13:1
Kim opened her eyes to a strange landscape.
In front of her waves lapped at a strip of tumbled stone. Beyond the stone hard-packed sand stretched beneath her booted toe. A bit out from the shore waves broke, flecks of foam accenting their crest. A small piece of bark swirled out of the water, dancing between Kim’s feet and a long string of seaweed, wide, ruffled on the edges, partially translucent, flowed on the water to wrap around the toe of her boot. Further out still the sun sat on the horizon, its light glinting off the deeper water.
It made a lovely picture. Except it was all pink. Pink water. Pink sand. Pink seaweed and deep pink bark. Even the light was pink. Like one of those golden afternoons, right before the gloaming when the world felt like a welcoming hug. If the sun was pink instead of yellow.
It was the pink of a child’s unicorn princess party. Complete with glitter. Craft herpes everywhere in shades ranging from powder to fuchsia. Including, yes, Kim’s arms and hands.
Holding her arm out, she turned it to catch the pink light. It flashed and flared, the shine of it causing a halo effect that made her arm seem semi-transparent.
Frowning at the phenomenon, she slid her gaze down her forearm to her spread fingers. She wiggled them, setting off another flash and flare of shiny pink shininess. She saw the movement. Saw the flash of glitter. But the sensation of movement just wasn’t there. Like, she’d always, she guessed, taken for granted the sense of movement when she, you know, moved. But now?
She was reminded of how it felt to dissociate. To disconnect from her body and become nothing but static and brain.
Not good. Not good at all.
She wasn’t sure what was worse. The pink on pink on pink or the disconnect. Why decide? They both were not right.
Lowering her hand she took another look around. At the pretty pink ocean and the pretty pink crests and the pretty pink freaking seaweed draped over her – she squinted – yep, the toe of her pretty pink combat boot.
She’d died and gone to unicorn princess party h–
Wait.
She’d died?
A series of flashing images, muted compared to the shiny of her arm and hand and the mist and all the other shiny, flashed through her mind. Floating, toes hovering over the ground. Then crashing down, her back seizing, her feet drumming the earth.
Well, fuck. She’d died. Question mark. Died?
Instinctively she reached out to Fire, seeking its warmth to chase the sudden chill gripping her. And for the first time in a very long time, it did not come.
Frowning, she tried Air.
Nothing.
She swirled her glittery semi-transparent fingers in a beckoning gesture that had never failed to call Air since she’d first made contact with the element. For a mikro she fixated on the movement, her mind making a connection between the translucence of the fingers and that of the weird pink air that was not responding to her.
Okay. No. She was not going to be dead if it meant leaving her elemental friends behind.
Fuck that shit.
She was not prepared to face this pastel nightmare alone.
Okay, she had to be honest. It wasn’t a nightmare. It was different and it was very pink, but nightmare was an exaggeration. Alone, though?
Again, she reached out to the elements. Fire. Air. Water – fuck the damned pink ocean was right fucking there! Surely Water would respond.
Water did not.
Finally, she sank to her knees, ran the pink sand through her fingers, and called to Earth. She might as well have been rubbing her hands in baby powder. Lifeless, inert baby powder.
No.
No. Nope. Uh-freaking-uh.
Before she could spiral more, a loud tearing sound sounded to her left. Without rising from her knees, hand full of dead pink sand, she spun in that direction. The kaleidoscopic shift of colors overwhelmed momentarily. She blinked hard, squinting at the disturbance of glitter and cotton candy passing for air until it resolved into a humanoid form and then that form resolved into a slight figure with a high ponytail.
Prairie. For a moment, Kim was overwhelmed with relief to see her friend. Then the reality of it being Prairie in this cotton candy world settled on her like a weighted blanket. Her shoulders sank at the heft of the implication.
Dead. She was dead. Motherfucking motherfucker!
The pink light changed Prairie’s brown hair to something close to rose, shifted the pale blue of the gaze focused on her to an almost lavender hue. It flowed over soft features, changing them from sweet to ethereal.
“Prairie?”
