Chapter 18 Veronica
VERONICA
My eyes snapped open, and I sucked in a breath.
A weird, groggy confusion cloaked my mind, like I’d just been woken from a deep sleep by the sound of a blaring car horn.
I swallowed twice, my throat dry as a bone, vision blurry.
For a few seconds, I lay there, trying to figure out what had happened.
The last thing I remembered was talking to Declan while he was at the New Year’s gathering.
Things came back slowly: all the questions he’d asked, the people he’d interacted with—all but the last few minutes after he’d spoken to Gavin.
After blinking rapidly a few times, my vision cleared, and I took in my surroundings.
The ceiling was painted a dark cream color.
Turning to check the walls, I finally noticed a strange sensation around my neck.
I reached up to feel what it was, but a faint burning on my wrist made me stop. That was what had woken me.
Lifting my hands as far as I could, I stared at the strange cuffs around each wrist. What looked like hemp woven bands encircled both, locked in place by a dull metal clasp at each end.
A purple glowing rune shone on the metal.
When I twisted my arm around to get a better look, I hissed in pain.
Not hemp. Wolfsbane fibers dried and woven into rope.
They weren’t secured to the table or bound together like restraints, but that didn’t matter.
With these on me, I’d never be able to shift, and if they were locked in place with magic, the only way to remove them would be magic.
I thought of any unbinding or unlocking charms I was good at, and when I remembered one, I tried it. As soon as I tried to access my power, though, it was as if a concrete wall had been thrown up against the pathway leading it to my mind.
Panicked, I finally touched what was on my neck. A metallic collar of some sort was on me, not tight enough to choke, but tight enough that I couldn’t get my fingers between the band and my skin. Touching it sent a sizzling sensation through my fingertips. A magic neutralizer. Shit.
“Ve…Veronica?”
I sat up slowly, my vision spinning slightly. The quiet voice came from behind me. Turning, I found that the room was actually a bedroom with simple blue paisley wallpaper, dark gray carpeting, and a few pieces of upholstered furniture, though that furniture was bolted to the floor.
“Wendy?”
The girl was on another bed, wearing the same neckband, but her wrists were bare. Her face was a mask of both confusion and joy, and tears shone in her eyes.
“Veronica!” she leapt off her bed and rushed toward me, jumping into my outstretched arms.
She crashed against me, knocking the wind from my lungs, but I didn’t care.
I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing as if my life depended on it.
Deep down, I’d believed she was still alive, still okay, but at least once a day, dark thoughts trickled in, and I had to stop myself from believing she was a corpse lying in a ditch somewhere.
Now she was here, hugging me, breathing, and whole.
“I missed you so much,” I said, my tears surprising me.
“You came,” Wendy sobbed. “You really came.”
“Of course I did,” I whispered, stroking her hair.
Though, I hadn’t really come here, I’d been brought here. The knowledge that some fucking prick had knocked me out and kidnapped me sent a swirling ball of rage through me. I wanted to lash out at someone. That was when a few memories came back.
Declan had figured out who had killed Balthazar. He’d told me, right before whatever happened to me. That part was still fuzzy, but I remembered what he’d said. Virgil Tacitus.
Wendy brought herself under control and looked up at me with a tear-streaked face.
“How are we getting out?”
Ignoring the question for now, I said, “Who took you? Do you remember?”
Wendy hiccupped and glanced at the lone door. It was barred by a deadbolt that shone with an electric blue rune. She looked back at me once more, and the fear in her eyes was almost too much for me to handle.
“It was Virgil,” she whispered. “It was him. He…he…” She started sobbing again and buried her face in my chest.
I rubbed her back as she let it all out. The young girl, who’d always seemed mature beyond her years, brilliant, and funny, had turned into a terrified child.
Finally, in a muffled and miserable voice, she cried out, “He killed Uncle Balthazar.”
She drew out his name in one long low sob.
It broke me. The floodgates shattered, and I found myself holding her tighter, sobbing along with her.
I could still see Balthazar’s lifeless eyes.
