Confined (A Tethered Novel, Book 3) (27 page)

“No, you can’t leave,” he muttered. “He’s got all of these
wards, glamours, and spells attached to the house from that book of his. He put
them in place after your first attempt to escape. He’d know the second you set
foot outside of that door.”

He pointed to the rusted metal door, and I relaxed the tense
muscles of my neck, realizing he wasn’t toying with me after all.

At least I hoped he wasn’t.

“No root magick against another, it won’t work on me because
I’m part Conjurer now,” I said, feeling pleased about that for the first time.

“Do you really want to take that chance without any backup?
Admer is wicked powerful now thanks to that book,” he said. “I’m not so sure
that’s a good idea.”

He had a point. Backup would be awesome.

“What about you? Are you able to leave?” I asked in a rush
of words.

“I can, but I’d need a damn good reason,” he said.

I thought for a moment. Idea after idea swam through my
mind, until I focused on one that sounded reasonable to me.

“Tell Admer you got a call from work and have to go in, that
you’ve been spending too much time away lately or something. Then you can go
get Adam and Callie so they can help us.”

He shook his head. “They won’t be able to help. The house is
spelled with that dark magick Hoodoo crap so they can’t get in. Admer and I are
the only ones able to pass through. Wouldn’t matter anyway, because he spelled
them with something from that book of his. They think you’ve gone home to visit
with Vera before she goes off to college.”

“Shit,” I muttered. “Are you kidding me?”

He’d thought of fucking everything! My hands went to my back
pockets, and I began to pace the room, same as Kace had been.

Cell phone
! Where was mine?

“What about my phone, do you have it?” I asked. “Or could I
use yours? I can call Theo; Kyra and he will come help.”

The mention of Kyra brought Kace’s eyes to mine, and I knew
then he was uncomfortable with the mention of her for whatever reason.

“What?” I asked.

Kace raised a hand to rub at the back of his neck. His gaze
darted around the small room, and I swore his cheeks had taken on a reddish
color.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said. “Kyra and
I, well…we’ve been sort of—”

They’d been dating. The realization zapped me like an
electric shock straight to the heart. I knew the color had probably drained
from my face at his revelation, but I still managed somehow to straighten my
posture and look him in the face.

“Y’all are together now,” I said in a voice so firm, it
didn’t even sound like mine. “So what? You didn’t actually think after this
whole thing I’d still want to be with you, did you?”

Kace met my stare. His features softened, and he crammed his
hands into the front pockets of his shorts. “Well, I mean…I don’t know. I guess
not.”

“Cell phone,” I reminded him and held out my hand.

Kace fished around in his right front pocket, trying to gain
a grip on his phone.

“They won’t be able to find the place. I’ll have to show
them,” Kace said. He handed me his phone.

“Why not?” I asked, staring at the buttons.

“Because there’s a strange glamour on the house… No Locator
spell will work to find it or you. Even if they did, they wouldn’t see anything
here besides a piece of wooded property that continues on for acres,” he said.
“Damn it. They wouldn’t be able to get inside because of the other freaking
spell anyway. Jesus.”

I smiled at Kace. “No root magick against another…remember?
They’ll be fine.”

I realized then that I didn’t have a number for Theo or
Kyra, so I asked for the only other number I could think of that would get me
in contact with them.

“What’s the number for Fisherman’s Brew?”

When I called Fisherman’s Brew, I expected to hear Twila’s
voice answer, but instead it had been Theo. His rich voice sent shivers along
my spine and caressed my magick through the phone—a feat I hadn’t known to be
possible. Then again, I’d never talked with him over the phone before. Needless
to say, a warm and pleasant feeling surged through me at the sound of his
voice.

“Where have you been?” Theo demanded. I felt like a child
who’d worried a parent for far too long about their whereabouts and was now
being scolded because of it. “I know you haven’t been off visiting your airhead
friend; that lover boy of yours has been lying.”

“He has,” I said, cringing at the way Theo had called Kace
my lover boy. It was so far from the truth now.

Theo let out a noise that could only be described as a growl
on the other end of the phone, and I imagined how serious his face must look
and how tight I was sure his large hand was as it gripped the receiver. A
slight sense of satisfaction rippled through me at his unexpected response. I’d
mistakenly thought he would have been happy I was gone. Apparently, I’d been
wrong, because he seemed pissed instead.

