“It’s me,” Genevieve said. “I didn’t want him to call you since you’ve made it clear you want nothing to do with the other realms. But we do need you.”
“I don’t understand. How could I help at a trial?” Jane continued to watch herself in the mirror as her expression turned to disbelief that she was still listening to this.
“You can vouch for Axel and his whereabouts for the past several months. They would give you a truth-telling potion that only works on humans.”
“The Gyralli flower,” Jane said. She turned away from the mirror.
“You’re the only one that saw him imprisoned in the tower. Even my mother, if I could pry her from my father’s side, wouldn’t be able to say with certainty where he was.”
“How have you heard about this?” Jane asked.
“It seems the realm of witches is more connected to the human realm. We can communicate easily through our minds.” Jane noticed that Genevieve’s voice was softer than usual. She must know what a great favor she was asking of Jane.
“I’ll text you in an hour,” Jane said and threw her phone in her purse.
20
Axel
The flight into Sedona was uneventful once they passed the TSA agent. It was difficult to coordinate Tamus passing through security while Axel was next in-line, but somehow they did it. It was a true test of Axel’s mental prowess.
Transmitting to the agent a vision of a valid Florida ID instead of what was in his hand (Axels credit card) it was no easy task. His concentration could not falter for one second, which it almost did when the other TSA agent called for next in line. Axel walked slowly to the agent with all of his mental focus still on that ID in front of Tamus’s agent. He thanked his lucky stars when Tamus passed to the conveyor belt for the security check.
“How is it you got here in the first place without a valid ID?” Axel thought to ask him as and they jumped into the rental car. It was still daytime there in Arizona and the plan was to get to the portal before nightfall.
“Where do you think our old portal opens?” Tamus responded.
Axel gripped the steering wheel. “Are you telling me that there is a witch portal close to a portal to the homeland?”
“Yes, but I wouldn’t count on using the portals back to our kingdoms from here. That portal is a disaster, and it took me many days before it was working and I could go back home.”
“That’s way too lucky to be a coincidence. I wonder if it has something to do with my grandfather.” Axel kept his eyes on the road while his brain tried to compute everything he had learned from Lily.
The surrounding scenery was extremely different from that of South Florida. Gone was the flat land and sparkling ocean only to be replaced by red rocks and towering mountains. He admired the landscape if only for its contrast to what he had seen of the human world. Once they were outside of Sedona, Tamus directed Axel down an empty highway. Soon he bid him park next to what looks like an abandoned hut on the side of the road.
“Where do we go from here?” Axel asked.
Tamus pointed up a rocky hill, and Axel couldn’t avoid an irritated growl. They made their way up slowly, most of their powers not available to them in this land. Once they were about halfway up, Tamus searched for something. Axel followed him around and then stood back and stared as Tamus poked at a large bush.
“This thing has grown. You don’t have a knife on you do you?”
Axel crossed his arms. “I’ve been with you the entire time since we got off that plane.”
“Well, maybe you tricked the TSA agent on some other things,” Tamus suggested as he dusted his hands off on his pants.
“I didn’t,” Axel said. Tamus went around the bush and ripped at the branches close to the large rock behind it. Soon there was a gaping hole and through it a dark abyss.
“Is that a cave?” Axel asked.
“And it’s the portal.”
Axel lent him a hand and snapped branches off as well. Tamus inspected the hole and went through, testing its size.
“Tamus!” Axel shouted when he heard nothing from him. There was no response. "Shit. A little warning would’ve been nice.” He slid through the hole trying to avoid the protruding branches. Once he was in the dark of the cave, he stood up and took a step forward. Instantly, a deep cold overtook him.
Axel saw an opening to the cave in front of him and he walked towards it on alert. As he neared the entrance, he noticed Tamus standing off to the side. His legs were engulfed in a thick fog, but he wore a proud smile on his face.
“The witches realm?” Axel whispered.
“Yes, my prince.” Tamus gave him a deep bow.
Axel threw him a threatening look. Tamus then led him into a forest that was in such a thick fog it was getting difficult to see. The unbelievably tall trees also blocked any sunlight. Axel bumped into him.
“I can’t see shit,” he said as Tamus grabbed onto his shoulder. Then the fog cleared with such quickness that Axel’s eyes darted around to each thick tree trunk.
He sent Tamus a message: I think we’re surrounded.
Tamus raised his voice, “It’s me, Tamus, prince of the fairies and son of the awful King Siloh.”
Are you sure that’s a good idea? Axel asked him with his mind.
Faces appeared. Hooded figures stepped out from behind each tree. Each face was shrouded in floor-length black robes.
A cackle pierced the silence and the hairs on Axel’s neck stood on ends.
Tamus followed the laugh with an equally loud shout. “Stop being so dramatic. Where’s Hannia?”
Hoods dropped back, and Axel relaxed as the witches came out of the shadows with smiles on their faces.
The woman with the cackling laughter came up to Tamus and stood not one foot away from him. Axel almost expected warts and a long crooked nose, but this woman was tall, blonde, and beautiful in a very obvious way. She laughed again, now a much more girlish giggle.
“Oh, dear. I guess you didn’t get the memo,” she said.
