What if every magical creature you'd ever heard of was real, driven into hiding by an army of violent zealots? This is reality for Sarah Heisen and Porter Collins. Sarah is a sphinx living a life of luxury in her family's mansion. Hidden from all da...
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Chapter Eleven
(Sarah)
"Yeah, it was just sitting there at the edge of town."
Sarah's head was spinning, but she could tell she was lying on something hard. She tried to open her eyes, but the sense of motion threatened to make her sick, so she laid her head back on the floor. She'd heard a voice. Whose was it?
Porter?
"Got it locked up in the basement with the mutt."
No, that wasn't Porter. It was too deep. Whoever this was, it sounded like a full grown man. What had he said? Her mind was still groggy from sleep, and she could barely piece together what he was saying. He had her locked up? Why would he lock her up?
Dad's never done that before, she thought, trying to fight through the fog in her mind. I must have done something really bad this time. I wonder if he found out I was the one who threw the TV out the window and not Mrs. Rasta?
"Yes, I know they're dangerous. I'm not stupid. The cage is enchanted, so they're not going anywhere. Now, let's talk about price."
Price? she thought, a pinprick of fear worming its way into her sleepy thoughts. Dad's selling me?
No, that couldn't be it. Mr. Heisen may not have been the model father, but he wouldn't just pawn off his only daughter. And besides that, she realized, she hadn't seen her dad in days. Not since the house burned down. Which meant she wasn't listening to her father, or in her house.
Where the heck am I, then?
She tried to concentrate again, and this time had a little more success. Memories began to come back to her. She'd teleported into the middle of a forest with Porter, and they'd traveled together for a couple of days. They'd met Lowatai, and then Droma. Droma had offered to take them to the Sanctuary, but she had wanted to see the human town and run off. And then...
Oh, crap.
Sarah forced her eyes open, and this time kept them open despite the dizziness. She was in a cage, just like the voice had said. It wasn't so much a cage, she realized, as a tiny room with concrete walls. A barred door blocked her escape, and was kept shut but a thick padlock. Even stranger, what looked like sticky notes had been stuck to the bars. After a few seconds of trying to focus on them, she saw that containment glyphs had been written on them. It was a clumsy way of keeping her away from the door, but it would work. If she tried to touch the bars, they would burn her.
What have I gotten myself into? she thought, and tried to get to her paws. The sleeping agent hadn't completely worn off yet, though, and the action made her head spin even more. With a shout, she fell back to the floor.
"What's going on in there?" the voice she had heard before yelled from somewhere she couldn't see. Heavy footsteps followed, and a large man wearing a cowboy hat came to stand in front of her cage. "Well, look who finally decided to wake up!"
