Chapter 24

 

Thomas picked up the phone, and called the police department.

“Yes, I want to report a missing person.” He said to the officer on the other end.

“You’ll need to come down here and bring a recent picture if possible.” The officer stated.

“Ok, I’ll be down there as soon as possible.” Thomas replied and hung up the phone. He gathered his coat, and threw the velvet cloth over the silver bowl sitting on the coffee table, the water still in it. He didn’t need anyone eavesdropping on what was going on right now, the cloth being infused with a warding spell would stop anyone from being able to know what was going on in the room where the bowl sat. What Thomas didn’t realize was the damage had already been done, his father had already heard the conversation on the phone with the human authorities.

Thomas’ father walked along the shore, no one noticing him as he worked his way towards the street beyond the row of buildings running parallel to the water’s edge. He was invisible to everyone so long as he didn’t interact with them. Mr. Stuart hadn’t seen this part of the country since he was a very young man when his family had fled to the West Lands in search of a new home, he didn’t recognize any of it. He cast a spell to locate Thomas, and followed the line of smoke easily coming first to my apartment complex, where the trail incepted with another line of smoke leading away, Mr. Stuart took his time to follow it carefully; he didn’t want to be seen by anyone, including Thomas. He knew his son needed him, and he was here to help if he could. Mr. Stuart had concluded that I must be missing from the sound of the call that Thomas had made to the police, and wanted to know for himself if it was my grandmother, my sister, or something else had happened. Mr. Stuart made his way up West Tenth Street to the police department, he waited until some one opened the door and then slipped inside before it closed, he followed the trail of smoke to a cubical where he saw Thomas sitting with an officer, showing the officer my picture. He moved within hearing range and listened.

“Hello, you want to file a missing persons report?” asked the officer behind the desk.

“Yes” Thomas stated, “She’s my fiancé.”

“How long has she been missing?” the officer inquired.

“Since about ten this morning,” Thomas said.

“Unless you think that she’s in danger or a danger to herself or others, then there is nothing I can really do until she’s been missing at least twenty four hours sir.” She said.

“I think she could be hurt or worse” Thomas stated. “Her ex-boyfriend was abusive to her, and seems to be carrying a grudge against her and I getting married.”

“Has he made any attempts to hurt her?” the officer asked.

“No, but he did enter her apartment and threaten her earlier this week.” Thomas responded.

“Do you think he would hurt her?” the officer questioned.

“I don’t know,” said Thomas, “But, her best friend said that before her and I started dating that James, her ex was abusive to her, often coming to his place, Andy’s apartment,  to nurse wounds or bruises.” The officer was writing it all down, as Thomas spoke.

“So you honestly think this man, James, what was his last name?” the officer inquired, “Would physically injure her?”

“I’m afraid he could, and I’m sorry ma’am, I don’t know his last name.” Thomas sighed.

“Well, without being certain, the most I can do is let the officers in the area know that you’re looking for her, but without her being gone for at least twenty four hours, there isn’t anything I can do officially.” The officer said. “I’m sorry.”  Thomas picked my picture up off the officer’s desk, and walked out of the office, letting the door slam behind him. Mr. Stuart followed close, as to keep up with him. Thomas was visibly upset, and trying to think of a way to get the human police to help. He turned around, and took a punch at the glass outside of the office, it shattered, this sent a dozen or more officers, weapons drawn to find out what had happened. An officer grabbed Thomas, forcing him to the ground face first.

“Hands above your head!”  Shouted an officer at Thomas. The officer that was taking his information gave him a stern look.

“Sir, if you keep this up, you’re not going to be able to help her either because I’ll put you in lock-up myself. I’m sorry I can’t help you.” She said, and turned to walk away.

The officer that had a hold of him, released him, and he got to his feet. Thomas called after her as he dropped his personal illusion subtlety, “I don’t suppose it would make a difference that she’s Amethyst McNamara, would it?” The officer turned on her heel, and looked directly at Thomas. The officer gasp, an awestruck look on her face.

