Page 1 of Lost in the Fog

P andora choked as she was held by her neck over the chasm. Don t. Please. She tried to say it, but her voice came out in frantic whines and hoarse croaks.

The Elite holding her grinned. He s going out of his mind on the other side of that barrier. Can you hear him?

She clawed at the arm holding her and kicked at the man who was going to kill her. She didn t doubt that for an instant. She could hear roaring and shouting but was preoccupied with the distance below her.

She finally made it through the leather on his wrists and clawed at his skin. She stopped trying to talk and kept her breath for fighting. Grey and red filled her vision while he taunted her, and she kept fighting.

He frowned and started to shake her. She heard him yelling, but blood was flying, and he had let her go, and her own nails and fingers were now inside his skin and still clawing. He cursed, and she dropped but kept hold of him. Her kicking feet caught the edge of the cliff as he knelt to use his other hand to pry her away. She pushed hard at the edge, and he came with her. He screamed, and she breathed as they fell end over end into the darkness.

The howl of despair came from above, but it faded as she fell.

The world was different. She was different. She looked around, and it wasn t seeing with eyes, it was sensing. The dead Stronghold Elite was nearby. He had shattered on impact. She was in one piece, but it was odd. She was everywhere in a cool layer of mist and fog.

She had survived the fall, but she was flatter, and while she covered the entire floor of the cave, she couldn t climb higher. The air wasn t moving.

She searched the cave for an undetermined amount of time. Time didn t mean anything. She needed a way out. She was stuck. One day, the wall of the cave cracked, and she didn t hesitate. She flowed out through the opening and into the night. The wind caught her, and she tumbled away, pushed from place to place as it dictated.

She didn t care. She wasn t in the cave, she wasn t pulling sustenance from the Elite s corpse, and the wind took her from one city to the next. The world was open to her... she just wished she could remember who she was.

She moved around the world, skimmed across one ocean and then another. Eventually, the lure of energy pulled her back to a city that felt familiar. She stayed in the city, strong enough to resist the wind now.

She had a routine. She hid in some of the local ponds and fountains during the day, came out at night, and moved until dawn. Seeing people and places that few folk could go was entertaining. She did it for quite a while until one fateful night...

She was rising out of a pond near a newly built structure. Her fuzzy brain told her it was a castle, but no one was building castles nowadays. Were they?

A woman came out with a little girl and walked toward the pond. She tickled their toes as they went to swim in the pond and remained nearby, watching them. The little girl shrieked and played with what seemed to be her mother in the moonlight. The sun was still going down, so there was a reddish cast to the world around them.

When the little girl cried out, she moved deeper into the water and lifted her out. Her mother was close to them, and the woman was startled. Oh. Someone was in there.

She moved to the edge of the water and set the little girl down. The girl appeared to have a leg cramp, so she rubbed the small limb, and the crying stopped.

The mother reached out to touch her, and to her shock, she made contact. She gasped as a body formed where mist had been as far back as the cave.

The woman looked at her in surprise. Pandora? Pandora Mycroft?

She stared. That felt like her name. She pressed her fingers to her chest.

Yes. You are Pandora. I know your face. I have been looking for you. You are the missing piece. Come inside. We will get you something to wear.

The woman wrapped a towel around Pandora, and she removed it and wrapped it around the little girl. The woman smiled. My name is Regis, and I have a story to tell you.

Still not sure how to talk, Pandora walked with them, using mist to wrap her body. They headed to the castle, and it was inside that Pandora began to remember. Walls and warmth and two people, who jumped up and came around to try and touch her. Regis waved them away. It s okay. This is Pandora Mycroft. She s been missing from the Stronghold and presumed dead.

Pandora looked around at a very large kitchen with long worktables and a few stools.

Regis smiled. Can someone get her a robe to wear?

The older of the two darted away and came back with dark grey fabric. Pandora looked, slowly took it, and slid her arms into the sleeves, tying it shut. She looked at Regis, Right?