Soft pink lips. Soft pink smile. “Hello.”
Kirby popped in next to Prairie. She lay her hand on One’s head. Hello cocked theirs and echoed Prairie, “Hello!”
Well, echoed the word. The emphasis was considerably more exuberant.
“Where are we?”
“Spiritus.”
“Am I dead?”
Kim felt like she should be more concerned about that. Like her heart should race. Her breathing should pick up. Panic. Panic should be her prevalent emotion. Instead, she felt completely calm. Not the calm invoked by Ice but close.
“Only a little.” Prairie smiled that Prairie smile that said everything was fine and if it wasn’t it would be. “We’re fixing that.”
Kim lifted a hand to scratch the side of her face. But could not feel the pressure of the hand against her face nor the scrape of her nails which admittedly were short but they were there.
“Are you here to take me back?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t.”
Prairie blinked. Once. Twice. “Why?”
“I killed so many people in the cannibal castle. I’m a monster.” The feelings she’d had since her act of, theoretically mercy, poured out, unrestrained. “It was too easy. I just–” she shifted her hand, letting her fingers caress the pink air, “What if I do it again?” Focusing on her fingers, she bit her lip and spoke the truth rattling in her brain, “I’m a monster.”
“You aren’t a monster!”
Prairie stomped over, for once not light on her feet. She took up a position in front of Kim, demanding her attention. Only when Kim looked down to meet Prairie’s pale gaze did the other woman continue.
“They were monsters. They were eating people! Of their own will. And they weren’t going to survive the attack of the spirits. It was a mercy to stop their suffering. If you did something like that in the future it would be in the same spirit. I believe that!”
Kim gulped and blinked to clear the burn in her eyes.. “I wish I did.”
“Look at me!”
Kim rolled her eyes to the pink skies, then forced herself to meet Prairie’s gaze.
“By asking these questions, showing remorse, you are showing you aren’t a monster.” After a mikro pause she added, “If you hadn’t done it, I would have. I don’t know how, but I would have.” She said it with such conviction it left no doubt. It also made a tiny bit of the malaise gripping Kim settle. “No one should suffer that way, even if they are bad people.”
When Kim broke Prairie’s gaze and looked down at the shifting pink sand, Prairie reached out and poked her hard in the shoulder. This drew Kim’s gaze and a hurt expression. Prairie lofted her chin and held Kim’s focus.
“What you did was mercy, not murder.”
Again Kim gulped as her stomach did a flip. “It sickens me.”
“There is nothing wrong with that. Regret should be part of the aftermath of such a choice. Feeling righteous about it is the slippery slope. Regret is good. Regret will keep you on the path of true righteousness, not ego passing for it.”
Kim forced herself to maintain eye contact with Prairie. Then she nodded and a small smile quirked her lips. “You are pretty smart.”
“I am.”
“Humble too.”
“I know.” Prairie cocked her head, listening to something Kim could not hear. “Hold on.”
Before Kim could question Prairie the fuzzy-wuzzy-pinky-winky environment warped, rippling and pulsing in such a way Kim was pretty sure would have been nauseating if she had a belly or intestines or whatever would make her heave.
Then, whomp, she felt gravity and weight and she was pretty sure it wasn’t just hers. She was a solid girl, but this felt significantly heavier than she normally felt. Looking down she saw a poof of fluffy brown hair pressed to her chest. Oh, that made more sense.
She wet her lips and then stuck her tongue out several times to try to clear the nasty taste in her mouth.
“Touching me,” she croaked. A cloud of pink glitter lifted from her lips with the words. She crossed her eyes, watching the shiny stuff drift on the air.
When Air rushed in, grabbing the glitter with a Lady’s hand to lift to delighted eyes, tears came to her own eyes. Relief, massive, down into her groin, relief surged through her at the evidence of the element. Then she shifted her attention to look at Prairie, kneeling at her side with her hand planted against Kim’s throat just above her collarbone.
“Touching me,” she repeated. This time there was no glitter.
“I am.” A smile bloomed to life on Prairie’s lips, surpassing the pink-tinted smile from earlier. Moments ago. Whatever. Time was what?
