Spellbound (Otherworld 12)

When she saw me, her eyes filled with tears. She started to rise, then stopped, looking behind me, eyes wide. She raced over and grabbed my hand--the bandaged one--and I let out a yelp.

"Sorry. D-don't turn around. J-just--" She stepped in front of me, using me as a shield. "I don't think they saw me."

"Is it--?"

"Chrissy. She's with that man I don't recognize."

"Okay, listen. We're in a very busy public place. Just calm down and tell me how you got here. That will help us backtrack and find Elena. I need to call Adam--"

"They saw me!"

"Calm down. They'll scope the place out first, and cover the exits. The worst thing you can do is--"

She yanked free of my grasp and bolted.

"--run."

I went after her.

I caught up with Roni at the back door, which was locked. As she whaled on it, I pulled her back.

"So now you've trapped us in a dead end," I hissed. "Wonderful."

"It's only locked," she said. "You've got a spell for that, don't you?"

"Normally, yes, but I was poisoned recently, which explains why you haven't seen me cast anything."

I reached for the door. A prick in the back of my arm made me jump. Roni fell back, clutching a needle.

"You little bitch!" I said.

"It'll be okay, Savannah. I'd never hurt you. And they'd never let me. You're too important."

I swung at her. She tried to duck, but my fist connected and she went down. I spun toward the exit. Even when I stopped moving, though, the hall kept going, around and around. My fingers clasped the handle. It turned. It hadn't been locked after all. I flung it open, staggering out, the stench of garbage making my stomach churn. I stumbled against a trash can. It took everything I had to stay upright.

"Hello, Savannah."

I lifted my head to see a man and a woman standing there. I twisted. Two men blocked the other way. I tried to turn back, but my feet slid on the gravel. Someone behind caught me, and the last thing I heard was Roni saying, "Her friends are coming. The half-demon and the werewolf. We need to go."

I woke tied to a chair. Everything was dark, but when I moved my head, I couldn't feel a blindfold.

I tried to twist and feel how I was bound, but my hands were tied back-to-back and I couldn't stretch my fingers enough to touch anything.

I closed my eyes and worked on inhaling and exhaling, struggling to slow my galloping heart.

Kidnapped.

If anyone else was here, I'd joke about how this made me a legitimate challenger to Jaime's record. Kidnapped again. Ha-ha.

Only it wasn't funny at all. When I saw that blackness and felt my bound wrists, panic surged, tugging behind it the memories of kidnappings past.

The first time, I'd been captured with my mother. They'd come for her and I'd been home playing sick, so she'd had to protect me, which meant she couldn't get away. She'd died without ever getting away.

The second time I'd been captured by my father. He'd been fighting Paige for custody and unable to tell his side of the story, so he took me. Then Leah convinced me he'd murdered Paige, and in a blind tantrum of spell-powered rage, I'd killed him.

Two kidnappings. Two deaths.

Who would die this time?