Page 46 of Twisted Fates
I nodded. “Yeah, a few weeks ago, why?”
“Did he touch you?” Mr. Stages asked, and I nodded.
“Show me,” he said and I undid my shirt sleeve and pushed it up to show him where the bruise still showed.
“Because it appears that he marked you when he did,” Mr. Stages said. “I’m guessing had you not been wearing Cary’s amulet, he’d have done much worse this time.”
I reached up and touched the necklace. “He jerked back when he touched me. Was that because of this?” I asked, pulling the necklace out of my shirt.
“Likely, but we need to remove the marks from your arm. Then you should have your wizard create his own security around you.”
“Wait, he marked me. Is that why I had the nightmare?” I asked.
The partners turned to one another and, without saying another word, began pulling me toward the office.
Once I was securely back in the building, Mr. Harrison picked my phone up and called someone. I heard Damian’s voice on the other end of the line and Mr. Harrison telling him he should return to their office.
“Is Owen okay?” I heard him ask.
“He will be, but you need to come soon.”
He hung up without saying goodbye, then Mrs. Patterson came in with a bowl of water. “Now, you sit still. I need to see what’s going on,” she said, placing the bowl on my desk after Mr. Harrison neatly stacked all the paperwork and laid it on the floor beside the file cabinet.
I watched, mesmerized, as she began to hum. The water rippled, and the partners, Mrs. Patterson, and I stared into it.
I didn’t see anything, but Mrs. Patterson gasped and put her hand to her mouth. “Could it be? After all this time?”
The partners didn’t respond, just watched whatever images they were seeing in the water. Then Mr. Stages reached into his pocket and pulled out an ancient-looking whiskey flask. He opened the lid and poured a greenish liquid into the water. It sizzled for several seconds before the water went placid again.
“Mrs. Patterson, take this outside and dump it into the sewer drain. I’ll send Cary to remove any other residue once you’re done.”
The legal assistant nodded and disappeared to do as she’d been told. “Son,” Mr. Harrison said. “You are in a great deal of trouble, and it’s a total mess that none of us saw it. Your boyfriend is a new wizard, or he probably would’ve sniffed it out earlier. However, if we don’t do something about it soon, I’m afraid there will be some serious consequences. Serious indeed.”
Chapter thirty-three
Damian
My nerves were alreadyon edge when I got to Molly’s job, and they said they hadn’t seen her in a couple of days.
“Did she call in sick?” I asked, and the woman shook her head but didn’t respond verbally. It wasn’t like her.
I left and walked toward her apartment just as I got a call from Mr. Harrison telling me I needed to come to Owen’s office.
“Is Owen okay?” I asked, and they assured me he was but that I needed to come soon.
Molly first, I thought. If Owen was with the witches, I knew he was safe, and Molly, it was totally out of character for her not to return my phone calls, much less not call into work to let them know she wasn’t coming in.
When I got to her apartment, I felt the darkness immediately. It felt inky, like someone had used abrush to wipe it on. I magically surrounded myself with safety wards, almost on autopilot, and knocked on the door.
There was no answer, but I knew there wouldn’t be. Molly wasn’t there. I knew she wasn’t. I pulled my key out, the one I had to her home, and opened the door. I could smell it: swamp water, deep, dirty, and stagnant.
I slipped inside and felt the web of spells surrounding the room. It didn’t take much to disarm them. Whoever put them there wasn’t trying to do anything, probably because they knew I’d come searching for her.
It would take a lot more work to cleanse the place, but that was a concern for later. I searched for any clues as to where she was. I closed my eyes, pulling power to myself. When my staff automatically appeared in my hand, I knew there was a threat.
“Where is she?” I demanded, and I heard a chuckle. Nasty, antagonistic.
“Give him to us, and we’ll trade.”