“What memo?” Tamus asked. He took one step back, and Axel was on alert again.
“Hannia has forbidden the use of the portal. We are the patrol, and we shall have to lock you up now.” The blonde hair swished from side to side as she shook her head in dismay.
“Wait a second. Can’t I speak to Hannia first? She knows me. She loves me,” he tells her.
“You have not been good to her. And you brought a friend here with you, which, like I said, is forbidden. Sorry,” she said, though Axel didn’t think she looked sorry at all. Everyone around them continued with their joyful expressions.
Axel scrunched up his face in confusion and noticed Tamus was doing the same.
Tamus stepped up to the blonde. “What’s wrong with you?” She was almost the same height as him, and he stared into her eyes. Axel didn’t know what the repercussions would be, or if he’d get anything out of it, but he tried to delve into the witch’s mind.
It was as if his reach towards her bounced back to him. He glanced over and saw her eyes frozen on him. Fuck.
In seconds, arms sticking out of the black robes grabbed them. The men struggled against them, all women, but it was useless. There were too many, and who knew what magic they were using.
It wasn't easy to note what this realm looked like as they were dragged away, but Axel noticed there wasn’t fog anywhere else. It must have been a trick, a spell by these witches. Once they were out of the forest, a clearing showed that dusk was upon them. A large lake to the left of them had several rowboats on the shoreline. Straight ahead of them were various clusters of houses—much like human houses in different styles of architecture. Axel wondered if he was even in another realm or just a hidden part of Arizona.
The witches took them to a house and shoved both men in the basement. A set of bars blocked the stairs, and the witches locked it. The sound of them retreating up the stairs and outside of the house dwindled until there was no noise left except their own
heavy breathing.
“Now what?” Axel asked throwing himself onto a couch in the mostly empty basement.
“Now we wait for Hannia.” Tamus paced around the large room.
“What did they mean you were not good to her? Are you guys involved?”
“I didn’t think we were serious, and then she said she loved me. Very complicated woman.”
Axel brushed his hair back with both hands. “I’m guessing she’s a person with power here?”
A rattle on the bars informed them they were not alone. “I am the power here,” said a woman who looked very much like the blonde witch from earlier. She said a few words under her breath and materialized in front of them. Magic like this was unheard of, and Axel wavered between excitement at the possibilities and uncertainty for his future well-being.
“After conducting experiments,” she said, her long shapely legs poking through the slits on her long black skirt, “I have found traces of fairy in my house. Yours I could confirm is not the same one I found.” She looked straight at Tamus. Then she locked eyes with Axel. “But you. Who are you?”
“I am another prince.”
“What a royal gathering we have here, don’t we?” She displayed a smile like the other blonde witch, and Axel was convinced they were related. “I can rule you out as well in the time the moon completes its cycle. I’ll need a piece of your hair, if you please.”
“A month? That's outrageous,” Axel said.
“Or you can prove where you were on the equinox,” she stated.
“The Night of Eternal Light?”
“Whatever you would like to call it.”
“And if I can’t?”
“Then get used to your friend here. You’re both my pets for the next month,” she said, repeated the mutterings, and vanished before their eyes.
21
Jane
How did this happen? How is it possible she vowed never to see them again and then there she was—on a plane sitting next to Genevieve? And with Andrew on the other side of the busty fairy. Even while traveling Genevieve had to be wearing the most revealing top, her cleavage spilling over her low-cut t-shirt.
Jane watched a movie, hoping to distract herself even for a moment. To think she had left the fairy world behind — again! It was ludicrous.
They rented a car, and Genevieve was Jane’s GPS. She communicated with her brother, and he directed them turn-by-turn until they reached the black SUV that was parked next to a hut.
"This is it," Genevieve said excitedly. Jane had though Genevieve couldn’t get excited about anything.
Andrew followed the fairy as she walked towards a hill. The sun was directly above them, and the dry heat was unlike anything Jane had ever experienced. She grabbed a large bottle of water from the car and followed the couple.
The couple. Never in her wildest dreams did Jane think she would be in Arizona with her ex-fiancé and his new girlfriend. A few short months ago she was dreaming of weddings and honeymoons, place cards and cake designs, photographers and string quartets. She brought it all crashing down. Surely this was rock bottom?
Lost in her own thoughts, Jane didn't pay too much attention to her surroundings, and so she missed a lot of the beauty but none of the heat. She finished her bottle of water before they reached their destination.
"This has to be it," Genevieve said. "It's how Axel described it."
"What's the plan?” Andrew asked.
"He said there would be a group of witches to meet us as soon as we go in. I'm not going to lie. I wish I could do this on my own, but Jane has to be the one to take care of this. Andrew, it would be so much more helpful if you stayed out here."
Andrew looked at her a few seconds and then shrugged his shoulders. "You know these matters better than I do. If you think it's for the best, I'll stay here and get us a hotel."
"I will leave my phone right here, turned off and wrapped up in this plastic bag. When we're out, I'll call you. If we're not out in three days, then I think you should get Darick to help us," Genevieve said, holding on to both of his hands.
