Chapter 9
I stared up at the apartments in front of us. They looked very old, and were in a tall building squashed between a bakery on one side, and a hotel on the other. The building had that same old weathered look that most of the buildings in Paris had. Ornate carvings decorated the small balconies off of each apartment's window.
"Let's go," Alec said hastily, bolting for the doors.
"Wait!" I said. "Calithea said her boyfriend set up defense mechanisms against her. That means that whatever he set will be directed towards the approach that Calithea would take…and that would be going straight through the hallways and up to his room."
"Well what are we supposed to do? Scale the building?" Alec said, rolling his eyes.
"Exactly," I replied, with a small and slightly evil smile.
Alec's eyes bugged out, but he followed me as I went around to the back of the building.
"Let's see, so there are 10 rooms on each floor, which I've deducted from there being 5 balconies on each side," I began mumbling. "Evens on the street side, odds on the back side…5 windows on each side, meaning that room 37 is 2nd from the right, three stories up," I concluded, feeling pleased with myself.
"How did you just…" Alec trailed off.
"Years of practice with Coach," I replied.
"I don't even want to know who that is," Alec muttered under his breath, as I began to climb up the building. There were no bricks, but the carvings made for good handholds. I grabbed the inside of a lion's mouth, and stuck my foot on a vine. I made it up like that to the second story, and swung myself up onto one of the balconies so I could catch my breath for a second. I sat there, swinging my legs, and I looked down at Alec.
"You coming?" I called.
"No, I'm just going to stand down here and watch you do it," he said sarcastically.
"Fine with me," I said, standing up and beginning to climb again.
"Wait! I was joking! Wait up!" he called out frantically, as he began scrambling up the wall.
I rolled my eyes and kept on climbing, although slightly slower than I had before. My muscles started getting a little too tight. I made it to a 3rd story balcony with a few cramps on my arms and legs.
I waited for Alec to catch up to me. He was a long way before me, half way to the second story balcony. Figuring that he would take a few moments, I turned around and looked for room 37. I was one balcony to the left of it. I just had to cross over and then I'd be on it.
I turned around and was about to tell Alec that I was about to crossover. But before that happened, I stumbled into something. I stumbled into a pair of light-tan and muscled arms. I looked up at the person, hoping it wasn't the tenant of this apartment.
"Alec!" I said, the word coming out in a half surprised, half strangled breath. "What are you doing here? You were…all the way down there!" I pointed to where he was 3 seconds ago.
His laugh was his reply. I kept my eyes on him, but he moved incredibly fast and reappeared to the balcony next to us. I hastily followed after him. I hissed at him, "How do you move that fast?"
Alec kept his blinding grin and shrugged. Then he took out his wand and touched it to the sliding door that led into the apartment. The door opened with a click, but I ignored it.
"What are you not telling me?"
Alec greeted me with his grin. I silently groaned, I needed to know what was wrong with him.
"You move incredible fast, and you're…" Incredibly good-looking, I thought, but didn't say. I felt my face flush, "Never mind that…It's just…"
He finished my question for me, "Why?"
I nodded. I tried to think about creatures that move fast. I gasped, "Please tell me you're not a vampire. If you are…tell me you're not one of those stupid ones like the vampires in Twilight. They…"
He laughed, "Sparkle in the sun?" I rolled my eyes. "I can't believe you thought that I was a bloodsucker!" He doubled over, choking on his laughter. I stared at him, putting my hand on my hips.
I grew tired of watching him laugh after a couple of seconds so I entered the apartment, not bothering to make sure if he was okay or not. I looked around. First I checked for any traps or monsters, using a handy trick Coach taught me—casting a type of light that exposes everything in its original form—exposing the material that was used to make the house, furniture, and everything else.
Luckily, there were no traps or monsters. The only traps were all placed near/on the front door.
I walked further into the house. The balcony led into the dining room, opening up to the living room and the kitchen. The furniture was sleek and modern. The couch was shaped like a box, but looked comfortable enough. The colors that filled the apartment were black, white, and gray. Like the colors of Paris at night.
Calithea's boyfriend wasn't home, probably searching for another girlfriend. I looked around for photographs or any sign for what this guy might look like. I wanted to know what a goddess of beauty's boyfriend will look like. Probably very handsome, I thought.
I felt a warm breath at my neck; I knew it was just Alec. "Look around for Calithea's purse," I told him.
I sensed a movement towards me, a gesture meant to grab me and pin me down. But I intercepted it and flipped over Alec. We came down on the floor with a loud thud. I had Alec pinned in the next second. Or thought it was Alec.
I gasped, I meant to say something threatening, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was, "Uhhhh…."
"Who the hell are you?" He boomed, his chest rumbling.
He had dark brown hair and deep dark blue eyes. He had broad shoulders that were muscled, like the rest of him. He was probably six-feet tall, his head maybe touching the roof of the apartment.
"Who the hell are you?" He repeated, taking a glass vase from the coffee table.
I moved fast and ducked when he threw the vase. There was a large crash when it hit the floor and shattered. I willed a chair to appear under him and for ropes to tie him onto it. I also willed a piece of fabric to appear in his mouth, for the purpose of gagging him because he was screaming, "Robber! Robber! A robber is in my house!" Over and over again.
If he knew what was best for him, he shouldn't have done that. If there were regular robbers in his house, he would've got shot by now.
