“No,” he replied, “but she was here. She told me she was sitting on a daybed, and I’m pretty sure those are her sandals and her purse.”
He didn’t like the idea of her wandering around barefoot or being without her cell phone, although he supposed he should be somewhat relieved that the room they’d found pretty much matched the few details she’d been able to tell him about the place where she was being held prisoner.
“So…where is she now?” Pru asked, her voice tight with worry.
Caleb had moved closer to the bed as he was speaking. Now he was close enough that he could bend down and retrieve Delia’s purse and her sandals, which were a pair of low wedges made of brown leather. He straightened, and they dangled by their straps from one hand.
“I have no idea,” he said heavily.
Chapter Fifteen
She’d felt Caleb out there somewhere, his energy coming across to her like the warm glow of a campfire seen against a distant hillside. Every time she tried to contact him mentally, though, it felt almost like she was smashing up against a brick wall, as if someone had learned about the manner in which they’d been communicating and had found a way to block it.
A demon, she assumed. No one else would have the power to do something like that.
Since she hadn’t known what to do, she’d returned to the bed…which turned out to be a mistake, because the weird barrier seemed to have snapped back in place as soon as she climbed back on.
Now she sat cross-legged on the bed, feeling increasingly hungry and thirsty — and also as if she really needed to go to the bathroom. Those physical urges seemed to be an indication that the spell holding her in place wasn’t quite as strong as it had once been, that maybe her little trip around the room had knocked something loose permanently, even if she was trapped again.
Or maybe her captor had decided to torture her a little by bringing her enough back into the world that she could experience sensations that had been previously blocked.
Once again, she tried to get off the bed, but the rubbery membrane seemed to be keeping her effectively trapped.
Well, this was just great.
Delia tried her best to explore her options, but she really didn’t have many. Only to sit there and wait…and hope she succumbed to thirst before she peed the bed.
Panic fluttered in her gut, although she knew freaking out wasn’t a very good game plan. Again, she tried to reassure herself that she must have some value to her captor, or he wouldn’t have gone to all these lengths to make her his prisoner.
Which sort of reinforced the notion that he was having some fun tormenting her, but would get down to brass tacks eventually.
A strange weariness came over her, and she found herself uncrossing her legs and lying flat against the mattress, her hands crossed on her chest. As soon as she closed her eyes, she was gone.
She awoke on a very different bed, one that looked as if it was located in some sort of luxury hotel room. The blackout drapes were drawn, so she couldn’t tell what time of day it was.
Carefully, she lifted one hand. That seemed to work just fine, so she sat up. Nothing appeared to have prevented her from doing that, either, and she figured she might as well go for broke.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed.
Shock coursed through her — but not enough that she didn’t realize she needed to get to the bathroom, stat.
All but running, she hurried over to the bathroom and took care of business. Once that was handled, she returned to the main part of the room. It was large but not a suite, as far as she could tell.
“Hello?” she ventured, feeling foolish. Then again, whoever had trapped her in this place obviously had supernatural resources at their disposal, so maybe it wasn’t so strange that they might be able to hear her.
No reply, though.
Fine. At least she was able to get up and walk around. Several bottles of water sat on the dresser, so she went over and popped one open and drank half of it in a single large gulp. Soon enough, she’d finished the rest of the bottle and unscrewed the cap on another one.
Thirst satisfied, she opened the mini-fridge and took a look inside. It seemed well-stocked, and she got out a can of macadamia nuts and opened the lid. Sure, the list of prices inside the fridge announced that the nuts were eight bucks, but she didn’t care much about that.
They can bill me, she thought.
There didn’t seem to be much else in the room, as far as she could tell. Whoever had brought her here, they hadn’t seen fit to bring her sandals and purse along, which irked her even though she knew she had plenty of other things to worry about.
Although she realized it would probably be an exercise in futility, she couldn’t help making her way over to the door and trying it. The thing was firmly locked, telling her she wouldn’t be going anywhere.
All the same, she wasn’t about to give up that easily.
