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Magically yours,
Rosewood7
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OK. Not cool. This is the second time I’ve been knocked unconscious by this guy. It’s just not any fun anymore. Who is so weirdly obsessed with this whole creepy ‘leave notes with only your first initial and then hunt down target’ deal anyway? This guy is a total lunatic.
I’m lying on a hard, cold surface. I don’t even know if I want to open my eyes but I guess it would be pointless to just lie here and complain about this guy’s sanity all day. Slowly I crack my eyes open and survey my surroundings. One thing’s for sure. I have no idea where I am. The grey, concrete room around me resembles a prison cell complete with steel bars about six feet in front of me. I am lying on a cement block at the back of my cell which is only about three feet of the ground. The whole place has a strong smell of well-water. There are other cells around mine but none of them appear to be occupied. I’m still wearing my ridiculous fairy costume, heels and all. I hear footsteps echo down the hall and sit up.
“Ah, you’re awake,” a familiar voice says. Dominico stands outside the cell bars with a wicked grin on his face. No, not Dominico but P. I think he should be arrested for plagiarizing Dominico’s face. If not that, then he should be arrested for freakin’ kidnapping me! “You were out for a while,” P says.
“Yeah, I tend to sleep in a bit when I’m knocked out and dragged into a cell but, you know, it happens, right?” P laughs at my comeback. Not really the response I was looking for.
“Well isn’t someone a little testy this morning?”
“Maybe I’d be less so if I knew who you were and you stopped wearing my friend’s face. Wow, that sounded less insane in my head.” P smiles ear to ear like this is the best time of his life.
“Ah, Faye, it’s always a laugh talking with you.” Yeah because we’ve had so many conversations. I hear Dominico’s-the real Dominico’s- voice in the back of my mind. You make a joke out of everything. I wonder where he is right now. He hit his head pretty hard…no. He’s fine. He’s got to be fine.
“You know what would be really funny? A huge laugh?”
“What?”
“You letting me out of this cell. Wanna try it?” P laughs.
“Nice try, Fayeleia but it won’t be that easy.”
“Oh rats, I was sure that my plan was fool-proof.” Did he really think that was my plan? Idiot. Yeah, I’m still working on that whole ‘escape plan’ part of this deal. P leans in on the bars and smiles.
“Don’t worry, Fayeleia. We’ll work on that sarcasm of yours,” he says. Good luck with that.
“Okay…on that happy, break-me-down note, do I get to know who you are? I’m kinda new at this whole captive-captee thing but, well, you know my name but all I get is ‘P’. If that’s your whole name, sorry, but that’s very unfortunate.” P smiles, knowingly and then turns to go down the hall.
“Uh, so should I just hang out here or do I get a hall pass or something?” P just keeps walking. “Library card? Harmonica?” I suggest. If you haven’t noticed, when I’m freaking out I tend to crack a ton of jokes. And what better time to freak out than being kidnapped by a magical psyco and locked in a cell? P is gone now. I’m alone. My first thought? Use magic to break out. Success rate? Zero. Nothing. I am being shunned by the walls. That’s just not fair. Next? Tunnel. Have you ever tried to dig through cement? I don’t recommend it. Next plot…teleportation. JK. I can’t teleport. I sit down after a failed attempt to locate a window and lean my head back against the wall. Well, when all else fails…
“Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase. Hakuna Matata, ain’t no passing craze! It means no worries, for the rest of your days! It’s our problem free, philosophy! Hakuna Matata! Hakuna Matata? Yeah! It’s our motto! What’s a motto? Nothing. What’s the motto with you? Hahahaha….” I’m quoting Lion King. In a prison cell. With no one else around. Hey! I had a dream like this once! I continue to sing and quote the rest of the Disney movie. I’m adding that to my résumé. I didn’t know I could do that. When I finish I move on to the next movie that comes to mind.
“Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down! The medicine go do-own. The medicine go down! Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down, in the most delight-ful way…duh duh duh dun…” Yes, it has come to Mary Poppins. I really need to get out of here. As for now though…I continue singing. Halfway through I love to laugh! I hear footsteps again. Where is the door this guy is coming from?
“Lost your voice yet, Fayeleia?”
