8. Luke

EIGHT

Luke

T he grime of the night disappeared down the drain with the water, the shower’s hot spray a welcome relief for my weary limbs.

But my brain reminded me of my almost kidnap, just to spoil things.

Dammit.

You’ll never have me…

Killing the water, I stood there for a moment, listening to the leftover drips and drifted in the monotony of the sound, giving myself half a minute to pull myself together.

Kidnap.

Ember.

The ring.

Damn. I just wanted my bed.

Sick of the dripping, I wrapped a towel around my waist and gingerly crept across gray tiles into a gray bedroom. Carissa sat on a gray sofa beside a big gray bed, the rest of the room sparse and gloomy.

“Better?”

I nodded, surveying the room. Where the hell were my clothes?

The rather harassed looking gargoyle, her dark hair messy, kept checking a pocket watch.

“Erm, is there anything to wear?” I asked.

No answer.

Cold air brought goosebumps to my skin, my upper body fully exposed to the draft blowing through the open window.

The freezing stone floor didn’t help either.

“Hello? Carissa?”

Still nothing. The pocket watch seemed to hold her in its ticking thrall, her eyes kind of glassy.

What the hell?

“Isn’t time a strange beast?” she finally spoke.

“I guess so.” I shivered, thinking about closing the window before I became a Luke ice lolly.

She traced her little finger across the clock face. “Too strange sometimes. Not enough of it, too much of it.” She hunched forward.

I didn’t like the idea of being alone with her for much longer.

“Carissa?” I tried, voice a little squeaky.

She lowered her face closer to the pocket watch.

I cleared my throat and went for a clearer tone.

It did the trick. She looked up. “What’s wrong?”

“I need some clothes.”

She blinked, her mouth and eyes widening in horror. “You poor thing!” Jumping to her feet, she hurried to the bed, grabbing a pair of gray jogging bottoms, socks, underwear, and a jumper. So gray they’d been camouflaged with the bedspread.

“Here you go.” She handed me the pile. “There are some slippers under the bed, everything in your size. I’ll wait outside. Let me know when you’re ready.”

“Thanks.”

She left me to it. I dressed quickly, body grateful for the sudden warmth of the soft clothing.

Okay. Time to get out of this room and back to Asher.

The earthy taste from Asher’s blood returned to my tongue. This time it brought a weird, gravely sensation with it.

But there wasn’t anything in my mouth.

I returned to the bathroom, sticking my tongue out at the mirror. I opened wide, seeing no signs of gravel or anything.

Weird.

It passed within half a minute.

“Okay, then.” I returned to the main room, baffled.

The door opened, a tall woman taking me by surprise.

“Oh.” I backed off, the back of my legs bumping the bed.

The human’s severe expression curdled my guts, her aura crackling with hints of menace. Her hard, gray eyes locked onto me.

Yikes.

Certain people got your hackles rising, the belly backflipping. This first impression sat firmly in the column of bad introductions.

I don’t like you.

I scratched at my left palm. “Hi?”

Her immaculate white pantsuit gleamed in the bedroom light, a series of bracelets glinting and jingling on both arms.

“Hello, Luke.”

I shuddered at her unfriendly tone. Stress heat followed, flushing up my neck, setting my face to glow.

“I’m Luna,” she carried on. “Seth wanted me to meet you.” She didn’t extend a hand or anything. “I’m the mote enchanter who made the blue candy.”

The one Seth gave me to sneak around in the London tower for this damn ring.

“Oh. Hi.”

Her posture made my spine wince. Did anyone really stand that straight?

Bells of possibility rang in my head. If I tried winning her over, picking her brain a bit, she might help me with Finn. Or offer some ideas to springboard me to an actual solution.

I filed it away for later.

“I’m here to attach a powerful bracelet to your wrist.” She held up her right arm, pointing to a gold bangle with white and orange charms dangling from it.

“More jewelry?”

Her expression didn’t change. “These charms are infused with the same suppressant you take, but at a much higher dose.”

Great. More boot-on-my-head trickery. “Okay.”

Luna moved closer. “After your outburst, Seth believes it is best for you to have this extra layer of protection. Unfortunately, there will be some unpleasant side effects with so much in your system.”

“Not what I wanted to hear.”

“Quite. There is no other alternative. Your mind will be affected.”

I hate you. Did she want to provoke me into blasting her from this room? “It already is.”

“I gathered.”

My muscles quivered. “There are too many holes in my head.”

She stared at me for too many long beats. “Remove the amulet.”

I responded with a firm, “No.”

“Do it. Now.”

I flexed my fingers, powers stirring in the deep. “No.”

“You don’t get to argue with me on this. Remove it. Now. It will interfere with the bracelet. You can have it once the magic has settled in your system.”

This mote enchanter was going the right way for an agonizing death.

“I’m not doing anything.” I contacted Asher, relaying this to him while I pushed aside murderous thoughts.

A dark voice within me called for her blood.

I hate you…

“Go with the flow,” Asher said. “Seth’s already told me about Luna.”

