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2012
"We're here," Kai put the gear shift roughly into park and opened his door. When I opened my door, I was comforted to be back in the sun's warmth and not the spring breeze of Portland.
I took a moment to stretch, untying my hair and letting it fall onto my back. A part of me wondered if this was really the end of my imprisonment, but a part of me quenched any foolish hope that could likely just fall down on me.
"So... we're in the towns cemetery... nice," I muttered sarcastically, and found myself reading each name on every tombstone.
"Well," Kai grunted as he pulled out a knife, "thought we were more likely to find stuff at the nursing home."
I ignored his comment and instead watched cautiously, getting myself ready to walk away.
"Relax," he put his free hand above it slightly, beginning to siphon from it and closing his eyes in pleasure. "It's not for you, if that's what you're worried about," he snorted, tucking it back into one of the many pockets on his black cargo pants.
"Hm, can never be too sure," I quipped back, maintaining my straight face and I followed him throughout the cemetery.
"Here it is!" Kai clapped his hands together, but my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"It's here? How are you so sure?"
"I'm not," he looked back at me and shrugged, before turning back towards the mausoleum.
It looked... ancient, for sure. Veins were wrapped around, a sign of its age.
"But..." Kai started back up again, smirking over his shoulder at me, "My father had a few notes written down, years ago... it's a shame I burned most of the ones in the shed, might've helped me a while ago." He seemed to fake a face of deep thought, and I couldn't imagine what he was actually thinking, nor did I really want to know.
"Anyways..." he sighed, morphing into a mischievous smile, "Solvet."
The aura of the cemetery got creepier somehow but then he kicked the door open, moving through the cloud of dust that crept out and pushing away cobwebs.
I watched him from a distance, eyeing him as he went toward the coffin at the end of the mausoleum. I almost cringed when he lifted up the heavy wood to reveal a rock.
His eyes, for the first time, shined in excitement and he grabbed it, like a kid reaching for candy. "Bingo!" he yelled out, lifting his right hand up to show off the rock and I felt my shoulders relax in relief.
Okay, we have a chance.
Suddenly, the door of the mausoleum made a groaning sound and dragged across the pavement beneath it. I got a glimpse of Kai's distaste for the situation, mixed with confusion, before the door completely cemented shut.
"Amber? What the hell did you just do?!" he sounded upset, pounding against the walls of the cement prison.
"What do you mean? I didn't do anything. Kai, I swear to god, if this is some sick joke—"
I took a deep breath, before trying a weak attempt at kicking down the door. Even for me, it was impossible to break down, but I kept on because the thought of not being able to get out of here pained me.
"Must be my dad... Father of the year," I could practically hear the sarcasm in his words, and I paused my ensue of kicks for a second.
"It's a trap, isn't it?" I finished his thoughts for him, putting my hands through my hair and pacing around.
"He must've put something in those notes, in a way to lead you here and keep you locked, in case you found a source of magic."
He was quiet... so quiet, I almost second guessed if he was real at all.
I questioned if this was my brain's way of making me cope in being all alone. It scared me.
"Kai?" I tried to pour annoyance into my voice, but it came out more concerned than anything.
I heard glass shatter, causing me to go around the corner towards the back of the mausoleum. "Can you get out?" I asked, but he ignored me and pushed anyways. The window resisted against his push, even when it was broken.
"Damn it, it's a spell all around," he put his face into the palm of his forehead a second, taking a sigh and looking back in my direction, "Can you come through?" I didn't say anything back but moved forward and tried to extend my hand into the window.
"Give me your hand."
"What?" I looked at him with disgust on my face, backing away a few inches.
"Don't be so scared," his eyebrow raised, accompanying a smirk on his face, "Just need some of your magic, unless you're interested—"
"Okay, first, please stop talking. Second, do you even know the reversal spell for this particular spell?"
"No..." I sighed in disappointment, when he spoke up again, "but i'll get it."
I put my hand into the window, wanting this to just be resolved and he took it. The painful feeling of magic being drained from me crippled me into waves of discomfort. "Are you done yet?" I asked, eager to go back to what our current issue was.
"Yep."
It took us about an hour to find out exactly what spell would reverse it, and me driving to the bennett house in search of Bonnie's Grandmother's grimoire.
Kai stepped out, eerily quiet and he carried the rock in one hand. He glanced at me, moments of uncertainty passed before, "Let's go." I followed him without much question, already silently planning where I'd go first when we got back.
"So... do you think he knows I'm here? Helping you?" Kai barely acknowledges me, scoffing as he threw the rock into the backseat of the car. Obviously, his dad was a touchy subject, but I was tired of being brushed off, so I stared with expectancy.
"No. He probably doesn't check on me, you know, the defected one." There was a painful dryness in his voice, and he pulled the door open before entering the driver's seat. I followed in sync, used to this routinely tension. "He's probably sure I'll be here for life and didn't think this exact situation would happen. You know," he pointed his finger between us, "me and you."
"Thanks," he coughed it out so fast, I had to double take and make sure I had heard right. "for the uh... magic and stuff."
I nod slightly, focusing my stare onto the window because I didn't exactly want to be caught off guard when he was mean again.
And I don't really care.
The drive was awkward, to say the least and I kept shifting in discomfort. After about fifteen minutes, we appeared right back at the boarding house.
