by K. M. Shea
I was momentarily surprised. “What?”
“I was serious when I said I persuade everyone at school to see through me, to ignore me. You were the only one I could never persuade. It’s not completely unheard of. Generally, humans are the easiest for us to use our powers on, but there is the occasional person that is immune,” Hunter shrugged.
“I don’t care. I want to go home, Hunter,” I said, my voice cracking.
“Morgan, I can’t. Okay? I really do see you as my friend. You’re my only friend. Your stay here will not be unpleasant, so can’t you just wait?” Hunter asked. Although his face was open and sweet, his eyes glittered like a tiger’s.
I had to remind myself that Hunter wasn’t just my friend and classmate now. He was also a leader who had an agenda. But perhaps it was wrong to judge him on these facts alone? I remembered all the projects we completed together, all the times we talked in class.
“Two days,” I said. “I will be back in school by Monday. So, I’ll give you two days,” I said.
Hunter looked amused, and I realized it was probably ridiculous. I was his captive, and I was the one making the demands.
“Thank you, Morgan,” Hunter said with what sounded like sincerity. “I’m sure I’ll have things cleared up with the administrator by then. Do you need to call your parents? You could tell them you’re staying at a friend’s house. It wouldn’t be completely untrue.”
“No,” I said with certainty. “I’m sure Frey has already come up with a cover story. He’s obsessive with details like that. If I call them now, I’m sure I’ll just blow the whole thing to bits,” I paused. “Can I have my purse back though?”
“Of course. It will be in your room. I have already made sleeping arrangements for you, unless you wanted to be with Aysel?” Hunter asked.
“Fat chance,” I snorted, standing up. “But I want to see him before I go to bed. Can I go?”
“Of course. You have free run of the place. Logan is guarding Aysel’s door. If you need anything or would like to be shown to your room, ask him.”
“Right. Thanks and good night,” I said, exiting his office. Sure enough, Logan the Pasty Man was standing outside a closed door that was kitty corner from Hunter’s office. “Hello,” I greeted him, feeling a little guilty that I had just eaten and talked for an hour without thinking of Aysel and his wellbeing.
Then, I opened the door and instantly stopped feeling bad for him.
Aysel was set up on the conference room table, a laptop propped open and sitting on the table in front of him. He had shed his human/model clothes and was back in his elf-like robe attire. He also had several open newspapers scattered around him and a plate of pasta. (Apparently goblins liked Italian food?)
Clearly, he was comfortable.
“You have no sense of urgency, do you?” I complained, collapsing in one of the chairs circling the conference table.
“What I have is a lot of time on my hands and a lot of work to be done,” Aysel said, typing away on his borrowed computer.
The tether was back around his hand. It was tied to the wall with a long length in it, but I suspected Aysel wasn’t planning on leaving anyway. There was a red leather couch that had several fluffy blankets piled on it—most likely meant to be his bed for the night.
“Aysel, how serious is this?” I asked, setting my hands flat on the table before resting my head on top of them. “How worried and concerned do I need to be?”
Aysel actually stopped typing. He hesitated and set his computer aside before fixing all of his attention on me. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Normally, the situation is not at all dangerous. It is bothersome, but not entirely unwarranted. My father can be rude and ill-mannered by purposely ignoring contracts that need to be signed, so these types of situations are expected for me…. But I’m not sure about now,” he carefully said, keeping his voice low. “No one has ever before been kidnapped with me, and the fact that you personally know Hunter Weller is troubling. I would say based on the past history that there is nothing to worry about, and we will be released shortly.”
“But?” I asked, hearing the hesitation in his voice.
“My father once told me none of the Wellers have friends. They have only themselves and their employees. The fact that Hunter calls you a friend is…unheard of,” Aysel shifted and muttered. “Perhaps I am being overly sensitive.”
“Asahi would be so proud,” I grinned.
Aysel frowned but did not look very crabby.
“I think I’m going to sleep. What time is it?”
