Kidnapped … Again!
When Rose came to, she was with the sisters, who were all awake now. All five of them were tied at the ankles and wrists. At the waist, they were tied to chairs. They were facing each other arranged in a circle.
“What's happening?” Rose asked, feeling groggy. It came out louder than she intended.
After a better glance around, she remembered being grabbed through the window. They were in the living room, and Malleus and his men were gathered on the opposite side of the enormous room talking quietly.
She was instantly clear-headed.
“The goon who was guarding you upstairs has a gift!” Rose whispered to the sisters, urgently.
“What?” Alex asked, alarmed.
By then, it was too late to repeat her announcement, because someone had realized Rose was awake, and a few of the brutes were headed towards them.
Rose decided to act like she was still groggy so they would leave her alone.
“Where did you come from, and where is the rest of your group?” A rough voice demanded.
“Hmm?” Rose asked dreamily.
“Outside of the window,” he said more slowly, but clearly annoyed. “Who else is out there and where have they gone?”
“Umm ... ” Rose mumbled. “The window?”
A clear, cool voice answered. Rose would recognize the voice of Malleus Archibald anywhere. “Don't be coy with us, dear. You weren't drugged. Please answer the question. Who did you come here with and where have they gone to?”
With the last command, Malleus stared deep into Rose’s eyes. For a moment, he filled her entire field of vision.
Rose felt oddly compelled to obey, but it was gone again in an instant. Her eyes widened momentarily and she studied him more intently. Malleus was gifted. Did he even realize it? She decided to comply, but was definitely not dumb enough to tell him the whole truth.
“All right,” she said, with a heavy sigh, rolling her eyes dramatically. “We knew someone was here because we saw your van. I hiked in from the farm. The sisters told me I could come to them if I ever needed anything. I got lost from my Grandma, and I needed somewhere to go. I came here from Utah with a friend who has a car. She’s long gone, though.
“When I saw your vehicles, I snooped around until I found the room you were keeping them in. I was knocking to get the attention of the sisters, hoping your thug wouldn't catch on.”
Rose glowered darkly at the big goon. Then she flipped her tangled mass of curly red hair off her shoulder and said in her best snotty teenager voice, “He's smarter than he looks.”
Malleus didn't even blink at Rose's insult. He just took a minute to mull it over, and then said, “You're lying.”
Rose wasn't sure what to say. Did he somehow know she was lying, or was it a good guess?
“I swear, I am telling you the truth,” Rose said, with as much confidence as she could muster, and a slight whine to her voice.
“There was greenery grown with magic leading up to the window. At least one other filthy witch is out there, and my men are looking for her now. If you reveal her, we will be less violent.”
Rose was floored. What was she supposed to do?
“Don't do it,” Hannah said. “They're going to kill us all anyway.”
Rose felt like she was going to throw up. She just hoped Grandma and Hazel had already figured out plan B.
“True,” came the smooth voice of Malleus, “but the question is how much pain will it involve? How long will you have to suffer first?”
He got right up to Rose's face. She could smell his cologne, strong but not quite smelly enough to choke her.
“How long will we make you watch us torture The Sisters? And the other heathen outside?”
“How do you know what I call The Sisters?” Rose asked, angry at the intrusion.
“I have my ways.”
“How did you find this place?” Rose demanded.
“Your protector, Hazel, should not trust all the people she trusts,” Malleus said, with a sneer on his face.
The expression was strange under his weird, Hitler-ish mustache. Rose fought back a snicker. Despite her anger, there was something comical about this man. He looked too cartoonishly evil to be real.
She had to come up with a good lie on the spot. Sorry to use her name, Rose said, “Her name is Amber. She's already gone. Amber helped me get up to the window and then she went to hide. If I didn't come back in twenty minutes, she was planning to take a horse and leave. She will be long gone by now. I don't know what direction she was planning to go.”
“Who is this Amber girl? How do you know her?”
“Through Hazel Pennington. I don't know much about her. She’s alright I guess, but I don't know where she came from or anything. We met in hiding. At a cabin in Utah.”
“If you would all just come out in the open, we could hurry and get this nonsense over with,” Malleus said, annoyed.
“Sure,” Rose said sarcastically, “we're all looking forward to being burned at the stake. It's a secret dream of ours. If you told them all that was your plan, I'm sure you'd have a long, long line of gifted women begging you to let them go first. In fact --”
“Enough!” Malleus snapped; fire in his eyes. “Take them away!” he said to the nearest of his men, with a venomous voice. He furiously waved his arm at his captives to indicate all of them.
Back in the bedroom, the lightning fast thug sat at the desk with his crossword puzzle, looking as dumb as ever.
“I don't want any trouble out of you,” he grunted at Rose, and turned his back on them.
In a whisper so quiet Rose almost had to read her lips, Hannah asked, “What happened?”
Rose dramatically tilted her head to the thug, and then whispered ever so slightly, “I can't tell you all of it. They captured us and took us out to the Salt Flats by the Great Salt Lake. They were going to burn us at the stake, along with some girls they kidnapped from their college dorm here in Idaho. Those girls weren't even gifted, and they were more confused than anyone. Someone used fire to confuse them, then burned off the ropes they had tied us in, and we stole their van and got away. One of their men got caught, but the police can't get him to talk.”
