Chapter 3

When the sun was bright enough that I wished for sunglasses, I knew I’d been walking for a few hours. It was day three. No call from Davis. For all I knew they were never coming back.

Days one and two also involved walking in other directions yet thinking of nothing.

Leone hadn’t been lying about his disposition, it had deteriorated rapidly. When I’d returned yesterday, he’d picked up the bed and beaten it against the wall. Needless to say, the bed didn’t make it. He’d dropped down on the mattress on the floor and hadn’t gotten back up again.

When he’d been sleeping for a while, I tiptoed past the barrier and left him some food, water, my phone and the biggest knife I could find in the kitchen. If Davis returned, I wanted him to have some way of defending himself.

Stopping, I turned. I’d been leaving a faint trail of magic, so I could find my way back. Then again, I could be lost out here forever. Or, worse, return without help again. I didn’t want to think about either outcome. Both meant Leone may not survive, and then I would die inside, knowing I was responsible.

My feet were throbbing, legs like rubber, but I’d be in great shape after this—so that was a plus. You could walk all day in the city and never feel quite like this. Then again, there you had to stop for cars, buildings and people. Here there were endless flat fields on uneven ground. I’d almost broken my leg in a hole in the ground a while ago. At least potholes in the street weren’t camouflaged by grass and weeds.

I hadn’t found a single house, or even a road, the whole time. Was it possible to miss the city I thought I hated? It hadn’t come to that yet, but I’d kill for a convenience store right about now for some munchies and a slushy.

I’d come upon a large herd—at least I think they’re a heard, of cattle not long after I’d started walking today. I’d got excited thinking there would be a farm nearby but hadn’t seen a single building. Where are all the people?

You would think after walking for three days I’d have come to terms with the information Leone had dumped on me that first night. I hadn’t. There were just some things your mind rejected, and you had to force feed the information over and over, until it was accepted. Most of what he told me fell into that category.

It turns out the ‘other side’ is an actual freaking other realm! Which brought the whole eye color change, fangs, and extra-large people into perspective.

I stopped and stood there. I was in another realm. I still couldn’t get past that. Shaking my head, I started walking again.

Leone told me to find a guard, that there would be patrols, they’d take me to his brothers—all seven of them. Seven. He had eight apparently, but one lived on my side of the other sidedness. How crazy was that, having that many brothers? I grunted when I tripped over the uneven ground. I wonder if they’re all giants.

Turning around I left another magic trace. I had to be careful how much I used, or I’d have to stop and rest. The way Leone was when I left, I didn’t have time to stop and take a break. I had to find him help.

I stopped again and looked at the ground. A man—was he a man? I was going to have to think of him as a regular person. Well, regular with something extra, like fangs eyes that glow red. I wasn’t exactly the norm for a person either. I had sparks and energy shooting out of my hands. Right, so a man was trapped in a spellbound and warded house, starving to death, and couldn’t get out because of me. Sighing I looked back across the field. I had to find help; I was the only chance he had.

I looked at the bottle of water I was carrying. I didn’t want to bring a bag, so in all my brilliance I left with a single bottle to walk with for who knew how long. Opening it I took a tiny sip and then capped it again. I froze and then looked around. I thought I heard voices. I waited, listened, and didn’t hear anything again. Great, now I was hearing things, too.

I stumbled again.

There were the voices again. Turning, I looked all around me. There were people. I’d found people. Moving quickly in case they vanished, I didn’t even blink for fear I was hallucinating. As I got closer one of them stopped and looked at me. There were four teens. I’d found someone.

Three boys and a girl were all looking at me by the time I reached them. Later I’d digest the fact they were taller than I was.

“You okay, lady?” The girl asked.

I shook my head. “No, I need help. I have to find a royal guard.”

The tallest boy pointed down the hill. “They patrol down there every half hour the last few days.”

I turned and looked, “where down there?”

“If you go down that hill, you’ll see the trail they’ve trampled.” The girl added.

I nodded. “Okay, okay.”

“Do you want us to wait with you?”

I looked to where they’d pointed. “No. No. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay See ya.” The girl smiled, and they started going in the other direction.

I ran, almost eating dirt a few times as I slid down the slope. I almost cried when I saw the path. “Half an hour.” I panted. I’d done it.

I glared at the clear wall. I’d done it all right. The royal guard had called someone when I told him I had news of Leone, and now I was standing in a large glass box. I touched it; I wasn’t even sure if it was glass, but whatever it was I was surrounded. I couldn’t even see out, so how it was possible to not see-through clear glass, I had no idea. I paced around trying not to scream. I’d already tried magic to no avail. It was blocked in here.

Something changed on one side of my cube and a man stood looking at me through the glass. Another giant. He had long black hair and haunting grey eyes. He didn’t look anything like Leone. He just stood there legs apart, arms crossed over his large chest, just looking at me like I was a bug.

I didn’t know if he could hear me or not, but I didn’t have time for a staring contest. “As much as I appreciate being chosen to be part of your display case Barbie dolls, I don’t have time for games. I need to find Leone’s brothers.”

