Traveler (10 page)

“Stay still and behave for once in your life, child.  Things are more complicated than you know, and no, I am not going to let go of you until I’m certain that you won’t do something foolish.  Do not think that you deserve answers.  You will get whatever I deign to give you, and you will accept it.” He whispered in her ear before tossing her on the bed.  “Be quiet for a moment while I see if the hallway is clear.”

Aislin took a moment to collect herself after she was thrown from the bed, settling her dress so it was in place and looking decent.  She had her back straight, her eyes bright with anger.  She kept her lips sealed, her arms crossed over her chest.  Unfortunately for her, the dress she had been given had a very tight bodice, and the way she crossed her arms showed off her assets quite nicely.  She raised her eyebrow and looked at him, unable to even describe how angry she was.

The tall man listened at the door for several moments before turning back to look at his wayward student.  She was still his student, Gods burn him, even if he was only a few years her elder.  He was hardly disturbed by the angry look in her eyes.  It was her own fault for being so damned curious in the first place.  He had warned her several times.  Striding over to the bed, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet.  “Now then...we need to leave.  You need to stay quiet and follow my directions so we are not caught.  Do you think you can manage that or do I need to gag you?”

“And why would I listen to you?”  she demanded.  “Don’t you think the Captain will wonder where his mermaid has gone if I just disappear?  Or ask questions if he sees someone dragging her up to the deck of the ship?”  She yanked her arm out of his grasp, glaring up at him.  She poked a finger hard into his chest.  “I. Will. Not. Go. With. You.  You show up in this strange place like you know it intimately, and then demand that I follow you and trust you?  I don’t think so.”

Alexander drew in a deep breath, mentally counting to ten before looking directly at her, his blue eyes blazing with cold anger.  Sometimes he really hated being a Guardian, especially when it came to situations like this.  He had had more than enough from this impudent girl.  If she wanted to act like a child, then that is how he would treat her.  His grip was like steel as he grabbed her arm again.  This time he sat on the edge of the bed and tossed the girl over his lap, not caring in the least if she struggled.  “Since you seem to have a problem with obeying the slightest of directions and since you wish to act like a child, then you will be punished like a wayward child.”  A strong hand pressed against her back as he flipped her skirts up and began to spank her bare bottom, making certain that it was a lesson she would remember.

Aislin’s eyes bugged out of her head as he threw her over his lap, struggling against his iron grip.  “Let me go!”  she yelled.  “Let. Me. Go!”  As he tossed up her skirts, her face flushed red with indignation.  She was naked under this dress!  What in the world was he doing?  She let out a scream as he spanked her, struggling tightly against him.  Maybe her screams would bring one of the pirates.  Maybe one of them would rescue her.  An ironic statement, that.  Rescue by pirates.  Each blow to her bottom was like fire, and it didn’t take long before her screams had been reduced to whimpers, tears streaming down her face.

As much as the girl screamed and cried during her punishment, he did not waver in his resolution, not stopping until her bottom was a bright cherry red.  He was unconcerned about the noise she made, knowing that his talents kept any sound from being heard outside the room.  When he was done, he abruptly stood, allowing her to tumble to the floor.  “Now then...since you are so concerned with what your captors may think of your disappearance, I will leave you here.  Enjoy your stay...I’m certain you won’t care about missing classes.  It’s not
important
, after all.”  The last part was said in a mocking tone as he remembered her saying the same to him back in the library.

Aislin was humiliated.  She huddled in the corner, her hair falling over her face to cover the tear-stained blotchiness there, and she turned her gaze away from him, trying to ignore the sting where she sat.  “Then leave me here,” she whispered.  “I already feel like this is a world I fit into more than the one I left.  Even if this is just a hallucination.”  She trembled and wrapped her arms around herself.  “So just go.”