I flinched slightly, taken aback. “What? Really?”

“I know it sucks, but they’ve got us by the balls here. Do it for an easy life.”

A fragment of defeat jabbed at me. It spoke of something else, something I couldn’t quite pin down.

“ What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m tired. Worried about you. Just wanna get you back to the lighthouse for snuggles.”

“I like snuggles.”

He snorted. “This will soon be over.”

“Okay. I’ll be a good boy.” I didn’t mean to sound so seductive, especially when apprehension got my toes curling.

At least the dark voice seemed quiet now.

Always sign me up for cute distractions.

“Promise you’ll be a bad boy after at some point ?” How I loved his sexy purr.

“Absolutely.”

“See you soon.” There was that defeat again, his tone collapsing into an exhausted sound I did not love.

Conversation over, I removed the amulet, my stomach flipping.

“I want this straight back when we’re done,” I told the enchanter.

“Of course.”

I chewed my bottom lip, still unsure despite Asher’s reassurance.

Luna staring at me didn’t help.

An uncomfortable silence followed.

Luna finally broke the silence. “This is for your own benefit.”

“Okay.” I saw no other choice. Well, short of making a run for it, which would be as successful as a round trip to Pluto.

The enchanter inched closer, her scrutiny too much to bear. A bad feeling roiled in my belly, the bed blocking me from backing away.

Crap. So much for going with it.

“Give me your wrist,” she demanded.

I swallowed. “Which one?”

“Either is fine.”

I held up my left. “Here.”

She removed the bracelet from her wrist and fastened it to mine. The moment it touched my skin, my head spun.

“Oh…” I collapsed onto the bed, clutching at my skull. “What…” Cotton wool. Wet cotton wool. Soaking me up, clogging my system.

“Give it a few moments,” Luna said.

I squirmed up the duvet, caught in relentless buzzing. Not painful, but unpleasant. Dirty. Polluting.

“Please… I can’t… Please make it stop…”

My pleading went unanswered, the edges of my vision turning orange and white. Magic dragged my powers from my grip, throwing them out of reach.

The other me, the one with the dark voice, resisted. He was a great power, underserving of being sealed away. He should be free to display his greatness, to destroy those who wished to manipulate us, to curtail such magnificence.

But goodbye to this dark half. He lost this time. Maybe I’d see him again, maybe never.

Kill her!

No. I can’t be this thing.

A scream, a pop, a final plea for freedom from the other me, and I snapped back into the gray bedroom, curled into a ball on the bed.

“Luke?”

A rush of energy forced me upright. Everything clicked back into place, no more spinning head, no more darkness.

“I think it worked,” I said in response.

I never expected to feel so perky straight away.

Luna stepped closer, narrowing her eyes as she bent to inspect my face. “It certainly did.”

“How can you tell?”

She didn’t answer that point. “Your invisibility?”

“What about it?”

“Test it.”

I did, the watery-like energy rippling across my body, removing me from sight.

“Good,” the enchanter said. “Return.”

I obeyed. “How come it still works but the other powers don’t?”

“The magic is geared to allow you some grace. Your invisibility can be a useful tool to keep you safe.”

Translation: Seth might want to exploit it again at some point. I wasn’t stupid.

“Your odd visions should also work as normal,” she said.

“I can’t test those. They come randomly.”

“I know.” Wow. Did she have to sound so snotty?

“Okay.”

She sniffed. “The bracelet will last for as long as you keep taking the potion—both working in tandem. You must keep it on. If your try removing it, an alert will sound and you will face the consequences.”

“Oh.”

“Seth is serious about security. Do not let him down. Keep the bracelet on.” She turned her back to me. “It’s a matter of life or death.”

Great. Great. Great. Exactly what I loved hearing.

The enchanter left the room as Carissa returned, offering a gentle smile.

“My amulet,” I said. “Luna didn’t give?—”

She held it up. “Don’t worry so much, human. Everything is fine.”

Yes. I really believed her. Let me bask in the glorious truth of those words for a moment.

Or not.

Ugh. If there were shady machinations going on behind the scenes, I didn’t want any part if it. They could leave me out of it, even if everything involved me.

Who the hell was I kidding? Talk about na?ve. What next? A trip down Sunshine Lane to sing with the birds and bunnies, the world nothing but a happy place filled with smiles and candy canes?

Gross. I loathed candy canes. Stupid Christmas crap, December made my gums hurt. The sooner this month whizzed by, the better. I didn’t particularly like January, but at least January was honest about its dreariness. December painted itself in festive colors, burying its harsh face under tinsel and songs and fucking candy canes.

Finn made Christmas fun. Without him?—

“Luke?” Carissa said.

I rubbed my eyes, forcing myself back into the moment. “Sorry. Can I have my amulet please?”

She handed it to me. “Come along.” The gargoyle spoke brightly, less exhaustion about her now. “Let’s get to the meeting.”

I followed her, confused by my encounter with Luna, while also numb to it. Control of my life fell into the laps of others now, me the puppet on the string dancing to their whims.

Damn.

Just damn.