Garden of Evil, page 10
“Well, you had to,” Phoebe said, grabbing her arm. “Come on. Micah stopped on the top floor.”
Piper and Phoebe raced into a waiting elevator, and Phoebe pressed the button for the twentieth floor. Just before the doors slid closed, Piper threw her hands out once again, and the guard unfroze. Phoebe saw him look around, surprised that she and Piper had disappeared, and then the doors closed in front of her. “Come on . . . come on . . . ,” Phoebe said impatiently as the elevator rose.
The doors finally opened up onto a posh floor, decorated in gleaming wood and earthy tones. A pretty, young receptionist smiled the moment they stepped out of the elevator.
“Can I help you?” she asked, folding her hands on her desk.
Phoebe glanced behind her at a closed office door. “Yes. Did Micah Grant just go in there?” she asked.
“Well, yes, he did,” the receptionist said, blushing slightly. Clearly she had a little crush on their demon friend. “He’s meeting with Mr. Reingold.”
“Mr. Reingold?” Piper said. “As in Terrence Reingold, CEO of MicroCorp?”
Phoebe and Piper exchanged a glance. Terrence Reingold was San Francisco’s richest man, and probably one of the top ten most powerful businessmen in the country. He had a reputation for being maniacal, egotistical, and seriously territorial about his riches.
Maybe he’s in league with Micah, Phoebe thought, her heart thumping hard with foreboding.
“Yes,” the receptionist said, a little crease forming above her nose. “These are his private offices. Do you have a meeting with Mr. Reingold? Because there’s nothing on my schedule.”
Phoebe tensed up. The woman was obviously starting to get suspicious. She glanced at Piper and pursed her lips, tilting her head toward the receptionist. Piper rolled her eyes, but she flicked her wrists and froze the room. The receptionist stopped with her hand halfway to the phone, undoubtedly to call security.
“We have five minutes,” Piper said. She walked over to the office door and cracked it open ever so quietly. It opened up onto a sitting room, which was empty. But across the room was another door, this one slightly ajar, and there were voices coming from inside.
“Here goes nothing,” Phoebe said, tiptoeing across the room.
Piper stood on one side of the door, out of sight, while Phoebe pressed her back up against the other side. She could hear everything perfectly.
“I need that money, Terrence,” Micah said, sounding tense. “You promised me that money.”
“Yes, I did,” an older man’s voice answered. His voice was quite calm and confident. “But I rethought it, and there’s just no way. I don’t know what I was thinking, telling you I’d donate to your cause.” He said the last word with disdain. “Quite frankly, my corporation is not in the habit of throwing good money after bad.”
“You will give me that money,” Micah said.
Phoebe glanced at Piper, alarmed. Micah was starting to sound threatening. From the sound of the conversation, Reingold was not, in fact, in league with Micah. And, as bad as Reingold’s reputation was, she wasn’t going to let Micah hurt him. Moving as slowly as humanly possible, Phoebe peeked around the door. Piper waved her hands frantically, but Phoebe ignored her. She had to see what was going on.
Micah was leaning over Reingold, pressing his hands into the armrest on the older man’s chair. Reingold stared back at him, resolved and almost amused. He clearly did not feel he was in any danger.
“You will give me that money,” Micah said again, looking into Reingold’s eyes.
Then, suddenly, the man’s face lost all expression. His eyes were blank, as if he was hypnotized. Phoebe swallowed hard, a cold jolt of fear rushing through her heart. Had Micah put a spell on the guy just by looking at him? Who had that kind of power?
“Yes . . . yes, of course,” Reingold said, sitting up straight. “Which account would you like me to transfer it to?”
“My personal account,” Micah said with a smirk. He moved away to give Reingold enough space to sign on to his computer. “And one million dollars would be fine.”
“Fine,” Reingold said as he typed. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Grant.”
Micah started to look up and Phoebe jumped back. “Let’s go,” she mouthed to Piper.