He turned his head and then two more men stood there. Twin giants. Holy crap was all I could think.

“Guys, this isn’t going to help Leone. Find me someone in charge. Do you guys speak English or is all that muscle blocking off your voice boxes?” I sighed. No reaction at all.

Two women appeared and then in the span of a few moments ten pairs of eyes were staring right at me. They were talking, but I couldn’t read lips. I looked for any resemblance to Leone. One had the same brown eyes, and another had the same hair color as Leone, but neither looked very approachable. The one with the I-will-kill-you-and-not-think-twice aura and the same hair color as Leone moved to the side.

“You have news of my brother?”

I actually jumped when his voice filled my cube. I nodded. “Yes.” I’d found his family.

“Where are you from?”

I frowned. “Pluto, what the hell does that matter?”

He turned and again I couldn’t hear them.

“Seriously?” Reaching into my pocket I pulled out the chain and pendant Leone had said everyone knew was his. Holding it in my palm, I went over to the wall and slapped my hand against it. All eyes went wide. Oh, they knew that, I thought. “Figured that would get your attention,” I said just in case they could hear me. I stared at the one with Leone’s eyes. “I don’t have time to screw around. Leone needs help. Now.”

The door to my display cube opened. The guard that had put me in here motioned for me to come out. I did, hesitantly, then went where he pointed. Into the space with those ten anxious and angry looking people. Mostly angry.

“Talk quickly,” the big scary one said, then waved his hand for me to speak.

“Oh yeah, you’re definitely related to him.” My hands tingled; my magic must not be blocked in this room. He was huge and scary as shit. He stepped toward me. I held up my hand, sparks and all toward him. “You stay right there.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Someone snorted.

A dark-haired man with a scar on his face stepped in my direction. He didn’t look happy at all. “Back off, Scarface. I’m here because I need help.”

I felt this pressure inside my head and raised my hands further making sure all of them could see the energy sparking from them. “Whoever is trying to mess in my head, knock it off.”

“Look, honey,” A tall man with a baby face and serious eyes held his hands up toward me.

“Stay there, Tarzan, we don’t have time for this.”

“Oh gods. Can she stay? We need this in our lives. I need this in my life.” The tall twin with the goatee said, a big grin on his face.

“Excuse me?” The tall dark-haired woman with drool-worthy boots said glaring at him.

He shook his head. “Beloved, for entertainment purposes only. She knew Troy was messing in her head, Rafael is Tarzan, and she’s going to hurt Victor? Come on, it’s awesome!”

My nerves were winding tighter and tighter inside me. Soon I was going to start blasting anyone that moved.

A woman stepped out, she could have been a schoolgirl, wearing a backpack, and all but bounded toward me and grabbed my wrist. I was too shocked to react. “It’s the daisy!” She said excitedly.

I looked at the heliopsis flower tattooed on my wrist. “Heliopsis.” I said, even while knowing clarification of the flower inked in my skin wasn’t really important right now.

“Cristy.” The one with the scary aura said.

She dropped my wrist and hurried back to him.

“Okay.” The blonde woman said with her hands raised so I could see them. “I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. Why do you have Leone’s amulet?”

I lowered my hand slightly. “It’s a long story we don’t have time for. He needs help. Now.” I said slowly.

“Where is he?” The one with eyes that looked so much like Leone’s asked me.

“I don’t know exactly. I left a trail of magic to find my way back.” They didn’t even blink at that, come to think of it my sparks didn’t deter them either.

The man with the scar stepped forward again, looking very hesitant. “Is he hurt?”

I shook my head. “He’s being held in a house by some kind of barrier. I can’t break through it.”

He turned to the one with long black hair. “Go get Romulus and Clairee. Meet us at the stables.”

The man turned and ran down the narrow corridor. He looked back to me and held his hands up. “I’m Michael, Leone’s brother. Is he all right?”

“I don’t know. He’s really out of it right now. He hadn’t gotten up or moved for hours so I left when it was still dark to find him help.” I looked around trying to assess if I could lower my hands now. “He needs to feed,” I waited to see if they understood me, “he said he won’t from me…”

“Fuck.” The one with the goatee wasn’t joking now.

The man with the eyes like Leone’s came closer and sniffed me. “She’s human.”

“Shit.” The other twin hissed.

“How many days has it been?” The scary one asked.

I shrugged. “Since he was taken?” I felt like I needed to offer them something. “I made him food, he ate that first day, than was,” I glanced to the blonde woman, “irritated after that.” I looked back to Michael, “last night he just laid in the bed, and wouldn’t get up, and won’t let me anywhere near him.”

Michael rubbed his hand down the back of his neck while his blue eyes moved up and down me. “How long will it take to get back there?”

“I don’t know what time it is, but I’ve been walking nonstop.” I dropped my hand finally. “We don’t have time to waste, they said two days and they’d be back. It’s three now.”

“Two days?”

