by N. R. Larry
Without thinking, I snorted laughter. His eyes widened in surprise, and his lips set into a hard line. Ty tightened his grip on my elbow and pulled me through the rest of the crowd.
“I’ve seen witches get publicly executed for less than that,” he hissed to me when we were out of earshot.
I ripped my elbow away from him. “I’m sorry, but don’t you find it a little amusing that that guy has a purity rating high enough to get a sales permit?” I snorted.
He sighed. “You’re really bad at this.” His gaze darted all around. “And you know it’s easier for men to get a respectable purity rating.”
His words made me curious. “What’s yours?”
“What’s my what?”
I half smiled. “Your purity rating.”
He quickly averted his gaze and then shrugged. “I don’t remember. I only got rated once, and that was so long ago when all of this first started happening.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “You forgot your purity rating?”
“You hungry?” he asked. “There’s a place off the square that allows magical people to eat with their—”
I tilted my head when he didn’t finish. “Owners?” I finally said, trying not to smile.
His face twisted into a disgusted mask. Before I could give him even more of a hard time, my stomach growled so loud, I paused and widened my eyes. Ty’s expression went lax, and then the corners of his mouth twitched.
I hugged myself and glared at him.
Lowering his head, he said, “We should get some food in you before that thing gives us away.” His tone was higher in pitch, like someone trying to hold in a laugh while speaking.
I hugged my arms harder around my midsection, hoping that would keep my stomach calm. “I get hungry when I’m nervous.”
His eyes were slightly wet with amusement. Taking me by the elbow, he started leading me through the mass of people. I stared at my feet until we got to the edge of town. On the left side of the street, there was a run-down, diner-style restaurant. Its sign was worn by weather and age, and bits of brick were missing from its walls.
“Fancy,” I said under my breath.
“They make chicken and waffles to kill for.”
I made a face. “Don’t you mean to die for?”
He shrugged as he held the door open for me. “Death is involved in some way.”
I started to go in, remembered myself, and then stopped to give him a pointed look. He stared back at me, a blank expression. Then his mistake occurred to him and he let go of the door.
Head lowered, I stepped forward and opened the door for him.
His lips twisted a bit. “This is such bullshit,” he said, before stepping forward and going in.
An older man with papery skin and a sprinkle of hair on his head greeted us. “Papers,” he barked.
Ty handed him the forged documents. The man’s eyes shifted to me. “Who’s this?” he asked.
“Runaway, in my charge for forty-eight hours.”
He grunted. “Fucking foreigners, huh?”
My head was still lowered, so I couldn’t read his expression, but his body tensed next to me. “A table for two, please,” he said in a low, steady voice. His hands had balled into fists. I wanted to tug at his clothes and tell him to relax, but in this world, that wasn’t my place.
“You’ll have to take it to the back,” he said. A weird noise came out of his throat, like a growl of pleasure. He stepped closer to Ty. “Not that she isn’t nice to look at in that filthy way. I can take her off your hands if you want to enjoy your meal in peace.”
There was a sharp intake of breath. “A table for two. In the back,” This time, his voice shook a bit. I could feel the energy being thrown off him. He felt about ready to snap.
“Fine, fine. This way.” He stepped to the side and waved Ty on, who went on ahead of me, leaving creepy guy right beside me. I lowered my head and bit my lower lip.
Then his old, creepy hand was on my ass. I gasped and turned to him. He gave me a smile that was missing some teeth. Before I could say anything, Ty had grabbed the man’s arm. His nostrils flared as he leaned over and spoke into the man’s face.
“Touch her again, and I promise you, I will forget my manners.”
My mouth gaped. The man stepped back, his powder blue eyes wide. For a moment, I pictured him doing the worst. Kicking us out. Calling the purity officers. Making a scene. Instead, the man smoothed down his uniform, tossed Ty a look of disdain and said, “This way, sir.”
Ty let him pass and then took me by the elbow. Together, we followed him through the main dining hall and into the back, which was a drafty area with low lighting, and small, picnic tables scattered about. All around, owners were eating with their property.
Creepy guy led us to a table by the rear window and tossed two plastic menus on the table top. He turned around with a smirk. “Your server will be right will you.”
Ty sat down, and slid out of his jacket, draping it across the back of his chair. I sat across from him and lifted an eyebrow.
“I know,” he said, looking down at his menu. “I’m sorry.”
I continued to stare at him. “Are you crazy?”
“No,” he said a little louder than necessary. He looked up and smiled without amusement. “Just human.”
I almost smiled, but then the desire to not get caught won out. “Just. Take it easy, okay?”
“Can I start you folks out with something to drink?” a soft, female voice said.
I glanced up to find a Latino girl, she couldn’t have been more than fourteen, with wide brown eyes and long lashes. She smiled and I knew right away she was kind. I started to answer, remembered what I was supposed to be, and then pressed my lips tightly together.
“Yes, we’ll have two sweet teas?” He looked at me in a way that made me think he was trying to be inconspicuous.
I hiccupped a laugh and then nodded.
