Chapter 25

I could hear the screaming of sirens as they drew closer to our location, I wanted to get away, and could not. I didn’t want the police involved, which would make everything more complicated.  I’d have to tell them who I really was, then there was the EMTs, they would surely see that I was Mer once they started to examine me. Even if I was able to keep everyone from finding out my identity, it would put the school and Keith at risk of fines and worse for my participation in the athletic program under false pretenses, not to mention blowing any chances I might have at the Olympics. I had to try to maintain my illusion, but the injuries that James had caused, on top of being cold, and practically naked were all pulling on what little magic I had in me.

“Please, please.” I begged the young man staying with me, “I can’t have the police involved.  I’m not who you think I am, I’m not a criminal, but I can’t be found by the police. You don’t understand.”  He looked at me, sympathy in his eyes, I’m sure he thought I was mostly delusional at this point due to the shape I was in. I reached for him, and the next thing I did could have cost me everything if it was ever found out that I’d done it, it was a felony offense to use charm on humans. I touched his hand, and cast a mild charm spell, putting the last of my reserved magic into it. The young man bent and scooped me up in his arms, helping me to my feet, we didn’t have much time. He grabbed the trench coat off his back seat and laid it over the front seat of his car, helping me in carefully as not to hurt me more.

“Thank you” I tried to smile at him, He moved around to the driver’s side of the car, got in and started it.  He drove down to the gate; I pulled the trench coat tightly around me as to not let anyone see what was under it, and tried desperately to maintain my illusion. We pulled out of the garage, and on to the street.

“Where is your apartment?” he asked matter of factly, like nothing unusual was going on.

“Do you know where Parker Towne House is?” I asked him, he shook his head. “It’s on Sheridan Square, you can’t miss it.” He nodded and pulled off on to the next street driving towards my apartment. We pulled up in front of the building; I asked to borrow his cell phone, which he handed over willingly as the charm spell was holding so far. I dialed the number for the apartment.

Thomas answered the phone “Hello?”

“Thomas, its me, I’m downstairs, but I can’t walk can you come down and get me?” I asked him.

“What do you mean you can’t walk?” Thomas replied fearfully.

“I’ve been hurt; I need a healer or a doctor. Just hurry, please?” I begged him. Thomas was down stairs in an instant to help me out of the car, the young man was starting to come out of the charm spell, I looked at Thomas. “Is there something you can do to make him forget this all?” I asked. Thomas nodded, propping me slightly against the car, he leaned in to where the young man sat.

“Thank you for bringing her home.” Thomas said, as he offered his hand, the young man took his hand shaking it, and promptly forgot what he was doing here in front of  my apartment building. Thomas shut the door to the car I was in, lifted me off my feet, still wrapped in the young man’s coat, and carried me upstairs.

“Is Miss Wynn hurt?” Josh called after Thomas.

“She will be fine, I promise” Thomas turned to speak to Josh as we neared the elevator. Josh took Thomas at his word, and let us go. I snuggled in tightly to Thomas, at last I was safe, or at least I hoped I was.

“Where have you been?” Thomas asked, “What happened?” I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer; they streamed down my face, unstoppable.

“How hurt are you?” concern filled his voice. “I was so worried, and so scared.”  I hid my face in the bend of Thomas’ neck and cried. Mr. Stuart stood holding the door open when we reached the apartment; he helped Thomas get me inside. Thomas immediately took me to the bathtub, and started helping me out of my blood soaked clothing. As soon as all the clothing was off, he started to run me a warm bath; I needed to get cleaned up before anything could get done about my wounds. I winced as the water started to flow up around my most intimate parts still raw from the abuse that James had inflicted.

“Who did this Amy?” Thomas asked me, I didn't answer him, only looked up with anger and hurt in my eyes. With that one look, he knew. His eyes became the color of a rolling storm at sea, his anger rose inside of him. “Where were you when this happened?” He asked.

“I was coming out of the sports center, on my way home to you.” I held up my hand to show him “It was missing when I came to, along with my backpack.” I started to cry again.

“I’ll kill the b*****d” he screamed, he got up, and left the room, the next thing I knew Mr. Stuart was at the door. I heard something slam up against the wall to the bathroom then the door to the apartment slam, and Thomas was gone.

“Is it ok if I take a look at your wounds?” He asked softly. I nodded and he entered bending down to examine me. “I’m a trained healer,” he said calmly, I felt a bit uncomfortable that it was Thomas’ dad, but I needed a healer, and if he could help me, I wasn’t going to turn him away, I was in pain. I need medical attention, and I didn’t think at this point a doctor could fix me.  I didn’t know for sure, if Mr. Stuart could fix me, but what choices did I have? I couldn’t go to the hospital, they would want to do a rape kit, and then want to take it to the police, the very situation I was trying to avoid. I couldn’t let anyone find out who I was, not and be safe.

