I shrugged, still focusing on the SUV. Come on. Come on. Come on. “I don’t know…I guess you just rubbed me the wrong way.”
He said something else. But I didn’t hear him. I was going…fading…almost there. Then I was being shoved up against the hard tiled wall of the bathroom. The muscles on my back burned in protest, and I let out a whimper.
“Don’t even think about it,” Nicholas snapped angrily. “You’re coming with me.” Then he hit me over the head with something.
My ears rang, and my eyes shifted out of focus. I saw spots. Then I was falling toward the floor.
Chapter 27
The next thing I was aware of was that I had a killer headache. My head was throbbing so badly I swear my skull had to be cracked. I also noticed my wrists were restrained by something cold and metal.
My eyelids whipped open. I was in an unfamiliar room, and wrapped around each of my wrists was a metal cuff, connected to a chain that extended to hooks secured into a dark green wall behind me.
Crap.
This was bad.
This was very, very bad.
The first thing I did was try to Foresee my way out of this place. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the gas station, but I wasn’t feeling it. I wasn’t feeling anything, except worry and fear, and that fact that I was in some serious trouble.
What had that crazy faerie boy done to me? Why couldn’t I use my Foreseer power? I tried again, concentrating harder, willing myself away from this place.
“There’s no use trying.” The taunting voice belonged to Nicholas.
I opened my eyes again and found him standing right in front of me. I scooted back to the wall, dragging the chains with me, the metal clinking against the hardwood floor.
“Where am I?” I asked, aiming to keep my voice steady, but failing miserably.
“My house.” He gestured around the room, which was basically bare except for a table that lined the far wall and a wooden stool perched in the corner.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked, yanking at the chains.
“Why not?” He asked with a smile that could only be described as dangerous.
This was not good. There were so many things about being here alone with him that could be bad. Not only because he could be handing me over to Stephan, but also because he was in control.
He squatted down on the floor so that he was eye level with me. “Tug at those chains all you want; you’re not going to get away.”
I jerked my arms again, wanting desperately to prove him wrong. But the chains were secured tightly, and yanking them was making the metal cuffs cut into my wrists.
He laughed at me, and I slid my leg out from underneath me and gave a try at kicking him. He hopped back, a flicker of fury flashing across his face, but he quickly collected himself and smiled again.
“You’re so feisty,” he said, his golden eyes glinting dangerously.
I glared at him. “Let me go.”
“Now, why would I do a stupid thing like that?” He stood up, gesturing at the floor around me. “I could keep you here forever you know—the room is surrounded by praesidium.”
As I glanced around room, I became aware that trimming the floor were lavender crystal balls about the size of marbles. Now I didn’t know what they were, but I knew they had to be bad.
“What’s praesidium?” I asked, fearing the answer.
He gave a long pause “Well, I guess since you asked…praesidium is another kind of crystal ball Foreseers use. Only instead of channeling energy, it takes it away.”
Oh God. That’s why I couldn’t use my Foreseer power. The bad situation seemed to be getting worse.
“What are you going to do with me?” I asked, my voice cracking.
He grinned deviously. “I think the question is what am I not going to do with you?”
I tried my best to ignore my quivering nerves. “If you give me over to Stephan, you know what he’s going to do to me, right? He’s going to end the world—everyone will die.”
“I don’t need you to explain what Stephan is planning to do. I understand, even more than you do, what he’s planning to do with you.”
“So you’re just okay with letting him kill everyone,” I said, hoping he would let some of the details slip out. “Do you even feel anything at all?”
“I think the real question is do you feel anything.” He leaned over me, his eyes nearly glowing. “Which I think is what this whole thing is about.”
My stomach rolled. He knew more than I thought he did. “Why are you doing this? Is there a reason? Or are you just plain evil?”
“Am I just plain evil?” He sounded mad. “Before you go opening your mouth and saying things you don’t understand, maybe you should consider how much you know about Stephan. Or about his precious son Alex? You trust him so much, yet he is the son of the man who has ruined your life and many others as well.”
“Did he ruin your life?” The way he said it made me wonder.
He didn’t say anything, and I thought I struck a nerve.