Regis smiled kindly. Right. I had no idea you were there in my back yard.

Wasn t. She swallowed. Only a week.

You remember speech. That is very good.

How long... gone?

Fifteen years. You were declared dead six months before they cracked the Stronghold for the first time.

Pandora tried to smile. Crack. Outside. Saw the world, sort of.

Welcome to the new palace. This is my daughter, Amiraith. She prefers being called Ira. Thanks for coming to her aid. She insisted on swimming, but I am guessing it was a little cold.

The older woman smiled. We have a guestroom waiting, Regis.

Good. Pandora, are you hungry?

Ira looked at her with a concerned expression. You look so sad.

Do I? She put her fingers up to her cheek. First time with face in a while.

Ira smiled. You will get back to yourself. I can tell.

Pandora looked at the bright golden gleam in the child s eye. She nodded and smiled. I think maybe.

Regis said, Off to a bath and then bed for you, Ira. Anna, can you take her and make sure she s clean before bed?

Of course. Come on, lily pad. The older woman took Ira s hand and led her off through a distant archway.

Regis and the other woman were all that was left. Pandora, this is Gia. Gia, Pandora. Gia isn t really solid yet either.

Gia smiled. Mine was because of mate rejection. I am actually in a coma in my father s home.

Pandora blinked. Mate rejection?

I was young, he didn t want to wait, or he couldn t feel me. That is a possibility. Either way, he mated with someone else, and I went into shock and collapsed. So, I sought out the queen, and she s helped me pull myself together. More or less. Gia smiled. No mate for me, but I am stable now. It took a while.

Pandora smiled and stuck out her hand. Gia did the same, and they carefully collided their limbs. There was a puff of fog, and Gia went through her a little, but they managed something close to a handshake.

Pandora looked at Regis and back at Gia. Hello. My name is Pandora.

The ladies smiled. Regis grinned a moment later. It s a start. Can you bake?

I think I used to.

Wonderful. Let s talk until you feel tired.

Then I go back to the pond?

Then you go to the guestroom. Tomorrow, we will work on finding clothing for you.

Gia stared. You look so young. How old were you when you were taken?

Twenty-one, I think.

Regis nodded. Twenty-one. You just disappeared, and your parents went nuts trying to find you.

Oh. They are okay?

Regis smiled. They are alive, but they lost you. They are the furthest thing from okay, and you didn t age, so we are going to have to arrange things if you want to see them again.

Oh.

You should be past thirty-five. That looks different from twenty-one.

Pandora frowned. I think I can make myself look older.

We will work on that when you can keep yourself solid. You need to focus.

Pandora nodded. Solid is... different.

Regis nodded. And you will have to work on it.

Gia grinned. I can help. Going from solid to spectre is something I am really familiar with. I am an expert.

Pandora looked out the window toward the pond and then back at the cheerful ladies who wanted to put her back on her feet. How do we start?

Regis grinned. I know just the thing.

Six months of practice, timing, clothing, and learning to bake pastries and decorate cakes. She went to work at Regis s bakery and got faster and more efficient with every passing shift. She learned to drive a car on the property, and Regis helped her get new identification so that she could get her license.

Pandora was legal, and Gia was moving around in her own body again. Pandora visited her home, and despite the butler s disapproval, she was allowed in. She hiked up to the second floor with a bakery box under her arm.

When Pandora got to Gia s morning room turned gym, hostility was crackling around the socialite.

Hey, Gia. What s going on?

Gia looked furious. My father married me off while I was out. I have a husband... somewhere. Apparently, he s off on business a lot.

Well, did you want to try walking again?

My therapist isn t here yet.

That wasn t the question. Pandora moved to help Gia make her way to the bars.

You were so much nicer when you weren t really talking.

Well, I have always been chatty, or that is how I remember myself. You have really fancy clothes. Makes me nervous about touching you.

Tough. Lift. Gia grunted as Pandora helped her away from the wheelchair and got her limbs arranged so she could practice walking.