“Mouth tastes like ass.”
Gwen’s, “What does ass taste like?” overlapped Siobhan’s “That would be me.”
Kim shifted her attention in the direction of Siobhan’s voice, finding her friend kneeling at her hip.
“Dead?”
Siobhan shook her head then laid a hand on Kim’s shin. For once Kim didn’t cringe at the touch. The contact felt good after the weird not bodiness of that pink place. “Not any longer. It was close. I told you that potion was dangerous.”
Kim kind of wanted to point out she’d died and maybe she didn’t need a big, fat ‘told you so’ right now. Then again if anyone got to tell her they told her so it was Siobhan who had, in fact, told her so.
Fair was fair. “You did.”
Her voice cracked. She smacked her lips and swallowed down the taste of potion and probably death. Pink, shiny death.
She shifted her gaze back to Prairie. “Pink?”
Prairie’s tranquil smile shifted to a grin sparklling as the glitter in Spiritus. “It is.”
“Very pink.”
“Yes. It might be different for you if you really died but because I held your Spirit you ended up in my version of Spiritus.”
“Weird. Pink?”
“There’s a story behind the pink.”
“Later?”
Prairie nodded. “Later.”
Kim would have shrugged but Gwen’s weight against her chest made it hard to lift her ribs and the moment kind of called for a big, rib-lifting shrug with a side of large sigh.
Instead she shifted her ribs enough to jostle Gwen. Her friend looked up at her, a question in her eyes.
“Touching me still.”
“Well, excuse me if I want a bit more time to process you almost dying.”
“Processing?”
Gwen heaved a huge, aggrieved sigh and slowly sat back. Despite her protests Kim kind of missed the heat and weight of Gwen’s body and concern when it separated from her.
Kim shifted her attention to Prairie and then down to Siobhan. “Help me up?”
Siobhan pressed on her shin. “Maybe you should stay down. You aren’t fully recovered.”
“Recovered enough.” Kim looked at Prairie and when the other woman sat back on her heels Kim rose up on her elbows and looked around. “Al?”
“Left while you were–” Ivan stepped into view, waving his hand at her partially supine form.
“Rude.”
“Yes.”
“Erik?”
“That man took him.” The strange female voice drew Kim’s attention to where Gia sat, leaning against the wall of The House. “The one that looked like Erik.”
“I thought Al said she wouldn’t remember?” Kim turned her head to whisper at Prairie. “Or did I hallucinate that?”
Prairie tracked her gaze to Gia and a frown crunched her usually smooth forehead. She shifted her attention to Ivan, a question clear.
Ivan shot a quick look at Gia then shook his head minutely at Prairie. “Later,” he mouthed. Prairie tilted her head as she looked at Gia, then gave an equally small nod.
Dempsey walked over and lowered himself to sit next to Gia. “Hello.”
Gia turned her head to look at Dempsey. “Hi?”
“You’re probably confused.”
“Yes.” Gia’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Where are we? Why am I here? Who was that guy that looked like Erik? Where did he take Erik.”
Dempsey slid something small and shiny over his knuckles. He made a big show of it. Gia’s gaze followed it, which was probably his intent. Kim followed the shine too, a frown pulling her brows together until they probably touched.
As the small and shiny thing disappeared around the side of Dempsey’s big paw, only to appear a moment later on the other side and do another slide over his knuckles, Kim shifted her gaze to Siobhan.
“Shiny.”
“Later.” Siobhan held up a finger then flicked it towards Gia and Dempsey. “Focus now.”
Because that was super easy. Sure. Yep.
Once Gia was sufficiently focused on the movement of small and shiny gliding around his hand, Dempsey said in a quiet voice that still managed to rumble. “Where we are isn’t that important. You were taken–”
He paused when Gia gasped. He shifted his attention to Siobhan and bit his lower lip. The movement drew focus to the dark ring piercing there.