“You mean she’s a Mer?” asked the officer, her voice coming slow and breathy. Thomas nodded.

“Not just any Mer, she’s my fiancé and she’s Princess Amethyst McNamara.” Thomas stated. The officer questioning him about me quickly escorted him to a private room for further questioning.

Mr. Stuart followed, and rested for a long while, listening to what Thomas said over the intercom outside the interrogation room he was placed in for further information on my disappearance. The magic he had performed and was maintaining was pulling hard on him, draining his energy quickly, but he couldn’t afford to drop the invisibility not yet. He didn’t want Thomas to know he’d overheard the phone call, not until he knew for certain what was going on, and he couldn’t just appear in the middle of the police station, that would arouse suspicions especially after what Thomas had done. He was however certain that he could help once he rested some and was able to cast a tracking spell again, but the spell took a lot of magical energy, and he wasn’t recovering as fast as he normally would if he hadn’t been maintaining the invisibility spell, so he waited.

 He had to undo what had just happened, he couldn’t leave Thomas here now alone, that was for sure. He needed to pull Thomas out of the police station, and make everyone who had witnessed his outburst forget it had even happened. It was the only way now to keep both Thomas and I safe.

Mr. Stuart decided that to conserve energy and make it regenerate faster, he would drop the invisibility; he found storage closet, and ducked inside, dropping the spell. Carefully he stepped out outside and walked to the officer where Thomas was being interviewed. He opened the door, and the receptionist looked up at him.

“May I help you?” She asked politely.

“I hope so,” Mr. Stuart said, his thick Scottish accent coming through,”I’m Robert Stuart, my son Thomas is here?” The receptionist smiled up at him.

“Yes Sir, let me find out where he is for you.” She replied, and picked up the phone calling the officer that was in charge of the case.  Robert took this chance to inspect the room, accounting for the officers that had been present when Thomas had exposed who he and I were. Everyone he could remember was here, except for the officer who had been taking information from Thomas. The receptionist hung up the phone, and got up from behind her desk.

“He’s with the officer in charge of the case right now, if you’ll have a seat, she would like to talk to you as well.” The young lady said, as she showed Robert the waiting area, “would you like a cup of coffee or anything Mr. Stuart?” She asked politely. Robert shook his head no; the receptionist turned and went back to her desk a few feet away.  Robert stood up after resting for a few moments, concentrating on drawing in more magical energy, and walked back over to the receptionist’s desk. She looked up at him and smiled.

“Yes sir?” She asked in a friendly tone. Robert looked around to see if anyone could see him from there, or was paying attention to the receptionist, then looked back at her.

“Yes, is there a rest room I could use?” he asked. She stood up to point him in the direction of the restroom and Robert took that moment to touch her lightly on the arm where there was exposed skin. The receptionist slid limp into Robert’s arms, she’d wake up with a headache, in a few moments, but she wouldn’t remember what had happened in the last twenty four hours. Robert sat her in her chair, making it look as though she was still awake and working, and moved closer to the center of the room. He called a forget spell to his fingers, and all at once sent it raining down over everyone in the room, everyone sat for a moment trying to remember what they were in the middle of, with no luck. Conversations that were being had, just stopped without resolution, officers looked down at paperwork sitting on their desks with confusion. The spell would erase everything they had seen, heard or done in the last twelve hours from their memories, the mass spell wasn’t as strong as the individual spell, but it’s all that Robert could do on such a large group of people.

Robert used that confusion to move past the main area of the office, back to the interrogation rooms, he located the one that Thomas was in, the door was open. Neither the officer, nor Thomas could see him outside the one way glass that took up most of the wall between them.  Robert noticed that the door was open; it wasn’t as if they were holding his son for questioning or anything. He moved to just outside the door and cast a Phantom Whisper spell; this caused both Thomas and the officer, a Ms, Campbell to look up. Officer Campbell came to the door, and that’s when Robert touched her softly on the hand, the only exposed skin he could find, she collapsed to the floor. Robert lifted her, and carried her into the room, Thomas started to protest.

