Page 18 of Alan

6

Emelie

Neither of us had time to react to Selene’s strange, cryptic announcement before Hecate and Iris took Keira by the arms and led her to the cell. She was a lot less feisty than when she first entered the cave—in fact, she was downright docile. Without even moving a finger, Selene had placated her.

Meanwhile, Hecate had only to make eye contact with me to freeze me in place.

Damn it. I had to learn not to look at her.

Once they deposited Keira in the cell, the witches hurried off behind Selene, like they had some talking to do. The moment Hecate was out of sight, the spell broke, and I was free to move.

The first thing I did was throw myself at Keira.

“Oh, my God,” she gasped before she grabbed me in a hug. “I didn’t even notice you in here. How is that possible?” She looked around us, at the clear, not-there walls. “From the outside, I didn’t see anything at all.”

“You were busy. And the walls are magical.” I held her at arm’s length. “I can’t believe it’s you. I was so afraid for you!”

“I was for you!” She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a bracelet. My bracelet. “I found this. You lost it in the woods. You don’t know how many terrible things I imagined, and it would all have been my fault.”

I added the bracelet to the others, stacked halfway up my forearm. “God, I didn’t even notice I lost it. It’s been sort of a crazy time here.”

“Your hair!” She touched my head. “How long have you been inside?”

“Yeah. I’m in-between colors. And growing it out.” I’d gone back to my natural, near-black color.

“I’ll say.” So how long?” She asked again.

“I have no idea, but it can’t be more than a day.”

“Are they taking care of you?” she asked, holding my face in her hands. “Have they hurt you? Tried to do anything to your mind?”

“The opposite—well, actually, one of them ended a panic attack I was having. But that was a good thing.” I placed my hands over hers. “Keira, what is happening here? Why don’t you seem the least bit surprised over any of this?”

She let out a long breath. “We need to sit down.”

“I don’t think I’m going to like this,” I muttered as I sat on the floor.

“Oh, I know you’re not going to,” she said with one of her trademark wry grins. I had missed that grin.

Funny how having her back with me, even in a cave, in a cell with invisible walls powered by frigging coven of witches, made me feel better. I was less lost thanks to her sitting in front of me, with her hands in mine, with the two of us leaning close to each other so we might have a little bit of privacy.

Not that it mattered. They could probably hear us or sense our thoughts or whatever.

“I didn’t want to bring you into any of this,” she whispered, squeezing my hands. “I’m so sorry. When I got your email—and it was too late by then, I should have tried to stay in contact with you, but I wasn’t sure how to do it safely—I completely freaked out. I didn’t know what might happen to you.”

“Yeah and look where I turned up.”

She shook her head, eyes wide and sadder than I had seen in a long time. “I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to get pulled in.”

“Pulled into what, though? You know these people?” I nodded in the direction the witches had disappeared in.

“Did it seem like I knew them?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “They overtook me in the woods, while I was looking for you.”

“Oh, no.”

“It’s all right.” She flashed a grin. “Hey, I found you. That’s what matters.”

“Why did you fall off the grid the way you did?” I asked. “Where have you been? What have you been doing, how have you been living? I have a million questions, in case you couldn’t tell.”

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