He laid his hand over my lower abdomen gently, looking up at me reassuringly. “Everything will be ok Princess, I promise.” His voice was soft and comforting, his accent thick reminding me of home. “I’m going to go make you some herb tea, I’ll be back.”

Thomas anger grew the longer he paced out in the hall waiting for the elevator to come up to the third floor, his hair blew around him like there was a slight wind, and it crackled with energy as his magic intensified. He pushed the button again, still no elevator, he took off towards the stairwell, and started taking the steps two at a time.

Mr. Stuart came back in and offered me the steaming cup of what he called herb tea, “Drink it young lady, and rest.” He instructed, “I have to go save Thomas before he does something stupid, something that can’t be undone.” Mr. Stuart said. “You’ll be fine, after you drink that just rest; I would say call your tall, but…” His sentence broke off. I nodded up at him.

“You go keep Thomas out of trouble. I’ll rest.” I said, pretending to shoo him out of the room.  After Mr. Stuart left I called my tail, and relaxed as best I could in the deep claw-foot bathtub.

By the time Thomas got to the lobby, he was reminiscent of a walking storm, everything about him put off electrical energy.  Mr. Stuart stepped outside the apartment and could taste the energy on the air, it was then that the city took a collective breath, and for the next half hour, the city that never sleeps, completely stopped moving. Time stopped, everything stopped, Thomas stopped dead in his tracks, energy crackling about him, Mr. Stuart didn’t stop though, he moved through the lobby casting a forget spell on everyone inside, then to the street where Thomas stood.

Storm clouds gathered in the sky, while Mr. Stuart could hold the city and its people suspended for a short time, he couldn’t hold the very cosmos suspended, they had a mind of their own, and Thomas had called a storm which was moving in and fast.  It was a storm only matched by the anger that festered inside of him. I had never seen my gentle Thomas as angry as he was when he walked out of the bathroom after finding out what James had done to me. I don’t think his father had either. Thomas had never called a storm before; he was alive with raw, wild magic, magic he intended to unleash on James. If he found him, there was no hope of James living through it, which was Thomas’ intention.  What he didn’t realize is he could sink all of Manhattan in the process if he let loose this unbridled magic, sending it to the same watery grave that had befallen our original homeland when the Gods deemed our ancestors unworthy because of their greed. It was forbidden to call the magic of the cosmos, a rule strictly enforced by The Divine Mother. Our ancestors spent a thousand years captive of the sea, only able to look upon the land, but not walk upon it as a result of their arrogance.  It was Mr. Stuart’s hope to end it before it came to that, but he was too late, the magic was already starting to gather, with Thomas the eye of the storm.

Mr. Stuart touched his son’s shoulder, speaking gently in a calm tone, “Thomas, call it off,” he motioned to the storm brewing around them. “Call it off before the Divine Mother sees fit to punish you.” He warned his son. “You’re angry, I understand that, but call this off.” A stern look came across his father’s face. “You don’t need to hurt or kill innocents to accomplish your task.” He tried to reason with Thomas.

Thomas tried to control his emotions, but the wild magic rode him, the feeling of such power after being so helpless to do anything over the last twenty-four hours consumed him. He fought to regain his composure, to control the magic rather than letting it control him, it became a visible struggle as he harnessed the energy, trying to clam the storm that grew around him.   “That’s it,” His father encouraged him, “A little more, Thomas, you've almost got it now.”

Thomas took a deep breath, and all at once, as fast as the storm had come, it was gone. “Thank you.” Thomas responded, “I’m not sure what came over me, I couldn’t control it, it was like something or some one else totally took me over.”  Mr. Stuart nodded.

“Now, we need to find where your young lady was hurt and erase any evidence of the event.” Mr. Stuart stated.  “We don’t need the human police poking around in Mer business.” They stated towards the sports center, the going was easy with everyone and everything around them frozen for the moment at least in time.  Mr. Stuart kept up with his son easily not showing any of his two hundred years as they ran though the people who were standing around on the sidewalks. They were running short on time when they reached the parking garage, they started heading up floor by floor to find where it had happened.

As the wild magic subsided inside Thomas he started to feel tired and burnt out, he knew he would be useless now with any sort of spells, he’d used up too much energy calling the storm. The next step was going to have to be done by his father.  They made it to where my trail of blood ended; continuing they followed it to where it had taken place, there was a large pool of blood on the floor, dried now from sitting. There were crime scene investigators milling around the area, some bent looking at the pool of blood, others looking in and around the cars in the area for clues as to what had happened  Thomas was concerned, how were they going to take care of all of this now that the investigators were here?

Mr. Stuart started to gather everything placing it in the middle of the large pool of blood, the equipment, the papers, everything, right down to taking the gloves off of the investigators hands, he piled it in the middle of the pool, Thomas followed suit, helping his father as fast as he could, to gather everything up. They surveyed the scene, and Mr. Stuart made it all disappear including the pool of my blood on the floor, then he cast a spell that caused a gentle rain to start falling inside the garage, it washed away the remnants of any blood remaining on the floor that the investigators might pick up on and then ended. Mr. Stuart then cast a forget spell, throwing his hands into the air, it sprinkled down on them like sparkling dust as it landed on the people in the area. He collapsed into Thomas’ arms, his magic was spent, he needed rest, and he needed it badly.

