Chapter 10

PRUE

A ll of my senses are heightened. I take a second to suss myself out in the car mirror, I straighten my hair as best I can, but it does nothing to fix my appearance. I have black circles under my eyes, and my face seems sunken. I did fall out of the sky then unwillingly go hiking, I'm not sure what I expected to look like.

It's been a rough two days. I slide out of the car. I head over to Grayson's side and pull the door open for him. He edges out, then holds onto the door frame to pull himself out. He stops in front of me.

There's almost no space between us. He's large and lean, his muscles clear. His dark blue gaze finds me. I take a step back and look toward the club. My palms break out into a sweat. I don't want to go in there.

"Emmett's on our side?" I glance at Grayson, who's shut the door behind him.

"Yes." His answer is firm, and quick, and it makes me feel a little bit more okay with this plan. Find Emmett. Fix Grayson. Fix the time streams.

He takes a hold of my arm and ushers me to the metal-and-heavy doors. He's leaning into me, and the smell of sweat on his skin hits me. His hand is cold where he touches me. I steady him as best as I can. We don't hesitate and walk through the doors. We're met with a set of stairs; we climb them slowly and cautiously. Music hums from behind another set of magenta pink doors.

Grayson steps forward, there is a guy sitting on a stool in front of the doors.

"Dodge," Grayson greets.

The guy inclines his head toward him.

Grayson pushes the doors open effortlessly and almost disappears inside without me, but before the doors swing shut he peeks out. "Come on, Prue."

He reaches for me again. I walk into his arm and he takes the opportunity to lean more heavily on me. Once inside, I stop. Everything's pink. The glasses at the bar are a pastel pink. The bar's a dusty pink almost rose color. The floor's a pale pink. This club had to be someone's sex dream come alive.

The only contrast to the pink are black leather chairs situated in corners. Everywhere people are having sex. A girl is bent over on the side of the bar, she's wearing pink high heeled boots, and a guy is fingering her. She's flushed, and he seems to be drawing his fingers in and out, slowly, methodically. I move my gaze away from there.

Bubblegum pink sex toys fill glass cabinets, some of them are on the wall. The pleasure emanating from everyone around me feels like it is wrapping me up, and I almost want to stray off and find a pink sex toy for myself.

"Grayson," I say, catching his attention and distracting myself.

"I told you this place's something."

"What's up with this world and the color pink?"

"It's like a trademark," he says.

I concentrate on him. The dullest thing in this place, color wise, is Grayson. While I'm gawking, his off-white pale tone went deathly white.

"Where's Emmett?" My voice sounds flushed to my ears.

Grayson focuses on me, and it feels like he is studying me and my reaction to this place.

"Emmett will be at the back," he says.

As we head to the back, my gaze strays to the girl at the end of the bar once more. She's had some tequila poured down her back, the guy she's with is dragging his tongue up her back then down again, then lower, not stopping.

"Prue." Grayson's voice is firm and snaps my attention.

I nod, shaking off whatever's come over me. I follow him, we walk down a corridor, and pass some rooms, some of them themed.

There's one large black leather couch in a corner, with dusty pink tables scattered all over. It is quieter here, fewer people.

Grayson angles to the corner, and I trail him. My gaze landing on one distinct figure. His presence is palpable.

He's fully clothed, unlike the two girls about a meter away from him on the couch.

His brilliantly blonde hair, which almost looks silver, is the perfect type of messy. Leaning forward, his knees spread apart, he has his drink in one hand, and is knocking the glass against his knee. He's wearing nothing but black from his top to his jeans and boots. Yet he doesn't fade into the black leather couch.

"Emmett." Grayson says, loud enough for him to hear.

Emmett takes a second then he reclines, stretching his arms across the back of the couch. The movement seems to set a few things in motion.

The girl next to him moans.

Grayson falls.

And I panic. I grab for him, but he hits the ground with a thud before I can stop him.

Emmett reacts quickly and with purpose. He's out of his seat and crouching next to Grayson in one fluid movement.

"Why the fuck didn't you undo this?" The words are a growl and are aimed at me.

It distracts me from my panic, and instead of being concerned for Grayson, I'm pissed. I'm hungry and tired. I've found myself on a second earth. I have no idea what I'm doing or what's going on. I've lost Grayson, stumbled on him again, only to find a guy sitting in a pink sex club, who is supposedly a key player in all of this. Then Grayson goes ahead and passes out.

"Hi, nice to meet you," I say with a bite. "I'm Prue or Prudence if you're like Grayson who ignores my preferences." I pause and gesture at Grayson. "In case it's unclear, I have zero idea what I'm doing. So why don't you undo this?"

I huff and stand up from where I squatted next to Grayson. He's still breathing, but pale, and his wound is bleeding again. Emmett takes control.

So, I take this guy's seat. My gaze straying to the girls next to me, one brunette, one blonde. The brunette's eyes are closed, head back against the seat, as she reveled in the sensation of the blonde's tongue on her clit. The blonde expertly working her tongue as she teased and licked. There's a lot going on, but I envy their ability to tune out everything around them and focus on the moment. On their pleasure.