“Yeah, two sweet teas.” He smiled up at the waitress.
“No problem sir. Are you ready to place your food order? Or do you need a minute?”
“We’re still deciding.” He smiled again.
The waitress nodded and scurried off to put in our drink order.
“What do you want, beautiful?” he asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
My cheeks flushed, and I looked down at the menu.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t call you that,” he said in a low voice.
I shook my head. “No, it’s…” I laughed, flustered. “It’s fine.”
I could feel him smiling. “What looks good?”
I shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to try those chicken and waffles to kill for.”
When the waitress came back, Ty ordered our meal, and I took a sip of my sweet tea. As it slid down my throat, I closed my eyes. “Mm. Haven’t had that in a long time.”
Ty smiled. “Best in the city.”
I took another sip and nodded. “You know, this would be nice if—” At that moment, someone came into the room and stole the rest of my sentence. My eyes opened and my heart punched against my rib cage.
I stared as Douglass, emaciated and worn looking was led by a set of chains to a table in the far corner. He was with a purity officer I didn’t recognize. As they sat down, the room started to go dizzy. I had to clutch the sides of the table to keep from jumping up and running to him.
I glanced down and took a breath. Ty was saying something that I couldn’t hear.
“Lawrence?” he asked in a low voice. He started to reach for my hand but stopped himself. “Is everything alright?”
I shook my head. “No.” I peered back in Douglass’ direction. I didn’t understand what I was seeing. He was so skinny, as if he’d been locked away for months as opposed to days.
“What is it?” Ty asked, the concern mounting in his voice.
I shook my head again. “Please, give me a minute.” I focused all my
energy on Douglass. As soon as I tuned into his energy, I felt worn down. My shoulders slumped forward. I narrowed my eyes at him and saw a black light pulsing around his body.
Magic.
And not the good kind.
My stomach lurched and I pulled my magic back with a shudder. I glanced up at Ty, whose eyes were widened in obvious concern. “Do you know if they use witches in the camps?”
His eyes narrowed. “I’ve heard stories. Sometimes it’s the only way to get people to do what they want.”
I nodded. My mouth went dry. I knew what I was going to do as soon as I saw him. There was no way I was leaving this place without my friend.
“Lawrence, what are you—”
“I need you to cover for me,” I said in a low voice.
He shook his head in confusion. “Why, what are you—”
I stood up and sauntered over to Douglass before he could get the rest of his question out. Slipping my crystal into my pocket, I reached out and touched his thin shoulder.
Douglas and the purity officer looked up at the same time. Right away, I flooded Douglass with magic, beating away what I now knew was a starvation curse. Dark, dark, magic.
“What are you doing, witch?” the purity officer barked, standing to his feet so quickly his chair crashed to the floor.
I pointed a hand in his direction. The chair flipped back up, and he was thrown back into his chair. He struggled to move and had no luck. Seconds later, there was a warm, firm grip on my shoulder.
“What the hell are you doing, Lawrence?”
I gritted my teeth. I could feel the Anchor knocking, wanting me to let it in. I hung tight to my focus and kept flooding Douglass with magic. He was staring at me, wide-eyed, but his physique was already much improved.
“Please,” I muttered. “Just cover me. This is my friend, we can’t leave him.”
For a moment, Ty’s grip tightened on my shoulder. Finally, he sighed, and then his footsteps were trailing away from me. Behind me, people were stirring and whispering.
I needed a few more moments. Just a few more.
I tossed another spell at his chains. They rattled for a bit, and then snapped, crashing to the floor.
Behind me, glass smashed. A male voice shouted something I couldn’t make out. An alarm blared. I turned my head slightly. Ty was punching out a purity officer, while another held firm to his left arm. He twisted from the officer’s grip and delivered a side kick into his midsection.
Panicked, I turned around and tried to pull Douglass to his feet. He pulled away from me as confusion furrowed his eyebrows. “Please, you have to get up, now.”
“Who are you?” he said in a deep, broken voice.
I leaned toward his ear. “It’s Lawrence.”
His eyes widened and then narrowed with suspicion. “Lawrence.”
I nodded and jerked him to his feet. At that moment, Ty rushed past me and grabbed me by the arm. “We’re running. Very fast. Right now.”
I held tight to Douglass and rushed to follow Ty. We headed toward the back door. I held out a hand, and it splintered into pieces. Rushing out into the humid air, I was met by chaos.
I turned to Douglass. “Can you run?”
He winced and then nodded anyway.
“Good, run. Fast.”
Ahead of us, Ty barreled through a line of purity officers, cutting through the traffic that had gathered outside of the restaurant. I kept my gaze trained on him while listening for Douglass behind me. He was doing a good job keeping up.
Above my head, something whirled. I glanced up at it. It was a surveillance drone, trained at the three of us. I turned my gaze back to Ty in time to follow him around a corner, and through a narrow alley. He leaped up onto a dumpster, reached down for me and pulled me up with one hand, and then reached for Douglass.
I followed him up the wall, and back down, my feet landing in another thin alley. Ty swept toward a sewer grate. He lifted it like it was made of air, and gestured us forward.
