Believe the Magic Read online

  The gem in my hand thumped against my tightened fingers. There was no doubt what it was. “Thank you,” I whispered. I opened my hand to see my treasure. When I looked up. He was gone.

  If it weren’t for the gem in my hand, I’d think I was losing my mind. “Am I nuts?” I asked Winzey, hoping she was still hanging around. What was going on here? Why didn’t it make sense to me? Was I missing something? But maybe that was the answer.

  After all, I‘d fallen head over heels for Quentin. Big problem, though. He was on the same side as the guys who were following me around and trying to kill me. Yeah, I was definitely going insane.

  I tied the gem around my ankle and tucked it inside my sock. Wasn’t the most comfortable thing, but it worked.

  Quentin, or whoever was posing as my boyfriend, hadn’t bothered to fetch me just yet. Was I going to stay? No sirree.

  I opened the door to the room and walked right into a misplaced football player. “Uh, don’t you have a game this weekend?” I squinted up at him. “You play for that New York team, don’t you?”

  He grunted. I suppose that was the extent of his vocabulary. Not much more is necessary for someone of his size.

  “I need to get by, I’m looking for someone.”

  Grunt. Arms, no those were tree stumps, blocked my path. “Uh, no really,” I told him. “I have to meet someone. I’m running late.”

  No matter how many times it happened, I would never get used to the thrown-over-the-shoulder carry technique.

  “Where are we going?” I asked my captor. “I’d be happy to walk nicely if you’d just put me down.”

  We rounded a corner. From my view, which was more of the label on this guy’s jeans and the floor than anything else, it still looked like a hospital. We rounded a corner and I saw a gurney. And the guy laying there didn’t look like he needed a doctor. He needed the coroner.

  I was deposited, literally dropped, on the black and white tiles of a long hallway. The dark wooden double doors in front of me were closed. A butler-looking guy stood beside them. Any second now he’d lean forward and open one of them, rows of toy soldiers would then lift their long trumpets and salute my entrance.

  That dream bubble popped when Mr. Hercules handcuffed my hands behind my back. I was not to be received as royalty.

  Oh darn.

  The butler did admit me the way I imagined. And then I got a punt kick in the tush that left me nearly sprawling along the shiny floor. Not even a red carpet for me to follow.

  I recognized the snake known as Mr. B immediately. He held out a hand to me as I approached, but I knew he wasn’t asking for a dance.

  “What do you want with me? I don’t have the gems. I’m nobody. You send me back home and I swear I’ll forget any of this…” I looked around the room and expected the Mad Hatter to emerge and seat himself at the long dining room table, “…mayhem.”

  “I have a better plan.”

  I rolled my eyes up to look at the ceiling. It was as fancy as the floor. Cathedral style with garish chandeliers and stained glass windows.

  “You like what you see?” He swept his hand around the room. “This can be yours. I need an heir.”

  I nearly fainted.

  He laughed, a belly laugh that creeped me out. “I don’t want you to mother a child for me. Although I can’t say the idea isn’t tempting.”

  His eyes were roaches and they crawled over my skin. I wanted to rip at my body with my nails. I shuddered.

  “I know what you think of me. I couldn’t trust you to be a good mother to my child. But, you wouldn’t harm or destroy Quentin’s child, would you?”

  I glanced down at my stomach. Oh, it better not be true.

  “No. Not yet anyway, so say the doctors who checked you out. But your dear boyfriend expressed his desire not to see you killed. So I will save your life, in exchange for your firstborn son.”

  “Never,” I hissed.

  He reached over and cupped my chin in his greasy hands. “I know your worst nightmares and I can make them come true. The only way is my way.”

  Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let him break me. I couldn’t be reduced to a quivering puddle of female flesh. How would that look? “Then I will have gems. You will give me a set of gems and allow me my magic. I will not be unarmed.” I was rather in shock I had the nerve to ask, but I didn’t think it was wrong to try to bargain.

