Red Witch: Book Two of the Wizard Born Series (23 page)

He flew higher and paused again, surveying the houses below, and saw that a few of them had turned off their lights. “Fred!” He yelled. He turned and yelled again “Fred!”
Where are you?

He flew back to Fred’s house and landed in her driveway to find Carl talking to Fred’s parents on their front porch stoop.

“See anything?” Larry said as Jamie approached them.

Jamie shook his head, his mouth too numb from the cold to speak.

“Carl,” Lisa said, her voice trembling, her face pale. “What is happening? Where is she?”

Carl exhaled heavily. “I’m gonna go down to the station.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s almost eleven o’clock, and it’s still too soon to file a missing persons report, but I can —”

“Missing persons?” Lisa’s eyes were frantic.

“What?” Larry said. “You think she’s been kidnapped?” Lisa’s legs gave out and she would have fallen if Larry hadn’t grabbed her elbow.

Kidnapped! No!
“I’ve got to go back up and find her,” Jamie said, rising from the ground.

Carl grabbed Jamie’s ankle before he could fly away and pulled him back down. “Jamie, stop. Let me handle this. I’m a professional, and you need to get some sleep.”

Jamie settled back on the driveway. “Sleep? How? I couldn’t sleep if I had to.”

“We don’t know that she’s been kidnapped. Go home and try to rest, okay? Don’t you have a final tomorrow?”

“Yeah, but I —”

“No buts, Jamie!” Carl’s voice was firm. “I’ll find Fred. Quit worrying.”

Jamie opened his mouth to object, but changed his mind when he saw the look on his father’s face. “All right, but wake me when you find her.”

* * *

Fred groggily became aware that she was lying on her side, covered by a blanket that smelled of mildew. Her mouth, wrists, and ankles were bound with tape, and she heard the roar of a car motor.
Where am I?
she thought.
What happened?
“Mmph!” she said. “Mmph!”

“Rita,” came a voice nearby, “I think she’s awake.”

“Give her some more powder, Cass.”

“What if she’s gotta pee? It’s been almost eight hours.”

“Let her pee, then. Won’t hurt her.”

“It’ll get all over the back seat. You gotta stop.”

“Mmph!” Fred said again.
I do have to pee
, she realized.
Badly.

“Just pull off at the next exit. She can pee by the side of the road. Nobody’ll see us.”

I’m not peeing by the side of the road!

“Damn, Cassandra, let’s just keep going.”

“She could get a bladder infection.”

“Oh, all right.”

Fred felt the car slow down and change directions, then stop. She heard the door open and someone pulled the blanket off of her. The sudden rush of cold fresh air felt wonderful. She raised her head to try to catch of glimpse of the two women, but couldn’t see much because of the darkness.

“How are we going to do this?” Cassandra said, pulling Fred out feet first. “If we cut the tape on her ankles, she might run for it.”

“Lean her back against the car,” Rita said. “She can squat right there. It’s dark enough.”

Fred managed to stand, unsteadily at first, and shook her head firmly, eyeing the tall blonde named Cassandra and the shorter woman with the darker hair, Rita.

“Honey,” Rita said, “if you don’t pee now, you’re gonna have to hold it for another three or four hours. Can you hold it that long?”

Fred shook her head again.

“Lift her dress up,” Cassandra said, “and I’ll help her pull her panties down.”

“Mmph!” Fred grunted and shook her head.
This is humiliating
.

“Can you get your panties down by yourself?”

Fred nodded and Rita lifted Fred’s dress. Fred leaned back against the car, but paused, giving the two women a hard look.

“I think she don’t want us to watch,” Cassandra said.

They turned their heads, and though Fred’s hands were still bound, she managed to hook her little fingers in her panties. She pulled them down and squatted, leaning back against the car for support
. I can’t go!
She waited several long moments.

“Hurry up, Grace Mary,” Rita said.

Finally, Fred was able to relax enough to pee. A little splashed on the backs of her calves.
Gross! This is so awful
. When she finished, she stood and awkwardly wiggled her panties back up. Before she could react, Rita held her open palm up to Fred and blew a powder in her face. The world stared spinning.

Then more darkness.

* * *

Jamie woke up on the couch to something poking his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see his father standing over him. “Hmm?” Jamie rubbed his eyes. “Fred?”

