And there, standing before me, is not Bane. It’s his cousin Wynn.
We stare at each other, both unsure what to do.
“What, Wynn, how did you find me?”
Wynn tugs at the knots binding me for a second before giving up, then shifts his hand into a sharp claw and slices through the ropes. The tight bonds around my chest fall away.
Wynn reaches into his pocket and tosses something to me, which lands on my chest and falls into my lap. Bane’s charmed watch that can lead him to me.
“Bane hasn’t taken it off since you gave it to him, not until the fight. He told me it could find you. Return that to him when we get the hell out of here.”
Wynn holds out his hand. I stare dumbly at it.
“Dude, come on. Be a team player with this rescue effort.”
But I shake my head. “I can’t. Elias put something in here that won’t let me leave. It’s targeting my magic, tethering it here. You have to destroy it before I can go.”
Wynn and I survey the cluttered cabin, overwhelmed by the sheer number of potential objects that could be trapping my magic.
Dust motes swirl in the dim light filtering through the grimy windows. Nobody has used this place for a while, but someone once took the time to decorate this place. Overdecorate it, in fact.
Mismatched furniture dots the long living room, and crowded shelves that line the walls. A jumble of trinkets and curiosities. Carved wooden figurines of forest creatures, ceramic pots and vases on the coffee table, scenic paintings on the walls, and even a couple packed bookcases.
“Fuck, there’s a lot of stuff in here,” Wynn mutters.
“Start anywhere,” I suggest. “Destroy stuff. If there are large pieces, break those too.” Leaving it all to him is safer. I won’tbe able to interact with the item and shouldn’t risk triggering a volatile reaction.
“How will I know if I get the right thing?” Wynn asks.
“I should know. It feels like I’m rooted here and stuck. That should lift once the tether is broken.”
Wynn processes this information, then leans over and knocks a ceramic pot off the coffee table. “That do anything?”
“No.”
Wynn brings his boot up and smashes a smaller pot. The force of it breaks both legs of the coffee table on the side where he kicked. The surface now uneven, all the items on the coffee table slide to the floor, some of them coming apart.
“How about now?” he asks.
“There’s too much stuff for you to ask every time.”
“Right, guess I’ll just keep going.”
Wynn begins stomping on all the items from the table that are still intact.
I watch Bane’s cousin ransack the cabin for a moment before I have to ask. “How bad is it? Is Bane okay?”
Wynn hesitates, clearly trying to determine whether to sugarcoat it or admit the truth. “It’s not great. Fucking Elias. Fuck him.”
No argument there.
“My uncle is fucking insane. Now he’s kidnapping people?” Wynn scowls and plucks a vase off the shelf. He hurls it at the opposite wall with more than enough force, watching with grim satisfaction as it shatters into pieces. “You know, many pack members see our Alpha as a strong leader and like that he’s strict, even though there’s no reason to be a fucking drill sergeant. I’m not one of those people. Come on, we aren’t fighting a war.”
I swallow hard. “Elias wants to change that.”
“What?”
“That’s why I’m here.” I quickly explain everything that led to my being trapped here and the information Elias revealed about driving out the other wolf pack.