  His head fell back like a Pez dispenser and another round of laughter bubbled out. “You are a sassy one. I can see why Quentin likes you. He’s a strong one, himself. Quite willing to go to great lengths to get what he wants.”

  My heart had finished its gymnastics routine and had landed, belly-flop style, in what used to be my stomach. That particular organ was up around my throat and threatening to alter the perfection of the formally set dining table.

  “C-Could you untie my hands? I’m not feeling so well.” It would serve him right if I puked on his shiny black shoes.

  He patted my cheek. “There’s a bathroom in the corner there. Don’t be long. First course is ready to be served.”

  I choked it back. My legs couldn’t move fast enough to get me to the bathroom. Then nothing.

  Well, how long had it been since I’d last eaten? The Arctic Circle adventure? It had to have been.

  It felt like all that happened days ago. Time had a freaky way of sneaking off from me. And now, it seemed, so did my dignity.

  I splashed cold water on my face. All it did was make me look like a drowned rat. I needed a shower. Clean clothes would be nice, but I’d shower in my clothes if that wasn’t an option. Actually, the idea of food didn’t sound half bad. It was the company and his idiotic proposal that had me gulping down bile.

  Either Winzey had abandoned me or was just as shocked by the recent events. I prayed for the second. I wasn’t going to be able to do this alone.

  I scooped up a handful of water and sucked it in, swished it around and spit it out. I felt sufficiently sure I would be able to swallow my food and keep it there. I think.

  Bergestein nodded to me and rose to pull out the chair at the opposite end of the eight-foot table. It had been set with a white lace table cloth and elegant, creamy china.

  A bowl of soup had already been placed at my station. I stirred it, almost afraid to ask.

  “Simply vegetable barley, my dear. I wouldn’t poison you. I’ve been quite honest with my intentions.”

  I raised an eyebrow but lifted the spoon to my lips and sipped. I realized just how hungry I was.

  Mr. B’s only comments were to the staff, and when the empty plate that had held roast potatoes and steamed chicken was removed, he pulled me from the table.

  “You’ve learned much magic in a short time. Quentin said your command of fire is amazing for such a novice.”

  I nodded, looking out the window. The courtyard was below us. Four or five stories below.

  “What is this place?” I asked. It seemed like it housed a factory, a hospital and then, this…ballroom?

  “It is ever changing. The magic here is strong. You know that. Your tricks have all been rooted from the power in the original gems.”

  So they were here! I turned back toward the table and used magic to bring my goblet to my outstretched fingers. “You tell the truth,” I said. I wondered how he liked being accused of honesty.

  One of his overgrown eyebrows shot skyward. I felt like saluting.

  “So humor me, why is it you don’t have a wife or mistress to give you an heir, surely with your wealth and power—“

  “Exactly, my dear. A wife, even a mistress would make demands of me, of my wealth, my power, my life. I’ve thought this through and am not making this barter lightly. I’m on the cusp of joining all the gems, but no amount of magic will give me immortality. I need an heir. I think that’s truth enough, don’t you?”

  I gulped, unable to believe he’d throw it all out there just like that. I was too freaked out to suggest maybe he couldn’t have children.
Plus, he was bargaining my life here—and I really believed I meant it. “You don’t have a second-in-command? What would a mere infant do for you?”

  “Can you imagine the skill he would learn, growing up with the most powerful magic at hand? Those at my right hand would also be at his. I require loyalty. Require, not request.”

  The food was not settling well on my stomach at all. I needed out of here. How could he suggest—no never mind, Mr. B could suggest, even demand anything he wanted. “I’m still quite unsure of this...p-p-plan. I’d like to talk to Quentin, of course.” I took a deep breath and felt a little of the old Ella slipping back. “But not tonight. You must know what I’ve gone through recently. Will you offer me a room, a bed, shower?”

  Mr. B’s eyes shot open, then glittered with what I hoped was amusement. “Of course I will. I would not be considered inhospitable. Crank?” The burly man who’d treated me like an oversize football was at his right hand. Invisible. He’d followed me in and been invisible. I cringed when I wondered if he’d followed me into the bathroom.