“Not yet,” Carl said. “I’m gonna get a little shut-eye and head back to the station.”

“What time is it?”

“Three-thirty. I just got home. Larry’s still out searching, but you need to go to bed. Maybe Fred can contact you in a dream.”

“Unh,” was Jamie’s response as he stumbled to the stairs. He paused at the first step and turned back to his father. “Dad, are we gonna find her?”

“Sure. Don’t worry. I’ve already got some officers checking the Interstate for her.”

“Hope you’re right.” He went up to his room and collapsed on the bed without taking off his clothes.

* * *

Rita leaned her elbow on their big table and rested her head on her hand, watching Cassandra sew on the voodoo doll. “Cass, ain’t you got Fred’s hair in there yet?”

Cassandra wore her reading glasses, her tongue poking out of one corner of her mouth, working intently on her task. “It’s hard, Rita. Never sewn a hair before.” She pushed the needle through the head of the doll and held it up. “There. Done. How do like the red yarn I sewed in there, too? Don’t it kinda look like her, red hair and everything?”

“Yeah,” Rita waved a weary hand. “It’s Grace Mary Junior.” She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes and rolled her head around and groaned. “Now let’s get some sleep.”

“I’m all for that.” Cassandra set the doll on the table and grinned. “But we did it, Rita. We got her!”

“Yeah, we pulled it off. Now comes the hard part.”

“Did you feel her? She’s strong, isn’t she? Even without doin’ the blood bond…I felt her real magic real good. She might even be stronger than Izzy.”

“Doubt that.”

“I dunno, she’s
got
it…she’s a real witch. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel it, too.”

Rita shrugged. “I felt it. She’s gonna be a doozy. Soon as we get her to do the blood bond, we’ll be a helluva good triad.”

Cassandra nodded and looked across the room. “Funny, though. Why do you think that lady at the school called her Fred?”

“Guess we’ll find out.”

Chapter 22

Jamie filled Rollie in on the situation as they rode to school. Rollie’s normally cheerful face looked grim.

“Dude,” Rollie said. “How could this happen? This is
Hendersonville,
man. This kinda stuff happens to other people…people, like in…New York of L.A. or some place.”

Jamie didn’t answer. His head buzzed from all of the coffee he’d drunk to offset the lack of sleep, and his eyes felt dry and grainy.

Rollie rubbed his face with one hand. “What are we gonna do? We gotta do
something
.”

“I wanted to skip school and search for her, but my parents wouldn’t let me. They’re trying to keep me from panicking, but it’s too late for that.” He sucked in his breath through his teeth. “I’m gonna go out looking for her again after school if she’s still missing.”
Please let her turn up before then.

“I’m going with you.”

“I thought you had basketball practice.”

Rollie gave him a level look. “Dude, this is
Fred
we’re talkin’ about. Coach can kick me off the team if he wants.”

Jamie knew how much basketball meant to Rollie, how hard he’d worked toward this season. Jamie had to swallow hard to get the lump down in his throat before answering. “Thanks, Buddy.”

“We’ll find her,” Rollie said firmly. “I know it. So don’t worry about it.”

* * *

Jamie trudged through the crowded hall toward his locker, not seeing the faces around him until Melanie caught up with him. “Jamie, have you seen Fred?”

He shook his head.

“I’ve been calling her and texting her like crazy, but she won’t answer.”

Jamie walked on without looking at her.

She grabbed his arm to stop him. “Jamie, did you hear me? Where’s Fred?”

“I dunno.” He glanced at her and quickly looked away.
Please don’t ask any more about her.

“What do you mean you don’t know? Didn’t she ride to school with you?”

“No.”
And that’s the truth
.

“Is she sick?”

“Don’t think so.”

“Then why isn’t she at school?”

“Look Melanie, I really don’t know,” he snapped. “Okay?”

He walked away without looking back.

* * *

Fred woke with a pounding headache, a hammer-to-the-back-of-the-skull kind, and her mouth felt like it was lined with toxic dust. It was daylight, and she was lying on her back on a bed.

Where am I?
She started to sit up, but when her stomach tried to cartwheel out of her mouth, she lay back down for a moment, taking short, shallow breaths.
Uh. Hope I don’t puke.
She waited until the room stopped spinning and tried again, raising her head slowly, finally propping up on her elbows to look around.