“What has he done? I haven’t been able to find you,” he
grumbled. I envisioned him gritting his teeth together, and a fist being clenched
and unclenched as it rested in his lap. “No Locator spell would work.
Everything I tried basically told me you’d disappeared off the face of the
Earth.”

He’d been trying to find me? Warmth slid through my body and
pooled in my belly from this knowledge. It made the corners of my lips twist
into the hint of a smile.

“Admer has an ancient Hoodoo black magick book that he’s
been using spells out of. Even if the Locator spell had managed to pick up
where I am, it wouldn’t have mattered, because all you would have seen was
acres of overgrown woods apparently,” I said, forcing the tiny smile away.

Now was not the time, especially with Kace in the room and
Admer still in the house. My happiness regarding Theo’s reaction would have to
wait.

“Really,” Theo said. It was a rhetorical statement, which
gave me the impression he was rather amused by the whole scenario.

This could be a good thing, right? When one Conjurer is
amused by a wannabe Conjurer, that should be a good sign. At least I hoped.

“It’s Hoodoo of some sort, at least that’s what Kace says,
so you shouldn’t have a problem walking through it,” I said, pacing the
dirt-covered floor again.

“Even if it wasn’t, I’d find a way,” Theo uttered in such a
low tone it sent goose bumps along my body.

The raw determination in his voice was startling. Did he
really care what happened to me? The way he spoke sure made it seem that way. I
crammed a lid on everything swirling through my mind, deciding I would dive
into that pool of emotions and wonders at a later, more convenient time.

“Kace will meet you somewhere and show you how to get here,”
I said. “Will Kyra be willing to help?”

“Of course. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but her
and your little lover boy have been seeing an awful lot of each other in your
absence.”

My stomach dropped to my toes. I was too mentally and
physically exhausted for this continuous roller coaster of emotional B.S. I was
feeling from one minute to the next.

“I am, and I don’t want to get into details about it right
now,” I said. I was trying to keep my composure and didn’t want to lose it. Not
now. There were more pressing issues than my love life to deal with. “I’m sort
of pressed for time, in case you forgot.”

I heard what I thought was a chuckle on the other end of the
phone. Had I made him laugh? Had I made
Theo Van Rooyen
laugh? No way.

“Tell him to meet me at Fisherman’s Brew,” Theo said. “I’ll
be watching for him.”

“Okay,” I said.

I waited for a minute, which felt like twenty, because I
wasn’t sure if this was the moment where I was supposed to just hang up or if
there was something more to say. How were you supposed to end a conversation
like this—‘thank you for coming to rescue me; please don’t die in the process?’

I had no freaking clue.

“Just hold on a little longer.” Theo sighed into the phone.
“I’ll be there for you soon.”

A loud beeping pierced my ear and caused me to jump
slightly. He’d hung up before I’d had a chance to say anything. Maybe that was
a good thing, because
thanks
or
okay
just didn’t seem to cut it.
Not in this situation.

“What did he have to say?” Kace asked. I handed him his
phone back. “Was he pissed?”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I cocked my head to the side.
“Really? You’re worried about if he was pissed at you?”

Kace slipped his phone back into his front pocket and
smirked at me. “Not really, no. I’m sure he was.”

I walked across the tiny room to sit on the cot, for what I
prayed would be the final time, and picked up my plate of food. All I could do
now was wait for Theo to get here—which meant I had time to eat.

“He said to meet him at Fisherman’s Brew; he and Kyra will
be there, and you can show them how to get here,” I said as I stabbed at a
small piece of turkey.

“All right.” He walked to the metal door and carefully
pulled it open. “When I come back, I’ll have them with me, and we’ll get you
out of here.”

I nodded, because I had a mouthful of food. Kace turned to
look at me before he slid through the door.

“I promise,” he said.

“I know,” I said after swallowing.

I wasn’t about to say thank you to him either, but only
because I couldn’t thank the person who’d helped to put me where I was in the
first place.

After the door closed behind him, I sunk into the cot and
leaned against the grimy wall behind me for support. I felt more awake than I
had in a long time. My mind buzzed with adrenaline, excitement, and fear for
what was to come next.

Finishing off what was supposed to be my last meal, I
scooped up the goblet of wine. This had been a celebratory meal of sorts, only
it wasn’t the type Admer had intended. Instead, I was celebrating my escape.