“A little after midnight. You were out of it for a while after the goblins grabbed you,” Aysel said, returning to his computer as I stood and made my way over to the door.
“Okay, thanks. ‘Night, Aysel,” I said, placing my hand on the doorknob.
“You’re leaving?” Aysel asked, his voice incredulous.
“Um, yeah,” I said, turning around. “Hunter said I get my own room.”
“But…you should stay here,” Aysel said, at a loss for words. “I’m the one they need. You should remain with me. Besides, if anyone tries to harm you, I will be able to protect you.”
I snorted. “What could you do? You’re tied to a wall! Besides, there’s no bed in here, and I’m not going to lose a night of sleep just because your father is arrogant. Good night,” I said, exiting the room.
Now, I know almost every teenage girl reading this right now is yelling at me on Aysel’s behalf because he was being sweet and asking me to stay, but let’s get real, ladies. When you’re kidnapped, it’s not time to be romantic; it’s time to be practical. Plus, based on my previous interactions with the elf, I was willing to bet it wasn’t really that he wanted me to stay with him so much as it was some stupid elf pride thing. (Let’s not forgot how he told Hunter that I was under his protection. Whatever that meant.)
I was not going to make the mistake I made with Frey and get all sappy, even if I didn’t have Brett Patterson to obsess about.
“That’s one good thing about today,” I said as Logan showed me to my room.
“And what is that, Miss?” Logan asked.
“I totally forgot that my best friend is dating my crush.”
19
The Goblin Mob
I pretty much collapsed in bed as soon as Logan got me to my room. (Well, I did check my cell phone, but the battery was dead, so that did zippo for me.) I was exhausted, probably from the whirlwind of emotions I had experienced that day.
I woke up the following morning, noted that my room was almost as spectacularly decorated as Hunter’s office, and whined and complained to the goblin outside my door until he showed me to a bathroom.
After freshening up—I won’t tell you how badly I wanted a shower—I decided I would grace Aysel with my presence and eat breakfast with him.
When I swept into his cell, he was—surprise, surprise—working on the laptop.
I cast an accusing eye to the red couch where the blankets were still neatly folded. “Don’t tell me you stayed up working the whole night!” I said, plopping down in a chair.
“I didn’t,” Aysel stiffly said.
“Right. Logan, what’s for breakfast?” I asked when the goblin pushed a silver cart into the room. (As you can tell, I woke up feeling quite a bit more refreshed and confident than I felt going to bed the previous night.)
“Waffles and bacon, Miss Morgan,” Logan said, setting a plate in front of me before uncovering it.
“Wow, I love your chef,” I said, staring at my magnificently golden waffles. They were topped with whipped cream and chopped nuts. A little bowl of fresh strawberries was nestled into the side. They smelled liked melted butter and cinnamon.
“I will be sure to pass on your compliments, Miss Morgan,” Logan said, handing Aysel a similarly beautiful plate of waffles.
I popped a piece of bacon in my mouth and purred. I made a mental note to invite myself over to Hunter’s place for dinner if I got out of this mess with
our friendship still intact.
“Aysel, you have to eat this. It’s like heaven on a platter,” I said, munching on another piece of bacon.
“You exaggerate everything,” Aysel said as he set his computer aside.
“I do not. You’re just stuffy and unappreciative.”
Aysel raised his eyebrows before he delicately cut into his waffle. “Openly insulting me even when I’m not wearing my truth necklace? How very daring of you!”
“I wanted to talk to you about that. A truth necklace is cheating. I nearly spilled a secret of Asahi’s because of that stupid thing,” I said, jabbing my knife in the High Elf’s direction.
“What, that Asahi is a flaming buffoon for Kadri? Please, I already knew that,” Aysel scoffed.
“Even if you did, Asahi didn’t want me to tell you. I nearly choked myself while trying to keep from telling you—oh, MAN, these waffles are perfection!”
“Hn,” Aysel said, eating his food. “Will you continue to tutor my brother when you return to the MBRC?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” I asked, deeply engrossed with my precious waffles.
