The globe of light Hieronymous had cast dimmed and vanished, leaving the auditorium pitch black. Alone and despairing, Gwen sank to her knees, balling her hands into fists and squeezing her eyes shut. With a shriek, she pounded her fists through the darkness into the chairs and against the floor. Exhausted she gave into sobbing through stuttered breaths.
A deep voice began chanting a spell from somewhere in the auditorium. Illumination, Gwen recognized numbly. As light spilled across the room, a regal figure came into view. He was tall, slender, and held himself with a countenance of utmost control and confidence. The man was dressed in elegant black robes embroidered with gold. His short black hair was combed back sharply from the crown of his head and cropped at the bottom of his neck with streaks of white at his temples. His wore a neatly trimmed, fully bearded-goatee giving him the refined appearance of a gentleman. The stranger's dark, intelligent eyes fell to Gwen.
"I'm too late," he said slowly, closing his eyes. Gwen sensed white magic dance around him as he softly whispered the Spirit Echoes spell, revealing ghostly images enacting past events for the eyes of the caster.
Gwen sat perfectly still, watching him with a wary eye. She looked the stranger over with suspicion, preparing a teleportation spell.
His eyes snapped open and he gracefully fell to one knee at her side.
"Please," he said sincerely, "I cannot bear the sight of a young lady in tears." He gently handed her a white handkerchief from his pocket, in a gesture of old worldly manners.
Gwen hesitated, but found something familiar about his eyes which changed her mind, and accepted the soft cloth from him, wiping away her tears.
"There, there," he murmured quietly.
His kind voice and gentle words soothed her. After her crying had subsided, and she regained her composure, she returned the stranger's handkerchief.
"Thank you," she said meekly, her voice still hoarse from her earlier choked sobs.
"Now, that's more like it. Tears do not suit you at all, my dear. Here, please allow me to help you up."
Gwen offered her hands, but he gingerly took her by the elbows and lifted her up. Looking down, she realized why he had avoided her hands; they were a colorful assortment of bruises.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm sorry we are meeting each other for the first time under such regrettable circumstances," he said, extending his hand. "I am Aloysius. Aloysius Grabiner."
Gwen blinked and then quickly put her hand over her mouth as she realized her jaw had dropped open in surprise.
Her father-in law reached forward and took each of her hands in turn, casting a healing spell.
"It's not safe to talk here," he said earnestly. "With your permission, I'd like to escort you to someplace more secure."
Before she could reply, Aloysius placed his hand on her shoulder and they vanished.
Hieronymous struggled to open his eyes. His efforts were met with a glaring light. He reached out with his other senses, trying to fully wake up. He could smell something damp and feel a chill in the air. The sound of men chanting came from far away. Blinking, he tried to focus. Gradually, the reflection of dancing blue runes came into view. There was a puddle in front of him, on a worn stone floor. He realized he was lying on his right side on cold, wet, ground. As he glanced around the room, his vision slowly came into focus. He recognized ancient architecture from one of the many obscure books he had read. As he recalled its content, the haziness in his mind fell away. Fully cognizant he squinted and surmised it was likely Pre-Renaissance.
Abandoned, he assumed from the leaking. Secluded, too, he added, considering the age of the building. Then the raw magic in the air finally hit him. His eyes widened, as he took in the shock. He wasn't in his own dimension. He was in Otherworld.
The sound of bare feet against rock attracted his attention, craning his head back he saw an archway leading to a hallway. Goblins stalked past the room, paying him no attention other than a casual glance in his direction.
Damn, he thought. He was too weak to teleport back to his own dimension, and no match for the denizens of this neglected building. The goblins, and whatever other creatures might be dwelling here, must be working with my captors. Otherwise they'd have made a meal of me by now.
