The Return: Midnight Chapter 16

Once upon a time,began beautiful, t present were a young girl and boyShe was straight slay interrupted. What were their names?Were they slaves?Where did they live?Were they vampires?Bonnie almost forgot her misery and laughed. Their names wereJack andJil . They were kitsune, and they lived way up north in the kitsune sector somewhat the Great CrossingsAnd she proceeded, albeit with some(prenominal) excited interruptions, to tel the allegory she had gotten from the whizz bal .So,Bonnie concluded nervously, as she opened her eyes and originalized that shed attracted quite a crowd with her trading floor,thats the tale of the Seven Treasures, and and I suppose the moral is dont be too greedy, or you wont end up with anything.There was a lot of laughter, the nervous giggling of the girls and the Haw Haw haw contour of laughter from the crowd asshole them. Which Bonnie now noticed was entirely male. 1 post of her mind started unconsciously to go into flirt mode. Another part immediately squashed it. These werent boys looking for a dance these were ogres and vampires and kitsune and even men with mustaches and they wanted to buy her in her minuscular black bubble dress, and as beautiful as the dress might be for some things, it wasnt like the long, jeweled gowns that Lady Ulma had made for them. Then they had been princesses, wearing a fortunes worth of jewels at their throats and wrists and cop and besides, they had had fierce protection with them at al times.But now, she was wearing something that felt a lot like a baby-dol nightgown and delicate little spot with silvery bows. And she wasnt protected because this society state you had to have men to be protected, and, worst of al she was a slave.I wonder, give tongue to a golden-haired man, moving through and through the girls around her, al of whom hurried out of his way except Mouse and Eren, I wonder if you would go upstairs with me and perhaps tel me a story in private.Bonnie tried to swal o w her gasp. Now she was the one hanging on to Mouse and Eren.Al such requests must go through me. No one is to canvas a girl out of the room unless I approve,announced a woman in a ful -length dress, with a sympathetic, almost Madonna-like face. That wil be treated as theft of my mistresss property.And Im sure we dont al want to be arrested as if wed been caught carrying off the silverware,she said and laughed lightly.There was equal y light laughter among the guests as Well, and endeavor toward the woman at a sort of mannerly run.You tel current y good stories,Mouse said in her soft voice.Its to a greater extent fun than use a star bal .Mouse, here, is upright,Eren said, grinning. You do tel good stories. I wonder if that place real y exists.Well, I got it out of a star bal ,Bonnie said. One that the girl um, Jil , put her memories in, I think entirely then how did it bring out of that tower? How did she know what happened to Jack? And I read a story active a giant drago n and that felt real too. How do they do it?Oh, they trick you,Eren said, waving a dismissive hand.They have somebody go someplace cold for the scenery an ogre probably, because of the weather.Bonnie nodded. Shed met mauve-skinned ogres before.They only differed from demons in their level of stupidity. At this level, they tended to be stupid in society, and shed heard Damon say with a curled lip that the ones that were out of society were hired muscle. Thugs.And the rest they just fake somehow I dont know. Never real y thought around it.Eren looked up at Bonnie. Youre an odd one, arent you, Bonny?Am I?Bonnie asked. She and the two other girls had revolved, without letting go of hands. This meant that there was some space behind Bonnie. She didnt like that. But, then, she didnt like anything about being a slave. She was starting to hyperventilate. She wanted Meredith. She wanted Elena. She wanted out of here.Um, you guys probably dont want to associate with me anymore,she said unco mfortably.Huh?said Eren.Why?asked Mouse.Because Im running through that door. I have to get out. I have to.Kid, calm down,Eren said. Just carry on breathing.No, you dont understand.Bonnie put her head down, to timber out some of the world. I cant belong to somebody.Im going crazy.Sh, Bonny, theyre I cant stay here,Bonnie burst out.Well, thats probably al to the good,a terrible voice, right in front of her, said.No Oh, God. No, no, no, no, noWhen were in a new business we work hard,the Madonna-like womans voice said. We look up at prospective customers. We dont misbehave or we are punished.And even though her voice was sweet as pecan pie, Bonnie somehow knew that the harsh voice in the night shouting at them to find a pal et and stay on it, had been this same woman.And now there was a strong hand under her chin and Bonnie couldnt keep it from forcing her head up, or from covering her mouth when she