“Excuse me,” Siobhan murmured before removing her hand from Kim’s shin, rising, and walking slowly to where Gia and Dempsey sat. As she did so Ben came in, hands in pockets, from the other side from the one Siobhan approached. He stopped a respectful distance from the two and rocked back on his heels.
As Gia looked up at him Siobhan dropped to a crouch in front of Dempsey and the young woman. The movement drew Gia’s gaze from Ben to Siobhan. Gia’s lower lip trembled as she met Siobhan’s steady look.
“What did he mean? Taken?” Gia stiffened and drew her knees up until they almost met her chest. She curled her arms around them, forming a protective cage.
Siobhan lifted a hand and very slowly moved it towards Gia. When the young woman didn’t flinch away, Siobahn laid her hand very gently on Gia’s arm. “I’ve been where you are.”
Gia’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been huddled against a weird house in a weird garden with a bunch of strangers standing around you while your best friend was carried away by someone who looked just like him through a HOLE IN THE AIR?” Her voice rose on the last.
Siobhan’s mouth curved on a soft smile that rivaled the ones that Prairie often bestowed on the group. “No.” Her voice was at least as soft as the smile and the look in her eyes. She lifted her free hand and placed it on Gia’s arm. Gia looked down at Siobhan’s hands and then began to sob. Not a gentle, ladylike sob. A freaking wail, complete with shaking shoulders and hitching breaths.
“I don’t– I can’t–”
Siobhan duckwalked over to where Dempsey sat and nudged him with a knee. When he shifted to the side Siobhan slid in next to her and lowered her arm around the smaller woman’s heaving shoulders.
When Gwen lifted her head to look at the cluster by the wall, Kim shifted a shoulder to jostle her friend. Gwen looked at her, expression a mix of confusion and concern.
“Go,” Kim popped her shoulder, bumping Gwen again. At Gwen’s continued stare she added, “She needs you.”
“You need me,” Gwen whispered.
“She needs you more. Go.”
“Fine.” With one last look, Gwen rose and moved over to The House. She bumped Ben’s hip. “Move.”
Ben eyed her a moment then complied, making room for Gwen to move to Gia’s side and lower herself to sit and drape her arm over her, lifting her hand over Siobhan’s arm to anchor it on Gia’s shoulder.
It was obvious when her Magick latched on. Gia’s stiff frame loosened. She sank against Sioban and Gwen’s combined hold and closed her eyes.
“I don’t understand.”
“I have some friends that can help,” Siobhan murmured. She looked over at Ben, “Ben?”
“Yes?”
“Can you get Diana and–” she paused then looked at Gwen over Gia’s lowered head. “Roanne? Llora? She might like to talk to someone close to her age.”
Gwen narrowed her gaze for a moment then said, “Both of them. Llora is fierce and if Gia retained her Magick then she might need someone else who has to explain it which, if we are right about Roanne, she’s a good one for that.”
Gia stiffened at the mention of Magick and twisted her chin to give Gwen a questioning look. “Magick?”
Gwen pulled a face. “I, uh, should have, uh,” She looked over at Siobhan. Apparently taking pity on Gwen, Siobhan squeezed Gia’s shoulder, drawing the younger woman’s attention.
“How about we leave this place and go somewhere nicer. We can explain over a warm drink.”
Gia’s mouth tightened, her lips forming a firm line. Then after a long moment of searching Siobhan’s expression she lowered her head and gave a visible gulp. “Fine. But I won’t be put off!”
“Of course not.” Siobhan’s tone said she’d never considered it. Which she probably hadn’t. If anyone, besides Kim, understood what Gia was experiencing, it was Kim.
She and Siobhan at least had the experience of several rescues to have a base for their understanding. Gia didn’t have any of that. She didn’t know Magick. She seemed to have lived a pretty sheltered life, if Kim read her right, with parents who loved and protected her. Being a victim had to be a freaking dash of ice water to the young woman.
For a moment Kim was struck by how different she and Gia’s lives were. Not just the obvious money Gia wore like an invisible cloak. Vulnerability, fear, knowing she was never safe were as familiar to Kim as they were obviously not to the other woman. Instinctively she shied her mind from the thoughts before they could become intrusive and focused on Gia.