“How did you know we were in trouble?” Alex whispered.
“I'll tell you later ... ” Rose mouthed silently, dramatically eyeing the thug again.
The sisters all nodded.
“Are you alone?” mouthed Natalie.
Rose shook her head slightly. She didn't want the thug to catch any hints, even though she knew they were already out searching the farm for her companions. It was obvious Malleus had not fallen for her ruse, but she had angered him enough to be taken away again. Maybe it would buy some time.
After a while, Rose dozed off, leaning her head on Natalie's arm. She woke sharply when Natalie nudged her to let her know the thug was gone. All the sisters were awake.
“Where is he?” Rose asked, quietly.
“Bathroom,” Addison whispered. “He thinks we're all asleep.”
“He's got a gift, and so does Malleus,” Rose whispered quickly.
“What?” the sisters responded in unified surprise.
“The third time I knocked at the window, he made it from the bed to the window in a blur. Like a flash of lightning. I've never seen anything like it.”
“And Malleus?” Hannah asked in awe.
“Some kind of mind control,” Rose replied. “I don't even think he realizes it. If he wants you to do something badly enough, and he looks right into your eyes when he tells you, you are compelled to obey. It's subtle.”
The sisters seemed completely freaked out.
“I can't believe it,” Alex finally said out loud. After all the whispering, it felt like she had shouted.
“Shhh!” They all flashed her a look like she was crazy.
“Well seriously,” Alex said out loud again, “maybe we should just tell him. Maybe if he knows it, he won't hate us all so much, and we can end this nonsense.”
“Shut – up,” Hannah whispered in a fierce staccato. “You are going to get us killed.”
“Whatever ... ” Alex mumbled. “I'll just go back to sleep then.”
Right then they heard the toilet flush, and they all feigned sleep just in time for the thug to come back in. He sat at the desk, and Rose figured he was none the wiser.
The next morning, their bindings were removed just long enough to let them take care of personal matters, and to eat some breakfast. Then they were brought back to the main living room and tied to chairs, facing away from one another this time.
“Here's how this is going to go,” grumbled a particularly scarred and pockmarked man. “I will ask questions, and if you tell me the truth, I will ask more. If you lie to me, the girl to your right will be punished. Understand?”
He watched each of them, waiting for a nod of assent.
He looked Natalie in the face. “What is her purpose here?” he asked, nodding toward Rose.
“She was trying to help us escape,” Natalie responded immediately.
“Good job, princess,” he said with a smirk. “See? It's not difficult to tell the truth, even for freaky witch ladies.”
He walked around and studied each of them, then stopped in front of Alex. “What kind of vile magic does she perform?”
“She can control water,” Alex said.
The thug stared at her for a long moment, then said, “And?”
“That's it,” Alex said, shrugging.
He glanced unapologetically to the right of her, at Hannah, and said, “This is her doing, not mine.” Then he hit her hard across the face with the back of his hand.
Hannah's nose was bleeding, but she held her head high, staring stubbornly into his eyes.
“Oh, you're a tough girl, are you?” He squatted down in front of her, so they were face to face. “What other type of magic does she perform?” He indicated Rose again.
“Just water magic,” Hannah said, coolly.
“Sorry, honey,” he said to Natalie, and he hit her, too.
Natalie also held her head up high.
The thug showed no sign of frustration. He was clearly experienced at this sort of thing.
Again, he squatted down in front of Natalie. “I think you've already demonstrated your ability to be truthful. What is her other form of magic?” he asked, enunciating each word with emphasis.
“I can heal!” Rose shouted at him, so angry she was breathing like she had just run a mile.
The thug came over and hit Rose.
“I didn't ask you, witch!” he yelled viciously. “If I want to hear from you, I'll ask you a question. Speak when you're spoken to, otherwise, keep your trap shut!”
“You guys don't need to protect me. Please just tell him the truth!” Rose pleaded.
The thug hit her again.
“Next time you speak out of turn,” he said, with venom in his rumbly voice, “I'll break your finger.”
By the time their little Q&A session was over, each of the girls had bloody noses, and black eyes, and Natalie had a broken finger.
And the thug knew Rose had come with Hazel, Grandma, and her cousins.
Malleus came in not long after the questions had stopped. He stood right in front of Rose, and asked, “How do we get around your grandmother's magic to find them?'
“I honestly have no idea,” Rose could barely speak loud enough for him to hear.
She had a fat lip, which made everything she said sound wrong. Reaching up to heal it, she was stopped in surprise by what Malleus said next. “Then I will send you out to find her with The Sisters.” The last part was said with a sneer. “You will find your grandmother and return to this house with her and all of the others in your party.”
“Why would I do such a thing?” Rose asked, glaring at him.
“Because if you don't make it back to this house with all of them, by midnight, I will kill my hostage.”
As if on cue, one of Malleus' goons came into the room, almost dragging behind him a squirming girl. She was gagged and bound. It took a minute for Rose to recognize her.
The hostage was Amber.
Her eyes connected with Rose's for a brief moment, and then the nearest thug came over and cut their bindings, escorting them roughly to the door.
“You have until midnight,” he grumbled roughly, and then he shut the door in their faces.