I Just Kidnapped My Twin Alpha Mates

Chapter One (Part Two): Homework and Hags on a New Level

The hag knocked again, sending glass sanctum walls shuddering. I grabbed Elliot's sleeve, yanking him back towards me. I didn't like the way the thing outside leered at us, like he or she could see right through Marcell's enchantments. Instead of whispering, I tapped a message on the desk. I didn't want the thing to be able to read our lips. "Can it see us?"

Elliot cast his eyes to the figure for the first real time. As his gaze crept up every inch, his face turned another shade of green. "It looks like it can. Anything that can see through a cave troll enchantment-"

"Must pack some serious magical power." I tapped back. Bel ruffled her feathers and cawed again, not taking her red eye off whatever the hell was lurking by our door way. "Think it wants an autograph?" At the time, I'd meant to be flippant, maybe to take the edge off Elliot's words, maybe, and probably more honestly, to convince myself that the evily-deady-haggy-thingy wasn't there to decapitate me, my friend, my bird, and my landlord. Looking, back it probably was a poor desision to joke around, but my head kinda went into panic mode. Even witchers can't undue history, no matter how much we'd like to.

Anyway, Elliot narrowed his eyes to slits, and his pupils fluttered between human and feline. "I doubt that."

I snuck another look at out well, shall we say, guest. "It can't reach us in here. Seeing is one thing, but to break the glass it'd have to break both Marcell's cave lock and my sanctum conservation."

"So we just going to let it loiter there until Marcell gets back?" Elliot was trying to shake out some of his creep factor just like I was. Back then, although to be honest, we're still like this, we were the most stubborn creatures to walk the face of this earth. If we wanted an axe murdering psycho maniac wearing a clown mask to look like a teddy bear, we'd convince ourselves of that, then try to cuddle with it.

By that fact, we steadily chipped away at our fear concerning this, well, somewhat unusual guest.

I spun a pencil around my finger and watched it grow a spike as it rounded my nail. "So I'll go out and talk? See what it wants? Maybe I'll bring along some antiwart charms for good advertising."

Elliot faked a laugh, but the hairs on his tail still stood up on end no matter how hard he tried to squash them down. I began to rifle through various tins of random objects that we kept on the shelves just in case, to put it in Marcel reasoning, a giant rabid cheese monster suddenly decided to take out his or her anger on the trio. Marcel has an irrational fear of such monsters, and I'd never seen hide nor hair of a mention in any text I'de ever read, including picture books. Elliot put up with the placement of boxes becuase it meant he didn't have to take the extra five minutes to nip down to the storerooms and risk gaining muscle by carrying ingredients back to me whenever I shattered my phone screen and/or wanted to cheat on various exams.

"Where's the umbrella?"

Elliot shook his head. "Of all the things you keep up here, Cass, you leave the most important downstairs."

I rolled my eyes at him, and flicked a ruby encrusted ring onto my pinky to join the two others that already sat just bellow my joint. Statisfying hums ran over my fingers as the three brushed together, each note a slightly different pitch. "Rune work, Elliot, requires a lab not a desk, how many times do we have to go over this?" Contrary to my words, I remember tapping out the message. Some part of me was still concerned about the figure lurking by our windows. The feeling of unease seemed to creep up from the sandstone floor, leaking through my feet and sidling through my veins until it latched onto a soft and cushy stop at the bars of my skull to send tingles down spinal cords and various vertebrae.

My best friend retreated down the hallway, occasionally jumping to the side to avoid the random paper piles and antique lamposts. I watched him go. With each step he took, the hag's eyes burned miniature twin holes in the back of my neck. My rifling quickened it's pace. From a 1970's mint can came a dollop of vaguely shiny paste that was spread over my hand. For a moment, I debated just using a standard cardinal direction shield. Then I snuck a look back over towards our visitor.

In all this time, they hadn't moved an inch. Their hand was still raised to knock again, although they hadn't. It was like they'd frozen in time, just like they were when we first noticed. But, if you looked closer, you could see subtle differences. The cloak had been pushed back slightly, revealing just a centimeter of where a nose should be. Other than that? I saw nothing.

Elliot's footsteps rang through the halls, and I jumped. "God damn you, Elliot!"

He shrugged like me almost peeing my pants was no big deal and held out a handle to me. "Your umbrella, oh universal queen." My best friend held out his other hand, and I brought mine to it. A reassuring weight fell into my palm. About the size of a golf ball, my crystal ball was smaller than most, but I enjoyed having a portable VCD. A spark shot through it, buzzing against both of our hands.

I raised my eyes to Elliot's. His hair stuck straight up out of his head, pushing the beanie to the floor. His eyes were fully feline, no human left. For a moment I was glad it was him not me facing the window, becuase if I had been, the hag would have seen my eyes go black, and then our charade would have utterly crumbled. "Did you feel that?"

He nodded. "Why I grabbed it."

"Great." I spoke aloud this time, just so every one present (Elliot, Bel, The Weird Thing, Myself even) could hear. My fingers closed around the ball, stroking the hard, crystalline surface. Elliot wiggled his end of the umbrella so that silver runes around the rim caught light and sent patterns dancing over discarded calculus books. I gave a nervous smile and snapped. Bel landed on my shoulder. "Ready or not, here I come."

I snapped the umbrella open, and the last thing I heard before stepping through the glass and into the storm was Elliot yelling at me not to open umbrellas inside