Confined (A Tethered Novel, Book 3) (28 page)

My face was pressed against something spongy, flexible in a
way, and slightly sharp. A tingling, numb sensation pulsated in the weirdest of
ways through my left elbow. At least I thought it was my elbow; maybe it was
the entire arm. My eyes were heavy—too heavy. They felt like they had been sewn
shut. When I was finally able to open them, the small room with its one
lightbulb felt harsh and overly bright, something I knew it wasn’t. It had
always been dim.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Continuing to lie on the filthy cot and allowing my eyes to
adjust to the suddenly unbearable light, I thought back to what had
happened—that was when I remembered the meal and the wine. Obviously, Admer had
spiked one of them with something.

I’d been drugged.

I moved to sit up, only nothing happened. Something was
wrong. I couldn’t even lift a finger. My heart kicked into overdrive and crazed
thoughts penetrated my mind, one right after the other. Noises from behind me—a
scuffling of shoes across the dirt floor—captured my attention, and I froze in
any ill-fated attempts at movement.

“It’s only temporary. Don’t worry,” Admer said from behind
me. “I needed something that would render you cooperative.”

What the hell was going on? Where were Theo and Kyra? Had
Kace effing betrayed me again? I scolded myself mentally for foolishly
believing in him a second time. What was that saying people always referred to
in situations like this? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
It went something like that; my mind just wasn’t working smoothly at the
moment.

Shame on me. That much I was positive about.

“It’s nearly midnight,” Admer said.

He was closer to me now. His voice seemed to come from
directly above me, sending shivers along my spine and making the fine hairs all
over my body stand on end. I attempted to sit up once more, but realized in an
instant that no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t work. My body was like
lead. The only thing I could move were my eyeballs…a lot of good that did me.

Admer’s hands slid between my body and the cot, where my
knees bent and my shoulders pressed against the grimy thing. With a few small
movements, I was in his arms, and he was carrying me across the room. My head
lulled back, making the ceiling and the back wall of the room become the only
things I could see.

He didn’t breathe hard; he didn’t even seem to struggle with
my weight as he made his way to the door. I felt myself being shifted around
slightly as he kicked the door open farther. That was when I spotted a crumpled
frame near the edge of my cot, slouched against the back wall. His head was
down, chin resting against his chest, but even then—without seeing his face
directly—I knew who it was…
Kace
.

Had he even made it to get Theo and Kyra?

I couldn’t speak, even as I was carried out of the house I’d
been held captive in and placed into the backseat of a dark-colored vehicle. I
couldn’t even move. My mind was erratic, and my heart was about to explode.

I was going to die. I’d never been surer of anything in my
entire life.

Whatever Admer had planned from that damn book of black
magick was about to take place, and there was nothing I could do about it,
because I couldn’t freaking move a muscle. Literally.

The ride to wherever I was being taken was long and bumpy,
that was all I knew. The way I had been placed in the backseat allowed me to
stare through the moon roof of the vehicle as we drove along. This didn’t help
me in figuring out where we were headed though, because all I could see were
the treetops and stars as they rushed by.

Admer never spoke. Instead, he cranked up his radio, blaring
some old-school song I’d never heard before. There were a few moments when I
could hear him singing along clearly, and then it would die down to a murmur of
words. I hated people who did that—sung the part they knew super loud, and then
mumbled the rest, only getting the syllabus right, but not the words.

If you don’t know the lyrics, don’t attempt to sing.

While Admer continued to butcher whatever song it was on the
radio as he drove, I tried to wiggle a finger, a pinky toe, anything, but
didn’t have much success. It wasn’t until we rounded a sharp corner and started
to climb what felt like a super-steep hill that I thought I felt something
move. Maybe it was wishful thinking or the way the vehicle was flopping me
around like a fish, I couldn’t be sure, but nonetheless, it made hope blossom
in my chest and my heart pound with optimism.

I tried again, this time focusing on my fingers. Closing my
eyes, I all but pushed with my mind to make them move. People often say that
things are simply mind over matter. Well, I was about to put that theory to the
biggest test yet.

Move fingers, move!

I repeated this mantra in my head. Then, I felt something.
Springing my eyes open at the sensation, I watched in awe as my fingers on my
left hand twitched ever so slightly beside my head. I held my breath and
watched the movement grow, the sight of it infused my movement even more.

Focusing on my toes, I willed them to move. I couldn’t see
them, but I could feel the same odd sensation of minor movement take place.
This caused my heart to pound rapidly in my chest. I wasn’t sure when I would
gain control back over my body, but some movement was better than none.

Admer’s vehicle came to a rolling stop, and he cut the
engine.

“We’re here,” he said. I didn’t have to look at him to know
there was a smile on his face. It was heard in his voice.

