Chapter - Eleven

It was like jumping off a cliff. My stomach clenched as colours and places flew past me. My whole body felt weightless and my hair floated around me. And then I face-planted on the ground. My bag had landed right near my head and all my limbs ached like I'd caught the flu. People passed us without batting an eye. Somehow, they could not see me splayed out on the ground near their feet. I groaned in pain as Nerida caught me by the elbow and swooped me up onto my feet. She brushed me off as she tutted. Felix stumbled through the portal after me, looking a little frazzled himself.

‘How did you not fall?' I grumbled, feeling a little embarrassed but grateful he hadn't seen me sprawled out face down on the floor.

Felix shook out his hair. ‘Done it a few times before. At least you didn't throw up.' He paused, then quickly asked, ‘You right?'

‘I'm fine.'

I looked around and my jaw just about hit the ground. I'd never seen such a spectacular building before. It was a mix between a castle and a government institution. It was made of caramel-coloured stone and gargoyles perched on the ledges surrounding the structure. We stood just outside its front entrance, a few steps down from the doors.

Thom led us through to the main area of the building. A huge set of winding steps, banisters covered in pink and white roses, led up to the second level. The floor was made of polished crystal tiles with flecks of gold weaved in between. An enormous chandelier hung from the ceiling, lighting the whole room in a bright white-gold glow, making Felix's eyes much more silver.

Nerida beckoned me forward and gestured to a panel on the side of the foyer where two faeries skittered around behind a wooden desk. When one girl turned to me, her aqua-blue hair tucked behind her ears, I noticed gills on either side of her neck. They moved from her intake of air. Faerie qualities are so interesting.

The girl checked us both into the institute before Thom led us up the large staircase. I could feel eyes on me and hear whisperings start up as we passed by groups of faeries and lycanthropes. Nerida and Zuzanna spoke softly in front of me. I wanted to grab Felix for support, but he looked mildly pissed off as he scowled at faeries who stared too long at him.

Halfway down a hall, Zuzanna pushed two heavy-set doors open and breezed through. Everyone followed her inside to a narrower hallway. Then, we immediately took a sharp left turn into a room, which looked like a cell. It was larger than I expected however and there were no windows.

The council members worked quickly to draw a huge pentagram on the ground using chalk. Avery swiped his brow as beads of sweat dripped to the floor. It was stifling hot in the room which Zuzanna explained was due to the containment of magic charms that were interlaced between the walls. The siblings stood together and beckoned us forward. I stayed a bit further away from the pentagram than the others. Felix kept to my right. He nodded as the siblings began to chant.

A flare of light drenched the room and I squeezed my eyes shut at the glow of the white, hot beams of light. And then, there he was. The warlock appeared in a puff, looking very annoyed. His hair was a stunning shade of metallic, rich purple. He sat in a regal dining chair with one leg crossed over the other, holding a saucer and cup of tea with steam drifting from it. The cane Zuzanna had described was draped over his lap.

Scowling, he raised the drink to his lips and had a sip before muttering to himself. Everyone waited in anticipation as he tenderly placed the cup beside the chair leg before straightening up and glaring at Nerida. ‘What is this? Being summoned like Hades? Did you even think before you acted?' he snapped.

His voice made the glamour wrap itself tighter around me.

Nerida stepped forward, ‘Volker, we summoned you because—'

‘What if I'd been in the bath?' he barked back, cutting her off, the skin around his ears turning bright red.

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. ‘Excuse me?'

Volker flicked his hair back. ‘What if I'd been in the bath? It's impossibly rude to summon someone without a phone call prior. I could have been anywhere. And I was in the middle of having a lovely high tea, until you rudely interrupted it.'

Nerida appeared dumbfounded, lost for words. Perhaps she's never had to deal with such a cranky warlock before.

Zuzanna took charge. ‘Volker, you do remember me, yes?'

He narrowed his eyes. ‘Ah, yes. Zuzanna the Fair. You were a shy Fae for someone with such power. Would be a shame to see it has all been wasted.'

She rolled her eyes. ‘Still the same Volker. You're exactly as I remember.'

He shrugged, thumping the end of his cane on the floor. ‘Always trying to maintain a reputation.' He glanced around the room, his purple hair shimmering. ‘What business do you have summoning me into an interrogation room like I'm a fallen?'

I stared at the warlock in fascination. He looked middle aged and there was a small scar on the skin below his ear. His eyes – a hard mix of brown and green with slit pupils – met mine. He curled two fingers in my direction, coaxing me forward. Like I was unable to fight it, I walked right to the edge of the portal. Volker glanced first at my leg, searching for the mark I couldn't see that decorated my skin, and then at the one running along my finger.

‘I glamoured you,' he said. ‘And that is why I am called upon so ungraciously? To look at a glamoured teenager?'

Zuzanna spoke softly. ‘She is a youngblood.'

‘Hm. A youngblood. I suppose you wish for me to skin her like an animal and remove the magic, yes?'

My eyes went wide at the idea of being skinned. Volker didn't seem to notice. I tried to step backwards, my feet scuffing on the ground. He cocked his head and shook it slowly. I couldn't move; it was though my feet had been flued to the floor.

Felix tried to pull me away as gently as possible but I couldn't lift my feet. He glared at Volker who yawned.

‘What did you do?' Felix asked, his eyes shooting daggers at the warlock.

Volker didn't flinch. ‘I want her close. She stays where I tell her to.'

‘Let her move!'

‘No, and you won't take that tone with me, for I don't take orders from a vampire.'

Felix's brow hardened. He moved to stand a little bit behind me, his hand still clasped around my wrist. His eyes never moved from Volker. Volker turned back to Zuzanna, appearing unbothered. It appeared he would only listen to her.

