I’d moved past my rose bushes and into the wilder area of the backyard.
Most of it was as wild as possible so I could slip in and out of the area in fox form. The neighbors complained about the height of the grass regularly, but I could bear their annoyance with grace. The grass got cut when the city sent notes saying they were going to mow, and I hadn’t yet had any problem.
I hadn't been able to get Cathy out of my mind. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since I'd seen her in that conference room, looking like a fiery goddess with her red hair piled on top of her head and her perfect skin glowing under the fluorescent lights. Shewasa goddess. No makeup, casual clothes, and all I'd wanted to do was sit her on a throne and place a crown on her head.
"Relieve my suffering. Spend a little time with me. Let me show you that I'm more than this fight with the alchemists." That might've been a teensy bit of a fib, at least at this moment in my life. The alchemists and bringing all of my kinsmen into Gaia was pretty much my entire life. I was just hoping that she believed me.
Finally, after a few tense moments of silence through the phone while the crickets sang me a symphony, she sucked in a deep breath and said, "Yes, okay. I'll go on one more date. But I am also going to go out with one of the next people on the list Anna Fortuna gave me. You guys have convinced me to give your kind a hopefully unbiased try.”
Us guys? I had no desire for her to go on another date. "I hope he treats you well but that there's zero sizzle."
My answer must've been unexpected because Cathy squealed out a big laugh before reining herself in. I couldn't help but laugh along with her. My laughter was cut short. Very short. Someone got the jump on me. I only knew because of theintense painin the back of my head.
I watched my phone clatter to the ground in a sort of slow motion. Cathy was still on the line, and I heard her voice through the phone as it fell, growing increasingly faint until it was nothing but a whisper.
I was surrounded by a group of alchemists, all in suits and ties, looking like FBI agents. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I knew what they wanted. They knew our plans, somehow. We had a leak. Or a bug. "What are you going to do, tie a cinder block to my legs and drop me in the ocean?"
A couple of the Men In Black-esque goons grinned.
The urge to roll my eyes was intense. No imagination, none. Absolutely pathetic. "Oh, come on. You're going to tie a cinder block to my legs and drop me in the ocean."
No way. I grabbed that little part of myself that made me shift into a fox but despite how fast the shift would've been, they were faster. Once again with their powders. One suited, mustachioed man blew some in my face and suddenly I couldn't shift. Hell, I couldn't move. It was the same sense of abject helplessness before, and I would have growled in frustration if I could have. The bastards trussed me up and tossed me into the back of a van. None too gently, I might add.
A bit on the nose, but okay. Having been invited to their lair, it would be impolite to say no.
They did the ol' sack over my head, taking the circuitous route, but as soon as we got out, I knew where we were. Those bastards. Did they think they could take me this close to Roma's office and that I wouldn't recognize the smells and sounds? I was afoxfor the love of Pete. A human could have recognized it!
After putting me on what I was fairly sure was a dolly, they wheeled me up an elevator and then down a carpeted hallway, and finally, I was tied to some sort of chair after they struggled a bit to get my spine to bend so I'd sit.
That was going to ache tomorrow if I didn’t do something about it.
I wanted to ask what the point of this was if they just planned to kill me, but my lips wouldn't part.
But then, as they finished tying the ropes on my ankles, I wiggled my pinkie finger. Not much, but enough to give me hope. I had to keep myself perfectly still. If they realized the powder was wearing off, they'd dust me again. Given their confidence, I was burning through the magic much faster than they expected.
Even in human form, all of my senses were heightened. Including my hearing. They walked out of the room but left the sack on my head. It was getting quite stuffy under there, thanks very much. If I’d had asthma it would have been all over, but for me, it was just irritating.
They had a whispered conversation in the hallway. "Is everyone here?" a female voice asked, slight nervousness in her voice. A smart one, smart enough to be wary of me.
"We're only waiting on Quentin." Male this time.
"Good. Let's go start the meeting."
They shuffled down the hall, but then entered a room and came closer again. They were having their little conference in the roomright next to me.
It had been a long time since a bunch of amateurs had managed to bag me. I was never going to hear the end of it if Bran got wind of this.
How had this group of people made it this long without falling off a cliff?
No, but seriously, the alchemists must've been much more prepared and competent back when they banished us to Dream. No way they'd manage it with the way they bumbled around nowadays.
Footsteps hurried down the hall and joined the others. Ah. Must've been Quentin, late to the conference. Show your corporate pride! Fire him at once!
"Do you think we can get more information out of him?" the newcomer said. "More than we got from our bug?"
Ha! They did have a bug. I was right. That would need to be taken care of as soon as possible. I kept wiggling my finger and soon my whole hand was moving back and forth. Moving up and down my body as they spoke, I tried to flex my muscles and get them to move. Some did, some didn't. I still couldn't shift, but they couldn't have known I'd start fighting off the immobility spell this fast or they never would've left me alone. Incompetence working for me this time!
"I don't know. This one is a liar and a sneak. We may have to resort to some pretty creative torture, but even then I'm not making any bets." Torture. Great. Like I hadn't been on that vacation already. Yawn. If they were going to be this boring, I’d have to end this little get-together fast. Besides, if their play was dumping me in the ocean, I didn’t have any hope that they would be much more creative when coming up with their methods of torture. If they were going to torture me, the least they could do was not be boring about it.