She was in a sparsely furnished room.
Must be somebody’s house.
There was only one window. It had white curtains, which were closed, and was set near the far corner of the wall on her right. On her left, the wall opposite the window, was a closet, a plain wooden dresser, a wash stand, and a bedside table next to her with a small lamp. There was a door on the far wall, closed, with an old-fashioned metal doorknob. A big white ceramic-coated pot that looked like a planter sat on the floor beside the bed; a wide board covered the top. The plain cast iron bed frame had been painted black once, but probably not during Fred’s lifetime. She pushed her legs over the left side of the bed and felt something hard against her left ankle and heard the clank of metal.

She looked down and saw a steel fetter cuffed around her ankle, with a heavy chain attached to it, running to the bottom of the left post at the foot of the bed.
You gotta be kidding me.
She grabbed the chain with her hand and gave it a hard yank, but it held fast.
This is like a horror movie. I’m really in trouble.

“Hey,” she called. When she got no answer, she tried again, louder. “Hey! Anybody home?’ The house was silent.

Maybe I can get somebody’s attention out the window
. She cautiously stood, shaky at first, right hand on the bed for support, and crept across the wooden floor. She only made it a few steps before the chain at her ankle ran out of slack, leaving her several feet short. She tried to drag the bed toward the window, but it wouldn’t budge. The posts were firmly anchored to the floor with angled straps of metal.
Can’t reach the door, either,
she realized gravely
. It’s even worse than I thought.

She sat on the edge of the bed and scrubbed her face with her hands as her pulse quickened; her breath was ragged.
What am I gonna do? What’s gonna happen to me?
She dropped her hands and cried, “Jamie! Jamie, help me!”

She fell back on the bed and wept.

* * *

It was midafternoon when Fred heard the door creak open. She sat up warily as the two women who abducted her entered, each holding a cigarette and wearing awkward smiles.

In the light, Fred got a better look at them. They both were older than her parents. The blonde wore a ridiculous leather miniskirt and a staggering amount of makeup. The shorter woman had the fakest-looking red hair Fred had ever seen (with gray roots, Fred noted), was pudgy, and dressed more appropriately for her age, but only just.

“Good morning,” the blonde said cheerily.

It’s afternoon
, Fred said to herself, eyeing them wordlessly as she swung her legs to the side of the bed.

“Did you sleep okay?” the other woman said in a cigarette-roughened voice.

Fred glowered at them, flapping her hand in front of her face.

“Does the smoke bother you?” the blonde asked.

Fred continued flapping her hand and scowling. The blonde turned to the red head. “Gimme your smoke.” She took the cigarette from her and disappeared into the hall. A moment later, Fred heard a toilet flush and the woman reappeared.

“Well, Grace Mary,” the other woman said, “I think it’s time to make some introductions. My name is Rita, and this is Cassandra.” The blonde flashed a toothy smile.

“You’re probably wondering why we brought you here,” Cassandra said.

No kidding? What gave you that idea?

“You see, Grace Mary, or is it Fred?” Rita said.

“It’s Fred.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, you see, we have a very good reason for doing that, and we’ll tell you soon as you get to know us a little better.”

“Are you gonna turn me into a prostitute?”

Cassandra laughed and flipped one hand. “Oh no, not unless you want to be one.”

Rita shot Cassandra a sharp glance and continued, “Anyway, we don’t mean you any harm. Honest. It’s just —”

“You’ve got me chained to a bed!” Fred shouted, but winced at the sharp pain in her skull.

“Well, yes, but that’s only temporary. We’ll set you free real soon, just as soon as —”

“I want to go home.”

Rita pressed her mouth into a thin line, and looked at Cassandra, who said, “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, can we get you something?”

“A hacksaw and a cell phone would be nice.”

Cassandra snorted a laugh and put her hand to her face. “That’s a good one. But really…are you hungry or thirsty?”

Fred opened her mouth for a sharp retort, but realized her stomach felt empty and some water might rinse the foul taste from her mouth. “Yeah,” she mumbled. “A glass of water and some toast or something.”
I don’t know if I could hold down much more right now.
“And I need to use the bathroom.”