Captivate Me (Book One: The Captivated Series) (27 page)

My smile fell.
I wish that were it.

“What is it, Kat?” He reached for my
hand on his arm, and I pulled it away. His jaw fell slack, and the
hurt registered on his face. “What’s wrong? What’d I
say?”

Be
strong
, I told myself. I needed to keep it
together and just tell him what had happened.
Here goes.
“Gabe, he did drug us.
But it wasn’t an accident. He and Iris had planned it.”

After taking a minute to process what
I’d said, he laughed it off. “Real funny.”

I stared back at him, waiting for him
to grasp the truth.

“That’s not funny, Kat,” he said,
almost chidingly.

I swallowed hard, pain shooting
through my bruised throat. This would be more difficult than I
thought. “It’s true,” I forced out. “And they aren’t hybrids,
either. That’s why they look older.”

He desperately searched my eyes for
any sign I might be joking.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but I
wouldn’t joke about this.”

“So what are they, then?” he asked,
but he didn’t say it as though he was starting to believe me. He’d
huffed it out, like he was losing his patience.

I let out a long, slow breath to gain
the nerve. He wouldn’t take this well.

“Kat?”

I blurted it out.
“Witches.”

His eyes widened, and then hardened.
“I honestly can’t believe you’d joke about this.”

“Gabe, I-”

He struggled to his feet. “Where are
the others?”

“Don’t go out there,” I pled, grasping
for his arm, and he wrenched away. The force he’d used caused him
to stumble.

I reached again to help, and he held
out his hand once he’d steadied himself. “Stop.” he said, shuffling
his way outside, “just leave me alone.”

“Gabe, please!” I grasped my throat,
the pain too much.

Once outside, I moved in front of him,
my hands held out, tears streaming down my cheeks, my eyes
pleading.

He eyed me, contemplating for a slice
of a second, and then continued around me. I let him go, conceding
to the fact that I could never convince him with words. I watched
through my tears as he paused at the threshold of the clearing, his
body going rigid before he sank to his knees. Kai was still on the
ground near the center of the star, half-burned and unconscious
with hand-cuffs on his wrists and zip-ties on his ankles. Officers
worked on freeing Aubrey from her ropes, and others were hoisting
Colton in their arms to take him to his tent. Iris’ blonde hair
peeked from beneath a blood-soaked white sheet covering her body,
and another sheet covered Raymond, concealing the horror beneath.
All of this told him more accurately, more gruesomely, than I ever
could.

I hurried to his side, crouching
beside him. “I’m so sorry,” I said through a tight, sore
throat.

He fell forward on his hands and
bawled.

* * *

For what felt like forever, I sat
faithfully by his side as he wept, stroking his back. When he
finished, I helped him to his tent to rest.

At first I’d wondered if he was in
shock; he only stared at the top of the tent with vacant, puffy
eyes. Still, I sat beside him, waiting for help to come.

“Did they hurt you?” he finally asked,
his eyes meeting mine.

I hesitated. His question had taken me
aback. Considering he’d just found out the last ten years of his
life were a lie, his first concern was me? Someone Iris had pushed
him into wooing for her own benefit? I shrugged. “I’m
okay.”

He focused back on the ceiling.
“Good.” He drew in a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, Kat. I had no
idea.”

“I know. They lied to all of
us.”

He nodded, a tear escaping the corner
of his eye. “Are we… okay?”

I flinched. Not really. Not until I
got the nerve to confront him about what Iris had said, but I would
talk to him about that later. His whole world had just been
crushed. “We’re okay,” I replied. “Just rest.”

“These tents here?” a
voice outside said.
Paramedics.

“Good,” he replied, reaching for my
hand, and I let him. “I couldn’t handle another heartbreak
today.”

My lips twitched with a hopeful smile.
Oh, how I wanted that to be true. Maybe it was. Maybe like with
everything else, Iris had been lying about it.

Two paramedics ducked into the tent
with a gurney, and I kissed Gabriel on the forehead. “Get better.
I’ll see you soon.”

* * *

Kai, Gabriel and Piper were the only
ones taken to the hospital. Once Dawson had come to, he refused
help. He wasn’t going anywhere until they’d found Sarah. Colton
hadn’t wakened from his drug-induced coma yet, and Aubrey sat
huddled in her tent, crying and soothing herself. I’d offered to
come sit with her, but she declined. Understandable – she didn’t
know me that well. And when I grieve, I like to do it
alone.

By the time I’d made it back out to
the clearing, the officers had removed Iris’ and Raymond’s bodies
and strung yellow tape through the trees. Detectives and forensic
specialists now stood around with lanterns and flashlights, taking
pictures and discussing what had happened here.

The principal was talking
to a man in a slick black suit, his ashy blond hair combed to the
side. He looked forty or so, except for his eyes – the bags under
them aged him ten years. “We still have six missing kids, and five
of them are students,” the man in the suit said.
His voice sounded familiar – the detective in the
hallway the other night.

“Unfortunately,” Principal Hughes
answered. “But one of our students was rescued.”

I pulled Levi’s jacket tighter. They
were talking about me.

“We’ll do a thorough sweep of the
woods tonight with the dogs. Apparently we’ve been looking in all
the wrong places. We’ll find them.”

You’ll never find
them
, I thought. At least not without
help. These mortals had no clue who they were dealing with. Hell, I
had no idea until an hour or so ago.

I butted into their conversation.
“You’ll need my help.”

Sizing-up my condition, the detective
raked his eyes over me. The principal immediately shook his head.
“No, Kathrin, you need rest. I’ll have an officer escort you back
to your room.”

“Then I’ll help,” Aubrey said behind
me. I turned to see her clasping a pillow tight against her chest,
mascara streaking her cheeks. She still looked like a super
model.