Heart pounding, she led her sister back out to the receptionist, who was still frozen. They stood right where they’d been moments before and Piper unfroze her.
“You know what?” Phoebe said as the receptionist put her hand on the phone. “We must have the wrong floor. Sorry to bother you.”
With that, she and Piper turned and fled for the stairs. The door closed behind them just as Micah emerged into the outer office. As far as Phoebe could tell, he hadn’t seen them.
“What happened back there?” Piper asked as she and Phoebe started down the steps.
“He manipulated the guy . . . just by looking into his eyes,” Phoebe said, still shaky from what she’d just witnessed. “Reingold was adamant about not giving him that money, and then Micah stared into his eyes and poof! ‘Here’s one million dollars.’”
“This is not good,” Piper said, clomping down the stairs. “We’re dealing with a guy who can cast invisible walls and mess with people’s heads without breaking a sweat.”
“I thought he was banished to Earth in human form,” Phoebe said. “What’s with the serious magical powers?”
“I don’t know,” Piper replied. “But now we know where he gets his millions.”
Phoebe took a deep breath and tried to calm her fraying nerves. She didn’t like this one bit. If Micah could get one of the most powerful men in the world to hand over a ton of money he didn’t want to part with, she didn’t even want to think about what he could make Paige do.
A few minutes later, the two girls walked back out into the late afternoon sunshine and Phoebe welcomed the soothing feeling of the sun on her face after the gray endlessness of the stairwell. But nothing could erase the palpable fear in the air between her and Piper.
“So, what do we do next?” Piper asked as they slowly made their way back to the SUV.
“I don’t have a clue,” Phoebe said, stopping next to the car and leaning back against the side door. “What does he want with Paige?” she asked as Piper leaned back next to her. “Why is he keeping her trapped up there?”
“I don’t know. I just hope Leo gets back soon with some answers.” Piper sighed and looked up at the bright blue sky. “Because, you know that thing you said about finding his weaknesses?”
“I know,” Phoebe replied, her stomach twisting. “We haven’t exactly found any.”
Chapter
11
Paige sat on the edge of the chaise, watching the sun go down, feeling as if it were her life that was sinking before her eyes. The farther the sun descended, the more helpless and deserted she felt. Come on, you guys, Paige thought. Where are you?
If Piper and Phoebe didn’t come back for her soon, she was going to have to spend another long, cold, dark night out here by herself, not knowing what Micah wanted with her, wondering every second if he was going to hurt her.
The last bright sliver of the sun sank below the horizon, leaving the sky bathed in bright pink light. Paige sighed. It was the first time in her life that she hadn’t been able to appreciate the beauty of a sunset.
Something must have gone wrong, she thought, pulling her knees up under her chin. What if Micah got to Piper and Phoebe? What if he did something to them?
She wrapped her arms around her legs and clutched them as close to her body as she could. She hated this feeling. This feeling of not knowing what was going on outside of those impenetrable walls. Her sisters could be dead and she had no way of knowing.
Suddenly, Paige heard movement in the next garden and she sat up straight as Micah appeared, followed by an older male servant Paige had never seen. They were each carrying trays loaded down with silver-domed plates. Paige’s stomach lurched, and she felt a wave of nausea so strong, she could barely make it to her feet. But she did. She didn’t want Micah to see her curled up like a frightened child.
“I’ve had a lovely dinner made up for us, Paige,” Micah said with a smile.
It was unbelievable how normal he seemed—how he didn’t appear to realize what he had done to her—what he was doing. This was like any other date to him.
“Us?” Paige repeated, crossing her arms in front of her. Maybe if she clutched her stomach it would stop growling so much.
“Yes, us,” Micah replied as he and the graying servant set their trays down on the table. Micah put his hands in the pockets of his freshly pressed khakis and waited until the man had disappeared behind the hedge once again. “I see you didn’t like the clothes I brought you,” he said, casting an amused look at the fountain where the clothes had finally become water-soaked enough to sink to the bottom.