“A hallucination? This is no hallucination, girl! This place is just as real as the world you left behind.  Only, it is a hell of a lot more dangerous than you realize.  Do you really think that those pirates pulled you out of the ocean from the goodness of their hearts? Hardly! They are pirates!  The first chance they get they are going to sell you to the highest bidder for a bit of gold.”  He shook his head, staring at the foolish girl.  “I doubt that your most cherished goal in life has always been to be a used-up and broken down whore.”

She laughed a little bitterly.  “And so you spank me to try to get a point across.  A man who’s clearly more than a librarian, who appears in this world that exists in a book.  I’ll take my chances with the pirates.”  She glanced at him.  “I’d rather stay here than go home.  Even if it is to be sold.  At least I’ll be here...and not there.”  It was the truth.  Her step-father, once he found out she was missing, would not  be pleased. And then this spanking would be the least of her worries.

Crouching down beside her, he looked her in the eye.  “My private life was never any of your business, and still isn’t, despite the situation you’ve put yourself in.  I told you not to read the book.  I warned you repeatedly...but you didn’t listen.  And now you are just being stubborn and childish.  Well...unfortunately for you...you don’t always get what you want.” Before she could say anything, he swiftly hit several pressure points and watched dispassionately as she slumped to the floor, unconscious and unable to object.

Picking Aislin up, the tall man tossed her limp body over his shoulder.  He muttered briefly under his breath, his power flaring slightly around the two of them.  There...now, no one would even know they were there.  Keeping to the shadows, he carried her up to the deck, taking care not to brush against any of the pirates as they bustled about with their duties.  Reaching the railing, he glanced around carefully before tossing the unconscious girl into the ocean below, soon following behind her.

Chapter 8

Aislin woke with a start in her bathtub.  The water was cold now, and her fingers were pruny.  What in the name of God had just happened to her?  The only thing that even made her remember that the experience was real was the stinging still in her bottom.  She looked down at herself and let out a sound of surprise as she saw she was still wearing the dress.  It was real, then.  
Oh my God, it was all real.  Damn that librarian!  Who did he think he was?
 Infuriated, and righteously so, she climbed out of the tub, dressing hurriedly in jeans and a tee shirt, tying her hair on the top of her head and putting on her boots.  Then, she booted up her computer.  She would find out where this librarian lived, and then she’d make his life a living hell.

Google revealed very quickly the address of the librarian’s house, close to the school.  She needed to confront him but first, she needed to do some discovering.  And if that meant breaking in and searching for herself, then so be it.  She had been gone a full night, and it was already approaching noon the following day.  How had she lost so much time?  She waited at the bus stop for the next bus to come by and then waited for the bus to take her to the stop closest to the librarian’s house, her mind set and determined on only one thing; answers.

It didn’t take long to get to the his home, which was a relief.  His house looked typical of the ones in Phoenix, a sandstone, one story, probably nicer on the inside than they were on the outside.  Her eyes scanned the house and the yard surrounding it, looking for a way in.  The dress had come back with her...so what was the deal with the world that existed in the book?  

Standing in the house’s shadow, Alexander watched in amusement as the red-haired girl scanned his home, obviously trying to figure out how to get in.  She had not learned her lesson, it seemed;  but back here, it would not be a good idea for him to spank her, not with the student-teacher relationship between them.  Perhaps she needed a scare this time.  Stepping further back into the shadows, he waited to see what she would do next.

Aislin noticed with a smile that there was a window partially open towards the back of the house.  Perfect.  Quietly, she moved to towards it and peered at the window, wanting to study it more closely.  She leaned in, placing her fingers underneath the top part of the frame, trying to lift it as quietly as she could.

His footsteps made no sound as he came up behind her, still half-hidden in the shadows.  An amused smirk briefly twisted his lips before he cleared his face, adopting a stern expression as he crossed his arms over his chest.  “You know, Miss Oriole, I believe that is called breaking and entering.  Would you like to explain yourself before or after I call the authorities?”

