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Ugh. I couldn’t decide what to hope for most. Did I want to go back home? Or back with them to their house?
It was quiet outside. All four of us were lost in our thoughts when Hannah finally sighed. “I want to a have a vision. I feel like all this waiting, all of this getting to know you I’m supposed to be doing with my silent husbands, is just a waste of everyone’s time. I want a vision.”
“Hannah,” I shook my head. “Listen…”
I don’t know what I would have told her right then. Would I have said that the visions hurt? Would I have told her not to rush them or that there was no need to worry about getting to know them, that it would happen over time, regardless of what she did in the moment? I thought both those things but said neither because dark bags were thrown over my head and I was slung over the shoulder of a person I hadn’t seen approaching or heard. They were like magic…appearing one second next to us and grabbing the next.
We shouted, and I kicked, but the person holding me didn’t put me down. They spoke in a language I didn’t understand and held me as though I weighed nothing. I kicked again. Everything was muffled with the bag over my head, but I couldn’t pull it off as something was strapped over my wrists to prevent me from moving my hands. Only my feet remained to attempt to free myself and the general way I tried to throw my body around.
The man ran with me.
Terror rushed through my mind. What is happening? Who is this person? Why are they doing this? I could hear noises, but only the voice of my captor, strange, low, almost not human, and not a tongue I recognized reached my ears. Were the others okay? Was I taken alone or did they grab everyone? Tears rushed to my eyes. It wasn’t a fear I ever thought to worry about before. Sure, Mama warned us that men might try to grab us someday, to use us to do unspeakable things then discard us. I didn’t want that to happen. I fought harder and he whacked me hard, right on my rear end. It burned, and I cried harder.
And then it stopped. I was ripped from his hold and fell onto the ground with an oomph. Everything hurt, so I rolled to my side.
“Sloane,” a voice called to me, but my head buzzed from my fall. “Are you okay?” The bag was off my head, and I blinked. Freddie smoothed my hair away from my forehead. “Did you get hurt? He just threw you down, that fucker.”
I looked left as Freddie did and saw Truett and Oliver held my likely kidnapper pinned to the ground while Charlie held a sword to his throat.
All of the other women were with me, too, including some I didn’t know by name. Carissa wasn’t there, but I spotted several of the new Chosen women from the ritual.
A black cloud surrounded us, and Freddie pulled me against him. “Hold on. It’s going to feel cold.”
His words penetrated the fog around my head, so I held onto him. I was pretty sure Caroline screamed, but I dug into Freddie’s embrace. Although my body shook like I’d spent the night in a snowstorm with his arms around me, I knew I would be okay eventually. Suddenly, the cloud cleared and only the Warriors and their wives remained. Where had the men who had taken us gone?
I swallowed and tried to speak, but it came out as a cry, and Freddie held me tighter. “The Wizard is gone. It’s over, I promise. I’m sorry they took you.”
“What the fuck was that?” Truett was right next to me, smoothing my hair. “Why are they coming for our women? They’ve never done that before.”
“I don’t care why,” Oliver practically snarled, kissing my cheek. “He almost got away with her. Another minute before we noticed, and she would be gone.”
Charlie kissed the top of my head. “This will be okay, Sloane. We’ll figure it out. They won’t get their hands on you again.”
“Wizards?” I finally found my voice. “What?”
“That’s what we call them. We think they work for…that red creature you saw during your ritual. Worshipers or something. They haven’t been seen in ten years, so I don’t understand it.” Truett got to his feet. “Let’s get her out of here.”
It was loud with everyone talking at once. I hadn’t registered that before, but I did then. Freddie picked me up and held me gently against him. “She’s hurt. When he threw her down, I think she got hurt.”
“That fucker.” Charlie spoke in a low voice. “He’s dead. I’ll find where they hide, and I’ll fucking kill him.”
I smiled. “Would help if I had a vision of that coming, right? As soon as we take care of the flying things tomorrow, we have to get out of Hawkseye. I can’t see what’s coming. I’m blind here. All of the women are.”
“Yes.” Oliver sighed. “But there might come a day when you look forward to being here because it makes the visions stop temporarily. Although right now, I agree with you. I want out of this place.”
I looked and found Jayne cradled in one of her husband’s arms. It wasn’t Pascal or Matthew. I had to relearn the names of the other two. Hannah was already being carried back toward the town. How far had we been taken? And Caroline was surrounded by her guys, who still had the Wizards on the ground.
Wizards. They were men who worshiped the red monster, the one who stared at me like he could see me. I shivered, and Freddie squeezed me closer. “I’m so sorry, Sloane.”
I was, too, because not only had I been grabbed, hurt, and needed to be rescued by people who were already doing enough, but I had enough sense to know that my ability to wander had likely ended. Someone had tried to kidnap me. They wouldn’t forget that, and neither would I.
I shivered again. “You’ve felt that cold before?” My head started to ache, and I lifted a hand to touch the top of my skull, which was very sore.
“Twice. We’ve encountered them twice before.” Oliver walked right next to Freddie and stroked my cheek as he spoke. “It always stops us from being able to do anything but stand there frozen for a time. It’s wicked magic. You’re going to be okay.”
I hoped he was right.
Later that night, I sat watching life happen outside of the window of their home in Hawkseye. With ice pressed against my head wound, I wasn’t going anywhere until some of the swelling went down. That was what the healer who checked on me told my husbands, and they believed him. Somewhere outside, music played. People were having a party, and they had no idea two flying creatures were coming to potentially kill or harm them the next day.