"Hey! What happened…?" Alec asked, looking form the dark-haired guy to the shards on the floor, then to me. "Ahhhhh…"
In reply I said, "Just go look for the purse!"
I made the shards on the floor disappear and looked at the guy. He looked like he was no more than 20. "Okay. I know you think I'm a robber, which I am so not. So now you know I'm not, will you shut up? I can remove your gag, as long as you promise that you won't try and yell for help. Oh! And by the way, I won't hurt you, unless you're a monster," I flashed him a smile. "So are you going to shut up?"
I took his silence and nodding as a yes. I snapped my fingers and removed his gag. He spat on the floor, there were now red lines on his face, the gag was on too tight.
"Will you explain to me why you're here?"
"Oh, yeah. About that. I'm here with my friend," I gestured to where Alec was. "We're looking for Calithea's purse. Do you know where it is?"
"It's in my bedroom," he replied roughly.
"Oh, well, thank you! Alec! It's in the bedroom. Go search for it in there," I ordered him.
Alec mumbled something about me not helping him, but didn't argue. He went into the bedroom and searched for the purse.
I waited for Alec, not daring to leave the guy. There was a silence filling the space between us, so I asked, "What's your name?" Even though I already knew what it was, Jacob.
"Jacob," the guy replied. I nodded.
A few moments later, Alec came back. He had his hands on the bag. It was a gold pouch the size of a regular bag. His eyes were glazed over and he was holding the bag up to his nose. "Alec," I groaned. I walked up to him and slapped him, stirring him out of his hypnotization.
He let out a grunt and said, "You enjoy slapping me don't you?"
"Only at some times," I replied honestly. I smiled at him, enjoying his glare. I took the bag from him, keeping it away from his nose. Only the men were hypnotized by Calithea.
I checked for the items Calithea mentioned that was in her bag. All of her magic beauty supplies were in it. The magic mirror was at the very bottom of the bag. I took it out, and held it gingerly in my hands.
I heard of the power of this mirror. This mirror had the power to grant you anything. It could also take you anywhere in time.
It was beautiful. It was gold. It was carved with intricate details and images. The mirror had a handle that had Calithea's face carved onto it. It also had words printed in the gods' language, Ion.
I had the gift of reading the language. With Coach's help, I got better. On the mirror it said…
For the goddess of beauty, love, charm, and luck.
The mirror was crafted by the Cephs, beautiful skilled creatures that live in the Spirit World. Calithea's Cephs got taken away by Valdus—because she was using them too much—eons ago. Cephs are another form of Magi, but Cephs only work for the gods. Sometimes delivering messages, making weapons, or any jobs the gods are not able—or too lazy—to do.
"I got it," I said to Alec. I showed the mirror to Alec.
"Wow," was all he said.
I grinned and put the mirror back in the bag. "Thank you Jacob!" I walked back to the sliding door and turned around to wave to him.
"Aren't you going to untie him?" Asked Alec.
"Oh. Yeah," I snapped my fingers and made the stuff I used on Jacob to disappear. Once all of that was done, Jacob was sitting on the floor. "Sorry. You didn't say anything, Jacob. I forgot about that," I said.
Jacob asked, "Why did you need her purse?"
"She told us to retrieve it for her," I explained.
"And how do you make stuff disappear?"
I told him, "Were encha—"
Alec's hand clamped over my mouth, "You can't just tell anyone about us," he hissed.
I sent him a message telepathically. I'll bite your hand if you don't let go, I threatened.
"Yeah, well, I bet I taste pretty good," he grinned.
I bit his skin and spat outside, on Jacob's balcony. "You taste like the ocean," I complained.
"What did you think I would taste like? Something sweet? Cupcakes? Chocolate?" He grinned his lopsided grin.
I rolled my eyes. "No, I thought you would taste like sour gummy worms."
"Hello? I'm still here," said Jacob. "Stop flirting, you haven't answered my question."
I flushed; Alec kept a cool even face. "Right sorry. We're magicians." I told Jacob, rolling my eyes at Alec's warning expression and his hovering hand. "Good enough reason? Yeah? Okay, bye Jacob! Thanks for helping!" I went out to the balcony after a small wave at Jacob.
"No, tell me—" Jacob's protests we blocked out when Alec closed the sliding door between us and Jacob.
"You know he could've told everyone about our kind?" Asked Alec a moment later.
"Yeah, but I'm about so cast a spell on him so he won't remember a thing," I told him.
"Let me," he said while I was muttering halfway of the spell. He opened the sliding door, waved his wand, and fired gold light at Jacob, who was pacing his kitchen. "There," he grinned. "Ready to go?" He asked moving to the edge of the balcony, getting ready to climb down.
I checked the contents of the bag, and said, "Yup. But I'm not climbing down with you." I said, startling Alec who was about to swing his legs over the railings.
"What are you going to jump off?" He asked playfully.
"Nope! I'm taking a vortex!"
"Only Magi can do that," Alec said.
"Noo," I said. I didn't close my eyes. I just I imagined the portal in front of me. Forming, taking shape. Then, in the next second, we were standing in front of a vortex. I grinned at Alec's stunned expression.
"Come on!" I said, taking his hand and jumping in…
…
Chapter 9 is done!
Chapter 10 is coming! Give me a week?
~Kat
…