AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The knowledge of the other realms?”
He looked up with blue eyes coated in tears. “Yes. I’ve known about you since I was a small boy. My grandfather and I were hunting in the woods when I saw you from a distance. You manifested a portal, stepped into it, and disappeared. My grandfather stopped me and told me to stay away from you. You’ve looked the same for as long as he could remember."
I shifted, my muddy boots sticking against the floor. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m thirty-six.”
He pursed his lips and gave me a swift nod.
There wasn’t acceptance on his face but understanding. I’d be stupid to agree to the fact I was immortal.
“Either way, I need your help. Please. Our daughter, Josephine, is missing.”
Rifling through his desk, he pulled out a small picture and handed it to me. Something pinched my chest at those too-blue eyes. She stood in front of a college dorm room, holding up a sorority sign with another girl.
Her hair was a stark contrast to her mother's.
It was so black, so dark that it shimmered a purplish hue in the sunlight. It looked smooth, and for the briefest of moments, I wondered what it would feel like between my fingertips.
“She’s an adult?” I asked.
“She just graduated and was going to spend the summer with us.”
“What happened?” I asked in a soft tone, running my finger over her face. “When did you realize she was missing, and why do you think someone from another realm took her?"
Mr. Bogart looked over at his wife, who had braved a glance at me. Maybe it was my size or the roughness of my appearance, but she flinched. “Yesterday morning,” she whispered, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “I went upstairs to look for her, and she wasn’t there. All of her belongings are still there, and she wouldn't have just left. This envelope was on her pillow.”
She pulled it out from underneath her thigh, where she had it wedged, and walked it over to me.
The envelope was small, black, and on the front, had elegant cursive writing. It was written by a quill, which screamed it was from another realm. That was a rarity forgotten on Earth. I flipped it over between my fingers, and my entire body ran cold.
That emblem.
I’d never forget it.
It was the emblem of the witch that put me in this prison. The witch that stole everything away from me. Heat scorched me from the inside out. The beast I’d grown inwardly was ready to tear her piece by piece.
“Kellan!” Mr. Bogart said, bringing me back to the present. “Do you recognize this?”
“No,” I lied, opening the envelope. I didn’t need to give him a history lesson. He didn’t need to know anything about me.
The words were in the same handwriting.
Gold against a black backdrop.
You have something of mine.
Bring it to me, or I will slit her throat.
She would do it. I knew she would do it. I’d witnessed—
When I glanced up, they were all staring with hopeful eyes. “You’re not telling me something,” I said. “What did you take? Have you been in another realm?”
Mr. Bogart swiped his palm back over his head. “I have no idea how to get to another realm, Mr. Stone. I don’t know what this person is speaking about. I have a feeling it's from another realm. Don't you?"
I shrugged, knowing exactly where this witch was located, but I wouldn't tell him that.
"I need your help, please.”
The desperate tone of his voice slid under my skin.