She had to be so confused and scared. Especially if Al had disappeared with her best friend into a rift right in front of Gia’s eyes. Even in a world with Magick some things were still pretty weird. Especially for nulls.
Rolling up to sit then to her hands and knees, she pushed up to her feet and looked at her friends. Prairie grabbed her elbow when she teetered for a mikro. Forcing herself to not shrug off the help, she bit her lip as she met Prairie’s eyes. “Thanks.”
She tried for a smile but she was pretty sure it was more like a rictus. Luckily for her Prairie had quite a bit of experience with stiff, death faces. So the smaller woman just nodded, then stepped away, lowering her hand to her side before following Kim’s gaze to the others.
“Let’s go.”
“I’ll just–” Ben drew Kim and Prairie’s attention as he waved a hand vaguely then pointed somewhere in the region of town. “Go and get Diana, Lllora, and Roanne. Get me a drink?”
Patti nudged up next to him. “Sure. I may even not spit in it.”
“I mean,” Ben lifted a shoulder, “That would nice.”
Patti gave him a smile full of bite. “I’m always nice.”
“Sure. Whatever. I agree if it means less spit in my drink.” Again Ben shrugged then headed to the garden wall. He vaulted it rather than take the fence.
Patti hollered after him, “No promises!”
#
“It’s later.”
Kim leaned in to whisper at Ivan where he sat sandwiched between her and Prairie on one of the new couches. She’d have preferred to sit in one of the squishy armchairs on her own but no one seemed inclined to leave her to her own devices. Something about bad choices, muttered with a narrowed gaze by Siobhan.
Ivan gave her a confused look. “It is?”
“Al said Gia wouldn’t remember, right? She seems to remember.”
Kim jerked her chin to indicate where Gia sat on one of the armchairs denied Kim. Diana sat next to her, blond hair pulled back in a bun with artful curls framing her face. She held Gia’s hand, leaning toward the younger woman, as they spoke quietly.
Diana arrived at Leo’s first, followed shortly by Ben with Llora and Roanne. The younger women had become friends, shared experience making up for diverse lifestyles Kim guessed. Familiarity forged in fire. Kim looked over as Ben wandered from the direction of the bar, Llora and Roanne following behind him, each holding a tray. Llora’s held drinks and Roanne’s seemed to be piled high with bar snacks.
A small rumble came from Kim’s stomach in anticipation of whatever Marcus had produced. He liked to test out his experiments melding food and alchemy on their group. Kim doubted today would be any different, not after he’d given her pale face and slightly shaking hands a long look before disappearing into the kitchen when she and the others entered Leo’s.
As if to prove her suspicions, Ben made a point of grabbing a plate from Roanne’s tray and shoving it at Kim. “Marcus says eat this. Something something alchemy something.”
Kim lifted her brows but she did take the plate. “So glad you got that to describe to me.”
The plate held something that looked a lot like pulled chicken on a mound of fluffy smashed potatoes. There was a dark reddish sauce that glistened with potential yum and she could see red skin in the potatoes. Next to this was a pile of peas all light green and round and shouting ‘Eat me!’. Considering the look Marcus had given her they were actually likely to be shouting, ‘Eat me, Bitch!’.
Like she was fighting that. She slanted a look at Ben, “Fork?”
“I should make you eat it with your fingers after that scare.”
Kim pinched a pea between finger and thumb and lifted it to her mouth. “Whatever.”
Ben grunted. “Whatever.” Then with an eye roll and a gruff grumble he walked over and sat on the hearth next to where MF curled against a crackling log.
“So,” Kim paused to thank Roanne as she handed Kim the fork Ben denied her, then turned back to Ivan. “Why does Gia remember what happened?”
Ivan followed Llora as she plunked herself down on the coffee table in front of Gia, planting the tray of drinks next to her without offering any to anyone. “I’m not sure she remembers.”
“She said Al tore a rift and carried away Erik. Pretty sure that means she remembers.”