  “Crank, see Ms. Ella to her room. I think we should give her the suite on Floor Four of the new wing.”

  Mr. B. even got a grunt in return. At least I wasn’t delivered to my lodgings in the same manner I had gone to dinner. My full stomach would have surely rebelled.

  Quentin sat in the recliner. He was either asleep or staring out the window. If he hadn’t heard mine, I’m sure he couldn’t have missed Crank’s heavy footfalls on the polished wood floors of the hallway.

  Once the shock of seeing him faded, I did a quick survey of the room. It was plush. Definitely hotel-like, but homey. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, I could get used to this.

  The décor was rich plum and a deep green. If I’d tried it in my apartment, it would have looked like sour grapes. This, however, looked amazing.

  A sitting room was adjoined by the bedroom. The color scheme matched throughout. A light peaked out of a doorway just out of my line of sight. I assumed the bathroom. My first stop. After Quentin and the football player left.

  I ignored Crank and approached Quentin.

  “I’m not liking this.”

  “I know. I lied to you. I wanted to protect you. That’s why we were up there at the North Pole. But then you left and, of course, Mr. B has the ability to trace anyone who’s using their magic. It was best for me to come here and wait. We knew you’d get here sooner or later.”

  “Why, Quentin. Why are you on his side?”

  “Can’t you feel the power?” Quentin’s green eyes flared bright for a moment, startling me. “This place is magic in and of itself. Bergestein isn’t all bad. His ideas aren’t the cultish, fanatical, rule-the-world schemes at all. Done right, it could lead us to a controlled, peaceful way of life.”

  “Done correctly,” I repeated, wanting to spit on the idea of control.

  “And that’s where I come in. I can’t prevent him from taking over. It’s inevitable. He’s willing to kill anyone who has an original gem. He has nine now. There’s just one remaining. One.”

  I swallowed and gazed over his shoulder. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to continue to prove to Mr. B. that I want to help him, stand beside him and ease the load of responsibility. I can be at peace by gaining some control.”

  “That sounds noble, but what about the island? What about the natural scope of things? This place, you, me—I just bet we’re all simply figments of our imagination at this point. I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t anymore. He’s creating illusions.”

  “And isn’t the idea of living in a world you can control so much better than facing the polluted life of a nobody the world just pushes around? Do you really want to rejoin the rat race of those millions of people out there who’ll never believe magic is possible? What kind of life is that?”

  “A real one.” I stomped. How could he say this, believe this?

  “Reality bites.”

  I didn’t want to even think it, but I did. He was right. Reality, for me anyway, was no bed of roses. I stood there for a minute, looking down at the set jaw and sparkling eyes. The memory of Winzey’s voice echoed in my ear, “Bad.”

  Oh, he wasn’t bad. He was good. Very, very good.

  The bright green of his stare darkened to a forest shade and his eyelids slid part way closed. He reached up his hand and pulled me onto his lap. It was like coming home.

  I could have resisted a kiss. But he didn’t offer me one. Instead he folded me against his fishermen’s sweater and rested his forehead against my shoulder.

  That’s all it took. If I’d have dared look, I probably would have seen my heart scurry across our intertwined arms and leap fearlessly into his chest.

  “Why did you leave me?” His voice sounded the part of a deserted lover.

  I opened my mouth, but closed it again. A half-truth really wasn’t a lie, it was it? “I was scared,” I finally relented. That was the truth.

  “Of me? I was trying to protect you.”

  “I’m still scared of you.”

  He tugged me away from his chest and framed my face with his hands. “One thing I wouldn’t do is hurt you.”

  I shook my head. “There’s too much going on. Too much I don’t know. It’s not a clear good versus bad out there, is it?”

  “No.” He chewed his lip. “It isn’t.”

  “And you’re somewhere in the gray.”

  I had to smile when his eyebrows turned downward.

  My heart melted. “You look the villain when you frown like that.” I tried to mimic his expression.

  He laughed and pulled me close. I turned my head at the last minute to avoid the kiss.

