33. Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-One

C oming back to reality was a lesson in controlling his fear, not that Ulises could. First of all, he wasn’t sure what had happened. One minute he’d been trying to take a piss and embracing himself with his need to say every single thing on his mind and the next he was…where the hell was he?

He could understand why his head hurt so much. He’d drank enough of Ronin’s hooch to pickle several parts of his body. He might as well have put himself in a jar of vinegar and salt. It probably would have felt about the same.

Another thing he noticed was his need to puke. Like, right that second.

Ulises opened his eyes. His stomach protested every movement he made. Bile rising to his throat overrode everything else, including processing the scene around him.

He stood and stumbled to a door across the room, stepping over prone bodies as he went. He got lucky and found the bathroom. He fell to his knees in front of the toilet and hugged it as though it were his best friend.

When his stomach was empty, he flushed and moved to the wall opposite the toilet. It was then that he processed what he’d seen on his way to puking. The room he’d been in was empty except for the people lying on the floor. It didn’t have furniture. The walls were gray and bland. They were metal like the floor.

Goosebumps covered Ulises’ arms. It was the first time he’d noticed how cold it was.

Todd. Shit. Was Todd one of the bodies?

Izzy? He got to his feet. His head still pounded which made it somewhat painful to stand but he had to get to Todd.

Oh gods, baby. Are you okay?

I don’t know. I think so. I don’t know what happened. Ulises made his way into the main room. And searched for Todd amongst everyone.

It was dark but Todd’s blond hair was like a beacon. Todd lay on his back with his arms around his head as if protecting it.

Cain Nicholson happened. Just hang on. We’re coming to get you.

I don’t know where I am. His hands shook as he touched Todd’s back. Instinct told him to search for a pool of blood, but he didn’t see any.

How’s Todd?

Unconscious. Ulises pushed him onto his back. The way he rolled over as though he were a shell without a soul brought tears to Ulises’ eyes.

Ulises laid his cheek on Todd’s chest. When he heard his heartbeat, he sighed in relief. He put his arms around Todd and gathered him closer. His heart is beating and he’s breathing.

Conjuring a dome around them was instinctive, as if his body did what it needed to do. He didn’t have to think about it or chant the words Seryn had taught him.

Are you and Todd alone?

There are more victims. The dome he’d created was transparent on his side but not on the other. He could see out, but no one could see in. So he sat up long enough to count the others. Six besides us. All unconscious.

Good boy. Now tell me where you are.

In a room. Its small. Maybe Twelve-by-twelve. And there are no windows. But there’s a bathroom. He’d refrain from telling Izzy about puking. He didn’t need to worry more than he already was, and Izzy was almost feral with worry. His dragon was so close to the surface, Ulises could feel it trying to get close to him through their bond. That’s it.

Do you hear anything? Smell anything?

He heard people moving around outside the room and beyond that he heard what sounded like water. Waves crashing against something. Water. I think we’re by the lake.

We’re on our way. Ten minutes.

That’s all? He must have had some clue about their location and had been on his way before Ulises came to.

I’ll go to the ends of the earth to find you, baby. Always. Izzy gave him hope. Maybe they’d get out of there alive.

I think I maybe should figure out how to get out.

Don’t get hurt.

Ulises’ stomach flipped. Nausea took over again. He had to brace himself with a hand on the wall to keep steady. At first, he thought it was his own equilibrium. Maybe it had taken a hit with whatever chemical their kidnappers had knocked him out with. Then the room swayed again and he realized what was happening. We’re on a boat.

He registered the hum of an engine. The swaying made sense. They were leaving a dock. They had to be.

Somewhere in the room, a person moaned. The others were waking up. At least one person was. That was good. Because Ulises had no idea what to do. Maybe someone else would have an idea.

Ulises let the dome fall away.

Do you know what they did to us?

Hydrogen sulfide. Fuckers could have killed you.

Ulises remembered a bad smell while he’d been in the bathroom. Maybe that was it.

Maybe it was damaging Todd’s organs as they sat there waiting to get rescued.

His protective instinct was stronger than his self-doubt where his magic was concerned. It had to be why after a few seconds of concentrating on the chemicals in Todd’s body a yellow cloud started to form around him. He breathed a sigh of relief when no more came out of Todd’s body.

He pushed the cloud through the bottom of what he hoped was the door to get out. It stood to reason because it was the only other door in the room besides the one leading to the bathroom.

As soon as Todd was free of the chemical, he moaned, starting to wake up. Todd rolled toward Ulises and put an arm around him. “Ully.”

“I’m here. You’re gonna be okay now. We’re gonna get out of here. I promise.” Ulises ran his fingers through Todd’s hair as he scanned the room.

He wasn’t sure how they were all going to get out, but he couldn’t leave everyone here. He thought of them as Todd, letting his protectiveness kick in. The spell took longer to work. He had to give himself a pep talk and imagine some of them as Izzy too. But once he started to believe it, the spell worked. He pushed the yellow particles through the cracks in the door.

The boat swayed, making Todd groaned. “Why the hell is the room moving?”

“We’re on a boat.”

More people started waking up.

Todd sat up so fast, he almost bumped his head against Ulises. “What happened?”

“We’ve been kidnapped.” He tried to stay as calm as possible but something about saying it aloud made it a little more real. The panic started to set in for the first time since waking. “Izzy’s on his way. But we need a plan.”

“What are you thinking?” Todd was a lesson in calm and focus. He could have taught classes on it. Sometimes Ulises forgot Todd had helped Seryn to save Mitchell. Knowing Seryn the way Ulises did, that had to have been a violent and traumatic experience. It wasn’t that long ago, so maybe Todd was still desensitized to dangerous situations.

“I don’t know.” He wasn’t sure what he was going to do but finding out if the door was unlocked was a good place to start.