“You didn’t leave me a harmonica.” I would be better if he left me a harmonica. All prisons should provide prisoners with harmonicas. I’m submitting a petition as soon as I get out of here. I see it now…Cells need song! That’s what I’ll call it.
“I appreciated you filling the halls with Disney music by the way. No prisoner, I think ever has thought of that as their escape plan.” I think of Dominico.
“And he says I’m not creative,” I mutter with glee.
“What?”
“Oh nothing, I just revealed to you my plot for your demise. Oops. Guess you missed it!” Why is P still dressed up as Dominico? If I could change who I looked like, I assure you, it wouldn’t be Dominico. It would probably be a really famous person. Then I’d walk into Kroger. That would be hilarious.
“Well if you simply got your ideas from the Lion King and Mary Poppins I don’t think I have too much to worry about.” P states with a gloating smile.
“I don’t know. I mean, the whole plot of Lion King is about some crazy jealous little brother who murders a King and then tricks his son into running away forever and then there’s Mary Poppins. She’s, like, practically perfect in every way. So there’s that. And she can jump through concrete. Wait a second…can I have some chalk with that harmonica?”
“Do you ever take anything seriously?” P asks.
“I do but I really can’t take you seriously in that face.” I say. P smiles in a way that sends shivers down my spine.
“I thought you liked Dominico.”
“NOT LIKE THAT! WHO TOLD YOU THAT? THAT IS A LIE!” P laughs this time.
“I finally got a non-sarcastic response out of you and it’s over your crush. I never realized working with teenage girls could be so complicated.”
“You haven’t really asked me anything. You just creepily captured me and then creepily locked me up in here and then creepily visit me in my friend’s face. Dude, you’re kinda being a little creepy.”
“Would you like to get out of here?”
“No, I enjoy singing Disney songs to myself, behind bars. It’s what I live for,” I say, standing up.
“You know you really should be nicer to people who are breaking you out,” P tells me.
“I am, unless they’re the ones who locked me up in the first place,” I explain.
“Sounds logical,” he admits and opens up the bars. Yes, the bars. There isn’t a door to my cell but with a quick wave of his hands the bars part faster than the Red Sea.
“Ugh! How did you do that? Do you have any idea how long I tried? They shun me.”
“They only open for me,” P says. I turn to the bars.
“Fine,” I mutter, “play favorites.” P makes the ‘ladies first’ gesture to me and I get the feeling it’s not a polite request. “Soooo…” I say, stepping out of the cell and starting to walk down the hallway. “Are you going to tell me what this is all about or am I just going to be left in the dark?”
“Hmm, funny question. Do you mind? I thought Dominico was the one who was afraid of the dark.” I stop dead in my tracks.
“How did you know that?” I ask in a hard voice. P grips my arm as he walks by and whispers in my ear although there is no one else around,
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to, Fayeleia.” His voice sends shivers up my spine. What is he talking about? Why wouldn’t I want to know the answer? And here’s another question, could this guy be creepier if he tried? He pulls my arm to lead me down the seemingly endless hallway but out of the blue he takes a sharp right and pulls me through the bars of a cell…except…I look around. There isn’t a jail cell in sight. I’m used to magic and all of that but this…this isn’t normal by any W-member’s standards. I look back behind me and see a solid wall. I reach back and touch the surface and it ripples under my touch. No, it’s not solid. He’s using back-glass again. This whole place is a back-glass fortress! Oh crap. P turns in time to see my look of despair and smiles with malice. I resist the urge to tell him to shut up. I don’t want to see that smug look on his face grown any wider. I scowl at my feet.
“What’s the matter, Fayeleia?” P sneers.
“My name is Faye.”
“No, Fayeleia is your full name.”
“Well, I just know your first initial which is way shorter than any nickname I’ve heard. By your own logic you should tell me your full name now,” I reason. P opens his mouth wordlessly for a second. Finally! The guy had to run out of snide responses sometime! P makes a recovery by smiling.
“All in good time, Faye.” At very least he doesn’t have to keep saying ‘Fayeleia, Fayeleia, Fayeleia, Fayeleia.’ It’s annoying and bothersome. I sigh,
“So are you going to tell me anything or am I just randomly your prisoner of the week? Honestly, from my point of view, I’ve just been kidnapped by someone I don’t know because I don’t know why and I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing by your logic. If you’re experimenting with Gamma Rays or something, I’m out, Dude.”
