Scars, Spells and Secrets

Chapter 23

By some minor miracle, Elizabeth was carried into the same room as Hawthorne. She was absolutely certain that if she had been taken to a room alone her heart simply would have stopped and she would have dropped dead in that instant out of sheer panic.

Her relief was rather short lived.

She was shoved down into a stripped down metal and plastic chair beside him and quickly had her wrist bindings attached to another hook that was welded to the chair. The best that she could hope for with it would be to upend the entire seat. The edges of the metal frame were rounded, and the seat was a plastic that flexed under her body when she squirmed. They were most likely from either a school or some kind of detention facility by the looks of them. There was no way for her to wear apart the ties on her ankles, and so she settled for trying to twist her feet against each other to somehow either stretch the plastic out or snap it.

Their captors were currently ignoring the two of them. Hawthorne's head was bowed, hair falling in a curtain around his face. His breathing was shallow and he'd gone silent. From her place a few feet away, Elizabeth could strain back and see that his hands were bound identically to hers. If his restraints were anything to go by, he also had a similar or even identical cuff bracelet on his left wrist. It appeared as thick as her own, and Elizabeth could only just strain her own fingers up to feel the one on her right arm. There were strange symbols carved onto both of theirs. Judging by the dark metal of his, she realized that they must be iron.

She jolted as the woman who had helped to drag her into the room grabbed the strap of her bag roughly and brandished a knife. Elizabeth immediately tried to lean away, though the woman's grip was strong. She pulled the bag out, strap taut and swiftly sawed through the strap. She had been cutting down on it and as the fabric gave way the knife swung down, slicing into Elizabeth's leg. She let out a scream, which only seemed to entertain the woman. She started to laugh, straightening up and swinging the bag by the strap. "Oh, if that's all it takes to get you to make some noise you won't have any voice left by the time this is over." She smirked and threw the bag onto a metal table by the door. The bag slid and knocked against a large black plastic case already occupying the surface. The witch didn't reply, just staring up at the light blonde through her own sandy curls. The woman leaned in close, grabbing a handful of wild hair and jerking Elizabeth's head back.

"Oh, sweetheart. I can't wait for us to play, but you're going to have to wait. We're getting your little friend in very soon."

"Friend?" Hawthorne croaked from behind her. Elizabeth tried to turn her head, whimpering when the woman jerked roughly on her hair. The huntress smirked broadly, eyeing the fae with nearly black eyes. "Yes. The one in the parking lot. We had another team nearby that was able to grab him. We're going to let you all watch as we cleanse the three of you. It's better than you deserve." The woman shoved Elizabeth hard enough back by her hair that she felt the front legs of the chair lift up off of the floor. She fell forward again with the clack of metal on concrete, wincing at the feeling of both the shallow cut on her leg and the spot on her wrists where the ties were cutting in. When she turned her head, squinting her eyes at the dull throb, she saw that Hawthorne was no longer hunched forward. He was instead staring straight ahead at the wall.

There was suddenly a commotion from down the hall; there were sounds of slamming doors and shouting. The woman snorted loudly through her nose and rolled her eyes, looking put-upon. "Oh, for Christ's sake. Can't leave them alone for two minutes before they're screwing something up." She turned to stare again at the fae and the witch. A large grin broke over her features and she patted Elizabeth's head almost fondly. "Stay here, dears!" She started to laugh, strutting out the door and turning back the way they'd come. The noise was coming closer now, but only by a small amount.