We must have been in a doorway. In four steps, she’d dragged me into a dimly lit bunker-looking room, with grey concrete walls and ceiling, and a dusty concrete floor. The stench of damp hit me. I stumbled, then Snezana shoved me to the ground. I landed on my hands and knees. Snezana kicked the back of my thigh. Fiery pain scorched up my leg to my lower back. Son of a witch!
Before I had a chance to react, she yanked my arms back and slapped handcuffs on me. “Ow.” I fell to the floor, face first. Thank God my chest took the brunt of the fall—it still hurt, but not as much as breaking my face on the concrete. It was the first time I was glad for my C cups; normally they got in the way when I was exercising.
My shoulders ached from being pulled back too hard. And now I had no chance to magic myself out of this. Even if I didn’t know how to magic properly, I could have tried something.
I rolled over and sat up. A dirty double-size mattress lay in the corner, a body sprawled on it. Oh my God. James. He was as still as a pond on a windless day—his eyes closed, his hands cuffed and resting on his stomach. Shit. Was he even alive? I watched for the rise and fall of his chest. Please, please, please.
Snezana grabbed my ponytail and yanked my head back, forcing me to meet her bulging, crazy eyes. “You couldn’t leave it alone, could you? The problem is, I don’t want to keep you. I only want to keep him.” She looked at my brother, a dreamy look coming over her face. When she turned to me again, her face turned agro. Freaky scary mood change. “But how am I going to get rid of your meddling Aussie arse?”
If there’s anything I’d learnt from watching crime shows, it was to keep the perp talking to stall for time. Because that’s all I had right now. “Maybe you should keep me around. I can cook, tidy up.” I tried not to laugh. They were my two crappest things, but she didn’t deserve my best, and I’d enjoy spitting in her food when she wasn’t looking.
“Three’s a crowd, honey.”
“But I know how James likes his food cooked.”
She stared at me, probably sizing up if the new information was any benefit to her.
“Plus, James would be pissed if he found out you killed me. He’d never talk to you again.”
That really got her attention. She narrowed her eyes then spun around. She stopped at the foot of the mattress, knelt on it, bent and licked James’s face from his jaw to his eye. Ew. I pulled a face. I couldn’t help it. He was so going to want to bleach his skin when I told him. Snezana planted an open-mouthed kiss on his lips—double ew—before she stood and headed for the other side of the room where there was a door I hadn’t noticed before. Without a word, she left.
I stood and went to James. Knees-first, I dropped onto the edge of the mattress and pressed my ear on his chest, above his heart. Relief washed through me. He was breathing. Thank God. His face was pale, with the exception of a bruised right cheek, his dark hair knotted. She obviously hadn’t shaved him since bringing him here—his face was dirty, and his stubble was on its way to being a beard.
His leg was bandaged, but I had no idea if she’d cleaned or stitched the wound. What if it were infected? I went to put my cheek against his but remembered Snezana had just licked it. I shuddered and placed my cheek against his other cheek, which was quite tricky since I had no hands to hold myself up with. I ended up falling onto his chest. “Sorry, buddy. James, it’s me, Lily. Just checking your temperature. I’m using a trendy new way they invented for people without arms.” He didn’t stir, but he didn’t seem to have a fever, so that was good.
I stayed on top of him for a minute, just revelling in being with my brother. It had been too long since I’d seen him. Tears, yet again, worked their way out of my eyes. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again, but I made it. You can thank me later.” I sniffled then wiggled backwards until I managed to sit again. “What has she done to you?”
How was she keeping him asleep? It could be a spell or drugs, or maybe those guys had bashed him unconscious. I couldn’t see any blood in his hair, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a big egg in there somewhere. Damn. I had no hands to check with.
I took a deep breath and looked around. Was there any way out of here other than the door Snezana had used? There was a long, narrow, filthy window just under the ceiling on the other side of the room through which I could see vague outlines of what was probably the ground. This room had to be underground. And that was it. The only way out was through the door and the snake’s lair.
