Page 54 of Happily Ever Witch
He went stalking out of the room, before she could finish. “Are we done? I’m going back upstairs to research that damn tiara.”
“The tiara, again? What are you…?” Esmeralda winced as the door slammed shut behind him.
So much for being kind.
Chapter Eleven
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The Heart Castle
It took Esmeralda the rest of the afternoon to find the security office with the video from the interrogation room. Then, it took her another hour to figure out how to watch the damn thing. Because,of courseshe was going to watch it. She wouldn’t have intentionally made a recording of her and Trevelyan rounding third-base, but since one just happened to exist, she might as well take a look, right?
Right.
She was fast-forwarding to the sexy parts, when she suddenly heard her phone ring.
Letty was calling her! She recognized the Pecos Bill song she’d picked as a ringtone, just to annoy Marrok. Scarlett adored that musical cowboy, which made Marrok all pouty and randomly jealous. Esmeralda’s gaze cut around the TV monitorsand old-fashion recording equipment in the small space. Where was her phone hidden?
She began banging open the drawers of the metal desk, frantically rooting through them and haphazardly dumping their contents onto the floor. And there it was! Second drawer from the top. Her sparkly green baby.
Esmeralda gave a choked sound of deep emotion, grabbing up her phone and sliding a thumb across the screen to answer. “Letty?”
“Ez!” Scarlett shrieked. “Oh my God! Is it really you? Are you alright?”
Esmeralda’s hand tightened on the phone, relief swamping her. “Letty.” She closed her eyes. “I’m okay. I am justsoglad to hear your voice.”
“I’m glad to hear yours! Are you in Wonderland?”
“Yes! How’d you guess?”
“Midas. He got me the best tracker in the known-kingdoms to hunt you down. Trystan Airbourne’s been searching for youeverywhereand you show up in that hellhole?”
“I’m not here deliberately. I was frigging kidnapped! I was falling through a rabbit hole and crash-landed in this crappy place yesterday. Then a Walrus and a White Rabbit…”
Scarlett cut her off. “Do they have Marrok?”
“Marrok?” Esmeralda frowned. “No, why would they have Marrok?”
“He’s gone.” Letty’s voice cracked. “He was abducted from the Enchanted Forest and taken to Wonderland. Ithastobe somehow related to what happened to you, because it’s just too big a coincidence otherwise.”
“Someone kidnapped the Big Bad Wolf?” Marrok had been a professional Wolf Ball player. He was huge and could turn into an even huger bipedal wolf, covered in scary looking mist. “How in the world didthathappen?”
“I don’t know exactly. I just know that he’sgone. Whoever took you, took him, too.”
“I’m in the Heart Castle. I’ve sort of turned everyone here into hogs, but I know Marrok wasn’t one of them.” Her magic would never hurt her family, even when it was misfiring.
“You made the Walrus a hog? Well, that’s a good start. My grandmother will be thrilled. So will Midas.”
“Yeah, but he’s just a lackey of someone called the Queen of Clubs.” Esmeralda thought for a beat. “I’ve been gone over a year.” Not that it had aged her. To Esmeralda, only a few days had passed. “Why do you think Marrok was just taken yesterday?”
“Probably because you justgotthere, yesterday. This is all some bigger plot. Trystan Airbourne’s positive Marrok was taken to Wonderland and you’re there, too. It’s all connected!”