screamed.In front of her, with the delicate pointed ears of a fox, and the long swe eping black tail of a fox save otherwise looking human, looking like a regular guy wearing jeans and a sweater, was Shinichi. And in his golden eyes she could see, twisting and turning, a little scarlet flame that just matched the red on the tip of his tail and the hair that fel across his forehead.Shinichi. He was here. Of course he could travel through the dimensions he Stillhad a ful star bal that none of Elenas group had ever found as well as those magical blushers Elena had told Bonnie about. Bonnie remembered the horrible night when trees, veritable trees, had turned into something that could understand and obey him. About how four of them each grabbed one of her arms and legs and pul ed, as if they were planning to pul her apart. She could feel tears leaking out behind her close eyelids.And the Old Wood. Hed control ed every aspect of it, every creeper to trip you, every tree to fal in front of your car. Until Elena had blasted al but that one thicket of the Old Wood, it had been ful of terrifying insect-like creatures Stefan cal ed malach.But now Bonnies hands were behind her back and she heard something fasten with a very final-sounding click.Nooh, please noBut her hands were definitely fixed in place. And then someone an ogre or a vampire picked her up as the lovely woman gave Shinichi a smal key off a key ring ful of identical keys. Shinichi handed this to a big ogre whose fingers were so enlarged that they eclipsed it. And then Bonnie, who was screaming, was quickly whisked up four flights of stairs and a heavy door thunked shut behind her. The ogre carrying her fol owed Shinichi, whose sleek scarlet-tipped tail swung jauntily from a hole in his jeans, back and forth, back and forth. Bonnie thought Thats satisfaction. He thinks hes won this already.But unless Damon real y had forgotten her completely, he would price Shinichi for this. perchance he would kil him. It was an oddly comforting thought. It was even ro No, its not romantic, you nitwit You have to find a way to get out of this mess Death is not romantic, its horrible They had reached the final doors at the end of the hal .Shinichi turned right and walked al the way down a long corridor. There the ogre used the key to open a door.The room had an adjustable overhead gaslight. It was dim but Shinichi said, Can we have a little il umination, please?in a false polite voice, and the other ogre hurried and turned the light up to interrogation-lamp-in-your-face level.The room was a sort of bedroom-den combination, the kind youd get at a decent hotel. It had a couch and some chairs on the upper level. There was a windowpanepane, closed, on the left side of the room. There was also a window on the right side of the room, where al the other rooms should be in a line.This window had no curtains or blinds that could be drawn and it reflected Bonnies dis trick face back at her. She knew at once what it was, a two-way mirror, so that people in the room behind it could se e into this room but not be seen. The couch and chairs were positioned to face it.Beyond the sitting room, off to her left, was the bed. It wasnt a very fancy bed, just white covers that looked beg, because there was a real window on that side that was almost in a line with the sun, sitting as it always was, on the horizon. Right now, Bonnie hated it more than ever before because it turned every light-colored object in the room pink, rose, or outright red. The bow at her own bodice was deep pink now.She was going to authorise saturated with the color of blood.Something on some deeper level told her that her mind was thinking of such things as distractions, that even thinking about hating to die in such a juvenile color was running away from the bit in the middle, the dying bit. But the ogre holding her moved her around as if she weighed nothing, and Bonnie kept having little thoughts were they premonitions? Oh, God, let them not be premonitions about going out of that red windo w in a sitting position, the glass no impediment to her body being thrown at a tremendous force. And how many stories up were they? High enough, anyway, that there was no entrust of landing withoutWell, dying.Shinichi smiled, lounging by the red window, playing with the cord to the blinds.I dont even know what you want from meBonnie found herself saying to Shinichi. Ive never been able to hurt you. It was you hurting other people like me al the time.Well, there were your friends,murmured Shinichi. Although I seldom wreak my dread revenge against lovely young women with red-gold hair.He lounged beside the window and examined her, murmuring, Hair of red-gold sprightliness true and bold. Perhaps a scoldBonnie felt like screaming. Didnt he remember her? He certainly seemed to have remembered their group, since hed mentioned revenge. What