“I was afraid this experience might have something of a dampening effect on your desire to be involved with the MBRC.”
“Truthfully? No. I like the MBRC, and I love all the friends I’ve made there. That’s not to say I’m going to be involved with it forever…but right now I’m happy. Does that make sense?” I asked, looking up from my food.
Aysel was smiling. It was the barest twitch of his lips, but the way the corners of his moon eyes crinkled, and the way his entire manner seemed to soften actually froze me. I nearly choked on a piece of waffle that I was in the process of swallowing. He was just so…beautiful.
“Yes, I understand,” Aysel said in what could be mistaken as gentle voice.
I curled my toes in my shoes and felt a warm feeling in my stomach before abruptly pushing my waffles aside and slamming my head into the table. “OW,” I declared after my forehead hit the surface with a resounding crack.
“….Are you well?” Aysel asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, rubbing my stinging forehead before pulling my plate back in front of me. “I was just reminding myself of something,” I grumbled.
I would not fall for a magical being. I would not! No matter how handsome they might be when they smile! I wouldn’t!
“I worry for your mental stability,” Aysel said.
“Me, too,” I agreed. “Are you going to eat your strawberries?”
“Yes.”
“Stingy.”
After eating, Aysel returned to his work, leaving me bored out of my skull, so I wandered to Hunter’s office. The goblin leader was also working on his computer, but his flat screen was fitted with the newest Xbox system. I’m not really a gamer, but he had one of those dancing games, so I amused myself with the video game system for a while. I stopped for lunch—which was pizza that I swear to you was the best I have ever tasted in my life—and hijacked one of Hunter’s computers to check my email.
Unfortunately, I had never bothered to get Frey’s email, and I didn’t know any of my students’ emails either, so in the end, I mostly ended up watching stupid YouTube clips until I upgraded and commandeered his TV.
“How are the negotiations coming?” I asked Hunter, my feet propped up on his coffee table as I stared at the TV. (He had Netflix, so I was taking advantage of it and catching up on some TV shows.)
“Agreeably, you could say. I expect everything will be settled by noon tomorrow,” Hunter said.
“If it’s so agreeable, why not now?” I asked, turning around so I could peer at my classmate over the couch.
“Because Administrator Moonspell has agreed to sign the document, but he wants to lower the amount of pixie powder we can import, which is not happening,” Hunter smiled at me.
“Hm,” I said, resting my chin on the back of the couch.
“Don’t worry about it. Enjoy your time playing. Besides, you didn’t have any homework this weekend, did you?” Hunter asked, leaning back in his chair.
“I did,” I confessed. “But it’s in my backpack, which I left behind at the information desk in the MBRC. I hope Corona holds onto it for me,” I frowned.
“No matter. When we go to school, I can go to your teachers with you and persuade them they need to give you extra time,” Hunter shrugged.
I was aghast. “No way. That’s cheating, not to mention unfair to all my classmates!”
Hunter smiled at me the way I smile at my family cat when he does something stupid or clumsy. “You have an irregularly straight moral compass, Morgan.”
“What, you don’t want to be friends with such a morally correct person?” I asked, draping myself on his wonderful couch, resting my head on the armrest.
“No,” Hunter fondly said, standing up. “Quite the opposite actually,” he said, moving around his desk. He stopped right behind the couch and propped his hands on the edge. “I find your integrity amusing.”
“You make me sound like I’m your adorably chubby pet guinea pig,” I said, my eyes fastened on the TV.
“I bet you’d make a cute guinea pig,” Hunter considered.
“You aren’t going to find out!” I shot, twisting on the couch so I could stare up at the goblin leader.
He leaned over the back of the couch, grinning. “What, you don’t want to drink water from a bottle and eat guinea pig pellets?”
“I would get out of my cage and poop everywhere, just to tick you off,” I promised. Hunter stared down at me before he broke into a laugh—which was a rich, melodious sound. I joined him as soon as I realized how ridiculous the conversation was.
