Sex, Lies & Magic

One

The cold damp air licked at my neck making me shiver and goose bumps break out over my body. It felt like I had the world all to myself as I walked down the deserted sidewalk. My feet scuffed on the pavement as I danced to the music playing on my phone.

Neon lights dimmed as I passed stores and they closed for the night. My new apartment was only a short walk from Collins University but classes wouldn't start for a week yet. There was this illusion that I practically had not my tiny apartment building all to myself, but also the entire block. Outside of the shop workers I never saw anyone—and I liked it that way.

Buzz. Buzz. My phone rattled in my pocket.

- Thought you were coming over? Dana texted me.

I paused in my dancing and sighed.

- Nah. Gonna stay in tonight. I responded.

- C'mon! We were going to grab Chinese and watch that movie about Wizards.

- As much as I love Sam's running commentary about how they got Wizard School wrong, I'm going to pass.

- Okay. See you at work tomorrow?

- I'm working 3 to close. : (

- Boo!

- I didn't make the schedule, that was Sam I

Suddenly there was a sting at my neck and then there was nothing. I didn't even get a chance to finish my thought let alone hit send.

Shivering I came to, the bare bulb in the room burned my eyes and whited out my vision. The worst part was the missing chunk of time. Nothing makes causes panic quite like waking up somewhere without any memory of how you got there. My heart beat like it was going to burst from chest as I tried to move and found I couldn't. knowing kidnappings happen is way different than experiencing it. I continued to struggle, I was chained to something heavy and cold. Through the haze of fear I couldn't access my rational mind. I would have screamed but there was a gag in my mouth. The fabric tasted salty and bit uncomfortably into the corners of my mouth.

I thrashed.

"Stop it!" A deep voice barked from beyond the bright blinding light. "Thought you could get away, huh? Dumb bitch. We told you there was no escape. You belong to Prince Cael."

I knew that name, but my mind went a million miles an hour to put together what the fourth in line to Unseelie Throne would want with me. Then it finally sunk in, they thought I was someone else.

Swallowing I tried my best to calm myself and make sense of where I was. If I didn't calm down I knew I'd have a panic attack and black out. The fluttering sensation in my chest wasn't unfamiliar to me and certainly wasn't my friend.

Cold Floor, cold concrete floor. Metal object... radiator?

The technique of listing objects in the room didn't work—obvious since I couldn't really see anything. Next I tried breathing, deep breaths. That didn't work either.

"Mph nmph uhpm mmph nmph uhm umh," I garbled out behind the tight gag.

"Shut up!" Barky McBarks a lot bellowed.

Someone else stepped behind the light and I squinted to make out the tall shape, but that's all it was. A tall shape. Whatever they gave me to knock me out really did a number on my eyes.