Ivan frowned and leaned forward to focus on Gia as her voice rose. “I don’t understand. Who are they? Why did they kidnap me? Us?”
“We are uncertain of the why,” Diana said in her cultured tone. “But,” she shifted her gaze to look at Siobhan who sat close without hovering. “We have been told they are named Mary, Geppetto, and Aleric.”
Gia frowned. “Geppetto? Like in Pinocchio?”
“Yes.”
“That– Who names their kid that?”
“He wasn’t named for the character.” Gia turned to look at Siobhan as she explained. “He is the original Geppetto.”
“I don’t understand!” Gia bunched her hands into fists in her lap. “I don’t understand any of this!”
Kim saw several people turn at Gia’s raised voice. Patti rose and whispered, “I’ve got this.”
She strode away from the group, her voice carrying back a moment later. “None of your damned business! Go back to your drinks!”
There was some grumbling then Marcus’ voice came from the area near the bar. “Next rounds on me, Gentles.”
That got the grumbling stopping and a slight stampede as people rose and headed for the bar.
Kim took a bite of chicken and potato and smiled. Damn, that was good. No idea what Magick Marcus imbued it with beyond delicious, but she was sure there was some effect outside of filling her rumbling tummy. Or maybe it was just meant to combat the rumble.
The effect of the potion passed she was all too aware of her hunger, physical and Magickal. So, she shoveled more deliciousness in her mouth, focusing on Diana, Llora, Siobhan, and Gia’s conversation over the sound of her chewing.
Roanne placed her tray in the center of the coffee table, indicated everyone should grab something, then situated herself next to Llora facing Gia. She leaned forward, apparently answering a question Kim had missed while focusing on her food.
“I was null before my–” Roanne paused, looked down, then raised her gaze to hold Gia’s, “adventure. Now?” She leaned in to whisper, “I can talk to animals. Totally freaked me out the first time my mom’s canary said something. I thought maybe mom had mixed up the mushrooms at dinner!”
Siobhan slanted a quick look at Kim. If she hadn’t been focused on her and the other women she might have missed it. As it was she definitely caught the “ah ha!” in Siobhan’s eyes.
They’d been debating if Roanne had Magick. Guess that was a ‘yes’. Animal speech. Kim wondered if there was more to it. Her question was answered a mikro later.
“I can also ask them to do things and they do. If they want to.”
So, like Kim and the elements. But with animals. They might want Cerise to talk to Roanne, offer her some help seeing as Cerise was the font of all that Magick.
She turned her head slightly and murmured to Ivan, “She should talk to Cerise.”
“Agreed.”
Before he could say anything else Gia’s voice drew their attention. “I don’t have Magick. I’m a null.”
“Are you?” Llora pressed.
“Yes.” Gia’s tone was adamant as was her expression.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure!” Gia snapped. “Stop asking!”
Llora’s mouth opened. Then she frowned. Closed her mouth. Narrowed her eyes. Then opened her mouth again.
Gwen leaned in, her gaze intent on Llora.
“Llora?”
The blonde pressed a hand to her throat and opened and closed her mouth like a fish.
“Gia?” Gwen turned to the young woman. “Would you be willing to tell Llora it’s okay to talk?”
Gia frowned. “What?”
“Please?” Gwen’s expression turned entreating.
Gia blinked several times then said in a tentative voice, “Llora, it’s okay to talk.”
Llora opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She frowned then stuck her tongue out. Pulled it back in. Opened her mouth again. Still nothing. Panic clear in her eyes she turned to look at Siobhan then Gwen.
Roanne looked at Llora then shifted her attention to Gia. “Put some Magick in it.”
Gia’s brows lowered. “Put Magick in it?”
“What were you feeling when you told Llora to shut up?”
“I didn’t tell her to shut up!”
“Stop asking. Close enough.”
Gia drew a deep breath. “I wasn’t rude.”
“No.” Siobhan gave a reassuring smile. “Roanne wasn’t suggesting you were. Were you?”
At her pointed look Roanne shook her head hard. “I wasn’t! Really!”