“What did he do to you?” I asked, keeping my voice low and swaying.
He stared at me with a look of intensity and I thought he was going to tell me, but then that playful sparkle returned to his eyes, and he backed away from me with a stupid grin on his face.
“I think I’m going to go take a walk.” He slid his hands into the pockets of his tan cargo pants. “I’d say wait here, but I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere.”
“Nicholas, please,” I begged, jerking on the chains again. “You can’t hand me over to Stephan.”
But he already left.
I let out a frustrated scream, tugging on the chains with every ounce of strength I had in me, disregarding the pain of the metal cuffs cutting deeply into my skin. I tried to break free until my wrists were bleeding; until I was so exhausted that I had no strength left in me. Until all there was left to do was wait.
What I was waiting for, I didn’t know.
Chapter 28
It seemed like hours went by. There were no windows in the room so I couldn’t tell if it was dark outside. And where exactly was I? The Kingdom of Fey or the City of Crystal—where did Nicholas live?
My wrists were sore, my head was throbbing, and I was scared and tired. I wondered what Alex and Laylen were doing. What did they do when I didn’t return to the car? Were they looking for me? Would they even know where to find me?
I’d just rested back against the wall, giving up all hope that anyone was ever going to be able to find me, when the door opened up.
My heart leapt, hoping it was Laylen. Or Alex. Although, I couldn’t feel any electricity so I doubted that was the case.
Of course, the only person who came strolling in was Nicholas. He was carrying something in his hand, and he didn’t look happy at all.
He walked over and sat down in front of me. “Tell me, Gemma, has anyone told you anything about the fey world?”
“Umm…no?” Was this a trick question?
“Well,” he crossed his legs, “we have been around forever. Most people who know of our existence think of us a tricksters, which, most of the time, we are. But we can also be very serious, at least when it comes to our kind suffering.”
I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, so I just stared at him vacantly.
“I’m not sure if you’ve heard of him or not, but there used to be a Keeper who called himself Malefiscus,” he said.
I swallowed hard. “I might have heard his name mentioned before.”
“Good, then I don’t have to explain who he is. And I assume you know what kind of a person he was and what he did.”
I slowly nodded. “I do.”
“Well, during his time of chaos, he tortured everyone, including the Fey. And the Fey leader at that time, decided he had enough—that too many fey were dying, so he made a bargain with Malefiscus. Leave the Fey alone, and we would owe him one favor. Malefiscus agreed and the promise was bound with a Blood Promise.”
“A Blood Promise?”
He ignored me, continuing on with his story. “Not too long after the promise was made, though, Malefiscus was caught and sentenced.” He paused. “Everyone thought he died, and who knows, maybe he did, but his bloodline did not die with him. It carried on and now resides in a man named Stephan Avery.” He opened his hand and placed what he was holding onto the floor between us. A smooth, round stone, with a circle wrapped by an S painted on it—the Foreseers mark. “Because his bloodline carried on, so did the Fey’s promise to grant a favor. Only now the favor is owed to Stephan. No one knew of this, though, until he showed up just a few days ago, demanding his promise in the name of Malefiscus. But he didn’t want just any member of the Fey to honor this promise. He wanted the faerie who possessed the gift of Foreseeing—he wanted me. Or more specifically he wanted me to track down a very pretty, but very tortured girl with beautiful violet eyes and a fiery personality.”
If he hadn’t mentioned the eye color, I wouldn’t have known he was talking about me because none of the other parts of his description seemed fitting.
“This was after I met you,” he continued. “After I’d taken you to Dyvinius.”
“What does he want you to do to me?” I was afraid to know the answer, especially because I was in a very vulnerable situation right now, being chained to a wall and all.
“A few things,” he said. “But in the end, it all comes down to one thing—I am supposed to bring you to him.”
I swallowed hard. “Are you going to?”
“At first I wasn’t sure. I know what Stephan is planning to do—that was made clear from the beginning.” He pressed his lips together, considering something. “But in the end, I really don’t have a choice. I am bound to a promise I cannot break.”
“Are you sure you can’t break it?” I asked, practically pleading. “Because there might be a wa—”