Thomas sprinted from the scene carrying his father with ease, once they were to the street, he asked his father if he was able to stand, Mr. Stuart nodded, Thomas eased him to his feet.  The world started to move around them again, people picked up where they’d left off like nothing had happened.  The crime scene investigators stood dumbfounded at why they were in the parking garage, with no equipment of any type, and no visible reason to be there. Thomas and his father stood a safe distance away, and watched as they left the parking garage, pleased with the fact that they’d accomplished keeping the police from finding out what had happened to me.

To be Mer living away from your home grotto wasn’t that big of a deal, though you were expressly forbidden from all but the simplest magics if you lived among the general population. The fact that three, not just one, but three royals of two different grottos had loosed magic, some of that wild magic, on the streets of New York City, well yes that was a bit out of the ordinary.  Much of our magic was against laws set up by the humans to protect themselves, and though we could claim diplomatic immunity, it would result in being shipped home to our grottos, and not allowed back out among the humans. What we had done between the three of us in the last twenty four hours, would more than be grounds for deportation to our home grottos, where we could be dealt with by our sirens. It could even cost us the very grottos themselves, because of the agreements and treaties set up between the grottos and the United States Government.

Thomas brought his father back to the apartment where he could rest, I heard them come in and called for Mr. Stuart, Thomas emerged in the bathroom door.

“He’s resting on the sofa,” Thomas said, he was much calmer than when he’d left the apartment. He knelt beside the bathtub, and gently stroke my hair as he proceeded to tell me what had gone on. “I didn’t know the old man had it in him.” He playfully referred to his father jerking a thumb in the direction of the door, where Mr. Stuart was standing listening, a small grin on his face as he listened to his son recount the adventure.

“Old man?” Mr. Stuart piped up. “I’ll have you know, I kept up with you, I can’t help it you threw a tantrum and used all your magical energy up so fast.” He teased Thomas, making his point. “By the way,” he added, “I’ve gotten in touch with my grandmother, she’s sending us a few of the guards to help us track this guy down, and take care of it, it’s not something we can do on our own, and we shouldn’t have to.”  Mr. Stuart got a hard knowing look on his face. “An attack against a royal has been made, and by law, the human law that they are so strict to enforce, we have the right to our own investigation before turning it over to them.  If we so choose.” Thomas looked up at his father in surprise.

“And if we find him, then what?” Thomas asked. “Are we allowed to punish him by our standards or do we have to turn him over to human authorities?” Thomas’ face grew grim.

Our standards didn’t include a fair trial by your peers, or a judge for that matter, it usually meant torture, and execution at the hands of the Siren, or victim or both if the Siren allowed it. The thought of James, stripped, chained and prostrated in front of the entire Grotto held a certain bit of appeal as I sat there in the tub, trying to heal from what he’d done to me. But the idea that I might have to be the one to inflict the pain, the torture, and even perform the execution turned my stomach. Maybe I was too soft, had I lived outside our standards for so long? I began to weep. I could never be siren I thought to myself, never.

James flipped through the morning paper, there was nothing about a woman being found on campus, the victim of any crime, there was nothing on the news, it was if it hadn’t happened, save for the mysterious 911 call, that turned out to be a hoax. It was the only thing that hadn’t been erased from the memories of everyone involved, except for James, Thomas, Mr. Stuart, and myself.

 James wasn’t the least bit pleased, he thought it would at least make the papers, yet part of him was smug enough to believe he’d gotten away with it since it hadn’t. He searched the obituary section, had she died before she was able to make a report. He wondered. Surely, they would have done a post trauma work up if that was the case, but there was nothing. James began to wonder if it had even happened, or was he just being delusional, had he made it all up, was he so angry with me, that he’d dreamed he’d hurt me. He shook off the feeling and got ready for school.

Thomas and his father were pouring over a map of the campus; they thought it would be best to catch James unaware somewhere between his classes and practice.  Mr. Stuart had already sent word back to his grandmother who was sending a small contingent of guards. As Mr. Stuart had pointed out it was our right to conduct our own investigation, and the guards showing up would be properly armed, and have the proper identification with them to establish themselves as an investigation unit, though we conduct our investigations nothing like those of the New York Police Department.

Mr. Stuart rounded the corner of the bathroom, checking on me, he came in bent down and put his hand on my abdomen, I could feel the tingle on my skin as he examined me. A smile crossed his face.

“Everything is healing like it’s supposed to.” He informed me, I was relieved, and at least I knew I was someday going to be able to have children, a question that had been nagging me since Emerald’s attack a couple of nights ago. “Rest, let your body finish its work.” He said rising to his feet, “Is there something I can get you?” I shook my head; I just wanted to lay there in the water right now and sleep. I felt so very tired.