Adrienne (26 page)

“Oh, that reminds me,” Adrienne said. She faced Malik fully. “I’m pretty sure my parents are not going to be the least bit happy with you for kidnapping me. You aren’t allowed to get mad, since you brought it on yourself. Understood?”

“I have no intentions of harming your parents, my lady,” Malik said in answer to her true worry. It annoyed him a little that Adrienne thought he would hurt her family.

Mushira returned and mumbled out a quick apology for taking as long as she had.

“Mushira, you can drop my title while we’re at my parents’ house.”

“But—”

“This is not the time to be arguing, Mushira,” Malik said.

Mushira corrected herself, “Of course, Majesty.”

Adrienne continued, “Also, think of this as a vacation. You don’t have to do anything, because I’m pretty sure my mother won’t let you. Just relax and try not to get too annoyed with my brothers.”

“I will try, Majesty,” Mushira promised. Her face showed her worry. “The language is close to that of Otieno’s, correct?”

“Yes,” Malik answered. “Do you require a translation orb for Adrienne’s particular dialect?”

“I will manage, Majesty.”

“Good.” He opened the portal to Earth.

“That’s my room,” Adrienne said.

“Yes.” He made to step over the portal threshold.

Adrienne grabbed his arm and pulled him back. She rushed out, “Not my room. I can’t just show up at home, the shock might give my parents a heart attack or something. Can’t we—”

“There is no unobserved location around your parents’ home. It has to be your room, my lady.”

She released him with a sigh. This would start the visit off on the wrong foot for sure. She followed him through the portal. Feyr and Mushira brought up the rear. Travers and the others bowed to them before the portal closed.

Slowly, Adrienne lowered Mischief to the floor. Her eyes scanned everything around her. Her queen-sized bed was situated underneath a long picture window that overlooked the backyard. Her lavender curtains were closed and the blinds were shut behind them. The entire room was dark and felt a bit somber.

Her parents hadn’t touched her room since she’d come home for winter vacation.

Her desk and bookshelf were bare because her laptop and books were at her apartment near the college. It looked like someone kept the dust away, though. For some reason that made Adrienne want to cry. Had they visited her room over the past few months just to feel close to her again? Did they think she was dead somewhere?

A high-pitched meow on the other side of her bedroom door snapped Adrienne out of her growing sadness. A loud, angry male voice from down the hall commanded the feline to shut up. The cat didn’t listen. It continued to meow in earnest.

Adrienne heard the meowing, but she also heard the voice that went with it. The cat said frantically, “
I smell Adri, you dumb ass. Come over here and open this door.
”

“Why do I understand him here?” she asked softly.

Malik answered just as softly. “You do not lose the ability now that you are away from Bron. If we stay on Earth too long, the magicks will fade. That is not a worry on this trip, though.”

“
I hear voices,
” the cat yelled. He scratched at the door.

“Stop that, Sheds. Dad sees you scratched the paint on this door and he’ll skin you alive,” said the male voice from earlier.

“Castor,” Adrienne whispered. Her breath caught when she saw the knob start turning. Had he heard her? She wasn’t ready for anyone to see her.

The door swung open. Castor yelled, “Look. There’s no one…” His words died as he saw the crowd standing in Adrienne’s room. “Holy shit!”

Adrienne reached for Castor to stop what he was about to do next. She pleaded, “Castor—”

“Mom, Poll. Come here quick,” he yelled over his shoulder.

“I’m busy,” Pollux yelled back.

Castor insisted, “Move your asses. Adrienne’s home.”

Two voices mingled to yell, “What?”

Hannah called up the stairs, “Castor, you are not too old to get a whuppin’. I don’t care for jokes like that, or your language.”

Adrienne spoke up then. She called in a choked voice, “He’s not joking, Mom.” She blinked furiously to keep from crying. She was home.

She hadn’t known her mother could move so fast until that moment. Hannah was up the stairs and standing in the doorway next to Castor in ten seconds. The exertion had her breathing hard and doubled over trying to catch her breath. She choked out, “I don’t—”

“I’m home, Mom,” Adrienne interrupted. She walked over to her mother and embraced her. The woman’s shock wore off and she returned Adrienne’s hug.

