Some Like it Hexed, page 5
Willa gasped. "I know where that is. That's the warehouse district. There's a bunch of abandoned warehouses there that aren't used anymore. They were flooded years ago from the storm."
Callie's vision bounced back and forth, and the last thing we saw before the tracking cut out was the number 127 on a large metal door that led into a warehouse. The bubble popped in front of us. Willa shook her head angrily. "Dammit. We've got to hurry. We gotta save Callie, and we only have six hours until the portal opens. After that, who knows when the next time we'll be able to go through. Even worse, who knows, the next time someone will be able to come here to help us."
Willa was right.
The magic I was experiencing and seeing was far more robust than anything I'd witnessed before. If we missed our portal, I wasn't sure that we could protect ourselves from what was coming after Callie.
8
Callie
* * *
The big brute sat me down on my feet, and I wobbled back and forth for a moment as all the blood came flowing back through my body.
It felt like I had been drugged, even though I hadn't. Try being slung over somebody's shoulder and bouncing up and down for twenty minutes as he slowly makes his way to wherever the hell we were. Before I could fully see around me, though, he pushed me forward, opening up a large metal door with a number 127 on the front of it, almost completely faded off.
Every few feet, he would shove me forward, and it was dark, but there were no obstacles in my way. As my eyes adjusted, I realized I was in the center of a vast, empty warehouse. The concrete floors were stained with whatever had been there. The stench of old car oil and grease radiated from them. In the very center of the room was a chair. I looked up at the big brute and back at the chair. "I'm assuming that's for me?"
He gave a long nod and grabbed both of my hands, tying a heavy, scratchy rope around my wrists. When he was done knotting it about ten times, he turned me and pressed hard, forcing my legs to collapse as I sat down in the chair. His heavy hand stayed gripped to my shoulder, pushing downward to ensure that I wasn't going to get up and run away. That was smart. It was actually the first thing I had planned to do. However, his strength was far more significant than mine, so I growled at him but stayed seated.
"What show is this? I've always wanted to see Cats." I snickered to myself, but the large man didn't even flinch, looking forward into the shadows.
"I'm afraid that show was canceled long ago," a voice said from those same shadows. "Though I did see it when it first came out, and it was amazing."
"Who's there?" I yelled out. "Show yourself. Time is ticking, and I don't really have a lot of it."
The brazenness that I was showing almost shocked me. Granted, even with the King Collector, I didn't really bite my tongue, but it appeared that I had grown a bit more courageous since Rome. With courage came sarcasm. I knew that was probably not the best way to handle being abducted but come on. How many times?
The tapping of footsteps drew my attention to the right-hand corner of the building. I squinted, looking through the dark as a figure emerged. At first, all I could see was the shimmer reflecting off of his shoes and cane, tap, tap, tapping as he walked. I braced myself for what I was about to see, knowing that what I'd seen in the past was terrifying. However, as the figure emerged into the light, I couldn't hold back a chuckle.
The man was tall and thin, wearing a dusty top hat. He had a cape tied over his shoulders, but it was short, stopping only halfway down his back. As the cape fluttered, I could see he was wearing a vest, button-up white shirt, and dress pants. He reached up and took off his hat, holding it to his chest. He bent forward in a bow. He had jet-black hair that was slicked back like a magician. He looked like he belonged in a different century. He held the top of an intricately carved cane with silver accents swirling around in his gloved right hand.
I lifted a brow. "What the hell are you supposed to be? I asked for Cats, and I got a low-budget version of The Phantom of the Opera."
The man's eyes shifted up toward mine, but he didn't frown. In fact, he had the opposite reaction completely. A smile curved on his lips, and he began to laugh as he stood up and put his hat back on. "You're funny. I think I half expected that since your mother was funny."
Immediately my face hardened, and I gripped my fists tighter. "What do you know about my parents?"
He looked at me curiously for a second and then around the building, putting his arms dramatically out to each side as if he were announcing a circus in the 1940s. "I want to apologize for the whole dramatic scene. This usually isn't my kind of thing, but I needed to get you here quickly and without anyone following you. This warehouse district is a maze of buildings, so even if someone were tracking you, it'd take a bit for them to get here."
"But they will get here," I replied. "And when they do…"
The man tilted his head back and laughed. "I expect I'll be in for it. We should probably get on with this before they show up."
A spark of fear ran through me, unsure of what he meant by getting on with things. Was I brought there as a sacrifice? Did the King Collector hire someone new to take me down? If they did, my bracelet wasn't even attempting to protect me at that point. I felt no energy or magic running through it. I clenched my teeth, pulling the fear back away from me, knowing that it wouldn't help anything. I lifted my chin and squared my shoulders. "What the hell are you supposed to be? The robe figure with red, beady eyes had a lot more effectiveness."
"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Alabaster, and I'm very much like your friends. Though I'm not a witch or a fae, I am from the fae realm."
Immediately my eyes narrowed, my heart beating faster in my chest. Had someone opened the portal early? "Did…"
He was already shaking his head. "Did the queen regent send me? No. I wasn't sent by anyone. I've been here for a very long time."
