27. Twenty-Seven
TWENTY-SEVEN
I was on the ground near Torch Lake when I opened my eyes.
I found my hands bound behind me, and everything hurt. I had to contort to roll to a sitting position.
“Look who’s awake,” Millie trilled as she appeared in front of me. Despite her determination to put on a front—she was part of Aunt Tillie, after all—she looked apologetic. “You okay?” she asked. Her tone was remote but there was concern in her eyes. “You were out longer than I expected.”
Rather than answer her, I turned my attention back to the water.
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, I said to myself.
It was common knowledge, but I was trying to clear my mind of the aftereffects of the chloroform.
When I got my bearings, I realized it was much later in the afternoon.
We were about two hours from the sun setting.
“How long have you had me out here?” I asked dully.
Millie shrugged. “A few hours.”
“How did you get me off the bluff?” What I really wanted to know is how they managed to get me off the bluff without anyone coming looking for me.
I’d sent Evan away. They’d managed to transport me in the time he was getting Scout. I’d sent Spencer back to the inn too. Nobody was expecting me because I told him that I had something I needed to get through first. By the time they realized I was missing, I was long gone.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Millie offered, drawing my attention back to her. “We didn’t go after them. You’re our best bargaining chip.” Millie darted a look to the trees to my left, then focused on me. “If you do what he says, he won’t hurt you.”
My eyes narrowed. “It’s funny,” I said. “You’re part of Aunt Tillie, but you’re not the same.”
That earned a smile. “Thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
Her expression fell, anger swooping in. “Excuse me?”
“Aunt Tillie never would’ve done what you did.” I tested the ropes holding my hands. I was tied tight, but the magic they’d used to ward them wasn’t very strong.
I decided to play things slow. No doubt the others were looking for me by now.
Landon was probably melting down. Heck, my whole family was probably melting down, with Clove and Thistle leading the charge.
Scout would find me, though. She would use Evan and Gunner.
They might already be in the woods deciding how to approach.
All they needed was for me to buy them time to figure things out.
“What do you think I did?” Millie challenged.
“You sold me out to the highest bidder,” I replied without hesitation. “Okay, you thought you only had one bidder at the time. You didn’t know we had a plan for you. I get it.”
Millie looked troubled but remained silent.
“When did he approach you?” I asked. I wanted a full picture of what we were dealing with.
“This morning.” Millie sat on a log about five feet from me. She was restless, but there was determination in her eyes. “He found me at the bluff.”
“He specifically came looking for you?”
“No. He was looking for someone to use as leverage against the naiad. He’d heard about the family, of course. No one can live in the area and not hear about the Winchesters, especially if you’re in the trade.”
“He knew us.”
Millie didn’t want to meet my gaze. “He knew. He didn’t care until after … well, you know.”
I tried shifting my shoulders. They were stiff. “What’s the plan?” I asked, glancing around. “Why am I here?”
“Greg knows the naiad is going to come for him. He wants to have some leverage,” Millie replied, matter of fact.
“The naiad isn’t interested in me. If he’s planning to make a trade?—”
“He doesn’t want to trade your life for his.
He wants you to talk the naiad out of attacking.
He thinks we all can get what we want … especially now that I’ve told him about the plane door.
You told me about the door. He was going to leave a trail of your blood between the bluff and here to serve as an enticement before I told him. You should thank me really.”
The more time I spent with Millie, the more I realized she was nothing like Aunt Tillie. Had it always been that way? Did she make a conscious choice?
“He doesn’t fear witches,” Millie volunteered. “He probably should.”
“He definitely should,” I agreed grimly.
Millie’s lips hitched, reminding me so much of Aunt Tillie. She looked just like her, but the more time she spent in our world, the more her mannerisms diverged. “He’s not going to kill you,” she said. “I made him promise.”
“Yes, the warlock who used his magic to have a group of men torture a naiad to death is definitely trustworthy.”
Millie’s countenance darkened. “He said he was acting in self-defense.”
“I didn’t realize torture was a tenant of self-defense.”