do you want?she gasped.You are a hindrance, Im afraid. And I find you very suspicious and delicious. Young women with red-gold hair are always so elusive.Bonnie couldnt find anything to say. From everything shed seen, Shinichi was a nutcase. But a very dangerous psychopathic nutcase. And al he enjoyed was destroying things.In just one moment there could be a cram through the window and then shed be sitting on air. And then the fal would begin. What would that feel like? Or would she already be fal ing? She only hoped that at the interpenetrate it was quick.You seem to have learned a lot about my people,Shinichi said. More than most.Please,Bonnie said desperately. If its about the story al I know about kitsune is that youre destroying my town. And She stopped short, realizing that she could never let him know what had happened in her out-of-body experience. So she could never mention the jars or hed know that they knew how to catch him. And you wont stop,she finished lamely.And yet you found an old-fashioned star bal with stories about our legendary treasures.About what? You mean from that kiddy star bal ? Look, if youl just leave me alone Il give it to you.She knew scarce where shed left it, too, right beside her sorry plea for a pil ow.Oh, wel leave you alonein time, I assure you,Shinichi said with an unnerving smile. He had a smile like Damons, which wasnt meant to say Hel o I wont hurt you.It was more like Hul o Heres my lunchI find itcurious,Shinichi went on, Stillfiddling with the cord.Very curious that just in the middle of our little dispute, you arrive here in the Dark Dimension again, alone, apparently without fear, and manage to bargain for a star bal . An orb that just happens to detail the location of our most priceless treasures that were stolen from usa long, long time ago.You dont care about anybody but yourself, Bonnie thought.Youre suddenly acting al patriotic and stuff, but in Fel s church service you didnt pretend to care about anything but hurting people.In your little town, as in other towns throughout history, I had orders to do what I did,Shinichi said, and Bonnies inten t plunged right down to her shoes. He was telepathic. He knew what she was thinking. Hed heard her thinking about the jars.Shinichi smirked. Little towns like the one on Unmei no Shima have to be wiped off the face of the earth,he said.Did you see the number of ley lines of Power under it?Another smirk. But of course you werent really there, so you probably didnt.If you can tel what Im thinking, you know that story about treasures was just a story,Bonnie said. It was in the star bal cal ed Five Hundred Stories for Young Ones. Its not real.How strange then that it coincides so exactly with what the Seven Kitsune Gates are supposed to have behind them.It was in the middle of a bunch of stories about the the Dz-Aht-Bhiiens. I mean the story right before it was about a kid buying candy,Bonnie said. So why dont you just go get the star bal instead of trying to shoot me?Her voice was beginning to tremble. Its at the inn right across the street from the shop where I was arrested. Just g o and get itOf course weve tried that,Shinichi said impatiently. The landlady was quite cooperative after we gave her somecompensation. There is no such story in that star bal .Thats not possibleBonnie said. Where did I get it, then?Thats what Im asking you.Stomach fluttering, Bonnie said, How many star bal s did you look at in that brown room?Shinichis eyes went blurry briefly. Bonnie tried to listen, but he was obviously speaking telepathical y to someone close, on a tight frequency.Final y he said, Twenty-eight star bal s, exactly.Bonnie felt as if shed been clubbed. She wasnt going crazy she wasnt. Shed experienced that story. She knew every fissure in every rock, every shadow in the snow. The only answers were that the real star bal had been stolen, or or maybe that they hadnt looked hard enough at the ones they had.The story is there,she insisted. Right before it is the story about little Marit going to a We probed the table of contents. There is the story about a child and he looked scornful a sweetshop. But not the other.Bonnie just shook her head. I swear Im tel ing the truth.Why should I believe you?Why does it matter? How could I make something like that up? And why would I tel a story I knew would get me in trouble? It doesnt make any sense.Shinichi stared at her hard. Then he shrugged, his ears flat against his head. What a pity you keep saying that.Suddenly Bonnies heart was pounding in her chest, in her tight throat. Why?Because,Shinichi said cool y, pul ing the blinds completely open so that Bonnie was abruptly drenched in the color of fresh blood, Im afraid that now we have to kil you.The ogre holding her strode toward the window. Bonnie screamed. In places like this, she knew screams went unheard.She didnt know what else to do.