Wendy had already lost her parents, and now, the only family she had left, a man who loved and cared for her, was gone as well. She was orphaned. She had no one.
“He’s gonna kill us too,” she said, still sobbing into my chest.
“Listen to me,” I said, urging her to look up at me. Even with her dark complexion, I could see her face was flushed from crying, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen.
“We’re going to be all right. You hear me? We’ll be okay,” I said.
“H…hu…how?” she stuttered. “We can’t get out. Our magic is blocked with these fucking things,” she hissed, banging the steel band around her neck with a small fist.
“Watch your language,” I said, which had the unexpected effect of eliciting a short laugh from Wendy. I smiled at her, using my thumb to wipe some of her tears. “We are going to be fine. Do you know why?”
“Why?” she said, the word coming out in a reverent whisper as if I was about to tell her the secrets of the universe.
“Because I’ve got a friend helping us. He’s going to save us. I know it.”
Wendy shook her head. “He can’t. Virgil is too good at magic, plus he’s got guys working for him. How is your friend going to help us when he doesn’t even know where we are?”
“Because I’ve seen the way he is. I know what he can do.
He’ll never stop, never sleep, never eat, not until the…
” I stopped myself. I’d almost said the woman he loves is safe, but that was crazy.
We didn’t love each other. Did we? It hadn’t been long enough had it?
Yet, even as I questioned it, it felt right, like we were two pieces of a puzzle that had finally found each other, completing one another.
“Until his mission is complete,” I finally said. “He’ll literally walk through Hell to save us. You can count on that.”
Almost on cue, a crackling static sound hissed in my ear. My earpiece was still there. I reached up and brushed my fingers across my earlobe. I’d forgotten it was in there, and thought the muffled sound in that ear was from being knocked out.
“Declan?” I said, softly. “Can you hear me?”
“Declan?” Wendy said, frowning at me like I’d gone crazy. “Like the guy from the book I bought?”
“Yup. He’s my friend I was talking about,” I said.
“Wow,” she said.
“Declan? Are you there?” I said again.
“Veronica?” he cried, his voice tight with worry. “Thank fuck. Where are you?”
“Uh… I don’t know,” I said. “A house? Maybe?”
“Do you have any descriptions? Anything to help me find you?” I could hear the desperation in his voice.
“Wendy,” I said, looking at the girl. “You’ve been here longer. Do you have any clue where we are?”
She shook her head. “It was dark when they brought me.”
“Anything at all, sweet girl. Think hard,” I said, putting a hand to her cheek.
She pulled her lower lip into her mouth, brow furrowing. After a few seconds, she said, “There aren’t any windows. Even though it’s set up to look like a house, there aren’t any windows anywhere. It also smells kinda gross out in the hallways.”
“Gross how?” Declan asked through my earpiece, having heard her words.
“What did it smell like?” I said.
“I don’t know. Like old wet sneakers or something, but not that strong? I guess.”
I nodded. “She says it smells sort of mildewy. Did you catch that?”
“I heard,” Declan said, and I thought I could hear the sound of squealing tires through the tiny speaker. “Do you know if Virgil has any relatives? Anyone he cares about?”
The question sent a shiver up my spine. I’d told Wendy Declan would do anything to save us, now I wondered exactly how far he’d go.
“I remember him mentioning an older brother. Percival Tacitus. The whole family has weird names. His brother lives in Chicago, but his parents live in Canada.”
“Got it. Listen, Veronica, I need you to—”
Beep-beep-beep
“Low battery. Goodbye,” an electronic female voice said in my ear.
“Shit!” I cried, yanking the earpiece out.
I couldn’t be too angry. If Virgil and his men had been more careful and less reliant on magic, they would have checked me for human tech, and I never would have had any chance to speak to Declan.
“Are we still gonna be okay?” Wendy asked, staring at the now useless earpiece.
“We’ll be just fine,” I said. “Trust me, you don’t fuck with Declan McClintoc.”
“Watch your language,” Wendy said.
We both burst out laughing. It felt good. Plus, either we laughed or we cried, and I’d be damned if I let Virgil Tacitus make me cry one more tear.