I was starting to get confused. "Okay, then what the hell do you want from me? I'm not a fae or a witch. And I have nothing to offer you."
He smiled, walking closer to me. I blinked several times, finding myself staring into a set of very familiar green eyes. It was so strange. His eyes were so similar to my mother's. My mother always had striking eyes; their color was slightly different from most people with green eyes. They were vibrant and something she always got compliments on.
He came closer and bent over, looking at my face as if he were committing it to memory. "I want you to take me with you to the fae world. Your portal opens soon, and I want to come with you."
I pulled my brows together, stared at him for a second, and then burst into laughter. He stood up and shook his head, holding his cane under his arm as he removed his gloves. For a second there, I thought maybe, just maybe, he was related to my mother, but he was just another enemy in the fae saga I was living.
"Why in the world would I take you with me to the fae realm? You may be from there, but it's obvious that you haven't been back in a very long time."
He shrugged, putting his gloves into his pocket, bringing his cane back down to the ground. "I'm from there, but you're right. I haven't been there in many years. In fact, it's been a few hundred years since I've been to the fae realm. I came through the portal chasing love, and then I got stuck here. It turns out she wasn't quite the woman I thought she was."
I blinked at him. "It happens to the best of us. But right now, it is not the time, nor am I the person who needs to be asked if you can go back to the fae realm. If you're from the fae world, then contact them with your magic or however it works. I can't help you."
He gave me a half-smile and looked up at his bodyguard. "She really hasn't learned much about the fae realm, has she?"
I looked up at the big guy, but he didn't reply. "Do you make it a habit of keeping gigantic, brainless oafs around to do your dirty work?"
Again, Alabaster chuckled. "I can help you find the fae king and the witch king. I have certain gifts that most others do not."
Immediately, my face went straight, and my heart pattered faster in my chest. I narrowed my eyes and gritted my teeth. "How did you know about that? How do you know who I am? How do you know who I am enough to know that I'd be at the cemetery?"
"Well, my dear, that's pretty simple." He kicked the bottom of his cane and flipped it up under his arm as he came forward and squatted at eye level with me. "I'm your uncle."
Oh shit.
9
Callie
* * *
The brute lifted his hand from my shoulder, and I quickly popped to my feet.
Everything in my head screamed to turn and run, but I knew that was stupid. The guy wasn't going to let me just run out of there. I was absolutely livid.
It was one thing to kidnap somebody and try to save them for your collection, but it was another for him to use my parents against me like that. That was a different kind of cruel.
"You're full of shit. Both of my parents were only children. They never once talked about having any siblings. Nor did my grandmother or grandfather talk about having any other children. If you think that talking about my dead family will rattle me, you've got another thing coming. They've been dead a long time."
I looked the man up and down. Part of me tried to remember everything about him so that if I got out of there, I'd be able to tell Willa. The other part of me, a very small portion, was looking for any kind of similarities between him and my mother beyond the eyes. He was a strange man and reminded me of a cross between the Johnny Depp version of Willy Wonka and Doc from back to the future.
He stepped back several paces and clutched his hands in front of him, keeping a calm smile on his face. I glanced over at the big guy and knew that he may be slow, but he would be hard to get around. I focused on the bracelet around my wrist, praying that it would send some sort of energy or magic my way, but it wasn't doing anything.
"I know it's hard to believe, but I'm your mother's older brother. She didn't talk about me because, well, she never met me."
I shook my head, trying to put it together. "But you said you're from the fae realm. We aren't magical people. I just happen to have a best friend who's the fae princess. It's completely coincidental."
He smirked at me, and it gave me a strange feeling. "You're right. You are not magical people. Your mother and I shared a mom, but our fathers were not the same. My father was from the fae realm, but I doubt your grandmother even knew that. She was very young, and it was both of their first loves."
My brow wrinkled. "But if my grandmother had another child, why would she never talk about you?"
He tilted his head from right to left. "It's complicated. I'll be honest with you, I don't fully know the answer to that, but I have my suspicions. I belonged in the fae realm, and my father knew that. He knew I couldn't grow up here in this one, nor could he stay in this one. My father died many, many years ago, and he rarely ever talked about my mother. I can only assume he used some sort of spell on her to get rid of her memory. He couldn't take her with him to the fae realm, but he also loved her so much he wouldn't have left her hurting."
I shook my head in disbelief. "So what you're telling me is this really is a crazy case of coincidence?"
He pointed at me with a grin. "I've been wondering that same exact thing. I don't have an answer for you. But, if you take me to the fae realm with you, I might be able to find those answers. My… abilities are stifled here in this realm."
I stared at him, not saying a word. It was a struggle, wanting to believe that I had a family member, someone related to me somehow, so I wasn't the only one left. Sometimes it got really lonely not having any family. At the same time, I didn't trust him in the least. From an outside perspective, I knew I shouldn't believe a word he was saying.
"What powers do you have? If you're not a fae or witch, then what creature are you?"
He winced, dramatically placing his hand over his heart. "Creature? I'm not a creature. And I can see that you're struggling with all of this. You want to believe that I'm your uncle, but you don't trust me."
