Chapter 21 #3
Jake narrowed his eyes at her and she stood from the bed, ready for his ire.
“Nothing ever got that far with him. Although, now that I think of it, I would have been bored to tears. He was rather vanilla. Like vanilla with vanilla sprinkles on top.” She started to pace. “I maybe could have dealt with vanilla and rainbow sprinkles—at least then there’s some color, you know?”
Jake rose and stopped her rambling and pacing with his body. “Coral, what are you saying?” He placed his hands on her shoulders. “We broke the contract when we made love? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Please don’t be mad.” Her voice broke. Her first chance at happiness and she had mucked it up.
“Don’t be mad? Don’t be mad? I am so furious.” He released her shoulders and stomped across the room.
She choked out a sob. “I’m so sorry. I should have told you. You just caught me off guard. I got swept up and forgot.” She collapsed on the bed, her shoulders heaving in sobs.
The next thing she knew she was against a hard chest, Jake was rocking her against him, and she looked up at him in surprise.
“I didn’t mean I was mad at you. I’m mad at this awful old witch who thinks she can run your life,” his tone was much softer. He brushed the hair from her face and kissed her lips. “Tell me where to find her. This contract can’t be legally binding. I’ll call a lawyer—”
“Jake, it’s not that kind of contract,” she cut him off.
“It’s like magick or something. Black magick?
Lawyers have nothing to do with it. She’ll be looking for me now that I’m no longer a virgin.
But I’ve thought it through, and I just need to leave.
I’ll try to find her before she finds us. Then you’ll be safe.”
Jake pushed her back on the bed, causing her to squeal. “Absolutely not. She can come and answer to me. She doesn’t own you.”
“You can’t fight her,” Coral pleaded. “She’ll kill you. She’s too powerful. Just let me do this.”
“And let her kill you? I don’t think so, babe.”
There was a knock on the door, and Jake moved to answer it while Coral quickly pulled on a t-shirt and leggings. Redd popped her head in the door.
“Am I interrupting?” she asked with a devilish smile and waggled her eyebrows for effect.
Jake shook his head and gave Redd an amused look as Coral rushed to deny anything was happening.
“Whatever. Coral, Faye wants to see the aquariums. Can we tag along when you feed the fish?”
Coral wrinkled her nose. She didn’t need to feed the fish. She almost said as much, but she caught Redd’s crazy gesturing while Jake’s back was turned to her.
“Yes! The fish! I almost forgot.” She walked over to slip on some shoes. “I’ll be back in a while, Jake. I have to feed the fish.”
She caught the skeptical look on his face as she rushed out the door with Redd, but she slammed it shut behind her before he had a chance to protest.
Faye was standing in front of the largest aquarium when Coral entered the atrium with Redd. She was waving her hands in front, and the fish were dancing around. As she got closer, Coral realized Faye was somehow making bubbles and playing with the fish.
She and Redd stood back and watched in awe for a few seconds before Faye noticed she had an audience. Then she quickly put her hands down, the bubbles disappearing, the fish peering through the glass pane in confusion.
“That was a cool trick!” Redd exclaimed.
“Yeah, how were you doing that?” Coral asked.
Faye’s face flushed a deep pink and she shrugged her shoulders.
Redd’s streak in her hair flamed a deeper red as she took a step closer to her and narrowed her eyes. “You some kind of witch?”
Before Faye could answer, Coral stepped in. “Back off, Redd.” She turned to Faye. “That was pretty cool, though. She just gets a little defensive. Ignore her. I do.”
Redd stuck her tongue out at Coral, and Faye visibly relaxed over the break in tension.
“What’s your plan for this little meeting?” Coral directed her question at Redd. “You know I don’t have to feed the fish. They have auto feeders.”
“Redd just filled me in about your contract and your resulting problem,” Faye answered. “I thought maybe I could help.”
Coral’s heart lifted. She barely knew this woman and she wanted to help her?
“I think we can take this old bag,” Redd said as she swished her sword in the air.
Coral and Faye both took a step back, giving Redd a wide berth.
“Redd! Not in the house!” Coral scolded.
Redd pulled a face but sheathed her sword. “Fine. Let’s get down to business. When do you think this crazy witch will be arriving to claim your soul?”
“Um, I don’t know. I’m not even sure if she knows for certain. I mean, do you think she has like, a GPS on my virginity?” Coral asked.
Faye laughed at the prospect.
“Okay, well, we need a plan.” Redd paced the floor.
