Where The Numinous Awaits

Ch. 7: Nixie's Type

August 15 | Night

Dex rushed us through the safehouse and flung open the back door. She gestured for me to exit. "After you," she said. I refused to move. If she wanted to hold me hostage, she would have to force me. She stood there for a moment, smirking at me. Then she turned to Legend and gestured for him to help her. He wrapped an arm around me from behind and thrust me out the door.

I indignantly adjusted my blouse. As I glared at him, he flashed a smile. There was no denying that her associate had bad boy sex appeal, with his diamond-shaped eyes and full lips. But I preferred my bad boys in daydreams, not real life. I ignored how good he looked and took in the poetry of the landscape behind him, instead.

The night was purple everywhere. Periwinkle clouds trudged across a heliotrope sky. The moon was lilac. Orchid gray moss draped the indigo shadows of trees. Fireflies winked pale dots of yellow above amaranthine grass, and the pond lay flat as wine before us.

"Can you handle a row boat?" Dex asked him.

Nodding, Legend clutched my elbow and hustled me across the yard, over gently rolling hills toward a boat that was tied off at the edge of the water. The quaint cottage behind us suddenly didn't look so unwelcoming. I tried to turn back. "Get in," he ordered, plunking me down.

"Where–? Where are you taking me?" I swatted at a cloud of mosquitoes that engulfed my head. They buzzed away, and I hugged the book to my chest in a death grip. Its smooth leather and hard edges felt like protection against whatever these two planned.

Climbing into the boat, Legend started to row while Dex stood at the prow. "I'm taking you to get to know yourself," she said. She offered an almost sympathetic smile before averting her gaze. She had a bookish face, very academic, but her long hair billowing in the wind, her sleeveless shirt, and loose-fitting pants tucked into her boots gave her the appearance of an adventurer.

Waves lapped at the hull of the boat, and cicadas released their poignant cries into the night. Being on the water made my stomach churn. I was terrified of it. I wanted Fitz. I wanted to be back in Arizona where morons didn't yank innocent women off the street and spout nonsense about bearing the mark.

The receptionist at Overlay City Hall had started it. Waiting, as instructed, she had gone to get someone in what appeared to be a military dress uniform. Tall and spare with a thin mustache and a hat tucked under his arm, he had rolled up my sleeve and checked my arm.

"Come with me," he then said.

I had been swept off to the interrogation room. A series of bizarre interviews later, I had laid out the story of my kidnapping, and they had given me startling news: There was, in fact, an inheritance, a sizable amount of money that would change my life. Only, I couldn't go anywhere, and it had something to do with that goddamn mark. They had told me I was being detained. Dex and Legend had shown up. I couldn't make sense of any of it.

"I know myself. I'm Nixie Murphy," I retorted.

"Nixie Fontenot," Dex said mildly. "You're more than some lackluster nobody from Arizona. You're royalty."

"R-royalty?" I laughed, remembering the city hall recpetionist's reaction to me.

"Royalty," Dex repeated.

"First Harry Potter, now The Princess Diaries?" Was this a joke? Never mind how many of my daydreams had featured me in a crown. I looked at Legend, who kept rowing as if he didn't hear us. We had made it nearly to the middle of the pond.

"Where do you think you got your inheritance?" asked Dex. "Edwina Murphy didn't have money like that."

"Okay, where's my kingdom?"