The sound of his door opening and closing caught my
attention. Next came my door, and then the feel of Admer’s hands and arms as
they scooped me up once again to carry me somewhere. I didn’t fight him or try
to move. I knew struggling wouldn’t do me any good. I needed more time. That
way I could overcome this paralyzing drug he’d given me.

Right away, I noticed we were in the woods. Tree frogs and
bugs sounded from all around, but it was one sound in particular that captured
my attention and had my mind spinning with questions.

The ocean.

Waves crashed into one another from somewhere in the
distance. As soon as we stepped into a clearing, I knew exactly where we were.
If I could move my head, I’d be able to see the makeshift bar, the fire pit
placed strategically at the edge of the cliff, and the scorched spot where the
Boo Hag had burned upon touching me.

It was ironic how the majority of the craziness that had
plagued me for the last few months had started right here, at this spot, and
now it was also where everything would end.

A warm breeze with a hint of salt wafted to my nose and
caressed across my exposed skin. It made me think of Theo. I wondered where he
was and if Kace had made it to him at all. If so, I prayed he was all right.
The image of Kace’s body slumped against the wall and his bruised face overtook
my mind.

How could I worry about Theo and Kyra, when Kace was the one
I’d seen battered?

“Not long now,” Admer said.

He laid me down on something cool and hard. As he walked
away, I smoothed my fingers over the surface beneath me, and instantly figured
out what I was lying on—a rock. I moved my head to the right just a tad and
downturned my eyes. I was higher than the ground.

Oh dear God, I was on a sacrificial stone of some sort.

I attempted to move my legs. If I could run, then I could
escape through the woods and to my house. Callie would be there, maybe even
Adam. I could tell them everything that was going on and use one of their
phones to call 9-1-1 or something. Maybe they even knew the number to Theo’s
house.

But I couldn’t move more than a millimeter. Frustrated, angry,
pissed—none of those words even covered what I felt.

Wetness trickled from my eyes and slid across my cheek. It
rolled over my lips and dripped away. I turned my head back into the position
it had been in and felt even more tears roll from my eyes as I did so. They
slipped into my ears, clogging them with their warm wetness.

“Have you figured everything out yet?” Admer asked.

His voice cut through the sound of the waves and night
noises like a knife, piercing directly into my heart and jump-starting it. I
didn’t attempt to speak. Instead, I closed my eyes and began projecting the
same thought to different parts of my body:
Move!

“Oh, right, you can’t talk, can you?” Admer chuckled as
though it were the funniest thing he’d heard in a while. “I’ll go ahead and
fill you in, then. I’m sure Kace mentioned to you his roll. How he put the Call
to Me spell on you just before you left; that’s what made you decide to come
back to Soul Harbor without your adoptive parents in the first place. I think
the spell may have had a bit more bite than what Kace thought though. It made
the two of you as close as could be and heightened everything between you.”

I heard him rummaging through something, a bag maybe, but I
didn’t open my eyes or turn my head in his direction.

“Makes you wonder if any of the feelings the two of you
shared would have been there without it, doesn’t it?” he asked. There was a
spiteful tone to his words. It was almost as though he was getting a rise out
of thinking he was getting under my skin. “Oh well, I guess none of that really
matters at this point, now does it?”

I attempted to continue to block out all of his banter while
I struggled with waking up my limbs. The breath in my lungs slowly dispersed
when I was suddenly able to raise my left hand. It just barely hovered off the
stone I was lying on. My eyes opened, and I forced away the triumphant smile
that desperately wanted to show itself.

Now I needed to focus on my feet. They were what I needed
most in order to get the hell out of here.

“Time is of the essence,” Admer said.

I raised my eyes to him when he spoke, worried that he would
catch me lifting my hands. He started toward me and away from the ingredients
for the spell he was planning to perform. There was a sick sense of elation
sharpening his features. Pausing in any attempts to make myself mobile again, I
stared at him as he continued toward me. He didn’t hold anything in his hands,
at least nothing I could see.

“I just need a drop or two of your blood. Blood is a key
ingredient with this spell, as with many others,” he said. He gripped my cold
hand in his warm, clammy one. The tiny prick of a needle piercing my skin
startled me. “Oh, and I almost forgot…before I begin the spell, there’s one
more thing I need to add into the mix.”

He wiped the tip of my index finger off with a cotton ball
and met my stare.

“Why are you doing this?” I croaked out.

Admer’s eyes flashed at the sound of my weak voice. I hadn’t
intended to speak, but the words had found their way out nonetheless.

“Funny thing about that book I found. It gave me a new
appreciation for my natural-born element,” he said. Placing a finger to his
lips, he smiled down at me. “Did you know that the element of Water has natural
abilities to absorb when it’s awakened through the use of black magick?”