Sapphire Spells

Chapter 32

There is something unnatural about how I wake up. I am not lulled into wakefulness, nor do I jolt with the suddenness of it, despite how abrupt it truly is. One moment I am standing in the woods looking at Preston, I blink, and when my lashes part, I am looking at a ceiling.

Dizziness puts a brief spell on me, for before the blink I was standing upright, now I lay on a bed. What's more surprising are my clothes. Gone are my jeans and shirt. Instead, I am wearing a luxurious-looking dress that I have never seen before in my life. My toes are painted a pale pink color that I also never chose. I raise a hand a note that my nails are also perfectly manicured in the same color.

"What the fuck?" I say, as nausea builds in waves within, making me incredibly queasy.

If I woke in my bed, then I would have assumed everything was truly a nightmare. A horrible dream. But I am in a room I do not recognize. One with a lush bed and expensive-looking thick wooden dresser, wearing clothes that are not mine yet fit seemingly well.

To my right, the wall is made of floor-to-ceiling windows. The view would make me vomit were there anything in my stomach. My heart is racing so fast I feel it in my throat. It's as if it is trying to break out of my chest.

Slowly, I rise to my strappy sandaled feet, hating how my legs wobble as I move closer to the window. Beyond the glass, there are buildings. Lots of buildings. Tall skyscrapers with the setting sun reflecting off of their windows in warm shades of pink and oranges. I glance down and wish I didn't, for the height is disturbing. My stomach drops. I rub my fingers against my clammy palms and try to focus on that sensation in order to center myself. I take half a step back from the window. It feels like I may fall, even though glass separates me from the world outside.

I am no longer anywhere near Drew's place.

And in the glass, I notice my reflection and the gold band around my neck. My hand shakes as I bring my fingers to my throat. All I feel is skin. Yet the golden collar is very much present, marking my skin as though painted on. I also sense it within myself, a feeling I missed at first over the shock of where I am. But it is unmistakable. A cold, magical void stems from my collar and encases me in its spell. It intertwines foreign magic within every cell of my being.

Real. It is all real.

As I stare at the reflection in the window, I notice her. She stands in view behind me. Her hair is pulled back, loose strands framing her lovely face. Kind eyes stare at me. Ally.

I sap, jerking to look behind me, but nothing is there. Yet when I turn back to the window, she is there again. My mind is playing tricks.

Goosebumps run up and down my arms, and my chest tightens. Placing my palm on the window, I touch part of her reflection, wishing she was real. Not a figment of my imagination tormenting me. My throat tightens at her appearance and I nearly cry out.

Behind me, a door opens and Preston steps in. The image of Ally vanishes and my hand falls to my side, leaving my fingerprints on what was pristine glass. She leaves a void in which I could lose myself for the rest of my life. A hole in my heart quickly filling with hateful rage and lonely despair.

Preston views me and smiles. "You look even more beautiful than the city during sunset."

My teeth clench, and it takes everything within me to unhinge my jaw. "What the fuck is this?"

He approaches me without a care for my tone. A finely tailored navy suit accentuates his tall frame exquisitely. "You are at one of our homes in New York."

Of course, where else do charismatic Fairies who can influence humans with a simple smile live but a metropolitan with an endless supply of people to manipulate? "What happened to my clothes?" I try not to think of the fact that I was undressed while unconscious, only to be then dressed up like some sort of doll because if I do, I will become unhinged. Instead, I need to focus and gather as much information about my situation that I can.