“This isn’t…there will be no harm done to you, Delaney,” the voice said. “This is so we can talk. Get to know each other better. You can set the crate on the chair.”
Crate? I looked at my hands and snapped back into my body and mind, no longer adrift.
The crate wasn’t heavy, but I’d carried it awkwardly. I’d also rucked up the sweater sleeves, so bruises were already starting on the inside of my arms.
I tried to resist his command, but couldn’t stop myself from putting the crate on the kitchen chair.
There were a thousand things I should be thinking about. A hundred fears, worries, plans I should manage. But only one thing rose to the forefront of my mind.
Had I come up to the house and arranged all these things and not known it? When? When had I done that? How long had I been doing things and not been aware?
What other things had this voice made me do?
The horror of being controlled against my will again, sent me rushing to the kitchen sink, where I ran the water and breathed heavily, trying not to throw up.
“You are thinking too hard, Delaney. You are making this a horror when, really, it is something else. Something much…better.”
I spat in the sink, ran the water over my hand, and wiped my mouth. I didn’t want to speak. Not yet. I knew words had power. And I was not about to give that away. I stared at the coffee cup at the bottom of the sink.
“You may have just realized that you and I have been together for some time. I regret to inform you, those memories have been hidden…”
I picked up the coffee cup and, in one smooth motion, turned, intending to heave it at him.
But he was close. Too close. He caught my wrist before I could release the cup and crowded into me, pinning me against the cupboard.
Eyes like tarnished gold sparked with light, and one black eyebrow rose. He was old, older than I’d originally thought. An old demon. Perhaps even an ancient one.
“I have overestimated how much of this situation you understand.” He smiled, and it was rueful. “That is my fault. One of the drawbacks of selectively erasing your memory, I’m afraid. I am never sure what you might recall in dribs and drabs.”
He shifted his hold on my wrist. I still couldn’t move it. Couldn’t move my body.
I glared at him.
“This is a nice cup.” He carefully took it out of my frozen fingers. “You may have sentimental attachment to it, so let’s keep it safe.” He placed the mug back in the sink behind me then stepped back, not only away from crowding me, but all the way out of my space.
I got a good look at him. Again, maybe, if the whole erasing memories was a real thing. He was in uniform, black and gray. Black gloves. He looked refined, tailored, almost like an actor playing the part of a dangerous man.
“How did you get into my town, demon?” I asked.
His face lifted with surprise, then he nodded and clasped his hands together in front of him.
“I’ll tell you. But first, I want to give you my gratitude for having been key to making this happen, Delaney. You will find that I am generous in showing my appreciation.”
“How about you keep your appreciation and get the hell out of my town?” I said. I could make him do it. I knew I could. I was the Bridge to this town, and demons were not allowed unless the contracts were signed. But when I reached for the part of me that could shove a creature such as him out of this space, there was nothing.
Blackness where a kindling of fire should be. Quiet where once I contained a storm.
“Hush,” he said, and it sounded kind. “I haven’t taken anything from you. You are unchanged, you are as you ever were, but this hold I have on you necessitates a certain leverage. Come this way.”
I was powerless not to do so. I walked back into the living room, stopped on one side of the table.
“Now, I could ask you to do these things, to cast this spell of your own free will, but I am fairly certain you would not. However, once this spell is cast, you and I will be on a much better footing. Then we will have time to discuss the crime I’d like to report.
“You look surprised. Oh, it is not just because you are a Bridge to Ordinary that I’ve gone through extensive difficulties to bring us to this moment. I have a crime I’d like to report, and I have decided it will take the law enforcement of Ordinary to bring this crime to justice.
“Convincing you to see my side of things could have been done differently, perhaps, but there was so little chance, so little hope, and I have waited so long…” He stared out the window beyond my neighbors’ roofs at a swath of the churning Pacific Ocean.
“I’ve been inspired by you, Delaney Reed. And by Ordinary. I really had no concept of what it was. Of what it could be. A town like this.” He shook his head and the smile was back, softer this time.
