Chapter Seven
Lily set down the receiver of the phone in the HR Office that Rika’s assistant had let her use. She wanted to cry.
She had just received the estimate from the mechanic at the repair shop where Gabe brought her car. It was worse than Gabe had said. Six thousand dollars. Six. Thousand. Dollars.
She had made the voice on the other end of the phone repeat it. Several times.
Something about a cracked engine block, and a host of other terms that her mind couldn’t process, overwhelmed with the number she had been quoted.
And if she were to buy another piece of junk? The only one they had available immediately was “only” thirty-six hundred, and already had an interested buyer so it would probably be gone in the next day or two. The next one up was forty two hundred. She didn’t even have the money for them to hold the car for her.
She was well and truly effed.
She walked towards the Childcare Center, her head buzzing with options, and quickly realizing that they actually weren’t viable. The mechanics wouldn’t start work without a deposit. The deposit was already several times more than what she had in her wallet. Using her credit cards were out of the question—she might as well fire up a flare gun where Rey would see it. Quick calculations told her that she would have to take every available shift for three weeks straight, just to scrape enough for the cash deposit that they insisted on before ordering parts.
It is what it is, she reminded herself. No use shedding tears over it. She made sure her eyes were dry by the time she entered the Staff Childcare Center, ready to start her second shift of the day, which would flow seamlessly into the third. At least it was a job she loved, and she even enjoyed the medieval clothing that she got to wear. Today’s outfit was a soft, mulberry linen overdress with a square neckline. It fluttered over a thin, loose-weave white chemise. The entire ensemble was comfortable, even with the exertions of dealing with young, energetic kids, yet still flattering. She drew the line at wearing the medieval-inspired shoes, wearing her own running shoes that barely peeked out from under the skirt’s volume.
A brief memory of Mr. Hot and Hunky with the auburn brush cut fluttered through her mind, and she mused whether he would like her outfit. She shook the errant train of thought away immediately, willing her common sense to return. He’d probably had already forgotten her, and she shouldn’t care about whether she looked nice in it, only that it helped camouflage her. Right?
Before she could beat herself up some more, Brady and Clover swarmed around her, eager to tell her what had transpired in the last ten minutes that she had been gone. She looked at their shining, bright faces and decided to focus on the good fortune part of her situation. Even TraceyAnn was complimentary towards her, which Lily sensed was rare when it came to other women. TraceyAnn was more than happy that Lily could harness the twins’ considerable rambunctiousness into something akin to a well-run childcare center. Which TraceyAnn prided herself in managing, of course.
Lily was gratified to see, when she had met their mother earlier, that Rosa was every bit as patient and attentive as she could be with them. She had looked at Lily with gratitude.
“They’ve really taken to you. They couldn’t stop chatting about you this morning when they first woke up.”
Rosa smiled at Lily, her pretty features the grown up version of five year old Clover’s. She was wearing the kitchen uniform that was required of all Staff Caff workers, as she would be all day long. Like Lily, she was picking up every shift available. Rosa didn’t go into details, but Lily could tell she was doing everything she could for her kids. It was only possible because of the Staff Childcare Center, and the Faire owner who had implemented it.
In another life, Lily could see Rosa becoming a close friend. She already adored the twins. It was too bad that she was just passing through.
As soon as she made the money to leave.
* * *
At first, Col thought his senses were betraying him again. He couldn’t scent anything, or even see any traces of having been here the day before. He was even starting to wonder if it was the right abandoned mine shaft. But fortunately he had already sent what he could remember of his two abductors to the otherBredhrentelepathically, when they were in wolven form.
And the other fourBredhrenconfirmed that there was no scent of the two —in fact, it was noticeably absent, impossibly absent, as if someone had used themagickalequivalent of bleach to scrub the site clean.
That cinched it. This was the right spot, the right slab in the center where Col had been restrained, the right rock walls that had the dancing shadow show created by candlelight.
But the candles were gone, there were no ropes, no sacrificial dagger…someone had done a thorough cleanup job.
Nevertheless, Miller carefully recorded the coordinates, and took photos with his phone to bring back to Simon. Tybalt ordered Aylwyn to shift, and see if there was anything he could pick up in that form.
The large silver-grey wolf appeared, and ran about the cavern floor in a methodical fashion, sniffing vainly before returning to the front of theVixar.He yelped, and faced the entrance, his muscles straining with the urge to propel his powerful body towards it.
“Go, Aylwyn. Barric, shift to maintain a telepathic lock.” Tybalt’s orders were followed, as the silver-grey wolf shot out of the mineshaft, and a wave of energy pulsed outwards from where a large wolf with brown and white markings now stood, growling. Col caught the look in Miller’s eyes. It was akin to envy. It was bewildering to Col, for he found the human male to be worthy of admiration, even despite his limitation to only one form.
Moments later, another pulse of energy announced Barric’s return to human form.
“He found something.” Barric announced. Aylwyn walked in, also in human form. He was holding something carefully in his hand. Miller was the first to recognize what they were.
“Careful. Those are fucking tranquilizer dart cartridges.” Miller quickly pulled out a small, hard case from his backpack, and directed Aylwyn to deposit the darts carefully inside. All six of them. He snapped the case shut and looked grimly at Tybalt.
“Now we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with. I don’t know what is in these particular darts, but normally one would be enough to knock out a human. If the kidnapper saw Col shake off the effects of multiple darts, that would alert them that Col’s physique is unusual. To say nothing of the fact that someone is on Simon’s property, using tranq darts at all on humans.”
Tybalt nodded, and turned to Col. “Do you recall how many you were hit with?”
Col shook his head. “I had even forgotten that I had been struck. Verily, I had mistaken them for insect stings.”
