"So today we're watching Kai," Sean said and frowned at Eva. "Thank you so much for that. I could have slept in. And I can't believe that even though we were promised that we would only have to watch Kai for one day, it has to be two now."
"Oh, it won't be so bad," Eva told him. "Stop whining. You need excitement in your day. And it was always two days. They only told you it was one before cause they knew it was the only way you'd agree to all this. I repeat: don't you think you need excitement in your day?"
"Sure I do, but does Kai have to be part of it?" Sean zapped on his clothes and after urging Eva to dress quickly, grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the car, taking his place behind the driver's seat.
"Maybe I should drive," Eva said. "You might be too riled up."
"No, I'm fine," Sean snapped. But he wasn't. His anger made him put his foot on the gas pedal and he ended up causing a several car pile-up and had to be driven to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. As Eva went with him in the ambulance, she called James and told him about what had happened.
"He's hurt, but I can come watch Kai myself," she said. "Just have someone watch him for a few minutes while I get there. Can you do that?"
"Of course," James replied. "But you're sure you won't be gone for long? Not to sound selfish or like I don't care about Sean's health, but it's really not good to leave Kai without appropriate supervision for long."
"I know," Eva replied. "And I'll be there as soon as I can. I swear."
With Victoria being gone, Kai was bored. He knew his cousin Sean was coming to watch him in her stead, but that would be boring too. When he heard a knock on the door and allowed entrance to a skinny, balding man with thick glasses and a bit of a gut who was so scared of him that he puked in the doorway, Kai burst out laughing.
"Why'd they send you to watch me?" He asked.
"I don't know," the man whimpered. "I really don't want to be here."
"Well, let me help you then," Kai replied after cleaning up his mess. "I think I can grant your wish." He punched the man in a way that made him be unconscious, then placed him on a cot just in time for some nervous little girls to call him up. He told them a sad story about how he was separated from his love outside and wanted to meet her, but couldn't do it unless they said a certain spell. Filled with pity for him, one of the girls said the spell, then Kai felt himself being pulled out of the mirror and into the girls' room. "Thank you ladies," he winked at them. "You have no idea what you've done for me."
It was just after Kai's escape that James and Eva reached his cell and found the unconscious man in the doorway.
"Oh, damn," James swore. "I knew that sending him was a bad idea. But I figured since you said you weren't gonna be gone long…" he sighed. "Put this down as one of the worst decisions I've ever made. Now Kai's gone and what am I gonna tell Astrid? Luckily she's getting married soon, and they're preparing everything today, so we have some time to figure this all out before she comes back and kills me for letting a dangerous criminal escape under my watch."
"Don't beat yourself up," Eva told him. "It's as much my fault as it is yours."
"How?" James asked. "Did you force Sean to get into the car accident that made you come late?"
"Well, no," Eva shook her head. "But I did come late, which led to that poor man having to look after Kai."
James sighed and pushed his dark hair out of his blue eyes. "It's no use arguing about whose fault it is. We have to find Kai now. That's the most important thing. Do you agree?"
"Yes," Eva nodded. "I do. How do you want to handle this? What should we do first?"
"Well, I think we should get my wife to help us," James replied. "She's spent about as much time dealing with this stuff as I have and who knows…Kai might be more likely to come with us if we send her out."
"I could be the bait," Eva offered. "That way, we won't have to get your wife involved."
"I think we should," James replied. "I've been waiting for an activity that Lenora and I can do together."
"Will I be in the way if you're looking at it like that?" Eva wanted to know.
"No, you'll be fine," James replied. "Now, let's go to my house."
"What's going on?" Lenora asked as James and Eva strode in. "Why are you home from work so early?"
"Cause Kai has escaped," James replied. "We don't know where he went, but Eva and I are looking around for him. Would you like to come with us?"
"Well, of course," Lenora replied. "If you need an extra pair of eyes to help you find a dangerous criminal, I'd be glad to come with you. Now, do you have any idea where he might have gone?"
"I don't believe we have to think that hard," Eva said. "I think he went looking for Victoria. Or at least he's preparing to go see her."
"Of course he is!" James cried. "Boy do I feel like an idiot."
"Oh, don't beat yourself up," Lenora replied. They were just about to leave when Eva got a call on her phone.
"Sean," she scolded her boyfriend. "You were just in a car accident. I know you're upset about Kai and would love a chance to kill him, but you have to rest."
"I can't do that," Sean told her. "Every time I try, I think of you and him alone in that cell and him putting his paws all over you."
"That wouldn't happen," Eva assured him. "He doesn't like me, at least not romantically. He likes Victoria. Which is why, now that he's escaped, James, Lenora, and I are at their house trying to figure out where to go to find him."
