Chapter 29

Little sounds filtered through the fog surrounding Ephie. Muted voices. Canned laughter. A soundtrack.

Television.

She kept her eyes closed and did her best not to move. Although she wasn't sure she could anyway. She felt disconnected from her body. Almost like she couldn't feel it anymore. It had to be there, though.

Was she hurt? She had no idea, since she had no sensations anywhere. Just like she had no clue about where she was or how she was positioned. Her head felt thick with … something.

She thought hard, trying to recall what Darryl had told her once. Advice if she was ever knocked out and kidnapped. What was it now? Do your best not to let your kidnapper know when you return to consciousness. Use that to your advantage for as long as you can, unless you know you're alone.

He'd given her tips about being shot at, being mugged, being chased in a car or on foot, and if she felt threatened in a public area. Even how to win if she had to fight a gator, something you just never knew about when you lived in Louisiana.

Darryl was a nice man. Her mother liked him but had never really given him a chance since his divorce. She ought to date him. She could certainly do worse.

Ephie almost smiled at that thought, then realized it would be a sign that she was coming out of the fog she was in. If she could smile.

Was she coming out of it, though? She tried to move her toes, but it didn't seem like she'd succeeded. She really hoped she still had toes. They were so cute when they were painted for the summer.

Where was she? Why did she feel like her brain was the only living part of her?

A chilling thought occurred to her. Maybe she was dead. Maybe this was what death felt like. A sense of being detached from everything else. Did Jean-Luc feel like this?

Oh, her poor, sweet bebe. Was she never going to see him again? A feeling of utter despair tore through her.

Her eyes went hot with building tears. That would not do. Neither would this pitiful attitude. Whatever had happened to her, she would figure it out, make a plan, and act on it. Even though she was scared, she would not go down without a fight. Not just for herself but for Jean-Luc. And Remy.

She loved both of them so much it hurt.

So what had happened to her? Turner wasn't supposed to be a threat anymore. He was dead. Had he ordered his men to come after her no matter what happened to him?

She thought hard, trying to figure out who had done this to her.

She remembered going into Remy's house after Birdie, then getting hit and knocked down. Birdie had gotten zapped with something that looked like a stun gun or a cattle prod. Jean-Luc had been there, obviously frightened by what was going on.

Whoever had scared her cat was going to pay. That made Ephie angrier than what had been done to her.

She focused again on remembering.

He'd jumped, she thought. She seemed to remember that. But then everything had gone dark. No, first there'd been pain. It had followed the same buzzing sound she'd heard right before Birdie had gotten zapped.

Which had to mean Ephie had been zapped, too. That had to be what had knocked her out.

But that didn't explain why she couldn't feel her body. Unless she'd been injured in some way and that had left her paralyzed?

She prayed that wasn't what had happened. That would make it very difficult for her to get out of this situation.

The fog in her head seemed to be lessening a bit, but her body was just as distant as it had been. Or was it? She had a sudden awareness that she was upright. Was she in a chair? On a couch? She couldn't tell.

She listened closely, trying to hear past the sound of the television, trying to determine if there was anyone else with her.

She couldn't tell. Didn't seem like it but if someone was purposefully being quiet, she'd have no way of knowing.

Cautiously, she opened one eye a tiny bit. It took her a second to figure out what she was looking at, then it dawned on her. Motel carpeting. That was the only thing that explained the patterned ugliness she could see. Didn't look very clean, either.

That wasn't all that was visible in her small field of vision, though.

She could make out the lower half of her body and part of a wooden chair. But not her arms. They seemed to be behind her. Tied behind her, maybe?

She learned something else. From the angles, her head was down, her chin nearly to her chest. She was in the same clothes she'd gone to the coven meeting in. The room was dim. The little flickering blue light near the edge of her vision came from the television.

She opened the other eye with the same cautious approach. She could see more now. The side of a bed and the cheap, tacky-looking bedspread that covered it. The corner of a dark wood dresser, the veneer on the one visible leg chipped.

Final assessment: she was in a budget motel tied to a chair. Felt pretty accurate but did nothing to help her situation. She didn't know where she was or who was holding her. An educated guess said it was Turner's men, but again, that wasn't a great help.

Nothing would help until she was able to move. And she wasn't sure that was ever going to happen again.

She didn't feel injured, but she couldn't feel anything. She took the risk of trying to move her head. Her view didn't change, telling her she hadn't succeeded, but she could have sworn it felt like she'd almost done it. Whatever drug she'd been given was like alcohol but not.

That was helpful.

She focused on what was around her again, looking for anything she'd missed. There wasn't much light, other than what the television was giving off. Was it still nighttime then? Maybe she'd only just gotten here. Or could it already be the next day?

More importantly, was Remy looking for her?

He had to be. Maybe he was about to burst in and rescue her. Maybe Turner's men had already been taken into custody and Remy was torturing them to find out her location. Baring his fangs at them and threatening to rip out their throats if they didn't come clean. He could be crazy scary when he wanted to be. She imagined, anyway. She'd never seen him like that, but she'd seen vampire movies.

Him torturing Turner's men was a nice thought.

She smiled.

Whoa. Had she actually smiled? She pursed her lips. They felt heavy, but at least she could move them. As much as she wanted to test her voice, there was no point in screaming until she could make a run for it or react in some way to whatever reaction that scream caused.

A door opened, bringing in the sounds of traffic, a little cool air, and human movement.

She closed her eyes. One of her captors had come into the room. That had to be it. The sound of traffic beyond the door meant the motel was near the highway, she assumed.

So she probably wasn't in Nocturne Falls anymore. Just a guess. She didn't know the town well, obviously, but she hadn't seen any cheapie motels in the areas Remy had taken her. Didn't look like the kind of town where those sorts of places would exist.

On the outskirts of town then? That made more sense. Would Remy know how to find her? She hoped so. He was a deputy. He'd been trained for this.

Suddenly a new thought struck her. Birdie. Ephie hadn't seen any sign of her. Had Birdie gotten away? Or was she being held somewhere else?

If Turner's men had hurt her or worse … Once again, Ephie felt the threat of tears. But she was more than sad. She was angry.

So angry she wished she could set on fire whoever had done this. Birdie did not deserve to be caught up in this.

Ephie heard movement, footsteps and rustling coming closer. She risked opening one eye. No one would be able to see that with her head hanging down, not unless they were crouched low and looking up at her.

Legs went by, clad in sneakers and jeans. The sneakers had tacky pink sparkly trim on them. The jeans were acid-washed.

She'd been kidnapped by a woman stuck in the '80s.

The smell of French fries and meat drifted over. The rustling she'd heard had to have been a fast-food bag.

So she was in a cheap motel near the highway with a fast-food place nearby and her kidnapper was fashion-challenged. If only Ephie had her phone. And wasn't tied to a chair. And could move her fingers.

She ground her teeth together, which made her realize she could move her jaw now, too.

Was the rest of her coming back? That would be super helpful if so. Because at some point, her kidnapper had to sleep, didn't she?

Ephie's best hope was that she was fully operational when that happened. Or that Remy found her before her kidnapper decided to move her.

Either one would be good. But she was holding out for Remy.