Millie grew defensive. “I wasn’t there. Neither were you.”
“I’ve heard the story. Let’s just say I believe the source.” I tugged my hands in an effort to loosen the ropes. “Where is Greg?” I had to laugh. “A warlock named Greg. I guess there’s a first for everything.”
“Gregor,” she corrected. “His real name is Gregor. It’s a family name.”
“His father was Gregor, so I guess that tracks.”
“Who cares about the name?” Millie’s patience was wearing thin. “As for the plan, when the naiad comes, he’ll make a deal with her. You’ll make sure that deal is carried to fruition. Then everyone will go their separate ways.”
“Where are you going?” I couldn’t help being curious.
“Well, you did mention the plane door,” she said, shifting on the log to get more comfortable. She acted as if she had creepy-crawlies in her pants. “I like the idea of starting over.”
“You no longer want to replace Aunt Tillie?”
“That was just a fleeting thought.” She waved off the suggestion. “I thought that’s what I wanted but … it’s weird.”
“What’s weird?” I kept working on the ropes. I felt a slight amount of give. It would take time, however. I made sure not to scan the woods. If Millie caught me looking around too much, she would figure out that the others had come for me.
And they were coming, I had no doubt about that.
“I’m a part of Tillie,” she explained. “I have her memories. I know who you are. I know who your mother is. I should feel something for all of you.”
“You don’t?”
“You’re not my family. You’re her family.”
She was insistent, but what bothered her became clear. She was right. We were Aunt Tillie’s family. She might not want to feel something for us, but she did.
“Listen, Millie.” I was tired of her attitude. “I gave you an out. I think you want that out. You’ll never get a better chance for a new beginning.”
“That’s true.” Millie was grim. “But I’ve already struck a deal with Gregor. I can’t go back on my word.”
“You can if he’s a liar.”
“What has he lied about?”
I was exasperated. “He’s not the hero in this story. If he hadn’t used his magic to work those men into a frenzy, the naiads would’ve gone on their way. He created this whole mess.”
“You sound bitter about it.”
“That naiad didn’t deserve to die. Her sister is only on a revenge kick because of what he started. All they wanted was to find a way to open that plane door and find the rest of their family. Your freaking warlock made sure that didn’t happen.”
“How do you know he wasn’t afraid for his life?”
“I’ve met her. I know.”
Millie’s forehead creased in concentration. “You don’t think he’s really going to hold up his end of the deal, do you?” she asked.
“He’s using you.” I shifted my hands again. I was making headway. “I don’t know what he’s promised you, but he’s not powerful enough to open a plane door. He has us here because he’s going to trap the naiad. What do you think he’s going to do after he gets her?”
Millie frowned. “I don’t…”
“He can’t open the door for you,” I repeated. “He tapped you because he knew you were the one witch in the area who might help him balance the scales. If you have Aunt Tillie’s memories, you know that he has delusions of grandeur.”
“He’s a man,” she snorted. “They all have delusions of grandeur.”
That was definitely something Aunt Tillie would say. “He’s using you. My guess is he plans to use you as fodder when he enacts his real plan. He’ll throw you in front of us so we’ll have no choice but to kill you while he does whatever it is he’s going to do.”
Millie worked her jaw. I was starting to gain ground, so I pressed forward.
“He’ll sacrifice you to get what he wants,” I insisted.
“I need to know what he really wants if I’m going to stop him.
” Something occurred to me. “He didn’t take the job here on a whim.
” My eyes moved to the water. “He wants access to that plane door too.” Now I was talking more to myself.
“There’s something on the other side he wants. ”
I fervently wished the naiad would show her face so I could ask her a very important question. I hadn’t asked what the plane on the other side of the door was like. Now it seemed important. “Crap,” I muttered as the final pieces started melding. “Crap, crap, crap.”
Alarm rippled over Millie’s features. “What is it?”
“There are planes that are full of magic,” I replied, licking my lips. “Magic and the sort of riches that could set up a warlock for life here. There’s a reason they’re difficult to access.”
“People here would take advantage,” Millie muttered.