“Jake doesn’t want me fighting her, and he’s insisting on going alone. And Mr. Wolfe’s going to hit the roof if you go without asking him first.” Coral turned and looked at Faye, “What about you? What would Cade have to say about this?”
“I’m not really sure. I don’t even know what we’re doing.” Faye looked quizzically between the two women.
“We’re going to kick some sea witch butt!” Redd said as she jumped in the air.
“Is she always like this?” Faye asked Coral.
“No, just when she’s gearing up for battle. Or when she’s gearing down from battle. Or on days that end in ‘y’,” Coral joked.
Redd punched her in the arm, and she laughingly apologized.
“I want to help. I’m just a little worried,” Faye told them. “I only just came into my powers.”
“Like, in the last few years?” Redd asked.
Faye shook her head.
“The last few months?” Coral asked.
She shook her head again.
“So when?” Redd persisted.
“Today,” Faye said sheepishly.
“Jiminy Cricket! We’re a little less prepared than I thought,” Redd cried.
The room fell silent as they all tried to come up with a plan.
“There’s three of us and one of her,” Coral said. “We just need to distract her.” She turned towards Faye. “Can you make some kind of distraction, something flashy?”
Faye held her hands out, palms facing the ceiling. Two orbs appeared over her hands, and they danced around like fireflies.
“You just learned that today?” Redd asked. “You’re a quick study.”
Faye shrugged off the compliment and turned off her light show.
Coral smiled at her. “I think we can make this work.” She motioned towards the door. “Come with me to convince Jake to let us go? He won’t listen to me.”
The girls walked quickly to Coral’s room, giggling and asking Faye to show off her skills as they went.
When Coral opened the door to her room, a cold breeze hit them. The window was open. She rushed over, looking out into the darkness as a feeling of dread hit her. Faye and Redd came up beside her.
“That way.” Redd pointed towards the woods. “See the tracks? Someone was in a hurry, and they’re dragging something behind them.”
“Jake!” Coral yelled, the thought causing her blood to run cold. She ran from the window, checking the bathroom and the hallway. “She took Jake!” Her knees hit the floor, the room tilting in her view. Then all she saw was Faye’s calm face.
“Look at me,” she coaxed in a soothing voice.
Coral responded, trying to keep her eyes on Faye’s.
“He’s going to be alright, but you need to calm down.” Faye placed her hands on Coral’s temples as she continued speaking in a soothing voice.
A wave of tranquility washed over Coral, and she was able to breathe at a regular pace again.
“What did you do?” Redd asked.
“Just something to calm her down,” Faye replied. “We need her thinking clearly.”
Redd brought Coral her jacket and then reached down and pulled a knife from her boot. “Here, put this in your pocket.” Redd’s excitement radiated out of her. “We need to go rescue your man.”
Coral jogged alongside Faye as they concentrated on following Redd’s tracks in the freshly fallen snow.
Faye guided their way with her dancing lights, but Redd had run ahead of them since she was much quicker than them and an expert at tracking.
The blizzard had finally stopped, but the biting cold had not gone away.
She slowed as Faye motioned towards the clearing up ahead.
The first thing they heard when they came upon the clearing was Redd yelling at the top of her voice. “Come on you old, nasty sea witch. You didn’t come for him!” Redd bellowed. “What are you going to do with him anyway? You’re too old to have any use for a man.”
It was the last sentence that sent Coral into a full sprint. She could no longer deny it. The sea witch had Jake, and her heart dropped to her stomach. Faye was running beside her and she slipped her hand into Coral’s, giving it a supportive squeeze. Coral’s chest tightened at the gesture.
Redd caught sight of them and raised a hand up to stop them while she gripped her sword in her other hand.
Coral and Faye stopped at the edge of the clearing, and Coral looked up and saw Jake floating in a bubble, hovering 10 feet off the ground.
He looked unconscious. She gasped and felt her knees weaken again.
“She just stunned him,” Faye reassured her. “He isn’t dead. Don’t lose hope.”
They both looked up at the towering sea witch. She stood about twenty feet tall. She was surrounded in her swirling black cape, a wind whirlpooling around her, kicking up snow and ice as she raised her hands in the air, chanting something in another language.
“You didn’t tell me she was such a large woman,” Faye whispered in her direction.
“She isn’t normally,” Coral said. “She must have done something to herself.” She was trying to figure it out, to assess the situation–Redd standing before the ever growing witch with just her sword to arm her, Jake suspended in a bubble. She and Faye needed a plan, quick.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something in Faye’s hands. The fairy ran forward a few steps and hurled something in the direction of the witch.