Charmed Ever After (The Halloween LaVeau Series Book 6) (18 page)

Now that she had caught me, I’d probably made things a whole lot worse for all of us. I should have known that was the way things would turn out, but I’d done it anyway. What could I do about it now? I had to suffer the consequences. She motioned for the men to come over to me and they started to untie me. I knew this wasn’t so that we could now become best friends. After untying my legs from the chair and my hands, they lifted me up from the chair.

They still hadn’t taken the tape off of my mouth though. They’d left the tape on my hands still behind my back, but left my feet free. I supposed that this meant we were going for a walk.

She motioned with a wave of her hand. “You’re coming with me.”

Unfortunately, she didn’t tell me where we were going. The men grabbed me up to escort me out, as if I couldn’t walk on my own. Did they seriously have to be so rough? I was sure they got pleasure out of that.

As they walked me toward the door, I turned back to look at Nicolas and Liam. I didn’t want to leave them here. It felt as if I was abandoning them again. I hadn’t been able to hug Nicolas or Liam. I hadn’t been able to kiss Nicolas or tell him I loved him. I also wanted to tell Liam I loved him too, although that might cause mixed emotions. That was why I’d never told him my feelings for him. It was probably too late to do that now. They shoved me into the car.

“Now that you’re in the car, I have something to show you,” Monique said.

What, the owner’s manual? What was she going to tell me?

She turned around in the chair and put the phone in front of my face. “I want you to watch this video.”

I wasn’t liking where this was headed. I was pretty sure she wasn’t showing me cute cat videos. Was this some sort of video on what she was planning to do to all of us? I didn’t even want to think about if it was a video of my mother and Annabelle. Fear raced through my body.

“Look at this.”

It looked as if I had no choice. The video played and it was in fact Annabelle and my mother. They were tied to chairs just as I had been. I saw the fear in their eyes, but I also saw their strength. I knew that they would hold on as long as they could. I just had to get Monique to release them. Whatever she wanted from me I would do as long as they were safe.

“Now they won’t be hurt if you do what I want you to do,” Monique said.

“What is it that you want?” I asked.

“I want the dress. The one that was in the trunk. I know you have it, so don’t even pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

What was so special about the dress that would make her want it? And I’d thought it was the trunk that she was interested in. But a wedding dress? I’d never felt as sad as I did now while pulling away from the manor. We made this short drive back to town and eventually made it to my mother’s street. I was running out of time to think of something to get out of this.

I supposed if a wedding dress was all she wanted, then she could have it. “I want a guarantee that my mother and Annabelle will be okay. Plus that you’ll release them.”

“Of course I will release them unharmed, as long as I get the dress.”

I wasn’t quite sure if I believed her. The man pulled the car up in front of my mother’s place and shoved it into park.

“All right, we’re going inside and you’re going to get the dress as quickly as possible. We don’t have a lot of time,” she said.

Did she mean we didn’t have a lot of time left before she got rid of us for good, or that she had somewhere else to be? It was a scary thought either way. We got out of the car and they led me over to the house. I wondered if anyone would notice that I was tied up. Even if the neighbors did notice, they probably wouldn’t say anything. Especially if they knew the new leader. She had power over everyone, it seemed.

“All right. Now where is it? Find it now.”

Why was she so completely pushy?

“There’s the trunk,” the man said, pointing.

I just looked at them for a moment, wondering if I could get away with just giving them the trunk since the dress was no longer in there. Would they find out?

She walked over and quickly opened it. “It’s empty, of course. Where’s the dress?”

Finally, I motioned toward the back of the house. “It’s back there, hidden.”

“Take me to it now,” she demanded.

Wasn’t there some way I could avoid giving her the dress? I took my time walking toward the room down the hallway. Finally, one of the guys shoved me and I stumbled forward, as if that would make me go faster.

“Hey, knock it off,” I said. “There’s no reason to push.”

They motioned for me to move forward, so I took my own sweet time going down the hallway just to make them even angrier. I didn’t know what was wrong with me sometimes with being so stubborn like that. Finally, we reached the room and I reluctantly moved toward to the hiding spot where we’d put the dress.

She motioned. “If it’s in there then get it quick.”

I released a deep breath and then opened up the door. I reached in and grabbed the dress. I held it my in arms and then turned around.

She yanked it from me. “Ha-ha. It’s mine, all mine… mine, all mine.” She spun around with the dress pressed close to her body.