His eyes finally adjusted to the light and he began to take in his full surroundings. As he looked back to the center of the room, he observed four figures beside the glowing runes. Two were blue genie-like demons; manuses, practically identical. The third was a hooded man and the fourth was an older gentleman. He looked vaguely familiar to Hieronymous. Recognition dawned and he scowled at his human abductor.
Summoning the last of his willpower, he reached out to the magic pulsing around him. Managing to tame a small amount of it, he began quietly chanting. While maintaining focus on the lengthy spell, he could hear the two men conversing casually.
"Something will have to be done about Aloysius. He just isn't getting the message," he said to the hooded figure, his annoyance written clearly on his face.
"Shall I take care of it?" asked the hooded figure. Hieronymous thought he sounded like an overly-eager lackey, trying to impress his master.
"Do whatever needs to be done," he looked thoughtful and added, "but if he resists, have them rough-up the girl. Eventually he'll get the idea."
"Yes, Alcinous," said the lackey zealously. With a deep bow, he disappeared.
As Alcinous walked towards Hieronymous he could see clearly for the first time his shoulder length white hair and light blue eyes. His pale complexion matched his sleek, white robes.
Hieronymous gathered the last of his strength to finish the Far Speak Location spell, hoping he had enough willpower left to send it across dimensions.
"Father, help me," he whispered, but even as the words left his mouth, he could feel his consciousness slipping away before he could finish the spell.
Alcinous stood above the unconscious Hieronymous and gloated, "Nice try, but he'll never find you."
Gwen and Aloysius appeared in a large entry room. Gwen had only seen rooms of such extravagance in magazines and television.
We're not in Kansas anymore, thought Gwen, letting out a low whistle.
"We'll sort all of this out. Please, come in and make yourself at home," Aloysius said.
Aloysius pointed down a hallway to a study.
"I must make some important calls. If you have need of me, I will be there. I think you will be most comfortable here in the great room for now, but feel free to explore the house."
He set off down the hall in a hurry, leaving Gwen alone.
She shook her head. Everything was happening too fast. It felt like an eternity since she had seen her bedroom. Now here she was, standing in a vast mansion owned by her father-in-law.
She sat down in a leather armchair in the great room, close enough to listen down the hall. The room was filled with antiques. Everything about it screamed expensive, from marble busts to tapestries to exotic rugs. The house was lit with magic flame as was common in Iris Academy.
Gwen wasn't sure what she had expected her father-in-law's life to be like. She had known Aloysius was in politics and came from a very old family. Hieronymous on the other hand lived very modestly. One look around revealed that Aloysius couldn't be further from modest living.
A loud thud snapped her out of her reverie. Aloysius had pounded his fist on his desk. His face was flushed red and she could see where Hieronymous got his scathing look from. She looked but she couldn't see a phone. Well of course he isn't on a phone, she thought, wondering at herself for drawing such a conclusion, wizards don't have to pay for phones. They can just call upon each other mentally if the other party is willing. She sighed. So much for listening in on the conversation.
With nothing else to do, she wandered the house. Under normal circumstances she would have happily explored the rooms, but, she couldn't relax. She needed to find out what was going on before she went crazy.
Gwen wandered aimlessly into the kitchen. She looked around the the room and spied a glass jar with coins in it. On closer examination the coins were gold colored with the words "ONE POUND" printed on them. Blinking, Gwen absorbed this. Aloysius had the same English accent as Hieronymous. She remembered asking Hieronymous what it was like to live in England, to which he had unenthusiastically replied, "It rains frequently."
Sure enough, she looked out the window and noticed it was actually raining.
Poking around the cupboard she found an assortment of tea bags. She had never used a wizard's kitchen before, but hoped the principles were generally the same. After some fiddling with the stove, she figured out how to light a fire and put a kettle on.
Aloysius stared out the window of his study intently, his index fingers pressed to his lips.
The sound of china on his desk roused him from his contemplation.
Gwen seated herself across from him.
"I thought you could use some tea," she offered.
"You assume because I'm English, I can't survive without tea?"
