The Moonstone (Enchantment Book 1) (38 page)

“Is your friend always this silent?” he asks, looking at Zach this time.

“Why not give us a sample of your talents?” he continues, speaking directly to me once again.

I look to Zach for help. Are these women enchanters? I presume not, since Zach said he didn’t have much to do with them. I’m also afraid he’ll find out I don’t have my powers. That would put me in an awkward position.

“Aaron, don’t push her. She’s had a hard week. Let her get used to you first.”

Zach to the rescue; although, come to think of it, he was the one who put me in this awkward position by not warning me of his friend’s eccentricity.

“Fine! I can see that you want to keep her to yourself. Maybe tonight, Miss Mills, you’ll show me the extent of your talents…in private, if that’s better for you.”

Oh my God! How pretentious he is! There is no way I’m going to be left alone with this slimy skirt chaser.

“There are some things I reserve only for those who deserve it.”

Oops, maybe I spoke out of turn. This would be a bad time to be kicked out. I wouldn’t know where to go.

“Oh, she has spirit, I like that! Come, friends, take a seat. We’re about to have a feast.”

The four young women, all blonde and long-legged, are mute and like ice. They seem almost like living Barbie dolls, so disturbing. I presume he keeps them for his personal pleasure. How pathetic.

Waiters arrive with plates of ribs, not at all what I expected from an enchanter. My disappointment must be visible.

“Don’t you eat sweets like other enchanters?” I can’t help but ask.

“Other enchanters? Dear, I’m a demi-God. I could care less about other enchanters. And sugar? That’s for kids. Do you want a lollipop?”

What in the world is Zach doing with this idiot? He’s devouring the ribs as if he were a starving animal. I’m completely disgusted and I’ve lost my appetite.

“Oh, I see that I’ve insulted your little protégée, Zach. You see, that’s why I prefer human company. They’re much more forgiving.” He makes this last comment as he reaches out to caress the nape of one of his little slaves.

“My adoptive parents are humans and they’re nothing like you…”

“That’s why you escaped them to a whole different world, is it? You’re looking for a world that you belong in, aren’t you? Why is it then that you’ve just escaped the world of enchanters? I suspect, Miss Mills, that you don’t feel at home anywhere.”

That’s enough! I can’t sit here with this insensitive jerk a minute longer.

“Zach, your friend is a pain, and I can’t stand it anymore. Come and find me in our room when you’re done here.”

I glare at him, still stunned that he told this guy we escaped! I don’t know what I was thinking letting Zach bring me here. I need to get to Charles’ as soon as possible.

I don’t have to wait long. Zach arrives a couple of minutes later and knocks on the door of my room.

“Lou, I’m so sorry. You can’t take him seriously. He likes to push peoples’ buttons, but he doesn’t mean it.”

“Zach, I can’t believe you told him about our escape and honestly, dangerous or not, he’s not at all the kind of person who I could ever trust. I’d like to leave, I can’t stay here a minute longer.”

“Lou, I understand. Can we just watch his show and I promise I’ll get us tickets for a flight to leave as soon as it ends.”

I can see he’s disappointed and he’s scrambling for a solution. I didn’t realize how important this was to him and I guess I understand a little better, now. He always lives in a world that belongs to others, and he brought me here to show me a little of his world. Even if I already hate his friend, I need to do this for Zach.

“Fine, I’ll go with you, but I refuse to spend more time with him, understood?”

“Ok, I promise; you’ll see, his show is incredible!”

He seems so happy, how could I refuse him this?

Zach then tells me he has an errand to run and that he’ll be back to get me in an hour. I take advantage of the time I’ve been given and take a bath to try and erase some of this crazy trip. After listening to a few songs on my playlist, curiosity takes over and I flip on my cell phone. I was expecting a couple of messages, but nothing like what I see. Flicka sent me three texts.

*Lou!! Where are you? Everyone’s looking for you. We have our team challenge today. Answer me!*

*Lou!!*

*Lou, Black is beside himself. He’s turning the city upside down to try to find you! You have to call me as soon as possible. I don’t know what happened, but he’s really upset.*

She wrote all this before 8 am, which means they probably discovered my disappearance early. I can see there are a few missed calls, almost all of them from Black. The first was at three in the morning, so he must have gone into my room at night. Why? I decide to listen to the messages.

“Lou, where are you? Answer me. Look, we need to talk. It’s completely idiotic to run away like this! I’m going to look for you at Zach’s and believe me, I don’t even want to think about what I’ll do to him if I find you there.”
From the tone of his voice, I can tell he’s not happy at all. I listen to the last message, also from him.

“Lou, please call me. I don’t know why you’ve done this. Please don’t leave the city. It’s so dangerous for you to leave without your powers…I’m so sorry!”

Sure, he’s sorry now. Sorry he’s a manipulator? No thanks! More messages from him and more missed calls from Flicka, Charles, and even from Gertrude. I can’t believe Charles brought her into all this; she’ll be worried sick. I need to call Charles and make sure he doesn’t get any backlash from Black.

He picks up on the first ring.

“Lou! Where the devil are you? Did anyone hurt you?”

“I’m sorry to mix you up in all this. The only person who hurt me was Black and that’s why I ran away.”

“What? What are you talking about? Black is worried sick and searching everywhere for you!”

“Really? Ask him about the spell he cast on me. It’s because of him that, if I’m not sitting beside him, I can’t use my powers. He’s using me, Charles.”

“What??!! Why didn’t you tell me? I could have done something. Where are you?”

“I’m with Zach in Las Vegas. I needed to get away and I was going to get in touch with you tomorrow.”

“You’re in Las Vegas without your powers! Have you gone nuts?”