“You know, they have a couple of bridal shops in town if you needed a wedding dress. You wouldn’t have to steal mine.”

Technically it wasn’t mine, but I supposed it was meant for me. Why else would Nicolas have this dress?

“You really are clueless, aren’t you?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“If you don’t know, then I’m certainly not telling you.”

Just then I heard a cracking noise. Everyone looked from one to the other. Then they looked at me as if I had done something. I was standing in the same spot. How could I have made a noise? When I glanced out the window, I spotted Ben. I had to act as if I hadn’t seen anything. I was worried that they would catch Ben and do something to him. I couldn’t believe he’d come here to help me.

Despite me trying to act as if I hadn’t seen him, Monique noticed what I was doing. She cast a look over to the window and spotted him. I tried to wave my arms to warn him. At that moment, he made eye contact with her and he must have realized he was in trouble.

She glared at him. “Go get him.”

“Run, Ben,” I yelled, even though he probably couldn’t hear me through the closed window. With her actions, he didn’t need my warning. He knew what they were about to do. The men ran out of the room, and I knew they were going to get Ben.

“What are you going to do to him? How do you know him?” I asked. “He doesn’t know you. He doesn’t remember.”

She laughed. “I don’t believe that he doesn’t remember me.”

“And who are you to him?” I asked.

“Hold on to her,” she told the other guy.

“Let me go,” I said.

Monique stared at me for moment and then she said, “We were married… until he killed me.”

I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say. She didn’t give me a chance to ask questions when she ran out of the room. The guy held on to me tight and escorted me out of the room into the living room. They had already brought Ben inside. I didn’t believe her when she said that Ben had killed her. She must mean she had been reanimated. But who had reanimated her? Was it a spell that I’d cast? I’d been much better with that recently.

“I’m glad that I finally have you. Now I can repay you for what you’ve done to me,” she said to Ben. “I never thought that you would be able to come back. Nicely played.”

The men were distracted by her talking to Ben. I didn’t want to leave him, but this was my perfect opportunity to get away. I had to save my mother and Annabelle. I was confident that Ben would be able to get out on his own.

Now that I had this opportunity, I made a dash for the front door. So far they hadn’t even realized that I was doing this. I looked over my shoulder.

The magic still held me back though and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get much further than the front lawn. When I got into the middle of the yard, the magic stopped me and I fell back onto the ground. I looked back and Ben was running from the house. I wasn’t sure how he had gotten away, but good for him. He was really good at that stuff. Ben was pointing in my direction, but not actually looking at me. He was still running, but I knew he was doing some kind of magic.

I’d gotten further away now. Had I broken past their magic? I jumped up and ran forward again. I was able to spring past the barrier that they’d cast. Ben must have done something to help me. Thank goodness I had finally gotten free. I didn’t know where Ben was going, but I had to find my mother and Annabelle.

“Get her,” Monique yelled.

When I looked over my shoulder, the men were running toward me. They seemed to be a lot faster than me. I darted to my left and ran behind the car.

I moved along the side of the car. When I peeked over, I saw that they were looking for me. I peered into the car and saw that the dummy had left the keys in the ignition. I opened the car door and jumped behind the wheel. There was no time to buckle up. I turned the key and took off. I looked in the rear-view mirror. They were running after the car. It was too late now, suckers. They tried their magic, but it wasn’t powerful enough to reach the car now that I’d gotten down the road.

I’d just made the turn when I spotted Ben running alongside the road. I pulled over and let the window down.

“Ben, it’s me, get in.”

For a moment, I thought about what she’d said, but then I thought better of it. I had a feeling about Ben and that he hadn’t done what she’d said. I wanted to get the truth though. She claimed he really remembered her, but I didn’t think he did. Ben looked over and saw that it was me. He opened the door and hopped in.

“Buckle up,” I said as I punched the gas.

“You took the car. Nice job.”

“How did you get away from them?” I asked as I headed down the road.

“I saw a weak spot in their magic. They’re actually not that good at it.”

If he thought they were bad what would he say about my magic? Though I supposed without my bad magic he wouldn’t even be here.

“I have to get to my mother and Annabelle. Now that we’ve gotten away I know they’ll do something to them. Though I’m not sure since Monique has the wedding dress now. Apparently that was all that she wanted. Maybe she’ll just let them go now.”

“I have a feeling something bad will happen,” Ben said.