“But,” Siobhan continued, “she was suggesting you feel what you were feeling when you told Llora to stop asking. What were you feeling?”
“I was–” Gia looked down. Bit her lip. “I was angry.” She lifted glistening eyes to Siobhan. “I just—It’s all overwhelming!”
Diana leaned in and placed a gentle hand on one of Gia’s clenched fists in her lap. “It is.”
Gia visibly relaxed under Diana’s soft tone.
“Can you try feeling angry and telling Llora to talk?”
“I can’t just feel angry,” Gia said to her clenched fists and Diana’s covering hand.
“Someone kidnapped you and you have no idea where your best friend is.” Gia stiffened at Kim’s words. She flashed Kim a look full of emotion. Kim didn’t flinch from it. Instead, she leaned forward with a small smirk. “There it is.”
Gia’s eyes widened. Then a look of dawning came over her features. She turned to Llora. “Speak.”
“Motherfucker!”
The word boomed out, drawing a few more looks from the pub proper before the ones looking turned their gazes to their drinks, one encouraged by Patti swacking them upside the head as she walked back towards the group at the fireplace.
“Motherfucker,” Llora whispered and rubbed her hand against her sternum. “That sucked.”
“Language, dear,” Diana said in a tone that suggested it was not the first time for such correction. She didn’t even look up but instead kept her gaze steady on Gia. She squeezed the younger woman’s hand and smiled. “That was wonderful! Such a gift.”
“But now we know Gia has Magick.” Everyone turned to look at Ben. His grin flashed, completely unrepentant.
“And,” Ivan added quiet enough only Kim and Prairie heard, “probably why she remembers.” Kim looked at him. He shrugged. “If she has a mental ability, she probably resisted whatever Al did.”
“Good conclusion.”
Everyone, except for Ben facing the direction of the pub proper, jerked at the sound of Al’s voice. Kim’s head jerked to the side, watching as the man walked over with his hands dug deep in the pockets of his narrow, black trousers.
Gia let out a small scream. Diana stiffened, her eyes wide on Al. And Llora rose up from the coffee table so fast the tray in the center rattled.
Closing the distance between them with remarkable speed, Llora planted a fist in Al’s gut. “You fucker!”
So, any question that he, and probably Geppetto and Mary, left some impression on the Rescued was resolved. Or at least it appeared to be in Llora’s case.
Al folded under the force of Llora’s hit, his breath exploding from him. Llora pulled her arm back. She would have landed another hit, but Abe slid in fast from Llora’s left and grabbed her flying fist.
Llora jerked a look at Abe. “Why?”
Abe shook their head. “He wouldn’t be here if something wasn’t wrong.”
“More wrong than kidnapping us?” Llora’s rising voice drew stares. She looked over Al’s shoulder with wide eyes and then yelled, “Nothing to see here, people!”
A testament to the ferocity in her tone, the people who’d turned to look at her all made a really big point of turning their backs. Dramatically lifted voices carried, talking about the weather and how Jimmy Joe cheated at setback.
Llora’s narrowed gaze lingered a moment on the others, then she turned her anger on Al. “Speak. And make it good or Gia will fuck you over.”
Gia made a weird, strangled noise. Guess Llora got comfortable with the newest member of the Rescued’s Magick if she was using it as a weapon. Based on Gia’s stricken expression, Kim wasn’t sure Gia was quite there yet.
Rather than showing any concern, Al straightened and leveled his gaze on Gia. “So, she retained Blanca’s Magick?”
“If that is what it is,” Siobhan said in a measured tone, “Yes.”
“Mental manipulation?”
For a moment, Siobhan hesitated. Kim suspected it was because she didn’t want to reveal too much to Al. But after a mikro she gave a nod. “Yes.”
Al leveled Gia with a speculative look then shifted his focus to Siobhan. “No time.”
“Why are you here, Al?”
“Shh!” Al pressed a finger to his lips. “No names. She can hear when you do that.”
“Who?”
“She.” Al pointed at the ceiling, like that explained jack or shit.