"You're also late." Grumpy Ass Number Two shoots at me while he repositions Grayson and gets his jacket off him. On the table is a very stiff looking drink. I don't hesitate, grab the glass and bring it to my lips. Bourbon burns when it hits my throat.

"Yeah, well, I interrupted Grayson's time jump then we ended up in different locations, and long story short, here we are, late and bleeding."

My attention is back on the girls. The brunette squirms, her breathing hitches. Her nails dig into the seat as she clearly comes. The kneeling girl keeps stroking with her tongue, not relenting, the moans from the brunette are pure pleasure. A mystery guy slips into the blonde, who's still on her knees. The brunette still squirming under her. But the blonde pauses as the guy begins to thrust into her and she leans back into it.

My cheeks heat. I shift all my attention to Grayson. Emmett has gone quiet, and he places his hand on Grayson. I focus on one long cord of energy emanating from Emmett, it's golden and is covering Grayson with it. I can pick up the purple threads around Grayson too, but they're muted and not pushing back against the golden streams. Slowly, Grayson starts to stir but isn't fully up yet. The dread I was feeling earlier finally dissipates as Grayson manages to sit up.

"Right, let's go," Emmett says and settles his green gaze on me.

I down the drink I stole—it's bourbon with hints of honey and orange in it.

"I'd rather stay." I don't know where those words came from, but I mean them. I want to stay here, where no one seems to have a care in the world and the only concern anyone has is how much pleasure they can experience. I am envious of it.

"Prudence," Grayson growls.

He's very alert now but two things strike me as he stares me down: he's clutching his side like he is still in pain, and I can't help but wonder if this place is why he landed naked on my front lawn? Was he at this club before he came to me?

"Fine." I stand up. "Emmett, you have decent taste in spirits."

I catch a waiter walking past with drinks on his tray, I don't hesitate and grab two tumblers off it. Downing one before anyone can say anything, I hand the other to Grayson.

His eyebrows raise then he downs it too. A warm buzz settles over me, and every inch of anxiety I'm pushing down starts screaming to stir back-up—my body wants me to be in a state of stress.

"Are you two done?" Emmett asks.

His timing's fateful as the blonde girl behind me comes, and two seconds later, the guy is finishing on her. I don't know why, but I catch Grayson's gaze and squirm a bit while he stares at me.

"No, we aren't. We have a whole universe to save." I place the glass onto the table and leave, as though I'm in charge, and they're holding me up.

Prue strides out. I don't know if it is the drinks she downed or the general atmosphere of Under the Drapes, but she has a confidence about her that I haven't seen before. For the first time, the role of Time Witch suits her.

"That's her? She's the Time Witch?" Emmett asks, coming up behind me and handing me my jacket.

"Prudence," I reply.

"She couldn't even base heal you?" Emmett questions.

"She has no idea how to control her abilities." I reply, keeping my voice low so that we don't draw Prue's attention back on us.

"Well, that's something," Emmett says, disbelief in his voice.

"She's something." I don't say anything more and follow her out.

My side has stopped bleeding, and my breathing has eased, but my ribs are still throbbing. Given the time between the injury and the healing, my injuries wouldn't have completely healed. There's a sick sense behind time magic; if too much time passes, nothing you do can undo what's been done. Like a stark reminder that we have to live in the reality we create.

We're on that same clock with the damaged time streams between the earths. The longer we take, the less likely we'll be able to undo the damage and restore my earth and home. The one advantage we have is that Prue's earth's time stream is stable, acting like a buffer in the interim. But given Cole and Marissa's presence, Prue has weeks to fix this.

I step outside. Prue's ahead of us. Emmett catches up and strolls next to me—his default pace no matter the situation.

"Where's she going?" he asks.

"To the car she jacked."

"She stole a car?" Emmett's disbelief has grown and he is staring at her with an open mouth.

"Effortlessly. Everything works in her favor." I say, "Even a car appearing when we need it."

"She aligns it so," Emmett says.

"Yes," I reply simply.

"Does she realize?" Emmett asks.

"No, she focused on getting me to you and us away from Marissa and Cole. She had no idea she was using her abilities."

Emmett whistles, low, and it sums up everything about the situation. "They're here already?"

I nod and slip my hands into the pockets of my pants.

"Did he touch her?" Emmett asks.

"I made it clear where I stood on that." I say and the muscles in my back seize up, the thought of Cole being that close to Prue, and having all that time to unravel her is frightening. And even more so, given she has no clue how to defend herself.

"The timeline's playing out quicker than expected," Emmett says. He tenses, and his jaw twitches. He changes the subject. "I'm going to go tell Prue we can take my very not-stolen car."

He strolls ahead of me now, and I let him, taking a few seconds to come up with a plan. Emmett has a base set up here that we'll go to. There we can reset. Emmett will find the location Prue needs to be at to fix the time streams, and by then, she should be ready.

After that, it's one done, and one to go. The connection between Prue's earth and this earth needs to be restored before we can fix my world.

For now, I need to shower, sleep, and eat. At least I can do that.