“Gamma Rays? That’s your best guess?”
“No,” I admit, although I wish it were my best guess. “You’re a witch,” I guess. P smiles at me evilly and shakes his head no. “A warlock?” I try again.
“You’re 0 for 2, Faye. Very disappointing. But you know what they say! Third time’s a charm.” I feel my hands start to shake by my sides.
“You’re a wizard,” I say.
“Congratulations! You won our game! Would you like to collect your prize?” P asks. I swallow hard even though my mouth has gone dry. A wizard? No wonder Dominico and I were no match for him! That’s why he can manipulate back-glass so perfectly and how he made his car levitate! I’m doomed.
“Do I get prize options?” I request. My voice is a lot quieter than before. My hands are still trembling. There are only three wizards in the world. Me against one of them is like an ant against an elephant. They’re powers are wicked awesome! They are the only ones who have the powers of a witch and the powers of a warlock except it’s like they take steroids or something for their powers. Anything I could make he could double it with the same energy.
“Sure,” the wizard says with a grin, “How about blissful ignorance or a taste of the truth?”
“Simon I would like ‘a taste of the truth’ for five hundred please.” Yes, as I have said, I joke when I’m freaking out. P extends his arm down a metal hallway to my left.
“Right this way then, ma’am.” I head down the hall and notice multiple things simultaneously. One: There aren’t any windows. Two: I can sense a lot of dirt above my head which brings me to three: I’m underground. Four: I still haven’t taken these stupid heels off. Five: P looks excited. Six: Number five is really freaky and the last and magic number, seven: there is no one else here. Not a soul. Not that a wizard would need a work force since he could just go Abracadabra! And suddenly the grass is blue.
The lights cast eerie shadows down the metallically colored hallway and I feel like I’m in a metal straw with a couple of lanterns. Suddenly one of the lanterns to my lefts flickers. I just about jump out of my skin. Great. Now I’m going to become afraid of the dark! No. I must never go so low…Ironman nightlight *chuckle chuckle*. I find myself smiling to myself in the dim lighting despite the circumstance. Maybe I am held captured by a wizard, maybe I don’t know where I am, maybe I am still wearing this cursed outfit but at least I don’t need an Ironman nightlight! Ahh, Dominico. What would I do without you? I settle down into a lesser level of my panic mode when P lashes out and grabs my arm.
“What the-“ I start but don’t finish. I’m thrown through a wall into another room. “WILL YOU STOP DOING THAT?!” I ask, annoyed. Seriously! Does this guy have an obsession with uncalled for surprises and going through walls? You’d think he wanted to be a freakin’ ghost when he grew up! Gosh!
“We’re here.” P says in a dead voice. Yeah, he could totally be a ghost. I mean dead, creepy, likes unnecessary surprises, going through walls and conveying confusing and mysterious messages…It’s perfect.
“Have you ever thought of taking up haunting as a profession?” I ask.
“What?” P asks. He looks so confused that his expression actually resembled one of Dominico’s trademark looks. I feel my breath catch at the resemblance.
“Never mind,” I say, trying to avoid staring at him. P looks confused for another second before shaking off the comment and leading me across the room.
This room is a rock dome. The walls are solid bedrock with a curving ceiling overhead. There are tools and toolboxes strewn all over the floor and I trip over a wrench as I follow him. In the center of the floor sits the oldest car I have ever seen. I see the word Ford written across the front but I can’t believe this is anything modern. P leads me over to the vehicle by my wrist and opens up the passenger side door. Okay… Maybe a relaxing drive through the country will explain why I was captured! P slams the door shut, almost taking off my leg, before climbing into the driver’s seat.
“Seriously with the face though, it’s freaky. If you’re going to kidnap me and not let me see my friend, then at least let me miss him without making me dread his appearance. Common courtesy, man, come on.” P rolls his eyes but suddenly it’s like I’m watching a flickering TV. P’s image flickers a couple times from Dominico and then slowly morphs into Daniel Radcliff. My first though: OMG IT’S HARRY POTTER!!!
“Thank you,” I say, “that’s much better.”
“And now you can think ‘wizard’ instead of ‘warlock’ when you see me. It’s demeaning being someone so weak.” My jaw locks and my fists clench. I’m the only one who gets to call Dominico weak and get away with it.