“Erik?” Gia’s voice drew everyone’s attention, including Al’s.
“No. Not Erik. Al.” Al shook his head. “Not important.”
“Where is Erik?”
“Safe. He’s safe.” Al gave the members of Kim’s group, sans the Rescued, a telling look. “Can we talk somewhere not here?”
Ben narrowed his eyes on his quasi-employee. “Why?”
“I need your help.” By his tone Al really was feeling some kind of way about that.
“Again?”
“Still.” He shifted, looking around Dempsey’s bulk so he could narrow in on Prairie sheltered next to Ivan. “Specifically Prairie’s help.”
“Why–”
Before Prairie could say anything more, Ivan leaned in, planting his elbows on his knees and giving Al a big stink eye. “Why?”
Al shifted to look behind him. Then he cocked his head like he was hearing something. “Not safe to talk here. Meet me at Stripped as quick as you can get there. I’ll be waiting.”
With that he pivoted and strode across the pub, disappearing with admirable speed down the hall to the bathrooms. Kim looked at Ivan. Ivan looked at Ben. Ben jumped up and hauled ass across the pub, heading in the direction Al went. A mero later he was back, lips tight and eyes narrowed.
“Gone.”
“That damned pen,” Patti offered.
“Probably.”
“So.” Ivan rose from the couch then turned and offered Prairie a hand to help her out of the soft cushions. “We’re going to Stripped?”
Prairie bit her lip and nodded. “I think we should.”
Llora drew everyone’s attention. “Hello?” Once everyone turned in her direction she pointed between herself, Roanne, Diana, and then Gia. “What about us?”
Dempsey rose and settled his shield over his arm. “Stay here. Be safe.” He looked to Diana. “Your husband has guards?”
“He does.”
“You should send for them. We can’t escort you home.”
“We’ll be fine.” Llora’s jaw set mulishly.
“Sure you will. But why turn down an escort?”
“Because I’m a confident, competent woman who don’t need no man?”
“Based on that haymaker you hit Al with I have little doubt. But, humor me?”
Diana looked to Llora. “It would be safer. And Jake prefers I have an armed escort since, well,” she shied her eyes to the side while smoothing back tendrils of her hair before centering her gaze on Llora. “You know.”
She turned her attention to Gia. “We can take you home to your mother. It will give us time to talk. If you’d like.”
There was something immensely motherly about Diana’s voice and mannerisms. Kim didn’t really like mothers, what with her history, but even she found herself leaning towards the other woman.
Gia looked over to the bathroom hall then down at her hands before nodding. “Thank you. I have a lot of questions.”
Llora walked over and planted her ass back on the coffee table. “I’m sure you do. How about we start on those while we wait for Diana’s guards?” She turned to shoot Kim a hard look then jerked her head to indicate the entrance of the pub. “Get out of here. Maybe punch that fuckhead again for me?”
Fuckhead. Yeah, Llora was Kim’s people, for sure. She nodded as she rose from the embracing cushions of the couch. “I may. Depends on what he has to say.” Then she shifted her gaze quickly to Gia before meeting Llora’s eyes again. She mouthed “Thank you” to which Llora circled her forefinger and thumb with her other three fingers furled in the universal sign of acceptance.
Siobhan rose slowly from her chair, smiled at Diana, murmured her thanks to Roanne and Llora, then turned to give Gia a grave look. “We have meetings. You should come. One of the ladies can give you the details.”
Another hand signal from Llora, this time to Siobhan, then she leaned in and started speaking to Gia in a low voice. Kim spared another glance at the four women, survivors all, then scooted out of the circle of couches and chairs with Prairie and Ivan shortly behind her.
Jeff looked up as they approached the front entrance. “Leaving already?”
“Gotta see a guy about a thing,” Ben said with a nod.
“I’ll keep any eye on your friends.”
Siobhan stopped to give him a gentle smile. “I appreciate that. Several guards should be by to pick them up.”
Jeff nodded acknowledgement then went back to studying the street. The group headed out, giving him something to watch as they headed off in the direction of Stripped.
Enter The Woods 