“Why did you do that?” He asked his father in shock.

“Because you exposed who you and Amethyst are.” Robert stated bluntly. “What in the Goddess’ name were you thinking?” He asked his son.

“I was thinking that it might help me find her faster.” Thomas replied heatedly. His father sighed heavily and shook his head at Thomas.

“Come, we haven’t got much time,” Robert said, “We have to get out of here.” He set Officer Campbell at the table, head down across a sprawl of paperwork, Robert looked at the paperwork taking everything on the table and gathering it up, setting it in the middle, along with the computer, in an instant a flash came from his fingertips, and all of it was gone, not even ashes or dust to leave a trace of it’s existence, it was just gone. He looked up at Thomas, who was standing there unsure of what was going on or what to do next. Robert reached out and touched his son’s shoulder; they were suddenly standing outside the police station.

“Now, take us to your apartment.” Robert said to his son, “I need to rest for a little while, and then we need to find Amethyst before something happens to her if we can.” Thomas did as his father instructed, and hailed a cab to take them back to the apartment.

The next thing I remember was the sun coming up over the wall of the parking ramp. My clothes lay at my side, the buttons ripped off my shirt, my pants soaked with blood, my purse, and my engagement ring were missing. I pulled my knees up under my chin, I was bleeding internally, and from my female parts, I needed a doctor or a healer, but for the moment, I didn’t think I could stand, let alone walk.

It was cold, and I was naked against the elements, I reached for my shirt, it hurt to move, it hurt everything inside and out to put my shirt on. I groped for my pants, sliding them over my legs, almost scared to pull them up over my hips, between my legs was a bloody mess. I had been bleeding since before he’d left me, it was pooled under my hips and thighs. I wasn’t sure how much blood I’d lost, I’d started to heal slowly, but the damage on top of the damage I’d received when my sister had held me in the Spelldream must have been too much for my body.

I inched and crawled my way over to the cement guardrail in the middle of the parking ramp, I fought my way to my feet, pulling my jeans carefully up over my thighs and hips, I wince, ever inch they went up they clung to my skin and hurt. The inner seam rubbed against what felt like raw hamburger between my legs, I cried out in pain. I pulled myself down along the guardrail, inching my way lower and lower, until I collapsed in exhaustion, I sat, rocking, holding myself, crying. I heard a car, there was a car coming towards me! I tried to stand, and couldn’t, I crawled out to the back of the nearest car, and pulled myself up on it. I flagged the car down. A young man caught me as I collapsed to the ground again sobbing, screaming Thomas’ name, wanting him there, and trying to will him to be there. I needed him,

          "Are you ok?" he asked me, I shook my head; I couldn't get the tears to stop. “Is Thomas who did this to you?” I shook my head again, showing him my left hand, forgetting that my ring was gone. The young man nodded as if he’d understood anyway. “I’ll call the police,” he said as he pulled out his cell phone, I shook my head violently.  He looked at me puzzled.

“No!” I finally found my voice, “No police.”

“Why, you’re hurt, some one has hurt you.” The young man said bluntly, he began to open his phone, pressing 911 on the keypad but not send.

“I know, but I can’t go to the police, please.” I begged, “Take me to my apartment, please” I cried. The young man pressed send on his phone; I tried to get away, but was too injured to even stand. 

The 911 operator came on the phone. “911, state your emergency.” The operator said.

“Yes, I am at a parking garage near the Coles Sports Center, and there is a young woman here who appears to have been sexually assaulted and/or raped” he said into the phone. The operator must have said something to him, the next thing I heard him say was “Yes sir, I’ll wait here until the ambulance and police show up.” He closed the phone, and tried to comfort me as best he could.