Callie
"Look…uh…" I sighed heavily and dropped my arms to my sides. "Can you at least tell me your name?"
He narrowed his eyes. "You know what my name is."
I gritted my teeth, trying to keep my anger under control. "Let's just pretend that I forgot. That all the magic or hallucinogenic drugs you gave me on the way here fried that part of my brain."
He stared at me unamused for several moments. "Shade."
"What?" I looked around the room. "It's not even bright in here."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, my name is Shade."
"Oh… Right. Well, Shade, one of the biggest problems with your whole theory is that I don't look anything like Willa. Look, my hair isn't really pink." I grabbed a chunk of my hair and started rubbing my fingers against it, watching as the pink spray on hair color flaked off onto the floor. "And the glasses? They don't even have a prescription in them. I told you, I'm not who you think I am, and I have no idea what you're talking about."
Shade shook his head, laughing in a sarcastic way. "You think that I'm stupid. You think that this pathetic cover story is believable? I told you. You can keep that glamour over yourself all you want to, but I'm not letting you go until you tell me where he is."
I put both of my hands out, shaking them back and forth. My voice went up about three levels in frustration. "I don't know who you're talking about! Who is this person that you keep telling me I know the location of? Maybe if I had a name, I could help you out. I'm pretty good at finding people. Give me a computer and his name and he probably has twelve social media accounts. Boom, located in three seconds."
He roared angrily, arching toward me. I flinched but stood my ground, not willing to give into his attempts to strongarm me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me back and forth before tightening his hands on my skin. I flinched and tried to get away, but he was strong. I looked up into his eyes, pulling my shoulders back in defiance.
"Stop playing with me," he said, garnering his own control over his emotions. "This is my family. You're messing with my family."
Hearing that come from him, there was something about it that struck me. Thoughts of my own parents whirled through my mind, and my body relaxed just a bit in his hands. I took a good long look into his eyes and I realized something I hadn't before. He wasn't angry at me, he was concerned. He was worried. Whoever the person was he was looking for, they were important to him.
"I… Obviously whoever this is, whoever you're looking for, you care about, but I can't help you if you don't tell me more." My voice had softened considerably.
For a moment, with his hands loosening grip just enough to take the sting away, and our eyes locked on each other, I could feel a strange magnetism between us. I couldn't look away, and he didn't either. I couldn't find the words at that moment, which was a lot considering I always had something to say. I opened my mouth to speak, but shut it back again, not knowing what the weird emotion bubbling inside of me was. Maybe I was just too sensitive when it came to families.
Finally, he shook his head, breaking our connection. Instantly, he dropped his hands and backed away from me. His eyes shifted around the floor, his brow pulled together before turning to walk from my room. I bit the inside of my cheek and mustered my courage. "Wait. How long are you going to keep me in this room?"
He looked back at me and around the room and shrugged. "You're not locked in here. You can go anywhere on the grounds you want to. It's not like you can use your magic to break my containment spells. Trust me, there isn't anywhere you go at this point that I won't find you."
He marched from the room and down the hall, disappearing around the corner. I threw my arms in the air and rolled my eyes. "Oh sure. Of course. Why didn't I think of that? There's no way my magic is strong enough to break his containment spells… Where the fuck am I? These people are insane."
I waited several moments, tapping my foot, glancing from my jacket and shoes back to the open door. Over my shoulder I could see the light coming through the drapes and I knew that it was midday wherever I was. Finally, I gave in, not being able to stand staying in that room another moment. I threw on the jacket they had given me, and slipped my feet into my shoes, thankful that they had stopped hurting so badly. I didn't know what kind of medicine they put on them, but the cuts and gashes were barely visible at that point. I didn't even want to think about what happened while I was asleep. I was just glad I wasn't in pain anymore.
I hurried down the hall, slowing my steps as I got to the end, realizing that I had no idea how to get out of where I was. I glanced to the right and to the left, finding nothing but more hallway. Looking back at my open room, I knew that it was most likely at the back of the house, so wherever I went from there, the next step would be a right-hand turn… Or at least I hoped it would be. I was always terrible with directions.
Once I made it down the second hallway though, it was relatively intuitive to get to the front door. The entire place was a maze of hallways, and I didn't see a single room with the door open, or an open area like a living room or kitchen. However, as I exited the last hallway, I found myself in a grand foyer, a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling leading to two even larger double doors. I glanced around suspiciously but there was no one there. I hurried over and gently cracked the front door, slipping out the small, cracked opening and closed it behind me.
Turning around, I took in a deep breath of fresh air and pulled my jacket closed, feeling the chill. Wherever I was, it wasn't the same temperature as California. I was standing at the top of the cement stairwell that led down to a driveway. To my right and left were the well-manicured lawns, and in front of me the driveway led to a large wrought iron gate that was sitting open. In a small shack next to it were two people, watching me curiously as I came down the stairs.
Just act natural. Just act natural.
I meandered down the driveway, acting as unnatural as possible considering I was whistling and looking around at the sky like a moron. They were watching me, but neither one of them were coming after me. In fact, they kind of looked amused. When I was about twenty feet away from the open gate, I paused, making sure my feet were solid in my shoes. I gave a fake smile and waved at the guards before taking off at a full sprint straight toward the open gate. I focused straight ahead, not even caring whether they were coming out to grab me or not. I had to at least attempt it.
As I reached my escape point, though, the guards still watching me from the shack, I slammed right into what felt like a brick wall. It threw me back, and I landed hard on my ass, bouncing several times before coming to a stop with both feet straight out in front of me. I reached up and rubbed my forehead, shaking away the sudden crash of my body against a wall. I narrowed my eyes and looked up, seeing nothing at first, but as I tilted my head, I found a rippling of colors move from the ground, up through where I hit whatever it was, and over my head, creating a dome over the mansion.
My mouth dropped open and I quickly pulled myself to my feet, straightening my clothes. Shade wasn't kidding. Everything I had seen was not my crazy imagination or some wild trip from whatever drugs they had given me. In fact, I was starting to think they hadn't given me any drugs at all. Which meant that either the magic he was talking about was real, or I had completely lost my mind.
I took a step forward with my arm out, wanting to touch the barrier, but as I did, I heard the snickering from the shack next to me. I looked over to see two guards holding back laughter but not for long. They both erupted, holding their stomachs as they bellowed in amusement. They were waiting for me to do that. The moment I walked out of the mansion they knew they were going to get a show. I gritted my teeth in both embarrassment and anger as I extended my arm straight out in front of me and flicked them both off.
I turned defiantly, ignoring the fact that my obscene gesture made them laugh even harder, and stomped off. If I couldn't get out that way, I knew I'd be able to find some other way. I knew nothing about magic, and I wasn't even sure I could still believe it, but I did know that not everything was foolproof. I had to find a way out of there, or things could get really bad, really fast.