ALAIA
I transported myself to Zack’s office right as he was walking in. He was startled at first but quickly gathered himself before closing the door.
“You could’ve given me a heads up, Alaia. It’s still a little strange you can do this,” he said, walking around me to his desk.
“I used to do this a lot when we were kids. Thought you would be used to it by now,” I said, placing the necklace he found at the bar.
“I never liked it then either. Do you remember the plan?”
“Of course I do. I’ll go in first. Make sure the place is clear, then I’ll pull you through. When that time comes, this necklace will illuminate.” I walked over to one of the floor-length mirrors. “Place it over this mirror and walk through. Understand?”
Zack picked up the necklace. ‘Sure. Place the glowy bit over the mirror. Just be careful," he said, looking down at my belly.
As if he actually cares, I thought as I rolled my eyes. Just think Mirja will be one less person to worry about after this. “Don’t worry, brother. I’ll just be in and out.” I started to draw a rune on the mirror. The same ‘M’ that’s on the necklace. “If anything happens, just break the necklace, it should transport you back here.”
“Alaia, seriously. Any signs of danger and I want you out of there,” Zack said, grabbing my arm and making me look at him. “Say it.”
Maybe he did care, I thought while nodding. “Fine. First sign of trouble I’ll go.”
I pulled the hood of my cloak over my head to cover my face and transported myself back to see Mirja. Having this little power from the grimoire was nice compared to cutting myself just to cast a rune spell. Though I feel weak when I use too much, I am getting used to controlling the power from it. The basement was empty with Mirja in the same place I left her. Chained to the wall with a force field, I created it to keep her at bay for Nas’s sake. She saw me walk in and turned away from me.
“I have nothing to say to you, Alaia. You can just return to whatever hole you crawled out of.”
“Wow, Mirja. No. ‘Hey how are you?’ or ‘How are you feeling? Congrats on the baby’,” I said, sitting in a chair near her cell.
She laughed. “I feel sorry for any baby that has you as a mother. You’re just going to disappoint them in the end.”
I put my hand to my heart pretending to feel pain. “Well, that hurts and here I was coming here to say I didn’t need the grimoire anymore. I should have enough power to fix things myself.”
She looked at me as if she didn't believe me. “Then you’re here to what? Release me? Give me back the grimoire,” she asked, a bit too hopeful.
“Sure, if you promise not to use it to try to kill me.”
“I won't try, Alaia. I will,” she growled.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. There goes me thinking we could go back to being friends.”
I got up and walked closer to her cell. I removed the force field. She glared at me before her eyes widened.
“You’ve already used it. Alaia, what have you done?”
“What you couldn’t do? I can feel the power the grimoire can give me and I have to tell you I’m a little jealous you kept this away from me for so long.”
I ran my hand over the bruises on her arm to her neck. She tried moving away from my touch.
“Alaia. You have no idea what that grimoire could do to you. The cost of its magic can be fatal. Have you even looked at yourself lately? It’s draining you,” Mirja shouted.
True, I do feel a bit weaker when I use the grimoire, but nothing a little nap can't cure. Besides, it's not like I use it every day. I moved away from her and pulled my cloak tighter around myself. There was something about what she said that did give me chills, but I had a purpose. I can't let anyone distract me until I get what I want.
“I’m fine,” I said, dismissing her concern. “Stop trying to worry about me and worry about yourself. Don’t you want to know why I’m here?”
“If it’s not giving me back the grimoire, then I don’t want to hear it,” Mirja growled.
“Looks like there is someone you pissed off when you decided to attack a certain she-wolf,” I said, gaining a confused look from Mirja.
“What are you talking about? I did no such thing.”
I pulled out a bottle from my sleeve that held a special potion. Mirja eyed the pink powder inside the vial and, knowing her knowledge of sorcery, I knew she knew what it was.
“Don’t worry,” I said to her, “This is just to make sure you don’t open your mouth about anything dealing with me. Though you’ll probably be dead before this wears off.”
As I walked back towards her, I heard the door open. I turned to see one of the rogues coming in with his back towards me.
“Alright, Mirja. I know Nas says no feeding you, but that’s just barbaric. I brought some of your favorites.” He finally looked up from the cart full of food and noticed me.
“Not sure you’re supposed to be here, little lady. I think you should…wait a minute. You and that…that cloak.”
I looked and saw it was one of the wolves that helped with the attack on Zira. I stepped back towards Mirja as he stepped closer towards me, trying to get a better look at me.
“Frank, leave,” Mirja begged him, but his eyes never left mine.
“Yes, Frank. Why don't you leave and get Nas? He knows me. I’m sure he could clear all this up,” I said, trying to usher him out the door before he grabbed my arm.
“No! This cloak and your scent. You…you…you were there. You..you...killed Danny,” Frank said.
“Why would I kill Danny,” I asked. “I was the one who paid you guys just for you all to fail. I was the one who got screwed in the end.” I tried to pull my arm out of his grasp but his grip didn't ease up.
“No. I remember the figure well and Danny didn't know many witches other than you and Mirja. So how about we both go to Nas and see what he has to say about this.”
There are times when you have to do what you have to do. Before he could pull me along, I pulled out my blade and lodged it straight into his heart. I covered his mouth as his weight fell onto me and we both fell into the wall. Lucky for me, these rogues weren’t linked, so no one would know.
Frank grabbed my arms and his claws dug into my skin. We both fell to the ground, plunging my blade even deeper. Frank took a few more breaths before his chest stopped rising. I walked over to make sure he was dead and I tried pulling my knife but it was stuck.
“No,” Mirja screamed. “No!”
“I had to,” I screamed back. “He gave me no choice.”
She thrashed against her chains, trying to make a scene. I didn’t have much time before someone smelled blood in the air. I walked over to Mirja and threw the powder over her. She was crying loudly until they turned into soft sobs, then nothing. The sleeping powder was faster than I thought. With the wave of my hand I opened a portal and a few seconds, Zack walked through. He surveyed the area and noticed the body of Frank. He gave me a quizzical look and I shook my head.
“Not the time. We have to go before his crew is alerted.”
“She’s a prisoner here,” Zack asked, looking at Mirja in chains. “Why?”
“Look, I don't know and right now I don't care. We have less than a few minutes before they smell blood,” I said, walking over to Frank’s body.
While Zack worked to free Mirja, I tried pulling my knife out of Frank’s body. I didn't want to leave it. It was the only thing I have from my parents now that my necklace is gone and the hilt was the crest of the Blue Moon Pack. The smell of Frank’s blood was filling the room quickly and it'll only be a moment before everyone upstairs could smell it too.
After failing to remove the knife, I went over to help with the chains. They were made of silver, so each touch burned Zack's fingers, but he pulled at them nonetheless. It was weird that he would go through this much trouble for a prisoner, but my thoughts were cut short by a bang on the door.
"Frank, are you in there?"
By the voice, I knew it was Nas. We still had a few more chains to get off, so I put a small barricade spell on the door. It wasn't strong enough to keep them out but it would buy us some time. As the banging and yelling continued, I watched as Zack worked with the chains.
"Maybe it's best we leave her," I suggested. "That door won't hold long, Zack."
"You can go back. I'll be fine," he said, not taking his eyes off the chains.
The door started to give way and I started to panic a bit. I couldn't let Nas catch me here. I still needed his services. I opened the portal and watched as Nas burst through the door. My portal closed before he had a chance to see me and I was left looking at my reflection. Shit! If he didn’t see me, he probably got a hold of my scent. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? Calm down for one. I can work with this. I can come up with a lie that makes sense. Right?