I glanced over at Ben. “She said that she knows you and that you know her too, but yet you don’t remember. Can you tell me anything more? She wouldn’t answer me.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “She’s probably just saying that, but I suppose I do recall something. It seems like it’s at the back of my mind, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I wish I could help more,” Ben said.

“You can’t help it if you can’t remember,” I said.

We rode along in silence for a while.

Then he said, “You know, I feel like I’m having some flashbacks.”

“It could be a good thing. Do you see something in your mind?”

“Just her face, but as it was years ago, in a different time.”

“Obviously since you came from a different time that would make sense,” I said.

“What time period was this?” I asked.

“I see a horse and carriage,” he said.

“Well, that narrows it down somewhat. They don’t use those anymore unless we’re talking about the Amish.”

“Nothing like that,” he said.

“There was one other thing,” I said as I continued to drive.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Well, she said that you killed her.”

His eyes widened. “You can’t be serious.”

“That’s what she said.” I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see if anyone was following us.

So far we were still in the clear.

“That couldn’t be. I would never do something like that.”

“That’s what I told her,” I said. “Maybe she’s the one who killed you.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me at all,” he said.

“We’ll keep working on remembering this, but right now I have to find my mother and Annabelle,” I said.

“I thought that was where we were headed now,” he said.

“We are, except for one thing. I don’t know where to find them.”

“That could be a problem,” he said and leaned his head back on the leather seat.

“As soon as Monique and the others find another car they’ll probably go right there to Annabelle and my mother.”

“What if they report this vehicle stolen?” he asked.

“With all the things they’ve done it’s doubtful they would try that.”

I thought about the video as I drove and then something hit me. I recognized something in the video.

“Hey, I think I know where they are,” I said.

“Where’s that?” he asked.

“It’s at the graveyard at the manor. I recognized the background.”

“Well, let’s go,” he said.

I just hoped that I was right because going back to the manor was taking a big risk. Also I had to get Liam and Nicolas out of there.

“I will have to hide the car and we have to walk the rest of the way to the graveyard.”

We headed over to the manor. The whole drive I thought about how I was going to handle this entire thing. I hoped that I had it right and that Monique hadn’t moved them away from the graveyard. Before I knew it, we had pulled down the street just a little way from the manor. I had to find another place to park because I didn’t want them to drive by and see the car on the side of the road. There was another house not too far away, so I would just have to use their driveway.

Maybe when the neighbors realized it was me, they would be okay with it. I pulled down the driveway and up to the house. No one appeared to be home. I was happy about that. We got out of the car and headed over to the trees by where we could sneak to the graveyard.

“I hope we don’t get caught,” I said as we walked through, weaving around the tall pine trees.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you if we do,” Ben said.

“That’s so sweet of you, Ben, thank you.”

The graveyard came into view. We’d reached the old black fence around the graveyard. I looked around, but I didn’t see anyone. Just the gravestones and the same old tall trees. The branches blew in a steady rhythm, as if welcoming me back.

“I don’t see anything, do you?”

Ben shook his head. “No, nothing. Don’t panic just yet. That doesn’t mean that we won’t find them.”

I hated to tell him that that was exactly what that meant. It meant that Monique had moved my mother and Annabelle. I had to think of what to do next. Did I really intend to go to the manor and find my mother, Annabelle, Nicolas or Liam? Just leaving without looking for them wasn’t an option though.

“We have to go to the manor.” I pointed.

Ben hesitated. He probably wasn’t so sure about going there again, but he followed me across the graveyard anyway. We had just reached the gate to leave when I felt a presence behind us. I looked over my shoulder. The woman I’d seen in the graveyard before was there again. Gigi was looking right at me. I knew she had something to say.

“Ben, stop. We have to talk to this woman.” I pointed.

She didn’t wait for me to come over to her. Instead she came to us.

“Hello again,” I said.

“I suppose you’re looking for the other women,” Gigi said.

Yes, this was exactly what I wanted to hear. “Where are they? Have you seen them? Are they okay?” I had so many questions.

“Yes, they were here,” Gigi said. “They took them that way.” She pointed across the graveyard.

When I looked in that direction, I saw Annabelle and my mother down by the river. Monique and her bodyguards were there too.

“Ben, we have to help them.”

Nicolas and Liam weren’t there.

I stopped halfway across the yard and grabbed Ben’s arm. “Maybe we should stop for a second. We have to think of a plan first.”