"He escaped?!" Sean cried, zapping in so suddenly that a surprised Eva dropped her phone. "What are we all standing here for? We have to go get him!"
"That's what we're trying to do!" James yelled back. "Calm down."
"Everyone just calm down," Eva said. "I'll call Victoria and have her be on the lookout too in case he tries to contact her, and then she can let us know if he does."
"Okay," James nodded. "You do that. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Eva replied and dialed Victoria's number.
Her call to Victoria came in just as they were about to start the wedding rehearsal.
"What is it, Eva?" Victoria asked. "Is it important? They're just starting the wedding rehearsal now, and soon Alistair and Astrid are gonna be remarried! I can't miss that!"
"Well, I just wanted to let you know that Kai escaped from his cell, and now he's probably out looking for you," Eva told her. "That's it. You can go to your wedding rehearsal now."
"Wait just a damn fucking minute!" Victoria cried. "You can't just tell me that Kai escaped from prison and then hang up! How the hell did that happen?"
"Sean and I were supposed to watch him while you were gone, but Sean was so pissed off about having to spend time with his cousin that he-he got us into a car accident, and had to be taken to the hospital and that made us late. James had someone else watch Kai in the meantime and apparently…apparently, they were no match for him."
"Okay," Victoria said after a long sigh. I bet he will come looking for me. I'll be on my guard."
"Good," Eva replied. "Enjoy the wedding rehearsal!"
"Yeah, I'll try," Victoria scoffed, hanging up just as her mother came looking for her.
"What's the matter?" Regina asked, seeing the look on her face. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing that I can deal with now," Victoria replied. "Let's just go do the rehearsal, okay?"
"All right," Regina agreed. "But if you need to talk to me…you know you can, right?"
"Yeah," Victoria nodded. "I know I can. Thanks."
The rehearsal went off without a hitch and then, just before they were all about to sit down for some food, Amanda said, "I know you're all anxious to eat, but there's one thing Viktor and I would like to do before that: Alistair and Astrid have put in so much work to make sure we have a special day that we'd like to take this opportunity to thank them. And give them a chance to renew their vows that they first made so many years ago in a union of two people who've survived war, separation, my crazy uncle, and all sorts of other things and yet still remained as strong as ever. Alistair, would you come up here, please?"
"What?" Alistair asked, shock naked on his face as his daughter came and led him up to the front and then she and Adrian stood on either side of him as Vivaldi's Spring began playing and Astrid traversed down the aisle in a short white dress with a skirt made out of feathers, short sleeves made out of gauzy fabric, and a bodice covered in design made up of several interlocking sparkly circles. Her hair was pinned up under a hat with a small veil attached to it.
"You look beautiful," Alistair whispered to him as she approached and wiped the tears out of his eyes. "Did you know about this?"
"Yeah," Astrid nodded. "But I wanted you to be surprised. Are you mad at me about that?"
"No," Alistair shook his head as he took her in his arms and leaned forward to kiss her again. "I just…I'm very touched. Thank you." They did their vows and when they kissed again, everyone applauded before they all sat down to eat.
Victoria didn't eat a thing, however, cause she was too busy thinking about Kai and what sort of mischief he could be up to, while feeling very relieved that she'd chosen not to invite him to the wedding the next day even though he'd expressed interest in being her date.
Meanwhile, Kai, feeling very relieved to finally be out and about, was enjoying the sunshine and eating a hot dog while thinking about the wedding Victoria was attending the next day. He'd be going, of course, even though she hadn't invited him. She'd be glad to see him once he was there.
After he finished his hot dog and made sure no one was looking, he zapped up a portal to lead him to his home away from home, a self-made dimension set in the year 1994 that he used whenever he needed to be alone. He usually didn't like company with the exception of the figure of his mother that he'd created to come in and yell at him every so often just so he could punch her in the face and tell her to fuck off, which was immensely satisfying for him.
But now, he would bring Victoria here with him. It was the only way to keep her in his life now that he was out of prison and had no intention of going back. He zapped in groceries and made up the guest bedroom and examined himself in the mirror to see how he looked in that all black tux Victoria had zapped him into (along with a black mask cause he remembered it was a masquerade themed wedding) before calling James (who, he knew, had probably heard of his escape by now and was out looking for him.) "I know you're out looking for me," he said. "But you'll never find me. So you can use the search time to make up a speech for when I take Victoria with me tomorrow after the wedding and you have to explain where she went. Goodbye, Captain." He then ended the call on James' sputtering, sat down at the kitchen table, smiled to himself, and opened up a new bag of chips as he thought of the look on Victoria's face when he showed up at the wedding the next day.
The End (the wedding is in the last chapter of Lessons On Love)
Next up: Victoria deals the best she can with Kai while being stuck on his home turf in "In The Devil's Lair"