“Now, Wyatt, you know that’s simply a lie,” the old wizard says.
Wyatt – the man in white – smiles at the wizard, but it’s the deadliest, darkest, and most horrifying smile I’ve ever seen. It’s the kind of smile that only an evil villain in a twisted fairytale would be capable of making.
“I know that you’re not going to be making your demon potion anymore,” he says. He takes an amulet from his pocket, drapes it over the wizard’s neck, and spins it. Then he motions for the soldiers to take the man away.
So that’s how he’s going to get the wizard away without anyone noticing his protests.
He hung an amulet of invisibility on him.
Oh, it doesn’t actually make him invisible, but like my own amulet, it makes him unnoticed. The guards leave, hauling the crying and shouting wizard away. In his distress, he kicks the potted plant across the alley and I see the charmed stone fall from the plant. One of the guards, unaware, steps on it and crushes it. The wizard is wailing, shouting. He’s begging for anyone to take notice of him, but no one so much as looks outside to see what the commotion is about.
I look at the wizard as he passes and for a brief moment, we make eye contact. I don’t look away. I won’t. He’s the one I came here to see, after all, but I know that even with my limited strength, I’m no match for so many guards. Not when they’re obviously faes, too.
“The book,” he says to me. “Get the book.”
But no one else is around and no one seems to notice either our interaction or the fact that a group of soldiers is hauling away a soldier. I hear clattering and banging from within the house and I creep over to the blue door and, standing just outside, peek in.
Wyatt has his back to me and he’s knocking down bottle after bottle of what I know is my only shot at saving my sister. I know it has to be the potion. It just has to be. He laughs and sneers as he knocks them to the ground. I move away quickly, fighting the urge to bolt inside and try to grab one of the bottles. I’m not so stupid to think I’d be able to escape.
If the Dark Wizard of Dark Falls can’t get away from this guy, I won’t be able to either.
Instead, I move around the corner and once more, duck out of sight.
Then I wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Within a few minutes, Wyatt emerges from the house and leaves. He walks swiftly, but goes in the opposite direction from where I’m hiding. Once I’m certain that he’s gone, I go into the wizard’s house. It’s completely destroyed. I don’t know what it looked like before, but I can guarantee it didn’t look like this.
Everything is smashed.
Bottles are poured out on the floor. Jars are knocked to the ground. The table is turned to the side. Even the chairs are now broken and strewn about. It’s not much of a shop, but it’s obvious that it was once very loved.
Every bottle of demon bite antidote is gone.
“Fuck,” I groan, looking around. I run my hands through my hair. What the hell am I going to do now? I came all this way for the antidote and now any hopes I had of getting it are gone.
Taking a deep breath, I look around.
The front room is obviously the workspace and storefront. There were shelves of different items, but those have all been destroyed. A small door at the back of the shop is ajar, so I go over there and push it open. It leads to a small living space. So this is a house, after all. There’s a tiny kitchenette, a bathroom, and a bed. A trunk at the foot of the bed is open: its contents are everywhere.
Wyatt really didn’t leave any stone unturned, did he?
I wonder who the hell this guy is or why he thinks it’s okay to come into a space like this and just utterly destroy it. He’s no hero. He’s no good guy. He’s the villain in my story and it’s obvious that the wizard understood this, as well.
The wizard.
What’s going to happen to Luther?
He told me to look for a book, but I don’t know what book I’m looking for. With a sigh, I plop down on the bed and drop my head in my hands. Are they going to kill him? They’re definitely going to kill him. Those guys didn’t come for the joy of trying to save him. They definitely want to ruin him in every way possible, but why?
That’s one thing I don’t understand.
Demons are bad. They eat fairies. They hunt us down and devour us. They’ll eat shifters and vampires from time-to-time, but for the most part, fairies are their first choice when it comes to edible snacks.
But why now?