“You’re home? You’re home. You’re home! Where the hell have you been for the last three months?” Hannah demanded. She pulled away. Her hands wandered over her daughter frantically to make sure Adrienne indeed stood there. Finally, Hannah’s hands framed Adrienne’s face and she smiled at her daughter.

She said softly, “Your father and I were worried sick about you. You could have called or something to let us know you weren’t dead. What’s wrong with you?”

Pollux poked his head in the room. He asked, “Did anyone else notice there’s a panther-thing in here, or is it just me?”

Castor added, “And two other people?”

Hannah frowned at Malik and Mushira. “Who are you?”

Adrienne pulled away from her mother and answered, “Can we talk about this downstairs? It’s getting crowded in here.” She didn’t wait for her mother to agree before turning the woman towards the door and pushing her out of the room. Castor and Pollux shrugged and followed her. Malik and the others brought up the rear.

Once everyone settled in the living room, Adrienne introduced Malik and Mushira properly. She explained what happened to her, and with Malik’s help, she gave her mother plenty of proof that she wasn’t nuts. She left out large portions of the story, namely the feud and possible assassination attempts.

Hannah took it pretty well. She looked Malik up and down. “So, you’re the one who killed Adrienne’s attackers.”

Malik answered, “I make no apologies for my actions. They deserved worse, but I did not have time to punish them properly.”

“I agree with you,” Hannah admitted without embarrassment. “But we have a problem.”

“What?” Adrienne asked.

Castor answered, “The cops.”

“What about the cops?” Adrienne demanded.

Pollux shot back, “Don’t be dumb, Adri. You’re snatched off a dark campus at midnight, there’s a camera with pics of you getting jumped, and the two guys doing the jumping are dead. The campus rent-a-cop called the real cops. The real cops called us.”

“Then Mom half-kills us driving down to the police station near the college to hear you got snatched,” Castor finished. He turned his attention to Malik and added, “Thanks for the shortened lifespan, by the way. I’d kick your ass, but I don’t pick fights I know I can’t win.”

Hannah reached over and smacked Castor on the back of the head. She pointed at him and said, “Language.”

“Sorry,” he bit out in an insincere voice.

“The police said we should contact them if… God, they actually said if…” Hannah’s words trailed off and she took a shaking breath.

Adrienne got off the couch and went to her mother. She knelt in front of Hannah, hugging her around the waist. “I’m right here, Mommy. I’m right here. I know it was scary. Believe me, I was terrified. But Malik saved me before anything happened. I went to my wedding day a virgin.”

Hannah hugged her daughter close and rocked her back and forth. She whispered, “My baby. My sweet, sweet girl.”

Pollux whispered, “That was a bad scene, Sis. The cops showed us the pics from a digital camera found near one guy’s body.” He rose from his seat quickly and walked to the far end of the living room away from everyone.

Malik watched them all. He felt Adrienne’s sadness but it dulled in comparison to her joy at being home. Her sadness only echoed her mother’s, and that was why Malik didn’t call an end to the visit. He asked, “The authorities wished you to contact them why, Hannah?”

“Call me Mom,” Hannah ordered. “You’re not old enough to use my given name.”

“As you wish, Mother.”

“Close enough,” Hannah said. “The police told us to contact them if Adrienne came home before they could find her. They wanted to question her to get an ID on the killer of her attackers. You may have done us a favor but you still broke the laws of our land…of this Earth.”

Adrienne looked at Malik. He had a thoughtful expression. She started to explain about murder being murder even if the person deserved it or had it coming, but he rose from the couch and walked through a portal before she could say anything.

“Malik?” she asked in astonishment. She pulled away from her mother and went back to the couch. She looked at Mushira and asked in a scared voice, “Where did he go?”

Mushira shook her head. She looked as shocked as Adrienne felt.

Adrienne didn’t have time to work herself into a state over Malik’s disappearance, because he returned and resumed his seat moments later.

He said in a calming voice, “I did not mean to alarm you, my Adrienne. I simply solved the problem causing Mother so much worry.”

“‘Solved the problem’? Solved it how exactly?” Adrienne asked. Her surprise over his disappearance turned to worry.