As Gia walked slowly, she asked, How are deliveries going?

We can t keep up. It tripled business for corporate and business events. I spend my days from lunch until eight delivering orders.

And still waking before dawn to make the stuff?

Yeah, but someone has to get desserts to those strippers on their birthdays. Seriously, some of the clubs have parties, and regular patrons participate. It s hilarious. The look on their faces when I come in is astonishing. It s like they forget women can wear pants without side snaps.

Gia laughed. Keep talking. This is helping.

Pandora told her about one of the restaurants that she delivered to, where an apparent crime boss or something always had a different woman sitting in his lap or on his desk, and the ladies all had striking similarities.

By the time she finished her description of her client, Pandora had helped Gia on six rounds of walking, each more easy than the last.

The physiotherapist arrived and gasped. Miss Gia. What are you doing?

Walking, Melvin. The thing you have been forbidding me to do because you like pushing me around.

Pandora smiled and continued walking backward in front of her friend. Gia was walking with a straight back and her hands hovering over the supports.

Gia grinned. I will be back in my heels in no time.

Pandora smiled. Yup. And I will keep bringing reward cannoli. We had extra today.

Oh, yum.

Melvin stood there in his ridiculously well-muscled glory. I am going to tell Mr. Zotar about this.

Pandora nodded as she kept backing up. Cool. I brought a cannoli for him, too. None for you, though, Melvin.

Gia giggled and kept walking. When she got back to her chair, she moved it slowly. There. Ten rounds, back and forth. Reward, please.

Pandora went and retrieved the box with the cream-filled tubes. They sat near the window and giggled as they crunched through the exterior.

The man huffed and stomped away, heading for Gia s father s study.

Gia worked her way through her cannoli and sighed. Those are good. I wonder if he has figured out yet that my dad isn t Mr. Zotar. That is the husband s name.

Have you met him yet? Pandora handed another treat over.

Nope. We have talked on the phone but no video calls. Don t worry. He didn t hit on me when I was in a coma. The moment I woke up, my dad got an offer. Zotar needs a society wife, and my dad needs the business link to stabilize some of his wobbling financial empire. He really didn t do well while I was out. Gia sighed. Take this back, and we are going to get coffee.

Okay. Chair to the stairs?

And you help me down.

Cool. Pandora grinned. She took the box of treats and walked with Gia to the stairs, helping her out of her chair and supporting her down the steps.

Gia muttered as they went, You are good at this.

Practice, practice. Also, my third form is coming in, so I have gotten stronger.

Aw, I missed it?

Mist. Funny.

They finished their way down the stairs, and she helped Gia settle into the chair. Together, they walked to the kitchen, and Pandora smiled at Mrs. Helvig. The woman sighed with a grin and got a pot of coffee going.

Gia said, I can hardly wait until next week. If I can walk with a cane, I can get back to the office.

The housekeeper gasped. So soon?

Mrs. H, it has been four months. Apparently, I have been married for five.

The housekeeper froze. You know.

I know. I got into my dad s office yesterday, and the folder was right on top.

Pandora opened the box and offered one to Mrs. H. Here. You look like you need it.

Ooh. Thank you, miss.

They sat around the kitchen counter, Gia carefully getting herself onto a stool. They drank coffee and stuffed their faces. Eventually, Melvin came in and froze. Miss Zotar, you need to be doing your routines.

Fine, Melvin. Sue me for wanting to feel normal for an hour.

The therapist paused. Oh. You made it down the stairs?

With an assist. Pandora s pretty sturdy.

Thanks. Pandora grinned. Going from mist to sturdy had taken a lot of effort on her part.

You are welcome. Gia smiled and sipped at her coffee. How is the driving coming?

Oh, I am very fast, and cops don t see me.

Gia giggled, and Pandora grinned and sipped her coffee. It was good to see Gia in her elegant body again, but she sort of missed the wraith who would race her through the woods with neither of them touching ground.

Well, they had to grow up sometime.