Kaya

Part 11. Home

Quick, but with light footfalls, I rushed towards the door and removed the chair that had blocked it while quickly opening it.

"Kaya wha-"

"It seems it was stuck." I said simply, wanting to step past him into the room.

He stopped me. "That's never happened before, why wou-"

"I don't know, it's an old house, things like that happen." I pushed past him.

"What where you doing anyway?" He asked, still standing in the doorway.

"I just had to go to the bathroom, that's all." I turned to see if he was coming back into the room with me but he still stood there and looked into the apartment, then took a step away from me and pulled the door half closed.
"Stay there Kaya."

I went back to the door and looked through the opening. Sylen was walking directly to the hidden room.

"Sylen, what is it? I'm tired, can't we just go back to sleep?" I asked, walking up behind him.

"Ssh.. quiet. Take my hand." He grabbed it before I could even give it to him and pulled me closely behind him as we went towards the hidden room, which was still open.
Sylen of course noticed this instantly and looked inside, keeping me at arms length, so I was away from it. "She's gone."

"Who's gone?"

He grabbed both my shoulders. "That damned witch! She escaped!" Looking to the side and scanning the apartment, he mumbled to himself. "How?.. not possible on her own..."

While he stood so close but seemingly wasn't paying attention to me, I managed to get a look at his amulet. It was half full. When his head swung back towards me, I quickly looked back up.

"You were here just now, did you see her?"

"I didn't. Why did you even have her locked up here in the first place? That's against the law, Sylen!"

"Not if the circle told me to capture her."

"Capture, yes, not torture and use for your own sake!"

"How do you-" His grip on my shoulders loosened.

Shit, my cover was blown. "Sylen.. I-" I backed up.

His expression told me more than words ever could. He raised his hand toward me. "You will speak the truth. Did you see her?"

My urge to say no was nothing compared to the spell I was under. I couldn't lie, I could only say nothing or the truth. "Yes." I backed up further.

"Did you help her escape?"

"Sylen, I think there's different ways to solve this."

"Answer my question Kaya."

I had to keep his spell going. The longer he used it, the more of his magic it would take. "Maybe we could just sit down and have a normal conversation about this."

"Kaya." He stepped closer as he got angrier.

"Yup, that's me. Didn't you say earlier you'd let me sleep first before questioning me?"

"You're not going to answer me? I see I've clearly been too soft with you. Perhaps this will get some manners into you." I felt his grip around my throat even though he stood a few feet away.

"S-Sylen." I squirmed as I was lifted off the ground. I tried holding onto the hand but there was nothing, I was just touching my own skin. "Please-" My head started pressing against the ceiling when he finally let go and I hit the floor. Before I could try to get back up, Sylen took my chin and pulled me to look at him, squatting in front of me. A quick glance at his amulet told me my plan might work.