Taken

Chapter 19 (Part 5)

Silas let out a dry humorless laugh, cutting me off. "Of course," he scoffed, shaking his head as he dropped it.

"What?"

"That's what she told you? That those who want the stone's power would make you carve it out and give it to them?"

My brows pulled together. "Yeah... Hilda said-"

"I can guess what Hilda said," he sneered.

His disdain had me stiffening. "Let me guess, it was all lies?"

"Like I said, Fae can't lie."

"But it's clear you can twist the truth until you pretty much are." Anger laced my voice.

He nodded. "Never trust what a Fae says. She didn't lie... but she gave you the answer that would benefit what she wanted the most. She wanted you to return to earth with the Stone, so she told you what was most likely to guarantee that happened. Telling you the truth would have given you options that she didn't want you to know were there. Though, I wouldn't recommend any of them.

"Yes, there are some out there who would go about the ancient ways and drive you to cut the stone out and give it to them, but, they're more difficult to come across than portal keys. With what Fae have learned about the Stone and how its power works over the last millennium before it was hidden, no one with the knowledge would even consider doing that. They would go about a different route to gain the Stone's power. One that's arguably worse."

My mouth grew dry. "How?"

"By making you into a point of access. What's worse than one unsurmountable dictator? Multiple. As a human, it wouldn't be difficult for anyone who wanted to overpower you and force a bond that would give them access to it. You'll have people that want to kill you to weaken the stone and those Fae, but more who will want to keep you around to take advantage of you."

My teeth ground together. "Is that what you and Hilda did? Force a bond? Is that why we share a mark and you can control fire and water now as well?" However, control was a strong word to use. 

His eyes hardened. "I did no such thing," he began. His mouth opened to continue, but Tia's voice sounded to interrupt him.

"You two going to come in or just stand there?" She called, popping her head back out the door. Seeing her nervous face pushed back the fears Silas had been stirring to focus on more pressing fears. Like the ones I would have to face if I walked in through that door.

"We're coming," Silas called back, moving to take a step as nerves swarmed in my stomach.

I reached out, grabbing his forearm to stop him.

"Wait! Um, so- being a necromancer sounds-"

"You said that earlier too. What does it mean?"

"Necromancer? It's someone who controls the dead. Like you do. Except, you're real and not a fictional character." I was convinced of that with how real everything I felt in this realm was. Especially pain. "I learned about them while reading a book where the main character was one. It sounded cool, I even wanted to be a necromancer for a while before vampires caught my attention and I moved on," I rambled nervously to my mortification, but I couldn't stop, not when I knew what waited through that door in front of us. "But at the time, I didn't realize how impractical that would have been given I'm not a fan of dead bodies."

There had been three different ones I had discovered in my life. The first, my paternal grandmother when I was ten, a stern old woman that I could barely remember; the second when I was twenty, one of my mom's oldest friends who was lying unmoving on the floor by the sofa, the vomit she had choked on in her sleep trailing down the side of her mouth to form a puddle on the floor; and the third... Calvin, the man who had been one of my abductors. I had seen the life leave his eyes as it was ripped away by a monster.

"Neither am I," Silas said, pulling me from my memories. He had turned to give me his full attention.

Noticing my hand was still on his arm as my eyes avoided his, I pulled it back. "Then you'll understand me preferring to stay out here while you go in and take care of-"

"Not a chance, little dryad," he cut me off. "You're not leaving my sight, not after the stunt you pulled last night." This time, it was him reaching for me. He grabbed me by the bicep and dragged me towards the door. "It won't be as bad as you think it will be."

"You don't know that!" He ignored me, continuing to drag me towards the door. I tried to twist my arm free from his hold but failed, only succeeding in getting him to tighten his grip until it began to obstruct my blood flow to the limb.

"If you keep making things difficult, I'll just take it as a sign that I need to clip a leash onto your collar to make sure you don't run off tonight."

My face flamed in humiliation. Like hell, I would let him do such a thing! If he tried that, he would wake up with it wrapped around his neck with me choking him.

"Fine, I'll cooperate" I snapped, putting one foot in front of the other willingly. "But once this is over, I want answers. Real ones, not some Fae wordplay bullshit. That includes the matching marks."

Silas's jaw clenched but his grip loosened. "Fine."

Stepping in through the door, Silas shut it behind us before pulling me into the house, knowing where to go to find Tia in her living room. While we had been busy talking outside, she had been busy moving the furniture in the room to the sides, clearing the rug that lay in the middle of the wooden floor.

Moving to help, Silas helped her shift the remaining sofa against the wall while I helped move one of the smaller coffee tables that were left.

With the rug clear, Tia crouched at its edge and reached for it. Curling the edge back, she began to roll the thick material away to reveal the lines of a hidden door underneath.

"Give me a hand," she said to Silas as she reached for the round metal ring that would help pull the square door up.

He batted her hand away, taking hold of the handle himself to lift it without her help, Tia refused to let him open it without aid. She slipped her fingers under the door when he had lifted it high enough for her to do so.

The two of them lifted it, the hinges on the other side creaking loudly from disuse as they lifted it until they stood straight.

"Here, take my place," Tia said towards me. "I'll grab something to keep it propped open."

I moved, taking her place. I placed my hands against the wood and braced myself, but when she let go of the wood, I barely felt any weight strain my muscles.

My eyes flicked towards Silas as Tia moved away. Not a hint of strain was visible on his face or in his body as he held the heavy door open on his own. He was unfazed as he focused on the darkness below. When I turned my attention towards it too, the faint scent of death and decay became apparent, causing my nose to crinkle as I pushed down the desire to dry heave. I was suddenly glad for the darkness that we were looking into, happy not to be able to see the body I knew was down there.

Until a harsh shove had me tumbling forward to join it.

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