“He’s not weak.” I say with steel. P just smiles in his cruel, humorless way.
“Ooo, hit a nerve, did I? I thought you didn’t like him?”
“My personal preferences for socialization have no parallel to the amount of physical ability or aptitude a humanoid or non-humanoid creature obtains or displays,” I growl. OK, for the record I joke when I’m freaking out and I use complicated sentences when I’m mad.
“Big words, Faye. Did you memorize your vocab list?”
“Yes yet not one of the school-approved words would be quite the terminology I would use to describe you.” I shoot. P’s jaw clenches with annoyance. He silently takes the clutch and shifts the car into drive. The car makes a sound like pucketty-pucketty-pawt. Wow. This transmission is blown. Can this thing even move? The car chugs to a stop. P bangs once on the steering wheel and the car lets out an exasperated wheeze before attempting to rev up again. I quickly put on my seatbelt.
“Hang on tight, Faye,” P tells me. You don’t have to tell me twice! I grip the edge of my seat so tightly my knuckles turn white. Suddenly I get the stomach-turning sensation that normally goes along with riding huge and fast rollercoasters. However, from what I can tell, we haven’t moved yet. Then I look out the windshield. The glass starts to fog up in a swirling pattern. What in the world… The fog on the windshield takes on an aqua-ish hue. My hair is blown out of my face by a powerful gust of wind even though I can’t identify it’s source. Next there’s a flipping sensation and then everything stops…except…I’m not in the car anymore.
I look around the strange landscape in awe. It looked like a warzone. The sky was thick with smoke and smog and is a brown haze. People are running and screaming, ducking under upturned cars or behind buildings. It looks like we’re in the middle of a city. I look around and gasp. Lucas Oil Stadium…The canal way…the zoo…the children’s museum…Victory fields…it’s Indianapolis. No, this isn’t right. War hasn’t been in the U.S. since the civil war. Especially in the middle of Indiana! I look around but there isn’t an opposing army…no machine guns… Walking towards the screaming civilians was a group of people, less than twenty and they were all unarmed. I watch in horror as one of them raises their hand and sends a car flying across the street. I hear more terrified shrieks. P appears next to me, still disguised as Daniel Radcliff.
“They’re witches,” I gasp. P shrugs,
“Witches, warlocks, nymphs, vamps, you know. Any or all of those.” The group of W-members advance through the city, toward the running civilians.
“What are they doing?” I whisper.
“What I told them to,” P responds. One of the group steps forward and suddenly the civilians start coming out of their hiding places. I focus my eyes on the warlock who stepped forward until I can make out his face. And then I wish I hadn’t. Dominico. It’s always Dominico, isn’t it? Behind him I can make out the rest of the faces now but I only recognize two more. Izabella is there and also…me. I see my face standing behind Dominico. Then I realize that everyone in the group is crying. Our dirty faces are streaked with dried blood and tears. I feel like I’m going to throw up. I get the flipping sensation again and the scene changes. New York City, Columbus, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee…I see each of the fifty states flash before my eyes, all with a scene like Indianapolis but with other witches, warlocks, nymphs and vamps. After all the states I see all the countries. I feel the strong gust of wind again and I’m back in the old Ford.
“What-“ I gasp after a second, “What was that?”
“The future, Faye.” I shake my head no.
“I wouldn’t do that. Not ever.” I say.
“Yes you would. With the right…motivation.”
“Why would you even want that?” I ask.
“We have power, Faye. Us, all witches and warlocks, all of us. If we have the power, why should we have to hide? Why should we have to act powerless?”
“Because it would be chaos! There wouldn’t be laws if everyone knew about us! Mortals would be taken advantage of!” I try to reason.
“Mortals” P scoffs. We’d be fine! Great! We’d rule everything! What more could you want than that?”
“Things are how they are for a reason.”
“Reason. I’d call it a flimsy excuse! Everyone else is too afraid to use their powers to their proper extent. We have the opportunity to be in control and no one will take it!” P grips my arm and I tense. “Faye,” he says. “You are a very powerful witch. One of the best I’ve ever seen. Help me with this. Can’t you see how things will be like once we’ve succeeded?”
“Yeah, I can see it,” I say. “I just did. People dying and running and everyone else hurt or broken. I’d rather die than help you with that.” That sounded really brave and awesome in my head but I immediately regret my word choice. Let’s not give him any ideas, right?
