Reliving the past
Seph was free of the IV in a few days, and the doctor left her with oral medications for the pain and something to help her sleep when the nightmares hit. She flinched when any male, even Theo, touched her again, and he could see her withdrawing again when they were alone. She was almost her usual self with Kayla, her smiles and laughs slower to come at the moment, but surely that is a normal reaction? She seemed to need more reassurance that they believed her. Again, Theo reasoned that was bound to be playing on her mind with her past.
Seph had been back about 4 days when Elder Maher and Lorcan came to see her. They hadn’t come mob-handed as they didn’t want to scare her, for which Theo was very grateful. Theo and Kayla were with Seph; she had just gotten out of the bath and back into bed. Kayla was braiding her hair when there was a knock at the door. Theo opened it and let the elder and his father in. “Hey Sky,” she had just given Lorcan permission to use her nickname. He was enjoying the privilege, “sorry, have we come at a bad time? We just need to chat about what happened to you and who did what so we can lay charges and explain Theo’s actions. We have his and the other warriors’ statements, a report of your injuries from the doc and the DNA. Your statement is just the final piece; we want to act fast before the witches make any more moves.”
Theo opened his mouth to tell them that what he had seen was enough to justify his actions and bring the charges, there were no other scents in the room, but Seph spoke first. She cleared her throat a little first “it’s ok, Kayla won’t be too long, just give us 5 minutes. Theo, will you please get the sketch pad with the faces in?”
Once Seph was comfortable back in the bed, and everyone else had taken their seats, Kayla at Seph’s side, Theo on the bottom of the bed, Lorcan in the window, and the elder on her desk chair. “Persephone, is it ok if I call you Persephone?” The elder began gently. He continued at Seph’s nod, “great, thank you, can I just start by saying you are a fantastic artist? Some of the photos you have taken of the pack’s wolves are just amazing.” Seph gave a small, shy smile at the compliment, hugging her sketch pad closer to her chest. “Now, I know this will be hard for you, and we appreciate you sharing with us; if you need to take a break, let us know, and we can finish later or tomorrow. Can you just start by taking us through everything, starting in the woods?”
Seph nodded once more; Kayla stroked her arm in a show of solidarity while Theo glared at the men in his mate’s room. “Ok. So I took my camera out to the woods to take pictures because I felt good and wanted some air. Did you find my camera?”
Lorcan nodded and smiled at Seph “one of the trackers found it; it’s in my office.”
Seph smiled back gratefully. “I found that clearing by chance; I was hoping for squirrels or foxes. I got Kayla for a little while. I left a little after she did in the other direction. I started to feel a little uneasy, but that was all wiped out by pain beyond pain. I fell to the ground, I thought I was going to die, but there was nothing I could do. Then I was being lifted by two people from behind. I didn’t see much of them, just hands and a bit of face. I drew what I could,” Seph passed them a piece of paper from her pad through Theo. “They blindfolded me and tied my hands together with a cable tie, I couldn’t access much of my magic then, but I tried my best. They knocked me out with a spell paper, or it could have been a potion. The next thing I know, I’m in that room alone. There’s a bit of a kitchen, a closet full of clothes typical for the coven women, and a bathroom. I shower and put my own clothes back on; I felt disgusting and sweaty. I’d blocked the locked door as much as possible, a chair under the handle before I did anything. I was napping on the comfier bed of the two in the room when the door handle started to rattle. I told whoever was there that I wouldn’t let them in, but they demanded I open the door. I swapped the chair for a stupidly strong fire ward. I didn’t want to risk anyone getting in, this went on for days. The man had food, and he was like, ‘you need to eat this,’ so I figured it was laced with something and refused. He couldn’t get through my ward and gave up. I found out his name was Fionn.” Seph’s voice was a little thick now, her eyes filling with tears. She passed over another drawing of the first man. “He came back day after day and was desperate to get in; he said if I didn’t let him in, I’d get hurt, and he didn’t want his future wife to get hurt. Then the second man came; he said he was the head of the elders. He was irate, and he only got madder when he had to work harder and harder to get my ward down; it took ages.” There was a hint of pride in Seph’s voice as she said this. “When he got through, we fought, I managed to get the upper hand and made a run for it, but he took a fireball from Dex to haul me back; that’s when he hit me the first time. He threw me on the bed and tied my hands. He thought that was enough, and when he tried to cut my clothes, I knee’d him in the balls. It was a decent shot, I’d say. I ran again, but he followed before I could get out of the corridor. He threw me against a wall and hit my face and my ribs. I was seeing stars and struggling so bad. But I had no fight left in me. He got me on the bed, and I’m sure you can guess the rest.” Seph finished; she couldn’t even meet their eyes any longer.
“I think that is enough. Seph can fill them in another time if you have more questions. She needs to rest.” Theo told the visitors as Kayla shuffled as close as she could to Seph to hold her tightly.
Both the twins could feel Seph’s growing agitation and fear. She was practically shaking. It was a bit soon to be reliving these things, Theo thought. Kayla was trying to coax Seph through some grounding exercises, getting her to list things she could hear, see, or feel around her. Giving her a stuffed animal, inviting Dextra out to help make Seph feel safer. Nothing seemed to be helping her. Kayla was about to call the doc for advice when Theo remembered the meds. He snatched the bottle up. “This is just a sedative. This will help. Seph, this will help, it might make you sleepy, but it should help you calm down.” Theo begged, dropping onto his knees at the side of the bed.