~Beauty~
The news channel said it was November 17. This meant she had missed the release of Shattered Iron, the last book in her favorite fantasy series. She tried to find a sense of comfort in the thought that she probably wouldn't have been able to buy the book until her babysitting check came in, which would be at the end of the week. She still had four days before her kidnapping would have officially caused her to lose out on a new read.
She'd spent the last few hours using a pad and pen she found in her room to jot down predictions about the series finale.
Roderin will break the half blood curse and choose to become fully human.
Nadia will be killed off in a battle scene against the Queen.
Lilia Darius will find that the Stone of Abberus isn't the cure after all.
Gosh, I need something to do!
"Dinner is almost ready!" Carina cheered over the music. She had been playing something Carribean while she cooked. "Why don't you wash up?"
Beth leaped at the chance of something to do. "Okie dokie." She washed her hands, singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in her head to make sure she washed them long enough. When she came back out she heard hushed voices coming from the kitchen so she stood behind the door and listened in.
"I apologize. I didn't think you'd mind!" The voice was Carina's.
Teigan responded. "Of course, I'd mind! It's unsettling to see my mother's clothing on her."
His mother's clothing?
She felt the cotton of the jeans beneath her fingers and cringed. She remembered the stacks of clothes in the room upstairs, it must have come from there. From what he said on their walk in the morning, it sounded like he grew up in this home. It made sense, except why did he still have his mother's clothing in the house? Why didn't she take it with her wherever she was?
She heard Carina sigh. "I'll go and buy her some new ones tonight then - on your credit card!"
"Fine."
Assuming it was safe to come out, she entered the kitchen. Carina pointed her to the dining table where Teigan was setting plates with his lips tightly pressed together. He still had his hoodie up like Beth always did when she was having a bad hair day.
They all sat down to enjoy - or in her case try to enjoy - their pasta. A silence fell in the room. It was worsened by the clinks of their forks against their plates echoing due to the high ceilings.
"So . . ." He nodded his head as if he had said enough for Beth to work with.
"So?"
"What do you do?"
"Like . . . my job?"
Carina sat back, clearly enjoying her view at the head of the table between the two of them or maybe she was getting ready to referee should a fight break out.
"Yes. Unless you don't have one and are going to school or something."
"Uh - I'm doing both. I was doing both." She paused for a moment but continued realizing that there was not a way for him to use this information against her. Besides, if she spoke more about herself, maybe he'd feel comfortable to do the same and she could use it against him.
"I go to college and work part time babysitting my neighbors kids a few times a week."
"Oh, babysitting!" Carina clapped her hands together, a nostalgic smile on her face. "That was my first job. Are they nightmarish? My first kids were."
She found herself chuckling. "No, not at all. Tony is quiet and Elizabeth wants to play dolls all day. One time she threatened to fire me if I didn't play with her."
"Adorable!"
Teigan didn't share the older woman's grin. "And college? Do you know what you plan to major in?"
"Journalism. I got a scholarship for it so I'm kind of stuck with it." To her surprise, she willingly elaborated. "I think it's a good fit for me. I grew up loving to read fiction but journalism will let me write and travel the world at the same time."
He pierced the pasta with his fork, not meeting her gaze. "That sounds nice." It wasn't that he sounded uninterested - she couldn't pinpoint what emotion he was emitting but whatever it was it clung to his words like a tick.
"A scholarship? You must be a genius!" Carina winked at her, causing the familiar sinking feeling in her chest to return. It was as if her heart was taking an elevator down to her stomach. She dropped her fork onto the plate.
Why was it that this stranger was showing more enthusiasm about her accomplishment than her own mother did at the time?
"I can't take all the credit. My friend Grayson helped me study to get my grades at qualification level and looked over my essay drafts a million times."
My friend Grayson.
Her throat felt like it was closing up at the thought of him. She missed him so much. They barely spent a whole day apart and now here she was not knowing when she would see him again - if she would see him again.