“I have nothing to worry about here. The only one who knows about my special powers is Zach. I’ll come back tonight and I’ll call you before I get on the plane, how about that?”

“I want you to come back right now!”

Again with the orders…I’ve had enough! I’m an adult and I can make my own decisions.

“I appreciate your concern, Charles, but I will come back tonight. You can tell Flicka and Gertrude I’m fine.”

I hang up before letting him answer.

Zach and I leave for the show. The concert hall is spectacular; it has the feel of a 1920’s cabaret lounge. One of the perks of being friends with the star is having the best seats in the house. The only drawback is that I’ll have to suffer Aaron’s testosterone a little bit longer. Zack comes back to the table with a milkshake and some cotton candy. I guess that’s his way of asking for my forgiveness for his friend’s behavior at lunch.

“Thanks, you’re forgiven,” I tell him, and offer him my best smile. He knows how to butter me up.

The lights go down in the house and the lit candles placed on each table create an air of mystery in the space. From the room’s speakers, I can hear “Season of the Witch” by Donovan.

He obviously has a well-developed sense of irony. Then, in an instant, all the candles in the room swell and flame higher. Next they form as many long cords of fire as there are tables and leap towards the stage, creating a fall of flames onto the stage. Out of this downpour of fire steps Aaron, pretentious even in his way of walking. He skips a few steps forward and extends his hat, waiting for his applause as it arrives from all corners of the room, as if on cue. Because I understand the world of enchanters, I know it’s all an illusion. But I find it difficult to believe that all these humans have no idea what’s going on. Seriously, what human illusionist could get such great results? It’s so ironic that Aaron manages to show his true self to this crowd every day without being discovered. People are so gullible. I cross my arms across my chest and stare at our magician, there’s no way he’ll have the satisfaction of seeing me applaud his little number. He stares right at me when he bows and then continues with his show. The whole set is an illusion. Much as the show is really well put together and executed, knowing the personality behind the star, I find it hard to appreciate the quality of the performance.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have now reached the moment of our final number. For this one, I’ll need a lady from the audience that I will choose at random.”

Not me, not me…not me! Oh no, he’s walking right towards me and extending his hand in invitation.

“Go on, Lou, go!” Says Zach, laughing.

I shake my head, no, but Aaron waves his hands in the air, encouraging the crowd to cheer me on. As I hate being the center of attention and I know he won’t give up, I decide I might as well get it over with. Right now all I want it to get this over with and go home. He leads me to center stage where I find a classic black metal cage.

“Friends, you will count to three and together, we will make this lady disappear.”

“One, two, three…” yells out the crowd. Then there’s a surge of applause.

I assume he’s hidden the cage with me inside it with an illusion! What’s fun is being able to see it all happen from the inside; I can see them, but they can’t see me.

“Maybe you’re wondering where our damsel in distress has gone to? Well, sometimes appearances can be deceiving.”

He grabs one of his assistants, the same that were at the table at dinner, and starts to quickly spin her. Once back at a standstill I can see that she’s transformed into a clone of me! Ok, he’s more talented than I gave him credit for. It’s rather strange to see myself from the outside. The crowd goes nuts and gives him a standing ovation that lasts for several minutes and then slowly the room begins to empty. I wonder when he will come and release me? I guess he needs to wait until everyone has left the hall. I wait a few more minutes until I can see that only Zach remains in the auditorium, still seated at our table, head in his hands, looking rather upset. The assistant has already returned to her usual self. I assume my turn comes next.

“Zach, tell him to let me out now. I want to go home.”

“Shut her up, I’m going to change and then I’ll be back,” says the magician. 

What? Shut her up? Who’s going to set me free? This isn’t funny. I guess he just wants revenge for this afternoon.

Now there are only the two of us left in the room and Zach walks towards me without even looking at me. What’s going on?

“Zach, come on, tell me you have the keys. I don’t want to have to wait for him to come back to get out of this thing.”

He walks over to the cage and grabs the bars to look at me, his eyes glassy.

“I’m so sorry, Lou.”

“Sorry, why are you sorry? I don’t understand.”

“For what’s about to happen.”

I can see he’s finding it hard to look at me, and that has me worried.

“What’s going to happen, Zach? I don’t understand, stop kidding around! Tell your friend I’m sorry about this afternoon and that he needs to open the door and let me out of here.”

Zach shakes his head and leans his forehead up against the bars, sighing loudly.

“You didn’t give me a choice, Lou.”

“Ok, if this is a nightmare, I need to wake up now.”

“I thought we were so good together you and I. I thought I could trust you, but you had to go and live with him,” with that he hits the bars of the cage and walks away.

His attitude is worrying me. Is he playing some sort of psycho boyfriend routine with me?

“You see, Lou. When I met you the first time I said to myself- Here! She’s been raised by humans, so maybe she’ll be like Aaron!- then, the night at the stables when I saw you take pity on the creatures for the way the enchanters treat them, I said – she’s perfect for our plan.- Not to mention I really liked you…”

He comes back over to the cage, grabbing at a lock of my hair and rolling it in his hands the way that Black did, but in a much creepier way.

“And then, there had to be Black sticking his oar in! I told you a thousand times to watch out for him, but you wouldn’t listen.”

The look in his eye is almost unrecognizable to the Zach that I’ve gotten to know in the last two weeks.

“It’s your friend Aaron, isn’t it? He’s cast some sort of spell on you, is that it? Tell him to bring back my friend.”

“You aren’t getting it, Lou. I’m the one who’s in charge here, it’s MY plan.”

“What exactly are you talking about?” I ask, still hoping that he’s about to reveal this is all a joke.

“That’s the beauty of the whole thing, Lou. I’m so lucky to have crossed paths with you.”

He’s getting very enthusiastic but in a disturbing way. He starts to pace in front of my prison.