Malik took her hands in his and kissed them. “I understand your authorities must punish all who commit murder. I gave them someone to punish.”

“Gave?” Hannah asked.

“There is a man who has occupied my dungeon for quite some time. He committed travesties in my kingdom. I captured him myself when the mages I sent after him proved too inept to see the deed accomplished,” Malik explained. “I implanted the memory of the killing in his mind, gave him a sword, and placed him near the location of Adrienne’s attack. He will be arrested and tried. Your problem is solved, Mother.”

Hannah asked, “Just like that?”

“Yes.”

Adrienne countered, “The police are going to know he’s not from Earth, Malik. Sure, they might think he’s nuts and lock him in a loony bin, but what about his magicks?”

“I took them away. Magicks fade or they can be taken away if the subject is removed from the source. That is why Ulan is so important to mages across Bron. It is the center of all magicks, and the orbs created in Ulan are wells of magicks a mage can use anywhere. Those mages practicing their trade in Biton, for instance, must purchase hundreds of orbs a year to ensure their magicks will not run out when they need them most,” Malik said.

“This isn’t the time for lessons, Malik. Besides, that knowledge became evident to me as soon as I asked the question. What I want to know is how—”

“I gave him enough knowledge to be tried as a sane person and took away a large portion of his memories from his time on Bron,” Malik interrupted.

Castor asked, “How the heck do you know anything about Earth? You didn’t even know about the justice system until Mom brought it up.”

Malik answered, “All I know, I learned from Adrienne.”

“I knew it,” Adrienne said loudly. She pulled away from him. “I knew you didn’t give me all that knowledge without taking something from me.”

“Knowledge for knowledge, my Adrienne. It is a fair trade. The information I gained has made it easier for me to interact with you,” Malik argued. He grasped her hands again and held her firm when she tried to get away from him. After he kissed the backs of both her hands, he said softly, “I took only knowledge, my lady. I did not delve into memories or desires—no matter that I wanted to.”

“Huh?” Castor and Pollux asked in unison.

“Never mind,” Adrienne said. She allowed Malik to pull her onto his lap. He hugged her close and her worries and anger went away. Whether from a spell or his nearness, she didn’t care.

She faced her mother and said, “That’s one problem solved. Now all you have to do is call the cops and let them know I’m safe. They’ll probably want me to fill out some forms or something, which I hope I can do from a police station near here.”

Hannah blinked at her daughter. She opened her mouth, paused, closed her mouth, and then shook her head.

“What?” Adrienne asked.

“And you’re my daughter’s head lady’s maid?” Hannah asked Mushira, ignoring Adrienne’s question.

“Yes, my lady.”

Hannah waved that off. “Call me Hannah. I’m not any type of royalty.”

“As you like, Hannah,” Mushira conceded quickly. She looked uncomfortable at the request but didn’t voice her misgivings.

“Your father’s going to be home in another hour,” Hannah said.

“Why not call him and let him know I’m home, Mom?” Adrienne asked.

“No, no. It’s okay. He’ll find out when he gets home.”

“Ouch,” Castor said.

“I don’t want your father getting into an accident trying to rush home to see Adrienne,” Hannah snapped. She pointed at her son and ordered, “Shut it.”

He grinned at her but kept silent.

Hannah got out of her seat and went to the fireplace. She took down a framed document and gave it to Adrienne. She explained, “Your father accepted it on your behalf. Your teachers said, even though you missed the last few weeks of classes and the exams, your grades didn’t suffer enough to hinder you graduating.”

Adrienne’s hands shook as she took the degree. Her name was scrawled in the middle of a bachelor’s degree of art for literary history. She smiled at it and then laughed. “It’s so silly now.”

“You worked hard for it,” Hannah said firmly.

“I’m not arguing that fact, Mom. But all those years of education and all that money were pretty much wasted since I can’t use any of it on Bron.” She hugged the degree to her chest. “Still, I’m happy to have it. Thanks for attending my graduation for me.”

Malik distracted her from the sorrow of missing her graduation when he plucked the degree from her arms and looked at it. She explained the significance of the paper to him, then remembered he probably already knew. If the information he garnered from her worked like the information she got from him, every time he had a question about Earth it was automatically answered if Adrienne had knowledge of it.