It was getting to evening, so she wouldn’t be going back to work. I had to be prepared for her to come back. What if she planned on killing me tonight? Yikes. I had to get us out of here. I wondered if William and Beren had any way of following her. If not, I was so screwed.
At least they had my camera. There wasn’t any evidence of where she’d taken me, but there was enough evidence to put Snezana in jail for a long time. Hopefully they’d be able to track the thugs down and figure out where we were from that. Unless the guys waited at the office and threatened it out of her tomorrow morning.
But by then, it might be too late.
Crap.
Double crap. I needed to go to the toilet. Messing up witch-face’s floor didn’t bother me, but how was I supposed to get my jeans pulled down with my hands behind my back? There was no way I could undo the button. I so needed James to wake up. “James. James, wake up.” Nothing. “James, this is your annoying little sister begging you to wake up.” His eyes stayed closed, his thick dark lashes I had always been jealous of resting against the top of his cheeks. I shook my head, sadness settling over me like a heavy blanket. I had to do better.
I shut my eyes and looked for the river of power, listened for the deep hum. I could sense it beyond an invisible barrier, which would be the handcuffs. No shock, thank goodness. Maybe you only got the pain if you tried to do magic rather than search for the power.
There could be a gap somewhere. Surely these weren’t perfect. I shut my eyes and investigated further. Nope. There was nothing I could sense that constituted a fault I could take advantage of. Bummer. Maybe I should try the old-fashioned thing and attempt to get the cuffs off.
I stood and searched around for anything that might help. I walked the perimeter of the room and tried not to cry. Nothing but walls, floor, and my brother. I backed up to the wall. Pushing the chains linking the two bracelets together with my thumb against the wall, I rubbed it up and down. If I could keep it up long enough, maybe I’d wear it out.
After a few minutes, I tried to look over my shoulder to see if I’d made any headway, but the damn cuffs stayed out of sight. Times like this, it would have been useful to be a contortionist. Actually, a contortionist would have gotten their hands to the front and would have been able to undo their jeans button. Instead of looking at the cuffs, I ran my thumbs over the chain. Instead of being smooth, there were tiny ridges, but nothing more than scratches. It might take me years to escape this way.
I swallowed my scream of frustration. Think, Lily.
The door opened. Crap.
Witch-face walked in with a needle and syringe. A really big one. Was that for me or James? I did my best not to show fear—psychopaths lapped that crap up. I would not give her the pleasure. She wiggled her fingers at me. Pain slammed into my stomach as if I’d been punched. I cried out, double over, and fell to my knees. “Argh!” Knees hitting concrete was freaking painful too. I tried to breathe, but it wasn’t easy. I forced myself to raise my head so I could see what she was doing to my brother.
She had the needle poised at the inside of his elbow.
“What are you doing?” I didn’t expect her to answer, but I had to ask.
“He needs to sleep just a while longer. Soon we’ll be able to be together as man and wife, but I have some things to take care of first.” Her chuckle froze my blood. “You’ll be happy to know, I’ve decided what I want to do with you.”
I swallowed.
“James never needs to know I’ve killed you. But I’ll have to do it now while he’s asleep.”
My legs turned to jelly. If I hadn’t already been kneeling, I would’ve keeled over. Jesus. I couldn’t let this happen. This witch was not going to kill me. Stuff her and her lunatic desires. “You know, if you make a mess, you’ll never get the stains out of the concrete, and James isn’t stupid. He’ll know something happened here.”
“I really don’t care. I know you’re stalling for time, Lily. You’re a dead woman kneeling.” She laughed. “See, I have a sense of humour. I'm a lot of fun, and you could’ve been my friend, but you ruined it. Stupid girl.” She stood and walked over to me. I struggled to get up. I would not die kneeling before her.
I managed to right myself just as she reached me. She gripped my neck with her long skinny fingers. “Hmm, how will I do this? I do have a thing for choking, as you’ve probably realised. I’m not one for messes, and blood might get on my jeans, and these are my favourite pair.”