P glowers at me. “Let’s see how much of this you can take until you finally concede.” The windshield fogs up again followed by the wind and flipping sensations. Scenes flash in front of me of my worst nightmares. Being chased, watching people I love die, drowning, falling. In the corner of my mind I’m aware of P getting out of the car but all I can do is endure the torrent of images flashing in front of me.
“FAYE!” I hear Jaz yell. Ryan screams after me too. And Izabella. I see images afterward of their bodies lying still on the ground, their faces ashen. A scream catches in my throat. It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real. No matter how many times I tell myself that, something doesn’t register and I hear a small, evil voice in my mind say, it’s real enough. I feel water rise up to my ankles and I stand there, looking around, knowing something’s there but unable to feel it. I see a fin slice through the shallow water. At another glance I see sharp teeth sticking out of the fish’s long snout. It’s eyes are black and beady and follow my every move. I turn to run but slide in the water and fall backwards just as the fish advances. I open my eyes in time to see it’s jaws over me. I try to roll out of the way but it’s jaws still clamp down on my shoulder. I scream in pain and the water around me is dyed red. I’m thrown backwards into another scene. I see Rowan and Gracie surrounded by a pack of mean and underfed looking German Shepherds.
“Rowan! Gracie!” I scream their names. They both look up at me with defeated looks but I also catch the attention of the other dogs. They turn to me and growl. The stalk away from Rowan and Gracie but right up to me. I take a step back only to realize there is a wall behind me. Panic fills my veins. The dogs attack and I can feel their claws scrape across me. I scream again in pain. The scene whirls. I’m being chased. I see trees in the darkness as I run down an unfamiliar street. Suddenly a fist lashes out and lands a punch on the side of my face. I stumble, seeing stars before continuing on sprinting. I don’t see anyone around me until I feel a stiff impact to my stomach, knocking the wind out of me and I hear the sickening crunch of ribs being broken. I involuntarily cry out which makes it hurt even more. Suddenly the scene breaks and I’m back in the car.
“Are you ready yet, Faye?” P asks. He’s back to looking like Dominico again. I look down at myself and see that I really am bleeding on my shoulder and have scratch marks bleeding through my clothes. My ribs are tender to the touch and my eye has turned an ugly black and purple. Still, I can’t let him win this. I look him in the eyes and shake my head no. He goes to shut the door and I struggle to undo my seatbelt. However before I can get the latch undone the wind hits me and I’m thrown back into my darkest nightmares…wow that was cliché.
“Faye? Faye? Can you hear me?” No. Go away. Do not pass GO and do not collect $200. I feel like I was just ground up and spit out by a tractor. I could have been in there for years…decades maybe.
“Fayeleia?” It’s Dominico’s voice but I’m not dumb enough to think that it’s him. I feel like all the energy has been sucked away from my body. “I can make it stop, Faye.” Shut up or I will smack you. Hey, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. I use all my remaining energy to fling open the door of the car. P had been leaning outside the window and the surprise of the blow sends him sprawling across the cave. He stands up with a bloody lip and a murderous look on his face.
“What ‘cha gonna do?” I ask him in a whisper as it is all I can manage. “Kill me? I’m not much use to you then.”
“Do you want to die?” P asks.
“No, I want to break your car,” I say. With that I burst the hood off the antique car and squeeze the life out of every single thing that makes it work.
“NO!” P screams. Even if you are a wizard, you’d need to know the basics for machinery to fix this problem. He obviously doesn’t. My head falls back onto the car seat in exhaustion. It takes a lot of work to upset this guy. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!”
“If I told you that, you’d be able to fix it. Since I won’t, you need me alive to fix your car.” I state. No need trying to make this more complicated than it needs to be. P glares daggers at me but a nearby toolbox collects all it’s contents and flies over to the side of the car.
“That will be $5000,” I tell him in a strained whisper.
“No.”
“Or you let me go. Your call.” I argue.
“How about a change of clothes?” I look at my dress and heels.
“Fine. That works too.” At that second my brief adrenaline rush ends and I almost pass out. P comes over and yanks me out of the car. “I’ll start on it…tomorrow…” I breath and then collapse from exhaustion in a puddle of blood.