“In,” he said, his face flushed and red.
I hesitated and his eyes narrowed. “I swear to God, Lawrence.”
Nodding, I pursed my lips and lowered myself down into the sewer on a ladder that rattled as I moved. When my feet hit the ground, the smell almost overwhelmed me. Seconds later, Douglass dropped down and crumpled to the ground. Ty followed.
I put on my crystal to block out the hunger of the Anchor and then went to check on him. I placed my hands on his temples.
Above me, Ty was panting. “Is he going to be okay?”
I closed my eyes and was silent for a few moments. Above me, the city rumbled. Alarms and purity officers blared our descriptions to its citizens. Soon, Birmingham would go on lockdown until we were found.
I glanced up at Ty. “He’s going to be fine. He needs to rest. He needs nourishment.”
He stared down at me with an expression I couldn’t read. It was half furious, half pleased.
I bit my lip as it hit me. “I blew everything.” Tears burned my eyes. “But I couldn’t—I couldn’t leave him.”
Ty kicked the wall and grunted. Turning, he brushed a hand through his thick hair. “I know you couldn’t. We have to move.” He leaned over and picked Douglass up, slinging him over his shoulder.
The Douglass I knew would have protested. All this Douglass did was pass out, hanging from Ty’s shoulder like a massive, rag doll.
We started walking for what felt like hours. My head was throbbing from using too much magic too quickly. I tried to focus on the fact that Douglass was safe. And I wouldn’t let Ty go down for my decision.
I couldn’t break down.
I still had to save my friends.
Chapter 15
What felt like hours later, we finished following the sewer and wound up beneath the abandoned warehouses of Birmingham’s industrial district. I climbed the ladder on legs that felt like molding clay. We came to the surface near an abandoned road, and I breathed fresh air. Twilight was sweeping the air, taking with it the last of daylight. I followed Ty, who was still carrying Douglass, into an old warehouse. I stared as he set Douglass down in a corner. My friend grunted, turned on his side, and filled the wide space with harsh snoring.
Ty brushed his hands off and turned to me. For a while, all we could do was stare at each other. I gestured toward my cuffs, and he shuffled and then stopped.
I lifted an eyebrow. “What are you waiting for?”
He scanned me up and down, and then gestured me toward him. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“Roof.”
“Okay, can you take these damned things off first?”
He turned his head slightly and shook his head. “After we have a talk.”
I narrowed my eyes and was about to argue, only to find I was too tired. “Fine,” I said in a tight voice. I followed him through the dark building, up another ladder, through a hatch in the ceiling, and onto the roof.
The wind hit me full in the face. I reached up and yanked the wig from my head, which was harder to do with my wrists still bound, and let the air move through my curls. I closed my eyes and tried to enjoy the sensation.
Ty came up and stood behind me. His presence was comforting. In the distance, alarms from the city still blared. It was starting to feel like one of the longest days of my life.
“You okay?” Ty finally asked after a few beats of silence.
Opening my eyes, I turned my head slightly. “Are you?”
“Have to be. Have to keep going.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine.”
I pressed my lips together. “Well, I screwed everything up. Put you at risk. Put us all at risk.”
Ty shrugged, even though his expression didn’t hide how serious a situation we were now in. “You didn’t have a choice.” He sighed. “I wouldn’t—” He bit into the last word and shook his head a
gain. “It wouldn’t be like you to leave someone behind, not knowing what they were going to do with him.”
I sighed. “I still have to be punished?” I tried to smile and glanced at my wrists. “That why you won’t take the cuffs off?”
A strange expression crossed his face. It was almost as if he started to say something, changed his mind, and the transition showed up on his face. “The reason you’re still in cuffs is because you blew our plan to bits. We have to think of another approach.”
I almost smiled. A thrill that shouldn’t have been there in the situation, rushed up my spine. Despite the warmth in the air, I started to shiver. “So, this is some kind of punishment?”
He chuckled. “No, baby. This is training.”
I lifted an eyebrow. I couldn’t pinpoint the moment he became comfortable enough to give me pet names, but I liked it. “Training for what?”
He started circling me. I felt like prey being hunted. My heart pounded its excitement. “Training to bring out the Anchor…” He snorted. “Without losing yourself to it.”
I gasped. “Ty, that’s not… It’s not like—”
He stopped in front of me and placed a finger against my lip. He took a sharp breath and stared at me, eyes slightly wider. I knew what he was feeling because I was feeling too. It was like every neuron I had decided to fire at the same time. I could barely breathe.
He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Then he removed his finger. I could still taste the salt from his skin. “You told me you would try.”
I opened my mouth to argue, and then shut it.
He started to circle again. “Like I was saying, the cuffs are for training. I need you to feel unsafe. Out of control.”
I tried to steady my breathing, but couldn’t. “I’m getting there.”
Once again, he stopped in front of me. “I wish I had something else to restrict you.”
I stared at him. Even in the makeup, he was as sexy as silk sheets and chocolate covered strawberries.
“Wait here a second,” he said, already walking away.