MAGICS: Alone (Book One)

3

Kai slammed to a halt, his heart leaping to his throat. A knife of terror stabbed through his stomach, and he stumbled back a step.

The frightening man didn't bat an eyelash. He tilted his head mechanically, slowly straightening to his full height. "What a nice surprise," he said in that unnerving voice. "So glad you could join us, Kai. We were just talking about you." 

"We."

Kai snapped his gaze away from the intruder, searching desperately for his mother. She was several paces away, close to the nightstand by Falte's side of the bed. Two men were holding her arms behind her, pinning her on her knees. One of the men was trying to put one of her own t-shirts back into her mouth to stifle her. She had tear streaks down her cheeks, and her eyes told of frantic, angry panic. 

"Kai!" she cried. "Oh, Kai, honey-"

The man with the t-shirt struck Haley in the jaw. "Shut up, woman!" 

"Hey!" Kai's rage sparked again. "Don't touch her!" he yelled, surging forward. 

The red-eyed man calmly stepped in his way, so unflinchingly that Kai stopped just short of plowing into him. He shook his head disapprovingly down at Kai, tsking through his teeth. "Uh-uh. We won't be doing that." 

Kai told the man, rather explicitly, what he could do and tried to push past him. 

The blood-eyed man sighed and finally unclasped his arms from behind his back. He looked strangely bored as his arms flew up like bullets. His hands latched onto Kai's shoulders, planting the boy in place, but only for a moment. 

The next second, Kai was on the floor, the wind knocked clean out of him. Gasping like a fish out of water, Kai tried to prop himself up on his elbows, but the intruder stepped on his chest with the heel of his polished shoes. 

"I don't think you understand," he said evenly, tipping his chin to look at the boy beneath him. He stooped down again, bending his body at sharp angle, until he was face to face with Kai. "I am in control here, boy." 

Kai fought to catch his breath and didn't acknowledge the man at all. All he was worried about was his mother. Hundreds of questions and fears shot through the background of his brain, but Haley was on the forefront. She consumed every other worry. She was priority. 

"Stop!" Haley pleaded from out of view. "Please, don't hurt him. Take whatever you want. Anything you see, it's yours. Just please don't hurt my son." 

The man clicked his tongue and stepped away from Kai, turning to face Haley with his hands clasped behind his back again. "You see, dear... That's the thing. I don't want your things. I want your son. Unfortunately, I can't promise that I won't hurt him. I can, however, assure you that I will not kill him." 

There was a beat of silence. 

"What?!" Kai and Haley cried at the same time. 

Apparently annoyed, the man rolled his red eyes. "You don't have to understand," he said to Haley. "The point is, I am taking your son. And you will meet the same fate as your husband." 

Panic, sharp and horrible, sliced through Kai's gut. He sat up frantically, flinging himself upward like a puppet being yanked. It didn't take him long to find his father. 

Falte was face down on the far side of the room, out of Haley's view, but she still turned her head away with a soft sound of sorrow. He was sprawled at an awkward angle, like he'd been thrown. Blood pooled beneath his head, and his face was turned away from Kai. He was awfully, painfully still. 

Kai had always thought he'd be able to say words of sorrowful agony if something like this ever happened (don't ask him why or how many times he imagined these kinds of scenarios), but he had been wrong. The sound that came out of him was anything but coherent. It was straight from his chest, from the pit of his stomach. An unholy wail of pain deeper than he could have ever imagined.