Anger boiled inside me. Before I could stop myself, I spat in her face. “Ugly cow. Screw you!” Her face reddened like it had in the conference room earlier today. “Yeah, you heard me. Ugly, vile, disgusting. Not only does that describe you, but you’re going down. You’ll never spend any time with my brother. None. He’d rather be dead than with you, so I’ve decided to tell you my big secret.”
She had her hands on her ears. “I’m not listening. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.”
It was my turn to laugh. If this was the only way to hurt her, I was going to inflict as much pain as I could before I died. “You know what my special talent is?” She la-la-d louder. I could yell. Just watch me. “I can see the past with my camera. I have photos of you and your two goons kidnapping my brother. William and Beren have that camera, and I bet they’ve already shown it to your uncle.”
Her la las mustn’t have been loud enough, because her face paled, and her hands dropped to her sides. “You’re lying.”
“Ha! You wish. You stood there while the guy with the snake tattoo stabbed him in the thigh. You with your stupid crazy face.”
“How dare you?” she shrieked, then slapped my cheek. The sting radiated over the side of my face, and I gritted my teeth. “You can’t have that talent. No one’s been able to see the past or read the future since….”
I smirked and pushed down the sorrow that threatened to swallow me every time I thought of my parents. “My mother.”
She grabbed my throat with both hands, squeezing. I kneed her in the vagina—yep, no balls but it still hurt worse than waxing. Her hold loosened, and I barged forward, trying to chest her out of the way. Once I was past, I ran for the door she’d left open. I probably wouldn’t get far, but try telling my survival instincts that.
I was almost at the door! Just a few more steps. Crackle. Crackle. I could feel my hair lifting as static charged the air. My body froze, and I flew forward, the momentum of my flight actually making me fly. Great. This was going to hurt like a—” I smashed into the ground, my chest and face taking the impact. Sharp pain shot through my boobs and jaw. I hoped nothing was broken.
Snezana’s pink stilettos appeared in front of my face. She used one of her shiny shoes to push me onto my back. She started laughing. Her laughter grew until she was doubled over with tears pouring down her face. She slowly straightened and daintily dabbed at her face, obviously avoiding smooshing her make-up. Seriously? What did it matter what she looked like? Her only company was an unconscious person and someone who was about to be dead.
“Oh, you look hilarious lying on the floor in that running position with your legs bent. Not going very far, are you?”
I felt ridiculous, but I wasn’t going to admit it. “It’s quite comfortable actually. Who knew?”
She clenched her fists. “Enough! Time to die.” Her fingers wiggled. The air pressure built, and the static was back. My skin warmed. Then it got hotter, like I was standing too close to a fire. Jesus, she was going to burn me alive. Sweat beaded on my forehead, my skin and clothes damp, like I’d just been for a hard workout session. The heat went from uncomfortable to stinging. I bit my tongue. I didn’t want to die screaming, not for this witch.
Banging came from upstairs. Was that the thundering of many feet? Oh, please, merciful deities, be someone to save me.
Snezana’s brow furrowed, and she spun to face the doorway. The heat stopped. I took a deep breath of almost-relief. If that was just pizza delivery, I was still in trouble.
But there was a lot of rumbling, which could only mean multiple footsteps. “Down here!” I yelled. “Snezana’s gone rogue. She’s trying to burn me alive!”
“Shut it!” She kicked me in the stomach. I grunted. Dull pain radiated through my middle. “Wait here.”
Well, I couldn’t exactly go anywhere.
She made it up the first step then stopped, turned and raced back to me—quite a feat in those heels. She grabbed my straighter leg and dragged me along the concrete towards James. When we were halfway across, William, Beren, and four more uniformed PIB agents burst through the doorway, single file. They fanned out in a semi-circle, guns pointed at her, and blocked access to the door. Then her uncle entered, his face a thundercloud of anger.
Glory be to the PIB. I’d been saved! This time, my big breath out was all relief. I couldn’t be happier, even to see William. Now, who’d have thunk it?