“I told you,” Paige said, “I don’t want anything from you.”
Except that food, a little voice in her mind cried out weakly. I really, really, really want that food.
“Hungry?” Micah asked, as if he had read her mind.
Paige tore her eyes away from the steaming trays, irritated that she’d let herself get caught salivating. She sat down on the chaise again and turned her back to the table. If she hadn’t gotten herself off her feet at that moment, there was a good chance she would have fainted from hunger. Every inch of her body was shaking, and her heart was fluttering at an alarming rate.
“I’m not going to leave this for you, Paige,” Micah said, his voice turning cold. “If you won’t eat with me, you won’t eat at all.”
“Fine,” Paige said, firmly. “Then I won’t eat.”
She heard him sit down. Heard the chair scrape back. Heard the little clinking sounds as he lifted the covers off the trays. Delicious smells hit Paige’s nose at once, and she almost swooned. Her mouth started to water as she envisioned the meal being unveiled just behind her. The clinking of silverware against ceramic was more than she could take.
“You are unbelievable,” Paige said, whirling on him. She glared at his face for a split second before the meal stole her attention. The plates were heaped with chicken in some sort of fragrant lemon sauce, pasta, bread, and salad. Paige couldn’t remember a time when the sight of salad looked so appetizing.
“How so?” Micah asked archly, lifting a fork-ful of food to his mouth.
“I know about your other girlfriends,” she said. “Did you imprison all of them here as well?”
“Those women didn’t mean anything to me,” Micah said matter-of-factly. He exhibited no surprise at the fact that she had this information. “You aren’t jealous, are you? Because there’s no reason to be. You’re the only woman I love.”
Paige didn’t even bother trying to hide her shock and disgust. As if she cared about his past. As if she wanted the distinction of being his only love. If he’d said those words to her yesterday, she would have swooned, but today she could have spat in his face. So much had changed so very quickly.
“Why would I be jealous of a bunch of women who were murdered?” Paige demanded venomously. “You got all of them killed!”
Micah swallowed and braced his wrists on the table, setting his jaw as if he was trying to keep from losing his temper. “I didn’t kill them, Paige. Aplacum did.”
“Right, because of you,” Paige spat back.
“That’s enough,” Micah said fiercely. He dropped his fork and his hand shot out, aimed at Paige. She flinched and clutched the cushion beneath her as a blast of heat sizzled past her face. There was a strange popping sound behind her, and Paige turned to find that the other chaise longue was gone. Just like that. He’d vaporized it.
Trembling inside, Paige slowly faced Micah again, trying to keep her body from betraying her fear. How could he possibly have such power?
I’m going to die here, Paige realized, swallowing hard. If Piper and Phoebe don’t come back soon, I’ll never survive this.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Paige,” Micah said, sternly. “But don’t push me.” He cut into his chicken casually, as if this were a normal dinner conversation they were having instead of an argument about the deaths of innocent people punctuated by the random annihilation of inanimate objects.
“You should take comfort in the fact that Aplacum is no longer an issue,” Micah said as he took another bite. “You and your sisters took care of him for me. Now there’s nothing standing in the way.”
A thump of foreboding pounded inside Paige’s chest. “Nothing standing in the way of what?” she asked, her hands curling into fists.
“In the way of you and me,” Micah said, fixing his cold blue eyes on her. “In the way of me and my destiny.”
Paige’s pulse raced as Micah continued to watch her. She knew an opportunity for information when she was handed one, but she had to play it just right. If Micah knew she was digging for information to relay to her sisters, he’d stop talking.
“Your destiny?” Paige repeated, rising slowly—carefully. She was seized by a blinding head rush, but she managed to steady herself and walk over to the table, never taking her eyes off his deadly hands. “How was Aplacum standing in the way of your destiny?” she asked, lowering herself into a chair. The food was so close now, she almost couldn’t stand it. But by mustering all the strength she had, she managed to keep her gaze trained on Micah.