She let out a yell of surprise, spinning around with her eyes wide as he spoke to her.  When had he snuck up on her?  “Oh yes, call the authorities.  And then explain to them how I went into a magical world in a book and came back wearing the dress I was wearing there.  And then I get knocked out--knocked out!  by you and then wake up in my bathtub.  So please, do call the authorities.”  Her voice was sarcastic.

Alexander stared at her for a moment before bursting into a bout of amused laughter, his blue eyes glittering with mirth.  Shaking his head for a moment, he finally managed to regain his composure.  “Miss Oriole, I haven’t the faintest idea what you are talking about, and I am certain that when you tell the police your wild tales...well...there is a place for those who rant and rave about impossible things.  I do not think you would enjoy such a place.  It can be quite harsh on the body and the hair...if they even let you keep it.  They might see it as a risk factor.”

Her eyes narrowed.  “So you’re going to deny everything about this world then, Mr. Bookman?  When you were the one who grabbed me in the cabin and made me listen to you?”  The hurt that filled her eyes was more than she was able to hide.  “I thought that you at least would not call me crazy about this.  But you’re no better than the rest of them.”

He stared into the girl’s eyes, a brow arched slightly as he watched her thoughtfully.  “You are quick to make accusations and judgements, Miss Oriole, and you obviously do not think things through very well when you are emotional.  The things that you wish to speak of...this is not the place for them.  And quite honestly, your own actions brought you into that particular mess.  You have a particularly quick tongue that will get you in much more trouble than you can get yourself out of...and I won’t always be there to help you.”

“Then where is the place, Mr. Bookman?  Where is it that I can actually ask you the questions I need to ask?  I know you won’t be there all the time, and until I was actually there I didn’t even know you were involved in that particular world.”  She closed her eyes for a moment, leaning back against the side of the house.  “I just want to know for once that this...fairy tale I found myself falling into yesterday isn’t a figment of my imagination, and that it won’t end like the novels I read.”

Strong fingers rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment as he pondered the situation.  While his home was right there, it was a completely inappropriate place to bring a minor, especially one who was his student, into his home.  And yet the only other place he could think of was the library, and that was out of the question as well, due to the surveillance cameras.  Choosing his words carefully, he finally addressed the girl.  “Look...there really isn’t an appropriate place to discuss this.  However, I will say this to you...it was not a figment of your imagination nor was it a hallucination.  It is very real...and very dangerous.  You need to refrain from looking into the book any more.  I know that you cannot help that it keeps returning to you...but you can keep yourself from reading it.  Please do so before something irreversible happens.”

“I haven’t always read the book for it to send me into that world,” she admitted.  “The first time...I dove into the pool, and I got sent there with no desire to be there.  So I don’t think that not reading the book will help me out any.”  She shrugged her shoulders, looking up at the sun.  “It seems so much simpler in that world, so much more a place I belong in.”  Abruptly, her phone began to ring in her pocket.  It was her stepfather.  What could he want?  Not for the first time, Aislin wished that it was her real father who was calling, instead of her stepfather.  But, he had been gone since before she was born...and her stepfather was all she knew.

“Hello?” Aislin asked, flipping open her phone, flicking her eyes briefly to the librarian.

“Aislin.” He said, keeping his voice clipped.  “I know you disappeared last night, going to God knows where.  I won’t have it.  If you’re going to destroy your life, you won’t do it under my roof.  Consider yourself kicked out of the house.  You have three days to find a place of your own to stay.  Happy belated birthday.”

“But...why?” she asked, her face dazed with shock.  He was kicking her out...of her own home?  “I...I don’t have anywhere to go.  I don’t have any money, no job.  How will I--”

“I guess you’ll just have to learn,” he answered simply, his voice cold.  “Three days, Aislin.”  Then he hung up the phone.  

Aislin put the phone in her pocket as if in a daze, and took a few steps away from the house.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.  “I should go now...”

Alexander had shamelessly listened as she took her phone call, his blue eyes not missing anything in her reaction.  He frowned slightly before grabbing her arm gently to stop her, gazing down at her in obvious concern.  “Wait a moment...what exactly just happened?”