“I can get them to release your mother and Annabelle,” he said.

“If you do what you did when you got me free that would be great.”

Ben waved his arm and cast a spell. The magic carried through the air, but the words didn’t seem to stop them at all. They hadn’t noticed us there, but I felt like they would sense the presence of the magic soon. We moved closer to the river. Annabelle happened to glance over and noticed us. This made her look even more panicked. She knew that if they saw us it would be a huge problem. We were all in trouble either way. If we didn’t try to stop them now, I knew what they were about to do.... Monique would kill us all. She would stop at nothing to be the leader.

A couple of seconds later and my mother looked our way. Once that happened, Monique noticed us and it was all over then. I moved even closer to them. We were just a few steps away now.

“What took you so long?” Monique asked.

She was getting great pleasure out of this, but I was curious how they had gotten here so quickly when we had taken her car. They had probably taken someone else’s car. She glared at me.

I pointed at her to let her know I meant business. “Whatever you’re getting ready to do, stop it right now.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

I didn’t have an answer for that so I guessed I couldn’t do anything to them.

“You’ll be sorry,” I said.

“What? Are you going to unleash your new friend on me?”

I glanced over at Ben.

He had a strange look on his face. “Something is coming back to me. I keep getting flashes of being in this situation before.”

“Why are you doing this to them?” I asked Monique. “You got the dress, so you said you would let them go unharmed if you got it.”

“Yes, I did say that, but you took the book and I needed it.”

“Why do you need that book? You already have the spellbook.”

“You can write out the spells and create a new spellbook. It’s done every couple of hundred years,” Ben said. He shook his head.

“So you remember,” Monique said.

“I don’t know how I knew that.”

Something must really be coming back to him. If what he said was true, then there was no way I could give her the book back.

“Either you give the book to me, or I will hurt them. Not only will I hurt them, but I will eliminate them for good.”

My stomach turned at the thought. It had taken me a short time to realize that I didn’t need to be the leader. I was doing fine. That meant that I could just give her the book back, as long as she didn’t hurt Annabelle or my mother. Though what she was doing to the rest of the Underworld was bad. Someone really needed to stop her.

“All right, you can have the book,” I said. “Now let them go right now.”

“Do you think I’m really that stupid? You have to give me the book first.”

I laughed. “You really think
I’m
that stupid? If I give you the book, then you’ll just continue to do what you’re doing. I have no guarantee. Now I have what you want, you give me what I want.”

She grabbed Annabelle and then one of the other guys grabbed my mother. “I have what you want and I can do way more harm to them than you can to the book, so hand it over first.”

I stared at her to judge whether she was serious. The look in her eyes let me know that she was very serious. I had no choice but to give her the book first. How would I get Annabelle and my mother away from her?

“Okay, you can have the book, but I have to go get it from the car.”

“It’s in the car, go get it,” she told one of the men.

I wondered if she would be mad when she realized I was lying. I really had it in the bag that was now across my body. I was surprised that she hadn’t thought of that first. The guy took off and then stopped.

“Where’s the car?” he asked.

“It’s in the driveway way over there.” I pointed.

The guy took off toward the other property, but then she stopped him. “Wait just a minute.” She looked at me.

Uh-oh. She must have figured out what I was doing.

“You have the book in your bag, don’t you? If you play games with me, I’ll just make it worse for you.”

I reached in my bag and pulled the book out. I leaned forward and placed the book on the ground near her.

“Okay, now back up,” she said, motioning for me to move away from the book.

“Annabelle and Mom, come over here beside me.” I motioned.

They hurried over beside us. Surprisingly, Monique hadn’t stopped them. She had something else in store for us though. I just had that feeling. She wasn’t going to let this end right now. She was determined to destroy all of us.

“Now I want Nicolas and Liam. You have to let them go.”

“One book for four people? That doesn’t seem quite fair,” she said.

“Actually, you got two books for four people.”

“Well, I don’t consider the first book, since I got that on my own so easily.”

I was sick of playing this game with her. Ben had been awfully quiet after he’d given me the mysterious information about the book. I wondered what else he was remembering. I was sure they had probably had an encounter like this before. It seemed that she had won it as well. I needed to talk with him, but I didn’t want to leave this situation until I had Liam and Nicolas. What would she do if I just went into the house and untied them? Would she try to stop me now that she had everything she wanted?