He eyed her carefully, obviously trying to discern her motives. For a moment, Paige was sure he was going to spill all, but then he turned back to his meal.
“All in good time,” he said. “All in good time.”
“What does your charity work have to do with all this?” Paige pressed on. “All those children you say you care so much about. Do they factor in, or are they just a cover?”
“A cover for what?” Micah asked flatly.
For your evil master plan, whatever it may be, Paige thought. But she wasn’t about to say it. That last blast of heat had come a bit to close to her face for comfort. “For this destiny,” Paige said lightly.
“Oh, no,” Micah replied with a chuckle, shaking his head as if her conjecture were ludicrous. “The children are part of it all. I’ll need them when the time comes. There are thousands of them at this point—some grown, some still young. But I’ve made sure they love me. Made sure they need me. They are loyal. Where I lead, they will follow.”
Paige’s fists tightened as a cold, gripping cloak of fear enveloped her, tightening so quickly, she almost couldn’t breathe. “Follow you where?” she asked, barely able to get the question out.
“Every general needs an army, Paige,” Micah said with a smile. He looked her in the eye and blinked, then laid down his utensils. “I’m sorry, I can tell I’m confusing you,” he added, his voice kind. “We can talk about this another time. Eventually, you will understand all.”
Paige sat in silence for a few moments, her mind spinning. So it was true: Micah really was going to use those sweet little kids to execute his master plan, whatever it was. She knew from experience the affect Micah could have on a person—she’d thought she was in love with him after one date. Imagine the effect that charm would have on a little kid. But how was he going to make them into an army? How, exactly, was he going to use them to bring about Hell on Earth?
She had a million questions to ask him, but she knew the conversation, in his mind, was over. She’d just have to bide her time and hope for another opportunity to find out what was really going on.
All she wanted at the moment was for him to get up and leave her alone so she could think. She glared at him, willing him to pick up his food and leave—to, at the very least, stop torturing her by continuing to eat in front of her. But Micah seemed to be engrossed in his meal, and with each passing second it became harder and harder for her to resist the food that was just inches away from her.
“Paige,” Micah said, his voice throaty. “Look at me.”
Possibly because she was so tired, possibly because she was so hungry, possibly because some irrational part of her still hoped there was some rational part of Micah in there, Paige did as she was told. The moment she looked directly into his eyes—his open, honest, deep blue eyes—a dizzying, heady feeling engulfed her. Her heart lightened, and everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours seemed to melt away. There was only Paige and Micah. Micah and Paige.
Another head rush took over, clouding her vision, and a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. Micah was so kind, really, to let her stay here. And he’d brought her this wonderful meal. Why was she turning it down? How could be so rude to this man who loved her?
“Eat something, Paige,” Micah said, his voice sending a pleasant thrill over her skin. “I can’t stand to see you like this.”
“Well, maybe just a little salad,” Paige said sheepishly, feeling silly for grandstanding as long as she had.
She picked up the fork in front of her and it slipped out of her hands, hitting the glass top of the table with a clatter. Paige’s heart jumped, startled, and she blinked rapidly, her head suddenly clearing.
What is wrong with me? she thought, pushing the fork away. Was I just having warm and fuzzy feelings for Micah? She took a deep breath and tried to calm her beating heart. She was delirious from the hunger, that was all. She’d just have to be more careful from here on in.
“I’m not hungry,” she said to Micah, narrowing her eyes.
“Paige, I just want you to be happy,” Micah said.
“Save it,” she shot back.
His face seemed to harden before her eyes, and her body seized up with fear. He was losing his patience with her. She was sure of it. Her eyes darted to his hands again. What would he do when his patience ran out entirely?
Micah took a sip of his water and paused before speaking again. “You should know that I’m aware your sisters were here today,” he said in a bored tone.
Paige’s heart dropped through her shoes. “H-how?” she asked, forgetting to play it cool.