Snezana gasped. She dropped my leg and assumed a relaxed, just-hanging-out stance, as if that would make the scene look any better. “Uncle, what are you doing here?”
“I would ask you the same thing, Snezana.” He looked past us to James’s still body on the mattress. “Beren, attend to him, please.”
“Yes, sir.” Beren ran to James.
I called out to him. “She gave him a needle about ten minutes ago. I have no idea what was in it. Some kind of yellow liquid.”
He held the needle up. “This one?”
“Yes.”
He broke it open and smelled it, nodded, then put his hands on James.
“Why did you do it, Snezana? You know this is going to break your mother’s heart.”
“He promised to marry me, uncle, but that bitch, Millicent, refused to give him a divorce.”
“That is such crap, obviously. Since when do you need to kidnap and drug someone who wants to be with you?”
She shot me a death glare. When she looked back at her uncle, she wore an angelic expression. “You know I don’t like anyone saying no to me. You want me to be happy, don’t you, uncle?”
Toot, toot, next train leaving for crazy town. All aboard.
He shook his head. “I love you like a daughter, Snezana, but this… I can’t understand how….” He grabbed a handful of his own hair and pulled. This must be hard for him to accept. I also wondered if he was feeling the guilt of ignoring the signs that she was a few spells short of a grimoire.
For someone wearing heels, she had catlike reflexes. She bent and grabbed my ponytail, yanking my head back and pointing her finger at me. Every PIB gun followed her movement. Yikes. Don’t shoot. I was so in the line of fire. My heart rate kicked up again. Sheesh, couldn’t this just be over already? How was it the bad guys never knew when they were beat?
“What are you doing? You know they’ll kill you if you kill me, right?”
“He’s my uncle. He’s the boss. There’s no way he’ll let them hurt a hair on my pretty head.”
Oooookay. Tickets, please.
Drake took a step forward. “Please, Snezana. Just come with us quietly. You haven’t killed anyone, so I can try and get you a lenient sentence. Don't make it worse.”
A lenient sentence. I don’t think so. Maybe he was just saying that to get her to play nice.
“Oh, but, uncle, it can’t get any worse. If I can’t have the man I love, then he can’t have his sister.” She wiggled her fingers, but before anything could happen, her uncle countered with his own finger wiggles, and her magic fizzled. Phew! Or maybe not.
Drake looked at me. His face paled. What? Was there a giant spider on my head? But then I felt it—my throat tightening. I tried to breathe in, but the airway had constricted. Oh, shit! I’d forgotten to renew my thought-protection spell.
“I’m so sorry, Lily. I’m a mind reader. Snezana! Retract the spell, this instant.”
“Not unless you let me go and promise I can have him.” She nodded towards James.
Air. I need air. Invisible fingers squeezed tighter and tighter. The crushing pain brought tears to my eyes. And God, I needed to breathe. It was hard not to panic, but the more I did, the less oxygen was in my system. Whenever we were dumped and dragged by a wave in the surf, we were told you had to go with it—relax until the churning was over, then it was safe to swim to the top. I pretended I was heading for the bottom, waiting for the time I could breathe again.
“Dammit, Snezana, stop it!” Her uncle sounded desperate.
“Nope.” She had her arms crossed, and she was shaking her head, smiling. The fight inside me faded. I wasn’t going to make it. My limbs felt like jelly. I gave in and tried to suck in a breath, but nothing was getting through. This was horrific, and only marginally better than dying by being burnt alive. I did my best to push down the rush of panic, but I was losing. I met William’s gaze. His eyes were wide, pupils dilated, but then he grew calm and gave me a sweet smile. At least I’d die looking at his happy face. Blackness crept into my vision, and my eyes closed.
Bang! The part of my brain still paying attention registered a gunshot, although I’d never heard one in real life, but hey, I’d watched lots of cop shows. What was that going through my throat? Air! The pressure around my neck eased, and oxygen rushed in. I gulped great globs of it, taking it all in, loudly, greedily.