I nodded. “The nicer the plane, the harder the access. From what I understand, the naiads have been drifting toward a specific plane as their wants and needs diverge from those of humans. They love nature and the magic associated with it. They love water.”
“And humans are ruining this environment,” Millie added. “They’re destroying the natural spaces and giving no thought to their future.”
She was getting it. “Somehow the warlock found out about the plane door. He wants to pop through, gather what he can, and then escape back to this side. The resort project gives him the perfect cover for being here.”
“Do you think he knew about the naiads?” Millie looked invested in what was to come.
I considered it for several seconds. “He might’ve come here looking for the door and stumbled across the naiads.” My mind was going a mile a minute. “The naiads might’ve been in his way. If they chased him off, he may have decided to remove that option.”
A sense of dread rolled into a ball and settled in my stomach. “That’s what happened. He probably pitched the idea of the resort to the higher-ups in the first place. I bet, if we track the correspondence, he’s at the center of it.”
“To what end?” Millie pressed. “Why not just open the door and go through?”
“Because he can’t,” was my simple response. “He can’t get the door open. Neither can the naiads. He thought he would have a better shot than they do, but he couldn’t open it.
“Then they became a threat he needed to wipe out because they would stop at nothing to make sure he didn’t gain access to the other side,” I continued.
I was talking to myself now, working it out.
“He started weaving his magic on the workers to create a net. When the naiads finally showed themselves as the construction equipment came in, he was ready. He tightened the net.”
“And caused them to turn into animals to kill the naiads for him,” Millie guessed.
I nodded. “He miscalculated. One of the naiads was injured but escaped. Now she’s on a killing frenzy and taking out his soldiers. He needs us to take out the naiad so he can focus on the plane door.”
Millie’s lips were a firm, tight line. “How are you going to fix it?”
“I can’t do it with my hands tied behind my back.”
She frowned. “If I let you go, he’ll know that I turned against him.”
“You fear him,” I said. That was another way she differed from Aunt Tillie. Sure, Aunt Tillie felt fear, but she never let it control her. “You have a decision to make, Millie.”
Her eyes jerked up. “What can I do?” she asked, her voice a soft rasp.
“You can either side with us or him.” There was no give to my tone. “If you side with us and help me make sure that naiad doesn’t die, I promise you can go through the door with her when it opens.”
“What makes you think you can open that door?”
I had to hold back a laugh. “I have a friend who can.”
“The pixie witch,” Millie realized. “She can open plane doors. Of course.” Excitement rippled around her. “That’s how you plan on getting us across.”
“That door will not open until the warlock is contained, though. I refuse to run the risk of him getting through.”
“I can’t go up against him,” Millie countered. “He’s evil.”
Her fear irritated me. I kept expecting her to act like Aunt Tillie.
When Aunt Tillie secured her in the box, Millie had only been able to watch us from a distance.
She wasn’t part of it, which meant that she didn’t feel what we felt as we were going through it.
For her, it was like watching a television show.
“It’s because he’s evil that I have to end him,” I replied. “You have to let me go so I can do it.”
Millie shook her head. “He’ll know it was me.”
I was done waiting for her to get with the program. I gave the ropes holding my hands a final tug and they sprang free. I brought my hands around to my front and rubbed at the spots that had been chafed raw as I worked at the ropes.
“Then stand back,” I said. “I don’t need your help. Just don’t get in my way.”
Millie’s eyes went wide. “You can’t take him on yourself. You’ll fail.”
I laughed. “Even if that was true, I would still go after him. Do you really think they’ve been sitting around at The Overlook wringing their hands and crying?”
Understanding glinted in her eyes.
“If they’re not here already, they will be shortly,” I confirmed. “They’re coming … and one little megalomaniacal warlock won’t get in their way.” I stood, my muscles protesting. “Make up your mind. If you’re with us, then help. If you’re not, don’t you dare stand in my way.”
“What are you going to do?” Millie demanded as I started marching toward the woods.
“End this.”
“Then you might want to go that way.” She pointed in the opposite direction. “That’s where he headed.”