Gwen blushed, she had come to that exact assumption when she had realized Aloysius was English.
"You are completely correct of course. Two lumps please," he said, raising his teacup.
She smiled with relief and poured his cup.
"How are you holding up?" she asked directly.
"Oh, fine. A lifetime in politics teaches one to keep putting one foot in front of the next."
Gwen couldn't decide if he was putting a show of confidence on for her benefit or not. She couldn't imagine being "fine" in the face of her own son being abducted.
"Can you please catch me up?" she asked, slightly pleading.
Sipping his tea, he sighed a little. "Unfortunately I don't know very much. Hieronymous was abducted by my political rival, Alcinous Alden. I've contacted the best white mages on the council discretely. They can't locate him. Wherever he is, he's beyond magic. Alcinous intends to blackmail me to some end. He hasn't stated what that is, yet."
The situation sounded remarkably hopeless to her from his description.
"What can we do?" she asked, frowning.
"For now, the best thing we can do is take our minds off of the situation until we have more information. Worrying will get us nowhere."
Gwen didn't like it, but it made a certain amount of sense.
"Alright," she agreed.
"If you don't mind, I would like to take this opportunity to get to know the young woman who stole my son's heart," he said, deeply impressed.
Gwen nearly choked on her tea.
Setting her cup down, she replied, "I don't know how much you've heard, but, it isn't quite like that."
"Oh?" he asked.
Gwen didn't know Aloysius well enough to be sure, but she suspected he was feigning ignorance out of curiosity.
"Our marriage wasn't a happy occasion. In fact, I don't think I've seen anyone more vexed in my life. I'm going to assume you know about the circumstances of your family's manus threatening to eat my soul?"
"You've got me. I do know about some of the details."
"So you know we're not a real couple then."
"Now, I sincerely doubt that," Aloysius said, giving her a knowing smile.
"I don't mean to burst your bubble, but, honestly, he's going to divorce me in January. He's probably planned a celebration for it and everything."
"Gwen... I saw everything which happened tonight in the Spirit Echoes spell," he said delicately, taking a sip of his tea.
Gwen blinked. Her eyes went wide as she recalled the first, and only, real kiss they had shared. And her father-in-law had seen it. She wished very hard she could turn invisible. For the time being, she settled with hiding her face in both hands and groaning.
Aloysius smirked. "Now, now, we've all been young once. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
"H-hey, we're not doing that kind of thing all the... oh, it was our first kiss for crying out loud. It was one kiss, and he said..." her voice grew distant, "that it was his last night on Earth. Anyone would want to kiss someone in that situation."
"We've come back to the topic we're trying to avoid. But if I may say one thing, a small piece of parental insight, for what it's worth. After what happened with Violet," he paused, setting down his cup, as he looked directly at her, gauging her reaction to the mention of the name, "seeing him open up to another young woman, is no small feat. And I know my son... he wouldn't kiss just anyone. So, don't give up on him yet," he said with a gentle smile. Although Aloysius was putting on a strong show, as he spoke of Hieronymous, she couldn't help but notice the single tear sliding down his cheek.
In a desperate effort to change the subject, Gwen said, "You know, someone's been scrying on me lately. Maybe it was this Alcinous person."
"No," Aloysius shook his head, discretely dabbing his cheek, "it wasn't Alcinous. It was me."
"You?" Gwen asked, "What for?"
"Well, I don't hear much from Hieronymous about his life and I wanted..."
Aloysius stared out the window intently for a moment, distracted.
"I must stop myself there for now. We have intruders."
At that moment Gwen heard footsteps in the hallway.
"How many are there...?" she asked aloud.
"Not enough," Aloysius replied coolly.
A team of men dressed in black poured into the room, guns aimed in their direction. A hooded figure strode in behind them.
"We have some matters of importance to discuss, Viscount Montague."
"Yes, we do," Aloysius replied, fire burning in his eyes.