He didn’t know what I was talking about. Davis hadn’t contacted them. I nodded and took a step back knowing how the next part would go. “Yes, they were going to contact his family in two days and negotiate a trade…”

All the men rushed toward me, Michael turned, placing himself in front of me and held up his hands. “First, we find Leone, then we’ll sort this out.”

I remembered my phone. “I left him my phone. You can call him.”

Michael turned, pulling his phone out and handed it to me.

I took it and with shaking hands dialled my number. I put it on speaker. It rang, once, twice, by the third time my stomach started to churn. If he didn’t answer, there was going to be no placating these people glaring at the phone.

“Yeah.” Leone’s hushed voice came on the line.

I huffed out a relieved breath. “Leone, I got here.” I told him quickly.

“Find Michael.”

Michael took the phone. “She did, brother. How are you holding out?”

“Been better. Been worse.” He sounded so hollow.

“We’re getting Romulus and Clairee to come and get you out. Just hang in there. Call me if it gets worse…”

“Michael,” there was a long silent pause, “Bethany is safe.” He was panting like he was in pain. “I gave my word.”

“I’m fine, Leone.” I said loud enough he’d hear.

“I will ensure this, brother.” Michael said in a formal way.

“Yeah, okay.”

“We’ll be there soon, brother.” Brown eyes assured him.

“Yeah.” The phone went dead.

I wanted to say ‘see’, then realized every pair of eyes in the room were on me.

“Can you ride a horse?” Michael asked tucking the phone into his pocket.

I gave him a wide-eyed look. “Like yee-haw, horse?”

“More like giddy up.” Tarzan said walking past us. “Meet you at the stables. I’m going to get changed.”

The blonde woman glared at the one twin. “Don’t even think it, we’re going.”

The dark-haired woman nodded. “I’ll go get my riding boots.”

I watched most of them leave and then turned to see Michael still studying me. “This may be a bit much to ask, but I need some juice and something to eat.” I shrugged. “I used a lot of magic leaving a trail to follow back, if I don’t recharge I will pass out before I can get us back.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled it. “Mitz can you send some juice and sandwiches to the stable?” He nodded. “Thank you.” Shaking his head, he hung up and motioned down the hall of clear rooms.

I now knew how Jack felt after he climbed that beanstalk. I was in the land of giants, and their horses weren’t cute little ponies like the ones at the petting zoo. I stood as far back as I could and watched as armed giant after armed giant returned. The medieval roleplaying wasn’t playing after all. I was in a shogun nightmare, only they all wore pants and not those Japanese skirt things.

Michael, in black leather with large sharp weapons came over and stood beside me. “That amulet is not what’s protecting you,” he pointed to the little one with the backpack, “Crissy is. She says your aura is good and that tattoo on your wrist was shown to her for a reason.”

I took a drink, not sure what I needed to say to that.

“I gave Leone my word I would keep you safe, and I will, but…”

I stopped eating and looked at him.

His blue eyes were locked on mine. “If anything happens to Leone, I don’t think even I will be able to save you.”

I swallowed and then huffed out a breath. “Yeah I got that.” Putting what was left of the sandwich back into the bag, I pulled the amulet out and handed it to him. “He gave me this as his word to take me to see my friend, Erin.”

His expression hardened. “The witch?”

I nodded. “Yeah. The stupid shit you do to help friends—even when they don’t want to be helped.” I waved my hand around. “All of this other side, other realm stuff is news to me. It’s like I woke up in the Land of Oz.”

His look softened a bit, then he looked at both my hands, his brows drawing together. “You’re not wearing a device.”

I sighed. “No, I tossed that at Leone. Apparently, I could have died taking it off.”

“Mmm.” He said quietly and then turned and walked over to a short woman and held out the amulet. She took it and held it up, closing her eyes.

The guard that had put me in the cube stepped in front of me holding the reins of a large horse. “This is your horse.”

I looked up at it, my heart stuck in my throat. “Does it have a baby I can ride?” I squeaked.

He shook his head, not looking amused.

“Shit. Help me get up there.” I had ridden a pony once, when I was ten—that was tied to a big wheel that turned as it walked. This creature was definitely not going to walk in a calm, slow circle.

Once on, I looked down and decided it was a good thing I wasn’t afraid of heights. I looked at the guard still holding onto the animals’ head. “You need to take us back to where you found me, so I can pick up my trail.”

He nodded and let go. Just let go and walked away. I gripped the leather straps so hard my knuckles were white. I had no idea how to drive this beast.

Michael appeared beside me on another large animal. “Maybe you should ride with me, so we don’t have to walk.”

I nodded, even afraid to turn my head to look at him.

His horse nudged my leg and I almost yelped. Leaning over, he wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me, so I could straddle his horse behind him. I wrapped my arms around him and held on, regardless of weapons pushing into me, not caring that I could be holding onto the man that would end me if his brother didn’t survive until we reached him.

“Hold on.”

Was the only warning I got before we took off following the guard on his horse.