"Your ex-boyfriend? Why? You don't think I could help you out?" Andrew said. Jane's eyes widened at the mention of Darick as Genevieve's ex-boyfriend. Was this true? Why hadn’t she heard this before?
Genevieve put her hand to Andrew's cheek. "Love, if there is danger we can't get out of, what makes you think a human could help? If you can reach Darick, then he can gather some of our strongest people to rescue us."
Jane could tell that Andrew didn’t like this, that he felt second rate. Seeing them both together was always awkward for her, but with the news that Darick and Genevieve had once been an item, Jane's head was really spinning.
Jane tried to break through the tense moment. "I think it's time. The sooner we go in, the sooner we get out." She went into the cave first in case the other two decided to go in for a goodbye kiss. The bright sun was extinguished as she bent her head down and walked into the dark hole. She inched forward, and a blast of cold hurried her through. Soon she heard footsteps behind her, and Jane waited for Genevieve, who came to stand next to her. With the bit of light that entered the cave Jane saw she gave her a nod as a signal for them to continue.
They were in a thick forest with trees as tall as buildings. This realm had none of the sparkle or saturated colors that fairyland did. In fact, it looked very much like any regular old forest back on earth.
Genevieve stopped them from continuing and said aloud, "We know you're out there. Take us to my brother."
Jane's apprehension at being in a strange realm with an even stranger sort of people multiplied with each hooded figure that appeared from behind the trees. She even gave a little gasp and held her hand up to her heart.
A very tall hooded person approached them, and Jane noticed that it was a woman, or at least someone with dazzling red lipstick. "Well then. Let's go," she said breathily.
Genevieve complied, and Jane had no choice but to obey. They marched along with about half of the group of witches down a dirt path. A town was soon visible and Jane was surprised to see it looked like other American towns. Human towns.
Weaving between the streets, they witnessed children playing outside on bicycles. She almost expected them to be flying around on brooms. There was nothing, except for the oddities in clothing, to designate this as anything but another rural town. Only the ones guiding them wore the black robes. The regular citizens were wearing slightly out of style and mismatched clothing. It was like an explosion of rainbows, and Jane couldn't quite coincide the robes next to her with what the townsfolk were wearing.
It was as they were entering a colonial style house that Jane started to worry about Genevieve’s silence. Axel's sister looked about as calm and bitchy as ever, but Jane knew there was something wrong. She wondered if Axel had warned his sister to not be her usual unfiltered self. As they descended a dark stairwell, her heart beat faster and her knees liquefied as ideas of dungeons and nasty spells or torture swirled in her mind.
"Jane!" She heard him before she saw him, and all thoughts of fear vanished. She threw herself at the bars that separated them. Her hands circled the iron, and she pulled at the unforgiving metal.
"Axel!" Both she and Genevieve shouted. Axel reached her in seconds and circled her fingers in his own around the iron bars.
"Hey, what about me?" Tamus called from his position on the couch.
The tall blonde opened the gate by placing her hand over the lock and saying a few unintelligible words. The mesmerized Jane, but after the clink of the lock gave way to the door opening, her attention returned to Axel.
They both let go, Jane feeling a familiar dizziness along with an increasing sense of euphoria. Before she could recover, Tamus and Genevieve were whisked away.
Jane drifted over to the couch to sit down before she fainted. "What happened? Where did they take them?"
"Didn't you hear the witches? They're taking them for questioning." Axel looked at her worriedly.
She tried to give him a reassuring smile to let him know everything was fine, but she didn't feel just fine. Being around him overwhelmed her.
"But will anything they say count? I mean, they wanted me because they'll know I'm telling the truth after I take the potion."
"I understand little about what's going on. The only thing they told us is that something has been stolen, and they have evidence it was by a fairy." He looked at her state, and said, "Maybe I should have just waited the month and they could have cleared me without bringing you into this."
"I couldn't leave you imprisoned again. Not like last time. Why do you keep getting captured?" Jane tried to laugh, but she was afraid she missed the mark.
Axel grinned and sat next to her. Jane felt the dizziness lift away as if by magic. It was replaced by an acute sense of awareness, and the only thing she could focus on was Axel sitting merely a foot away from her. She heard him breathing in and out, and she felt his presence as if he was touching her with his hands. The silence in the room only amplified what he was shouting at her. His lips didn’t move, and she hadn’t suddenly developed mind-reading abilities. It was unspoken, yet undeniably filled the space between them.
She tasted his hunger.
22
Axel
He was feeling extremely hot. Had they turned on a furnace in the basement? His mouth was going dry. Axel looked at Jane out of the corner of his eye and turned his head further once he realized she was looking back at him. When she didn’t look away, he didn’t know what to do. Her tight yoga pants lined her legs so splendidly. Her breasts were hidden behind a loose tank top, but he knew they were sitting pretty and perfectly molded underneath.
Thoughts on what he wanted to do these, and other body parts of hers, flew through his mind. Axel tried clearing his throat and looked away. He leaned forward and rested his forehead on his hands, staring at the floor. He then tried to be subtle about adjusting his shorts, which were getting a little too tight.
A Touch of Summer: Spellbound Series Book 2 (The Spellbound Series) Page 8