Someone helped me sit up, and the cuffs were removed. I opened my eyes. Snezana lay dead in front of me, her blood languidly spreading over the floor. Her uncle was on his knees, his hand on her chest, fingers sitting in her blood. His head hung low. Defeated, grieving. Sadness swelled in my chest, but not for her—I honestly couldn’t give a crap that a psychopath was dead—but he was a man who had just lost someone he loved, and now he’d have to explain it to his sister. Coldness filtered through me, and I started shaking.
William crouched in front of me. He tilted my chin up so he could look into my eyes, probably to make sure I wasn’t blue and about to die.
“Hi,” I managed.
“Hi, yourself. Are you okay? Are you cold?” He took off his PIB jacket and put it around my shoulders. What a gentleman. He was always surprising me.
I snuggled into the jacket and tried to get warm. “Th— thanks. I’m k— kind of okay, and yes, f— freezing. But I’m alive, so that’s something.” My teeth were chattering but I forced a small smile. “Who shot her?”
His sad eyes said it all. “I’d do it again, too. Killing people is the worst part of the job, and we don’t have to do it all that often, but I had no choice. She was killing you.”
“Thanks, Will. I owe you one.”
He smiled. “Nah, you found your brother and gave me my best friend back. We’ll call this one even.”
“Are you suggesting you’re going to have to save my life again?”
“With you, anything’s possible.” I couldn’t help but return his grin.
Beren approached us. “Hey, kids, there’s someone over there who’s dying to see you.”
I cringed. “Bad word choice, mister.” But my heart soared. I was finally going to see my brother awake and get a cuddle back, and before you remind me that I hate cuddles, this was a special circumstance.
William helped me up. I limped to the grimy mattress in the corner. James sat against the wall, dirty, mussed up, and looking like he’d been on a two-week bender, but his eyes were open, and his lips were curved into a smile. “Lily. You’re the last person I expected to see.”
“You know I like to do the unexpected.” I dropped to my knees on the mattress and threw my arms around him. His trembling arms encircled me and squeezed. He reeked—no showers in a week would do that to a person—but I didn’t care. I snuggled closer. “Don't ever run off with psychopathic kidnappers again. Millicent’s been beside herself.”
“What about you?” he rasped.
“You know me; I knew it would be fine.”
“Such an optimist, sis.”
“You know it.” I pushed off the wall behind him and sat up to give him another once over. “You look like you’ve lost some weight. Did she feed you at all?”
“The first day she did, but she’d drugged it. How long have I been here?”
William spoke. “A week, dude. Sorry, we stuffed up. We never would’ve found you without your annoying sister’s help.”
“Hey, I'm not—”
“Just kidding.” William playfully punched my arm. Where was this happy William before? Oh, that’s right; he had his best friend back now. I was sure the joyful afterglow wouldn’t last long. In fact, his serious face returned. “James, I know you’ve been unconscious for a while, but do you remember who took you? She had some help.”
“Yes. It was payback. A couple of the guys from Eltham’s gang. We put Eltham away about eight months ago. He’s doing five years for drug trafficking. His cronies were only too happy to play along. Is she dead?” He tried to sit up and look over my shoulder, but he slumped back. Man, she’d really ruined him. I wanted to kill her, but luckily for her, she was already dead, because a shot to the heart was way nicer than what I had planned.
I looked around, and Snezana’s uncle was busy talking to the other PIB agents on the other side of the room. I lowered my voice. “Yes, but she was ready to kill me, and she framed Millicent. Let’s not even get into what she did to you, big bro. On one level, I’m sorry William had to kill her, but on another level, I’m not. What she did to you and me is going to stay with us forever.” I would surely have the nightmares to prove it, and James probably would too. “Anyway, no more crime talk. Waddaya say, we get you home to your gorgeous wife?” His smile was weak, but it was there. Yep, it was all worth it. I was taking my brother home to the woman he loved. I was sure it would take a while for both of us to recover from what we’d been through, but there was no time like the present to start healing. “I hope you don’t mind, but we’ll just hop through Costa drive-through on the way.”
My brother shook his head. “That’s my sister.”
I sure was.