‘Do you remember glamouring her?' Zuzanna asked him.

‘Of course. I remember every glamour I've ever cast. She was a complex one, however. A bit fidgety.'

I bit my bottom lip as Zuzanna asked, ‘Why was she glamoured so meticulously?'

‘How should I know?' he answered. His nostrils flared as he chuckled. ‘It was centuries ago.'

‘No. It was two decades ago.'

‘Same difference.' Volker waved a hand about. ‘I hardly remember much of this girl at all. Apart from my glamour.' Everyone in the room glared at him. He rolled his eyes. ‘Fine. I remember that she was never to be seen by any of our world till of adult age. A handsome price was paid for such a sophisticated coating. And the glamour seems to have held perfectly. You would never know she were not mortal, apart from her Fae floral scent. A hard thing to glamour, that. The pheromone lingers in the cells of the skin, alerting others to what she may be.'

‘So you remember who brought her to you, yes?' Felix asked. ‘Her parents, perhaps?'

‘Sadly, that memory faded with time. I only remember my magic.'

I didn't dare to meet anyone's prying eyes. Felix still stood close. I heard him draw in a sharp breath. His hand was still clasped firmly around mine.

Volker pointedly went back to his tea. Zuzanna crossed her arms, stretched to her full height and looked at the warlock with less patience than before. ‘Right. You will undo the glamour and remove it from Tabitha.'

‘Oh, I will, will I? And what do I get in return for de-glamouring her?' He looked to me with a sour expression. ‘She's been wearing that mask for how many years? Ripping it off her might ache. For such a task, I wish to be compensated.'

Nerida scoffed at his request. ‘We summoned you and thus you will do our bidding.'

He raised a sculptured brow. ‘The nerve you siblings have is incredible. I do believe I am a guest in this facility, not a prisoner.'

‘A guest would be a bit more understanding of their host and what they ask for,' Nerida replied, her voice clipped. She fastened her eyes on the pentagram and flicked a wrist. Volker's tea cup disintegrated. The liquid turned to ash and ran between the slits of his fingers. ‘We did ask nicely, warlock.'

‘Compensation,' he repeated, not reacting to his ashy tea but dusting his hands off without a blink.

Felix pushed himself closer to me, his hard chest against my back. He shadowed me like a second skin. I still couldn't move my feet, trying to wiggle my toes to no avail. Thom's eyes met mine, tilting his chin slightly as if to say he understood I was terrified of being skinned by the warlock but he wouldn't allow that to happen.

‘What kind of compensation?' Zuzanna asked Volker.

His eyes danced. ‘I want a pureblood lycanthrope femur bone and a vial of pure faerie blood.'

She looked a little distressed. ‘Why would you want such things?'

Volker shrugged. ‘Spells, decoration, curiosity. Will you pay me?'

The siblings exchanged wary glances, before Zuzanna nodded. ‘Yes. But you remove the glamour, then we pay you.'

Volker looked much more pleased. ‘Of course,' he purred, cocky in his stance. His eyes sought me. ‘But I need to be let out of this pentagram. I can't work within its confines, especially if I'm to remove a glamour so special.'

‘No,' Felix said, scowling hard.

‘Of course,' Nerida cut in, dusting some of the chalk up with her bare foot, effectively breaking the pentagram border. ‘Come through.'

Volker slid into the room. He looked more pronounced outside of the pentagram, less blurry around the edges. Felix had my wrist encased in an iron grip which I relaxed into despite it crushing my bones. Volker coaxed me forward to him again, my feet moving like I didn't have control over them still. Felix tried to follow me but Volker shoved him back gently, before brushing my hair off my shoulder. I was terrified of what I would find when the glamour was removed.

‘Don't think too much,' Volker muttered. His eyes moved over my shoulders, following the length of my arms. He then focused on the mark on my finger. ‘It makes it worse.'

‘I won't have a tail or something, will I?' I whispered.

He barked out a laugh. ‘No. Your features are very pretty, little youngblood.'

‘Do it,' Nerida said. ‘Remove the glamour.'

Volker nodded. He pinned my elbows to my sides. The hairs on the back of my neck bristled from his touch. A dangerous glint twinkled in his eyes but he himself didn't scare me. I tried to look back at everyone in the room, wanting to feel like I wasn't actually about to be skinned, but my head couldn't move. Volker concentrated on my face, almost like he could see something inside of me.

‘This may hurt,' he whispered.

And then Volker began to chant ancient words. Words that sounded like a curse or spell. Demonic language fell from the tip of his tongue, streaming into the air. I felt nothing as the words fill the air.

And then there was pain. It flooded the backs of my eyeballs, drove knives into every nerve in my body and made my mouth stretch open in a silent scream. Something twisted in the cavern of my ribcage. It tugged and turned behind bone and muscle like it was nestled deep within me. Goosebumps blossomed over my arms. My legs would have given out if I'd not been held up by Volker's incredible grip. It felt like I was burning from the inside out. I couldn't see anything but the light on the ceiling. My eyes stung with unshed tears as I felt the blood in my veins boil.

He was right. I'm being skinned alive.

My senses were lost as Volker let me go and I sunk to my knees, trembling in every limb. The pain was excruciating. Felix's face appeared in front of mine, his hands smoothing down my hair. I could see his mouth open as he spoke, but the words were lost to the silence. He cradled my head in his large hands as I collapsed to the ground. My body was still burning. Then there was Zuzanna, her fair hair shining so pure underneath the glow of the ceiling light. I could see her mouth calling my name but the sound swam through me. I didn't know how to respond that I was dying before darkness enveloped me.