Page 59 of The Cursed Chalice

She tilts her head and throws her hair over her shoulder. “Doing important shit with Nyx, unlike you three.”

“The girls are gone. They were kidnapped,” Phobos states, and Hecate stops and looks at me.

“I can find them. Remember the little bracelet I gave them? It’s like a homing device,” Hecate says.

I nod. “I need their exact locations.”

Hecate walks to my coffee table and pushes some coffee books to the floor. I watch as she says her incantation. My heart stops as a miniature part of Bakersfield appears on the table.

She hovers her hand at the edge of the map, and black sand seeps from her fingertips, forming one straight line, moving between buildings, until it reaches one.

“There. They are being kept there.” Hecate enlarges the image. Thorne Enterprises.

I clench my fist. “Can you tell me exactly where in the building?”

Hecate closes her eyes, and the sand turns into one singular grain, moving through the building until it falls to the last floor.

“Is that a parking lot?”

“Yes, it seems—” Hecate cuts off as the map shifts and flares. Cold air seeps into the room. I don’t wait for her to finish. I am gone before she can say another word.

SORAYA

“Wake up, Raya.” I can hear someone calling me. The light burns my eyes as I begin to open them.

“Hey, girl. It’s Mich.”

I feel relief spreading through my body. Michelle was here.

“Mich.” My throat burns a little as I talk.

“There she is. There is my…fiancée.”

My eyes instantly open when he says the word ‘fiancée.’ The first thing I see is Elias, with his gleaming white smile that never reaches his eyes.

He presses a kiss to my forehead. “I missed you.”

I try to get up, but my body feels like a ton of bricks is sitting on it. “What did you do to me?” A tear seeps from the corner of my eye.

Elias takes his thumb and rubs it away. “I gave you a muscle relaxant. You need to relax, Ray.”

“Let me go.”

Elias looks at me like he is in love. “Never. I am never letting you go.”

I try to scream, but I can only move my neck. “Fuck you, Elias.”

“Eventually, but my men are going to get her first.” He points to Nisa lying asleep on another bed.

“Elias, she is a child; she’s 12.”

Elias shrugs. “After twelve is lunch, Ray.”

“You sick fuck. No, don’t touch her.” I scream louder as a tall man in camo wear approaches Nisa’s bed.

I can’t fucking move. “Ares!”

Elias chuckles, stands, and shouts, “Ares! Ares! Ares is not fucking here. I paid a high price for this child and her friend. Now, you and Ares almost took her away from me.”