‘And hear more of your terrible singing?’ I chuckled. ‘No thanks.’
‘Jealous.’
That Shaman Etorl was something else. After he terminated the connection, I decided to head to the hideout. If Pixie, Lanette, and Gam were there, then I’d take care of them. If Rufian was waiting, I’d take care of him too.
With much regret, I tapped into my teleportation crystal and made it to Macadi. Following Clover’s directions, I found a drop zone that was a few miles south from Bebet Mountain, and sure enough, I found an isolated cabin in the swamps. The house looked like it was two seconds from falling apart, sitting on a rickety pile over murky waters. It was a small, two-story building with a sloping roof and twin brick chimneys. The windows were caked in dirt and the shutters hung askew from the wall, their rotting wood wobbling in the wind. What had once probably been white paint was now a worn out gray, its trim bleached by years of sunlight, rain, and neglect. The vibe I was getting from this place made me more interested to investigate from within.
“All right, here goes nothing.” Without knowing what to expect, I inched my feet forward cautiously. As I crept closer, the sound of rustling from inside made my heart jump, but I was only psyching myself out. From the looks of it, there was no light coming from the windows, and the chimneys were empty from smoke. When I pushed open the door ajar, I peeked inside, surprised to see the place was empty. Not only empty, filthy, too. The foyer was lined with cobwebs in the corners and dust along every possible surface. “Okay, maybe I wasn’t psyching myself out here,” I whispered as I noted there had been someone here recently, my eyes catching three empty plates in the living-room coffee table left with food scraps on them.
“Mom would have had a fit,” I cursed under my breath, thinking of how much of a neat-freak she was.
Mold and mildew spread across the wooden beams like vines. The walls were stripped down from age and the wooden floorboards cranky and whiny. The air smelled ripe and raw, and I was fighting the need to pinch my nose from that thick musky smell. Well at least I should be fortunate that the scent wasn’t metallic with the record the Deo Guild had, those fake righteous fae quick to kill without batting a goddamn eye.
I searched every room from top to bottom, bumping into scrolls and potions and other magical knick knacks that had me turning heads every which way. You’d think from their collection that they sold devices for a living, but then my curiosity piqued further when I heard something that wasn’t chimes and whistles.
A cry for help came from the back, and the voice sounded familiar…
“Please spare me, I’ll give you anything you want, just… please, let me go…”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Was that Rufian I was hearing?
So he did beat me here, and by the sound of it, got his ass in some deep shit.
I searched the home again, flipping through doors, closets, bathrooms, bedrooms, everywhere. I even went out back, where I noticed the Deo Guild clearly had no concept of less is more. The backyard was surprisingly worse than the inside with so much junk piled up that I couldn’t see the ground. The horrible smell of fermenting garbage forced me back in through the kitchen door, and that was where I heard Rufian’s voice the strongest.
Finally, I called out to him, “Where the hell are you?”
“…Silas? Silas, is that you?”
“No shit.”
“Oh, my knight in shining armor!”
“Why am I not surprised you got yourself fucking caught? Where are you?”
“Inside the house.”
“No duh. Where inside the house?”
“Why do you need specifics? Are you going to lash out on me again?”
“Considering you’re being a prick about your location, I just might. After all, I have every reason to.”
“And I have every reason to hate you for striking me like that. I lost two back teeth because of you…”
“You’re lucky it was only two. Now quit playing around and tell me where you are.”
“Like I said, inside the house.”
“I need specifics, asshole!”
“Inside… trapped. Somewhere. It is dark, and cold, and damp. I can’t see a thing, Silas. All I know is that I am still inside the house, where I can be heard.”
“Okay, sounds like you got hit with some bad mojo. Know what spell they used?”
“No clue. This is my first time encountering it. I cannot simply teleport out. Trust me, I have tried. You need to find a reversal spell.”
“The hell? How am I going to do that?! Unless it’s a potion, then I can’t use spells. I’m human, remember?”
“I am well aware…”
“…”
“???”
“You can’t be serious?!” I retorted, understanding what he was implying. “You think after the shit you pulled that I’d shave a few years off my life for you?!”
“It’s an earnest sacrifice that I will never forget.”
“No fucking deal! In fact, I’m leaning more on the idea of leaving you there to rot! At least that way you won’t kill anyone.”
“Silas… Clave killed my wife…” he said, and then all of a sudden, I saw a white center on the east wall of the kitchen wallpaper. I took a step back, realizing it was Rufian. He had a bright aura to him that almost made him look like some type of phantom. Worse than that, he was actually trapped, with his hand against the wall on the other side of what looked like another dimension.
Edging closer, I pressed my finger tips on the wall next to him, and as expected, it was solid. To further test my skepticism, I punched a hole clean through the wooden panel, Rufian oblivious to it. In fact, he wasn’t even looking directly at me, which proved that he was in a different plane entirely.
But his confession resonated with me. He changed my mood, the shred of sympathy I had for him letting him explain what had happened.