  “Why?” His voice tickled my cheek and sent a shock wave of awareness through my entire body. That was why. He could turn me into putty with a touch.

  “I want to stay in control. The last thing I need to do is complicate this with sex.”

  “For a minute there I wondered if you’d gotten over me that quickly.”

  “I see your ego survived the trip.” I got up off his lap and stared out the window. “Where the heck are we? It looks old here…England?”

  Quentin nodded and reclined in the chair.

  “Then why no accents? Everything, and everyone, here is…Americanized.”

  “It’s safe here. The castle’s real, but everything inside it was brought by magic. Remember the exchange rate,” he said and grinned with his teasing, crooked smile. “This stuff is real, but it doesn’t belong here. And it could be gone tomorrow, replaced with something completely different.” He patted the padded arm of the chair in emphasis. “But there’s no one around who’s going to say a thing about this place or what’s going on here.”

  My mind was boggled. If the events weren’t enough to make me question my sanity, the idea of an ever changing castle/hospital/factory whatever this place was—it was too much for me to comprehend. “I don’t like all this stuff.”

  “You don’t have to. You just have to accept it. Don’t make waves. Just stay in the rooms assigned to you and read, watch TV.” He shrugged. “Mr. B will only notice you when you’re a thorn in his side.”

  “And I guess he doesn’t care that he’s a thorn in mine.”

  His half-laugh caused the burgundy chair to bounce. He used the momentum to stand and stretch. “Don’t you worry, Ella. I’ll be around to take care of you. Promise me you won’t try anything funny. It’s best you stay away from any magic whatsoever.”

  I twirled the chair around to me and took Quentin’s vacated spot. I used magic to rotate it back.

  He frowned and tilted his head. “I guess you can do that kind of stuff. Just no walking through walls or starting fires. And don’t even try to jump. Not that you could without gems.”

  “No flying, then, huh?”

  His eyes widened. “That was rather impressive. Especially without your own gems.”

  I waved my hand, hoping my feeling of panic di
dn’t reflect on my face. “Everyone seems to think I have the ability to pick up the wavelengths or something. Didn’t Sam even say my…adaptation to magic was one of the reasons he picked me? Anyway, I didn’t even realize I was flying. I just was enjoying the wind on my face and suddenly opened my eyes and I was floating.” I watched him, praying he bought it.

  He shook his head. “And once you realized what was happening you lost concentration and fell like a ton of bricks.”

  “Quite.” I don’t believe it. He bought it.

  He continued shaking his head until he’d left the room. I looked back toward the window and stared at the gray sky through the trees. For asking me to behave they’d sure given me a room with a chance to escape, magic or not. The tree branches held out their limbs like helping hands. All I had to do was climb down and walk away.

  I turned back around. I just didn’t have the strength to do it tonight. The room’s glory hadn’t faded in Quentin’s absence. One night won’t hurt. One bath, a good night’s sleep. Then I could plan.

  I figured either Mr. B or Quentin arranged for meals to be brought to my door like clockwork at eight and noon the next day. I’d woken startled, but golly, it was so comfortable I didn’t care there was a stranger standing at the doorway calling my name. “Breakfast, Ms. Ella.”

  I nodded. I hope there’s a room account. Ha. Even if there was I’d never be able to settle it.

  Just because I could, I’d filled the oversize tub with hot water and pink bubbles and lounged until lunch arrived. I could get used to this, I had thought. Life of luxury. Nothing to do.

  Nothing to do, I muttered again. It was scarcely two o’clock and I’d found myself going stark raving mad.

  Maid service never showed up, so I made my own bed. There were no books, no paper, and the TV was on the fritz.

  I had managed to sit for a half an hour and watch out the window, but that had grown old, too. What was I going to do? The big grand scheme of getting the gems from Mr. B certainly didn’t seem to be coming to fruition here. I had no plan, hadn’t heard from Sam and Quentin’s admission of his intentions left me without help on the inside. What could little ole me do? Nada. Nothing. Just wait.