Hunter chuckled. “How did we get on this topic again?”
“Not a clue,” I sighed.
We were silent for a few moments, and my attention started to wander back to the TV until Hunter spoke again. “Whatever had you so upset on Friday?”
“Huh?” I asked, jerking my eyes back to him.
“In class on Friday, you seemed…troubled,” Hunter described.
“Oh,” I said, remembering my epiphany about the MBRC boys and that I could not fall for them. “It was nothing. It was just a rough day.”
“That best friend of yours, Fran, I think her name is? She’s dating someone now isn’t she?” Hunter asked.
“Yeah, how did you know?” I asked, my heart squeezing a little.
“It was pretty hard to miss. She has him completely whipped. She was looking for you after school and refused to let him be within eyesight of her in case she found you. Do you have a restraining order out against him?” Hunter asked.
I laughed. “No. It’s…well…it’s complicated.”
“Ah,” Hunter said, pausing. “So, was he the one I was briefly considering eradicating when you showed up to class looking so troubled?”
He wasn’t, well, not completely. I mean, it was because of him that I really had to watch my step around so… “Yeah, sort of,” I said, deciding to come clean. “I used to have a massive crush on him.”
“Oh,” Hunter said, his voice going awkward. (Ladies, the best way to get a guy off a topic is to start talking about your feelings. Remember that.) “Um, your friend is a—,” he started.
“I told her to date him. It’s fine. The whole thing was absolutely ridiculous. I’m happy for her, for them. It just made my life considerably more complicated,” I said, trying to think of a way to change topics. “So, who is your chef?”
“Logan told me you find your meals delicious,” Hunter grinned. “There are two chefs, actually. A goblin and a cookie elf. They’re married.”
“A cookie elf?” I asked, disbelief coloring my voice as I scrunched my face.
“Yeah. You know the Keebler cookies, the one with the little elf guy with the green jacket? The cookie elves were the inspiration for that company,” Hunter explained.
“A cookie elf,” I repeated.
“Yep.”
“…You are so spoiled.”
“But don’t you want to come visit me now?” Hunter kindly offered with a smile that was too charming.
“Yeah, but you’ll have to get a new house,” I informed him. “I feel I would associate this place with the bad memory of being kidnapped.”
“I didn’t know playing Xbox and watching TV was so mentally scarring,” Hunter chided.
“It is when one is not in the comforts of her own home,” I said with a sage nod.
Hunter chuckled and leaned farther over the couch, until our faces were probably only a foot apart. “Fine, I’ll buy a new house. But only if you promise to come over. Having to shuffle my staff back and forth between my branch office and the house will be quite bothersome.”
“Only if the cookie elf and goblin chef come with.”
“Of course,” Hunter said, reaching out to gently flick one of my bangs out of my face.
At that moment, one of his goblin men opened the door and froze when he spotted us. Instantly, I slid down the couch and away from Hunter, grabbing my heart as I realized I had been flirting with my captor. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME?!
Hunter sighed and stood up straight, coldly frowning at the intruding goblin, who looked like he was trying to decide if he should back out and pretend he never came in or throw himself on the ground and grovel.
“What is it?” Hunter said, not bothering to mask the irritation in his voice.
“I have the newest negotiation from Administrator Moonspell,” the goblin said in a surprisingly high, nervous voice as he held out the sheet of paper.
Hunter took it from him and started reading over the contract. “He’s starting to break. He’s no longer demanding that we only fly it in from—,”
CRACK!
“OW!” I declared, rubbing my stinging forehead, which I had just slammed against the coffee table—yes, on purpose.
“Miss Morgan, are you alright?” the goblin guard asked, alarmed.
“What did you do?” Hunter asked, his eyebrows rising up in arches as he turned his glittering eyes on me.
“Just reminding myself of something,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m going to go now. Yes. Goodbye,” I said, my teeth still clenched as I rolled off the couch and stood up, unsteadily walking out of the room.