Cursed to the Bone

34. Cats and Bags

If the situation were any less threatening, I might have laughed at the fact that it was them and not me getting grabbed. There was no time for chuckles, though. As the would-be kidnappers grabbed at Pat and Reshad and pulled them toward the van, Rhett took to action. He jumped the fence and rushed to their aid before one of the three kidnappers wheeled upon him.

Well, I wasn't sure why Rhett wasn't flinging spells yet, but I had no intentions of letting them take him. Not if I could help it. "Let him go!" I yelled, hand tightening on the mug.

It was then that the kidnappers noticed my presence.

"Grab her, too. Hurry!"

A taller figure lunged through the opening to the patio and reached for me like he didn't expect a fight. Naturally, I emptied the scalding contents of my cup into his face, and as he floundered, I slapped him with the mug. The ceramic shattered, flying everywhere. The man hit the ground. He blubbered and cupped his jaw with a steady glow at his fingers.

They were witches! That gave me less to worry about. The third one delegated her attempt to get Reshad to the other man and came at me with her hands out.

Jeez. Were they witches or not? I threw my hand up and cast Push. The girl slammed into the van and slid to the ground, leaving a dent. She didn't get back up right away.

"Rhett!" I raced around the boy at my feet, or tried to, and yelped as he grabbed my ankle. My body swung forward into certain agony with a chant of no.

With a gasp, Reshad abandoned his efforts to save Pat and slashed his hand in my direction. The stones beneath me rippled and softened, and as I landed, it didn't hurt. Impressive. As curious as I was, though, there'd be time to wonder about learning that spell later.

Pushing off of the ground, I darted forward only stop short as I saw Rhett. He was being held by someone inside the van. A wand—never mind how ineffective they were—was pointed at his head. Well. That explained why he wasn't doing anything.

The man behind me grabbed me around my middle and hefted me into the air.

"Watch it!" I yelled, writhing in his grip as I was dragged inside the van. There wasn't much else to do in my position. "If you break anything I'll retaliate!"

"Shut up, already," the man said, nearly growling the words out as he lowered me. "Cast one more spell and you'll regret it."

Once he released me, I faced him and scooted backwards to the wall of the van.

Pat climbed in with full cooperation and the woman wrangled Reshad in last. She dragged the sliding door shut and slammed the wall. "Let's go!"

The jerk with the wand released Rhett and joined his fellow kidnappers by the doors.

Rhett crawled to my side, looking me over. "You okay, Vee?"

I shrugged. "Nothing broken."

The van jostled and squealed as the van rolled off the sidewalk and onto the street.

"What are you after, here?" I asked, glaring at the guy with hot chocolate staining the collar of his shirt. He didn't respond, and instead chuckled. As he leaned toward his pals, he whispered something. Something along the lines of how whatever was coming was going to be good. I didn't like that.

My gaze flicked to the front of the van. The driver was visible to me. A terrible idea formed. Leaning closer to Rhett, I whispered, "Hold on to something."

"Vee, wait—"

Too late. Raising a hand to the driver, I cast the Sleep spell with an easy flick of my wrist. They slumped over the wheel and the car swerved.