope I don’t!” I said through gritted teeth.

  He laughed as if the idea were ridiculous, but I was sure if he knew how weak the barrier had become, he wouldn’t find it quite so humorous.

  After Matt was sufficiently restrained, those same men unlocked my cell and led me to a different chair; my wrists and ankles were restrained as well. There was no need, staring into Matt’s big, brown eyes was much more effective than the metal cuffs on this chair.

  I tried to convey with my eyes how sorry I was for everything. Every night when Ella pulled me into a dream visit, I apologized to him, but he always brushed it off. He would never blame me for any of this, but he didn’t need to, because I blamed myself enough for the both of us. And of course, Matt, being the wonderful friend that he is, tried to lighten my mood. He loved aggravating the crap outta me, but he’d never want me to actually suffer.

  “This is the last time I come to a sleepover at your house, Allie. We haven’t done our nails or braided each other’s hair once! And don’t I deserve at least one sexy pillow fight?”

  “Sorry, but haven’t you heard, bondage slumber parties are hot right now. Of course, they’re usually a lot more fun,” I said with a small smile.

  David looked at us as if we’d suddenly grown three heads. “Your absurdity knows no bounds,” he said shaking his head at us.

  “Neither does your cruelty,” I fired back as he began attaching electrodes to my scalp.

  “Medical advancement is not achieved without experimentation, Allison. It isn’t cruel; it’s necessary. Test subjects are also a necessity. How else can medical science continue to grow and improve without them?”

  “Really? Are you going to experiment on yourself if you ever figure out how to steal my powers?”

  He started to laugh. “Do you honestly think I would want to be an aberration of nature like you? No, my dear. That is what I wanted you to believe, but it is far from the truth.”

  “Then, what are you going to do?” I asked in confusion.

  He paused for a moment before answering. “I’m still working for the FDPSO. Rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated, and if I am able to accomplish this task, I stand to make billions. It’s a closely guarded secret, but there is no longer any reason to hide it from you,” he said ominously.

  “Because you’re going to kill us, right? Tell me, how long do we have? Days? Weeks? Months?”

  “Why would I destroy something I’ve fought so hard to obtain? No, I’m not going to kill you. What I have planned for you will take years, but since you have no means of communicating with the outside world, I’m pretty sure my secrets are safe,” he said smugly.

  I had thought being tortured and killed was the worst he could do to me, but once again, I had been wrong. Death would be a blessing compared to spending the rest of my life down here—escape from this subterranean, concrete hell had never seemed sweeter.

  “Care to share how I will be spending these years?” I asked, with my stomach full of knots.

  “Everything in due time. All you need to worry about right now is the task at hand.”

  He finished attaching electrodes to my head and ordered me to give him a detailed list of all my powers. There was still so much about myself that I didn’t know, but I told him what I could. Most of the things I told him garnered no reaction at all, but some of them, I could tell, were a complete surprise.

  He began with the most obvious—coercion—but I put more effort into breathing than I did into actually following his command. How was he going to know if I really tried or not? I would go through the motions, but if there was any way around it, I would not help him, so I stared deeply into his eyes and sang the words to the Miranda Lambert’s Gunpowder and Lead in my head.

  “Allison, are you really trying to use coercion on me?” he asked with squinted eyes.

  “Yes, of course,” I lied.

  He scowled as he looked up at the squiggly lines on one of the computer monitors, and then he got up, grabbed a scalpel, walked over to where Matt was sitting, restrained and helpless, and jabbed the scalpel deep into his thigh.

  I screamed at the same time Matt cried out in pain. My eyes were filled with fury as David sat back down before me.

  “Why did you do that? I’ve done everything you’ve told me to do!” I yelled at him.

  “No, you have not,” he said calmly, almost too calmly, “because that is a polygraph machine; in laymen’s terms, it is a lie detecto
r, and the little sensors I put on your body tell a different story.”

  I looked down at the little black thingies on my chest and fingertips and the blood pressure cuff wrapped around my upper arm. I had wondered what those were for, but I hadn’t asked. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Of course, he probably wouldn’t have told me anyway. He’d been testing me and I had failed with flying colors. I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that simple, because he didn’t trust me any more than I trusted him, and the lie detector had been his failsafe.

  “You could’ve mentioned that before this little experiment began,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “If you had done as you were told it would not have been an issue. Now, let’s try this again, shall we?”

  “Do it, Allie,” Matt, who had been quiet after his initial shout of pain, told me. I had never seen his eyes glitter with so much malice, but it was directed only at David. “See if you can coerce him into locking himself in the same cage as those hellhounds.”

  “By all means,” David conceded. “I don’t care what you try to coerce me into doing as long as you use your power.”

  Wow! He really was confident in his magical barrier, but I was determined to smash through it one way or another, so I took Mattie’s advice and simplified it.

  I didn’t think I was strong enough to coerce him through this whole underground network, so I focused on inflicting some damage right here. I poured every ounce of myself into it but almost nothing happened.

  I was attempting to get him to stab himself in the eye with his pen, and even though he continued to take notes, I did notice his grip tighten around it. If I’d had a few more minutes it might’ve worked, but he was quick to move on to the next task.

  He made me try to use my kitsune powers, my fey powers, and a host of others that I wasn’t even sure I had, but it kept him from hurting Matt, so I did everything I was told to do.

  My elemental magic had been saved for last. I tried to pull water from the air and form it in a bubble around his head to drown him. I tried to take the air away from him so he couldn’t draw a breath. I even tried to make the earth open up below him and swallow him whole. The only thing I was left with was fire, but I had almost given up hope by that point—that is, until I saw the sparks dance across my palm.