The detective intervened. “You should
all probably rest. You’ve been through a lot.”

“Forgive me, Principal Hughes,” I
said, moving to stand beside Aubrey, “but I don’t think you
understand. You won’t find them without one of us.”

“And why’s that?”

I hesitated, knowing it would sound
crazy to the detective. Principal Hughes was used to the
extraordinary. “I’m sure they’re hidden, but not how you think.
Iris and Kai use spells to make things… disappear.” I eyed the
detective. If he were skeptical, it wasn’t showing on his
face.

“And how could you two help with
that?” Principal Hughes asked.

“We know the spell.”

“Well then tell us,” the detective
asserted.

I looked to Aubrey. “Take us with
you,” she said without missing a beat. “And I’ll tell
you.”

I fought a smirk and hooked my arm
into hers. We both had people we wanted to see rescued. We both had
a stake in this.

The detective contemplated.

“Absolutely not, girls,” Principal
Hughes said, crossing his arms, “you two go get some
rest.”

Aubrey’s eyes narrowed. “My boyfriend
is out there with the rest of them. I’m not going
anywhere.”

The detective sighed and ran his hand
through his hair. He looked as weary and worn down as the
Principal. “We do need to find these kids, Mr. Hughes.”

A flicker of determination passed
through Principal Hughes’ eyes; he wasn’t used to being defied or
overruled. But I could also tell he was tired, oh-so-tired, and
desperate to get these kids back. The lines on his face softened,
and he hung his head with a gentle nod. “Fine.”

“We’re going too,” Levi said beside
me.

I jumped, then looked up to him with a
smile. I had no idea he’d been standing there. Ronnie and Dawson
stood on the other side of him – Ronnie with a wide stance and
crossed arms, Dawson leaning against him for support and looking
queasy from shape-shifting and the hit he’d taken from Iris, but he
also looked the most determined of us all to find the hybrids. And
that’s when it hit me – Sarah was a hybrid like me.

I would have celebrated the fact that
at least one of my dear friends would share this long life with me,
but not yet. We had to find her first.

“Fine,” the Detective answered. “We
need to get going.” He motioned with a whistle to a group of
officers. “Time to search!”

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

___________________

Brittle

“
Where’d Ivy and Anna go?”
I asked Levi as the officers with the dogs led us through the
woods. Dawson and Ronnie made a point to stay near the front with
the officers, and Aubrey walked beside me, our arms still linked,
which I was thankful for; the tight ropes and elixir had done a
number on my strength. My legs were beginning to shake with
exhaustion, the too-big-boots I’d borrowed from Gabriel scraping
the ground with each step.

“I’m guessing Principal Hughes asked
them to stay put when they went to get help.”

I was relieved to hear his tone toward
me held its usual warmth; I didn’t know how he’d act after I’d left
for a while with Gabriel. We were also technically broken-up, but I
guess with the seriousness of everything else around us,
breaking-up was a trivial matter. A brush with death will do that –
bring perspective.

I wanted to thank him for saving my
life, but decided against it. Some conversations were best held in
private. Not because I didn’t want anyone else to hear; I wanted to
do it without distraction. Doing it now might come across as
nonchalant.

It wasn’t long before the dogs caught
a scent and bounded right, nearly pulling their officer’s arms out
of their sockets. We elevated to a jog – not an easy task for
Aubrey and I. Levi wrestled between keeping up with the others and
staying back with us. “Go ahead!” I yelled over the rustling
footsteps and barking dogs. “We’ll be all right.” But of course, he
wouldn’t leave us.

Where the ground sloped into a hill,
the dogs stopped at a narrow opening wreathed in leaves and roots.
Aubrey and I fought our way forward. Squeezing my arm tighter, she
muttered the spell, everyone holding their breaths and the officers
sweeping their flashlights into the small cavern.

Nothing.

The dogs went wild, their fevered
barks echoing through the cave.

“Nothing’s there,” Principal Hughes
said, squinting into the void.

“One of us should go in!” A K-9
officer said. There was only enough room for one of us to go in at
a time.

The detective threw a hand in the air.
“Everyone hush! I hear something.”

As we listened for any
sign of life, my heart pounded against my ribcage, my legs close to
giving in.
Please let them be here
somewhere!

“Hello?” a small voice echoed from
deep inside.

That’s when an officer and his K-9
sprinted into the opening and took a hard right. Encouraged, I
looked to Aubrey. Her face registered everything from hope to worry
to angst. I huddled against her. Maybe this was officially it.
Maybe the horror arcing over the past few days was over.

* * *

One by one, the officers carried the
hybrids out of the cave – Sarah, Jillian, Jose, Heather and Brad.
Well, two had to drag Brad on a blanket. I didn’t call him
beast-boy for nothing. The only conscious one was a petrified and
frail-looking Jillian – the small voice we’d heard. We assumed the
others had all been drugged like us, but Jillian had been taken
days ago – her medicine must have worn off. Who knows how much Iris
had given the others.

After the officers had cut their
bindings, we started back to the clearing in absolute silence; so
much had been lost tonight, only a fraction of it salvaged. And not
just lives – innocence and inner peace. That might have been lost
forever. And though it could have ended so much worse, the story of
what had happened here at Midland Pines would haunt our dreams and
thoughts forever. Would we ever feel truly safe again? I had a
feeling Iris and Kai weren’t the only witches interested in what
they could get from us.

Pushing worry and sadness from my
mind, I concentrated on keeping my feet steady; I’d lost my walking
partner. She hobbled beside Brad as they dragged him. Levi and
Ronnie stayed close beside me, Ronnie’s walking partner deserting
him, too, so he could be near Sarah. If he’d had the strength to
carry her himself, I’m sure he would have.