I lifted my bound wrists and glanced over at the bodyguard. "You haven't exactly given me any reason to trust you. The last time that I checked, one didn’t really kidnap family. Instead, people usually give them a call on the phone and then meet up at a family reunion."
"That wouldn't be much of a family reunion for you, would it? You're the only one left, well, except for me. We are very different, though. The day after I was born, I was taken back to the fae realm. I…"
My handler grunted, and Alabaster stopped, lifting a brow. "What's that, Tiny?"
I rolled my eyes. "Really? His name is Tiny?"
Alabaster pulled out the pocket watch from the small pocket on his vest and flipped it open. "Ah, thank you, old friend. The time is ticking by pretty fast." His attention turned back to me. "As much as I'd love to tell you all about where I came from and connect the dots that I know are driving you crazy in your head right now, I will have to take a rain check. I need you to take me to speak to Princess Willa if you will. I'll explain everything to her and your witch friend and let the chips fall where they may. And then, if they allow me back into the fae realm, you and I can have a proper conversation over a cup of coffee."
I looked at him and then up at the big man, watching as he slowly turned toward me, his head never swiveling on his massive neck. He grumbled as he looked down at me, and I was starting to think that whatever he was grumbling was his own type of language. Alabaster seemed to understand him. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder, and I could feel the heaviness weighing me down.
Turning back to Alabaster, I let out a deep sigh. "This isn't a request, is it?"
Alabaster put his gloves back on and smiled at me. "I'm afraid it's not. I need to speak to the princess, and I need to do it before you leave."
"Then speak," a voice said from behind us.
Alabaster's eyes went wide, and he looked up at the same time as I spun around. Stepping into the flickering lights, Willa stood like a superhero with her hands on her hips right next to Shade, who already had magic forming in his palms.
I turned back to my supposed uncle and smiled. "Well, here you are. I doubt, though, that they'll listen to anything you have to say. Next time, maybe try that cup of coffee from the beginning."
Just then, Shade swayed his arms back and forth and pressed his palms outward from his chest. From the palms of his hands shot a single bolt of magical lightning. First, it hit the big guy, knocking him from his feet. However, it didn't stop there. It ricocheted off of him and hit the ground, sending a barrage of smaller magical bolts bouncing off of each other, striking the ground all around Alabaster.
Willa waved to me, and I looked over at the big guy before taking off and running straight over to them. When I reached them, I turned quickly, expecting to see the man chasing after me, but that wasn’t what happened. Instead, he stood, his cane on the ground, scrunched into a ball with his hands up in the air. The lightning crackled and struck around him for several moments until finally, it dissipated. Willa crossed her arms over her chest. "What did you want with Callie?"
"Careful," I whispered. "That's definitely a loaded question."
Alabaster didn't answer.
Willa looked over at Shade and shrugged her shoulders. "It seems he needs a little more to loosen up those nerves."
Shade pushed up his sleeves and grinned, putting his hands together. "It would be my pleasure. I could take a little off the top, you know, give him a little bit of motivation."
It was comical to see Willa and Shade interacting how they were like they were partners in crime. It seemed that my time away from them was good, helping them to form a better bond. Neither one of them liked to admit it, but I knew it would take all hands to find the kings and recover the stone.
Suddenly, Alabaster's voice cracked, his tone several octaves higher than when he had talked to me. He took one glove off and carefully waved it over his head, still scrunched into a ball with black marks all around him on the ground. "No need. There's no need. I can explain everything. I have something that can help you."
"Why would we need your help with anything? We don't even know who you are," Willa replied.
She quietly shook her head at Shade, knowing she had the guy talking. He looked almost disappointed, and it made me smirk, but I put my head down to hide it. Willa took a couple steps forward, staring at Alabaster.
"Well?"
Alabaster lifted his head and looked around. "I'm just going to throw you a vision orb, okay?"
Both Shade and Willa narrowed their eyes, looking back at each other. It seemed they realized that he may be telling the truth, at least when it came to having something to help them. Willa shrugged and gave him a nod, stepping back next to Shade and me. Shade moved his hands again, creating a barrier between him and us, just in case. It shimmered purple like his protection spell had on me.
Alabaster finally stood up, picking up his hat from the ground and setting it carefully on his head. He brushed off his clothes and straightened his jacket, twisting the tie of his cape back around to the front of his neck. He closed his eyes and began to hum, lifting his hand and curling his fingers into the shape of an O. He gently blew into the hole like blowing bubbles as a child, his hand acting as the wand. My eyes went wider as I watched the magical orb grow larger and larger before disconnecting from his fingers and floating through the air. It stopped in front of the three of us, and a vision began to clear within it. Shade pulled his magic back into him, all three of us stepping forward to watch what was happening inside the orb. The vision was fuzzy, but it was obvious who it was.
"Father?" Willa gasped.
Looking at the image within the orb, I recognized that face from pictures Willa had around her house. He looked battered, the blueness of his eyes fading to gray. The vision was only a second, maybe even less than that, but it was enough to get Willa's attention. Alabaster pulled the orb back into his hand and squeezed his hand shut tightly around it before opening it again and watching tiny specks of magic fall from his palms.