Suddenly, it wasn't just Grayson's face in her head but Tony and Elizabeth's, her mother's, the students from her book club, even her professors. It was every single person she took for granted, thinking she would always be able to see them.
What if she never made it out of here? What if she had seen everyone in her life for the very last time without even knowing it?
She felt like she was choking as she couldn't recall the last thing she said to Grayson. What did she say?
"Could you pass the pitcher of water, dear?"
Her head snapped up.
"O-okay." Her fingers locked around the handle but they were shaking. They slipped and the glass was shattered across the floor, water spilt everywhere.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She kneeled on the ground and began to pick up the glass, hands trembling all the while.
"No worries! Leave it! We have a broom. You'll cut yourself!" Carina went down the hall to fetch it.
As if she jinxed it, a shard of glass sliced the top of Beth's pointer finger. She winced, clutching it tightly as a fat drop of blood ran down it.
"You should rinse that." Teigan came around the table and helped her off the floor. She was too shaky to pull away as he led her to the kitchen. He turned on the faucet and held her cut under the water. She stood there, staring at his hideous hand holding her own.
"You . . . you know that was just a pitcher of water, right? It's no big deal." His blue eyes wandered her face. A tear rolled down her cheek, frightening her as she hadn't realized she was crying.
"Yeah."
He reached into the cabinet, pulled out a bandaid, and held it out to her. "And I'm sorry about Tony and Elizabeth."
She raised her eyebrows while grabbing the bandaid from him.
"I didn't mean to take away their babysitter."
"Oh." The statement wasn't what she was expecting. It would have made more sense if he announced he was sorry because he killed them himself, not that he inconvenienced them.
"I didn't mean any of this."
"So you keep saying."
He bit his lip and pulled his hoodie tighter over his head. "I'm going to go back to the table. You coming?"
"In a minute."
Beth needed a moment to take in all that had happened. What would her friends and family say if they knew that the Beast had offered her a bandaid?
~The Hunter~
Only a few days of this and we'll be home free. Only a few days.
Grayson tuned back into Kyle's ramblings. His brother was nearly red over the film they had finished watching. "The movie is nothing like that book! Instead of advertising it as based on the book they should have said 'loosely inspired!'"
He tossed out his half eaten bag of popcorn and empty soda cup. "You are still such a nerd."
"I'm passionate about these things."
"Oh, I can tell." He shook his head as they continued down the stretch of the mall. Apparently this was one his brother's favorite places to hang out on the weekends. He could understand why - malls had everything in them. You could kill a whole day in there and have gotten a million things done.
"Tomorrow we can come back and hit the arcade if you'd like." He could tell his brother was trying, really trying. Any hunch in his mind that his parents had put him up to this had escaped him. Why did it take something bad happening to make you realize how much your family loves you? If he had known his brother cared this much about him, he would have exploited it a lot sooner.
"Maybe."
A woman appearing to be in her fifties was striding towards them. Her black hair sprinkled with grays was pulled back by a floral headband and she held herself up with as much confidence as a runaway model.
"Excuse me. You two boys look kind. Could you direct me to Everlasting Youth? I'm not good at reading those mall maps."
Everlasting Youth was a chain department store for clothing marketed towards teens and young women. The two had passed it a few minutes ago.
"Keep walking straight and make a left. You'll walk right into it," Kyle answered with a polite smile.
"Thank you, sweetheart."
"Isn't she a bit old to be shopping there?" His brother commented once she was out of earshot.
Grayson shrugged, watching the woman go. "Maybe her youth is everlasting. Besides, I think she was checking you out."
He grimaced but his cheeks flushed red. "You're sick."
He punched his brother in the shoulder as they neared the parking lot. "Race you to the car! Winner gets to drive!"
He took off, knowing full well he could out run his brother any day. Still, he could hear his feet pounding on the pavement behind him.
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