Lucky - by Erin Latimer

Cool Down Time

I wasn’t sure what my plan was, in fact, I didn’t really have one. All I knew was that I had to get out of here, and I had to take Kiran with me. As much as I wanted to stick around and hear about my fairy heritage, it wasn’t safe here.

            Because I mean, really, what kind of nutcase kept people’s souls in jam jars?

            Slipping the key back into my pocket I crept over the carpet and pressed my ear to the wide double doors. I hadn’t heard the lock click, but I’d bet that Rook hadn’t left me here all by myself. He pretended to trust me, but I’d wager he didn’t trust me anymore than I trusted him.

            Sure enough, I heard the rustle of fabric just outside my door as someone shifted slightly, and the creak of the floorboards in the hallway. But did I have one guard, or two? There was only one way to find out.

            I searched the room quickly, gaze falling on the heavy silver-backed mirror on the dresser. That would work.

            I slipped it into the lacy sleeve of my dress, and then shoved the door open with my elbow.

            “Hello?”

            Through the crack in the door I spied the empty hallway, and then a face loomed in front of me, one of the men who had brought me here. The second half of Rook’s bodyguard duo. At least that meant the other one was probably still with Rook.

            “You need something, miss?”

            So it was miss now, was it?

            I blinked at him, making sure my voice was wobbly, swaying on my feet a little bit. “I’m afraid I haven’t actually eaten in a little while, I’m feeling a little…” I let my eyes flutter shut with a dramatic sigh, and slumped to one side.

            I hit the ground harder than I would have liked, bruising my rib cage and knocking the wind out of myself. For a second I thought I’d been foolish enough to knock myself into a daze, but my senses were returning by the time the guard reached my side.

            Hurried footsteps, and then he was looming over me. “Miss? Miss Cassandra?”

            I stayed still, trying not to grimace with distaste when I felt his hand on my shoulder. He wrapped his thumb and index finger around my wrist, checking my pulse. My heart was hammering frantically in my chest, out of sheer adrenaline, but the bodyguard must have took it as a bad sign, because he began cursing under his breath.

            “Come on, lady. Rook is going to kill me if you die on my watch. Wake up!”

            I felt a sharp, stinging slap on my face, and then the guard yelled in shock as I launched myself up, whipping the mirror out of my sleeve. I swung it like a club, smashing the edge of the heavy frame into his temple. He slumped forward with a groan, fingers twitching, and then lay still. There was blood pooling underneath him now, soaking into his shirt collar and the carpet underneath him.

            “Okay I’m awake,” I growled at him. “Happy now?” Then I noticed how fast the blood was flowing and groaned. I hadn’t meant to hit him that hard. He’d startled me into action when he’d slapped me.

            “Damn it all,” I snapped, and ran up the steps to yank the sheets off the bed, dragging them over to the bodyguard. I wrapped them around his head the best I could, hoping it would stop the flow of blood. Once Kiran and I got out of here I would send a doctor for him or something.