One of Skyler’s arms loosened, and she considered making a break for it, but not knowing where she was, and wearing a bridesmaid dress and high heels, she didn’t imagine that she’d get very far. It was better to wait for a more convenient moment to make her escape. Plus, if she was where she thought she was, then she might be able to find out what had happened to Robert’s daughter.
With his spare hand, Skyler opened a solid looking metal door, much like the ones that Mia saw on TV whenever a character was unlucky enough to end up visiting prison. He threw her into the room, and he sprawled to the floor, scraping her knees as she did, a sharp ripping sound letting her know that her dress was also ruined. It was a shame, but she guessed that tonight wouldn’t be one she wanted to remember anyway.
“I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, Amelia. Sleep well.” His voice was cold, chilling her even more. He slammed the metal door slammed shut behind him, leaving her alone in the gloom.
Or at least she thought she was alone. Mia looked up slowly and her eyes met the wide brown ones of a frightened child. Guess she’d just discovered what they’d done with Robert’s daughter. She scrambled to her feet, kicking off her heels, she didn’t need them here anyway, and made her way slowly towards the frightened little girl. She crouched down slowly and looked into her eyes, holding out her hands to show that she wasn’t anyone to be scared of.
“Hi, I’m Mia,” she said softly, trying not to spook her. “What’s your name?”
“Fiona,” the little girl said.
“I’m here to keep you safe now, Fiona, is that okay?” The little girl nodded her head, and Mia held out her arms. Without a second thought, Fiona buried into them, and Mia closed her arms around her. They’d made a grave mistake in putting her in the same room as the child; now she had even more reason to get free.
Chapter Eighteen
Felix slammed on the breaks of the car as he passed a small dirt track off to the left. He wasn’t sure what it was that made him certain he needed to turn down it, but now wasn’t the time to question that. Now was the time to act first, then think about it later and hope to God that he got to Mia before anything too bad happened. Whatever too bad might be.
A warehouse loomed up ahead and he brought the car to an abrupt stop, causing Faye to press her hands against the dashboard in an attempt to keep herself steady.
“You need to calm down,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Would you be any different if Reese was in trouble?” he threw back, the silence on her part being enough to tell him that she knew he was telling the truth. She’d be exactly the same, if not worse because their bond had had longer to form itself, even if they couldn’t touch.
He opened his door, and jumped from the car, vaguely aware that Faye was doing the same on her side. It was just the two of them, Bex and Reagan had stayed at the wedding to hold down the fort, and to try and extract Robert from whatever trouble he’d managed to get himself into. Felix had tried to get Faye to stay too, not wanting to put her in danger, but she’d soon pointed out that he had no combative powers of his own, and would probably need a witch with him if he stood a chance of getting Mia back.
“Fancy giving us a light?” he asked. He didn’t mind the dark, but this was kind of eerie, and he hated the thought of Mia being here, especially if she was alone. He was freaked out enough, and he hadn’t been carted off by a crazy witch hunter.
“I can’t.” She sounded as if she was almost in pain, and he glanced back at her to dimly make out the shape of her clicking her fingers.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know, something’s blocking me.” Her attention wavered from her fingers, and her eyes met Felix’s. Even in the dark he could see them widen, as if she’d had the same thought that he had. If Faye couldn’t use her magic, then Mia wouldn’t be able to use hers either. And if she couldn’t, then chances were she had no way of defending herself. He knew full well that she didn’t have any weapons stashed under her bridesmaid’s dress, and he doubted that Faye did either.
In the same instant, they broke eye contact and began running towards the warehouse.
Chapter Nineteen
Something was about to change, and she didn’t quite know what. But the tingle in the air, and at her fingertips, had her pushing Fiona behind her in a weak attempt to protect her. It likely wouldn’t do much if it was Sklyer coming, and it definitely wouldn’t if he wasn’t alone. But she had to at least try. If not, then she’d blame herself for as long as she lived. Not that she was going to live long if where she was now was any indication. The medical tables worried her, especially the fact that they were out in the open and not closed off by curtains like they would be in a hospital. She shivered. Hopefully whatever was blocking her magic would fail and she’d be able to use it again. Maybe then she’d stand a chance of saving herself and Fiona. Though maybe not. Her magic was hardly worthy of the name after all.
“What’s happening?” The little girl’s voice shook, sounding even more panicked because of the childish lisp that she seemed to have. If Mia had to guess, she’d probably say Fiona was four or five, but she’d never really had much to do with children before, so had no way of knowing. But however old she was, she was still too young to be away from her parents. Or to have seen the horrors that she clearly had by being locked in a cell.
Anger bubbled up inside Mia, building up in a way that wasn’t completely dissimilar than how it had with Felix earlier. Except that this wasn’t fuelled by desire. This was fuelled by the knowledge that Skyler not only wasn’t what he seemed, but that he also didn’t have any sense of human decency. He couldn’t have if this was what he did to a child.
She glanced down and noticed a lone blue spark leaping off one of her fingers. Now that was more like it. She focused on her magic, and more sparks joined the first, her hands now almost dancing with them. She didn’t think she’d ever felt this powerful before. Taking care that she wouldn’t accidentally catch the little girl, she sent the sparks towards the door, instructing them to unlock. Not that that was what happened. Instead, the door flew off it’s hinges, crashing into the wall opposite the prison she’d been kept in. If being kept there for less than a few hours actually counted as being locked in. Whatever the logistics of it, there was now an open doorway for Mia and the little girl to go through. Which might not be the best plan if there were other people waiting on the other side, but anything was better than staying here in the dark.
With her magic buzzing, Mia lit a ball of light, making the dark room glow an eerie blue. Mia shivered. If she hadn’t already been unnerved then she would be now. She held her free hand out to Fiona, who took it in hers, and walked slowly towards the door. She peered each way, trying to check for anyone that might be lurking, but saw no one. It didn’t surprise her much. There hadn’t been anyone about when Skyler had brought her here and left again, and it hadn’t been that long really.
“Mia?” the little girl asked, sounding like she was about to cry. Mia squeezed her hand, but shook her head, hoping that was enough to offer some comfort, but also the need to stay quiet. Fiona nodded her head and held a finger to her lips in an exaggerated move.
The two of them crept forward, surprisingly quietly to say that one of them was a small child. Mia looked around her again, trying to keep up on whether there was anyone about to take them off guard. Her magic seemed to be holding for the moment, but knowing her, it could short out at any point. It wasn’t like she’d ever managed to use it for this long before without something going wrong.
A shadow crossed the open door of the warehouse, and Mia tugged sharply on Fiona’s hand, making the little girl cry out in surprise before clapping one of her pudgy hands over her mouth.
“It’s okay,” Mia whispered, knowing that she needed to keep the girl quiet, and that panic over the one sound wasn’t the way to do
that. “We just have to be even quieter now. I need to turn out the light, okay?” The little girl nodded, and with a large amount of regret, Mia extinguished her ball of magic, hoping that she’d be able to get it back when she needed it. If this was a one time occurrence, then she was going to be kicking herself later.
Mia crouched down, and gestured for the two of them to creep from one desk to another. Maybe if they could get to the front door, they could sneak out around the back. She supposed that then they’d have the problem of actually getting back to her sister’s wedding, and the even bigger problem of explaining a dirty and withdrawn child, but she’d worry about that when the time came.