A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps

The door to the office I'm hiding in swing open with a loud slam that makes me jump. I hold my breath and do my best to stay as still as possible. There is a tiny hole in the back of the desk that I can peek through. Probably designed to thread computer cords through or something. I look through it just in time to see the imp shove my dad through the doorway. Dad stumbles. He looks worried, but otherwise okay. I can't see any visible injuries. Although if he has been given a couple doses of poison I might not be able to tell easily. I don't think he's being controlled by the fae woman. He doesn't seem calm enough for that. The imp shoves him again and dad trips, landing on his hands and knees. From this position he's at eye level with me. I don't know how he does it, but his eyes go straight to the hole in the desk and he makes eye contact with me. Probably some super dad sense or something. His eyes go wide but he quickly schools his expression and looks away, not wanting anyone to notice his reaction. The fae start searching the room, kicking at the boxes and opening the larger ones. Shit. Any second they're going to check under the desk. The woman isn't here. She's probably keeping an eye on the exit. But that still leaves three deadly fae assassins. If they find me there is no way I'm getting out of here safely. Not to mention if I die, Ashton is as good as dead too. I doubt that they know about our connection. But it doesn't matter. They know enough to know that he would come for me. They know enough to use me against him. The imp approaches my hiding place. I don't know what to do. Should I jump out and try to fight? Bast might be able to help knock one out for me, but even then I'm screwed. Also I'm fairly sure I'll have to scramble to get out from under the desk, and that's if I can even move with my legs half asleep like this. Hiding here was a mistake. But what else was I supposed to do? This is an impossible situation. I have seconds until I'm spotted. I feel light headed from holding my breath too long. The imp is so close when there's a sudden crashing noise and the imp yells.novelbin

"Damn human. What are you doing?" The imp demands. There's a thumping sound and I hear my dad grunt in pain. The imp has stopped approaching the desk.

"Wait, what are you-" The fae is cut off by the sound of a gunshot. The older fae yelps in pain and breaks off into a series of swears in fae. There's a burst of movement and a flash of bright light.

The sound of my dad screaming is hell. It's ringing in my ears. I can't bring myself to look through the gap in the desk anymore. I can smell smoke and burning meat and I want to throw up. Tears are running down my cheeks. I should help him. But what can I do? It's too late. I know it's too late. Dad has already stopped screaming and he wouldn't want me to show myself. I'm pretty sure that he shot the fae to distract them so they wouldn't find my hiding spot. It takes everything in me to stay quiet. I want to gag, throw up, cry, scream... Just everything. I also want to pass out. It's an effort to keep my eyes open so I close them. Either the fae will find me or they won't at this point. There's nothing left for me to do.

"Put that out you idiot before you burn the building down!" Erren hisses at the imp. "Fine." The imp sounds put out.

"She is not here. Let us keep looking. She has to be around here somewhere, even if we no longer have her father as bait, she cannot avoid us forever." The older fae sounds pissed off and he sounds like he's in pain. Good. I hope he's hurting. "The prince will likely turn up soon. If we do not find the girl, are we going to wait for him?" The imp asks.

"No. We do not know if he will be alone, and this damn bullet hurts. These humans have some painful weapons. We frightened them with a show of power when we arrived, but I am sure there are still some around somewhere. We will do one last check then leave. It is possible that the girl escaped through an entrance we do not know." The older fae concludes. I listen as their footsteps trail away. Eventually I can't hear anything.

It's been quiet for a long time when I decide to try to leave my hiding spot. I push the boxes aside and crawl out on my hands and knees. I round the corner and come face to face with my dad. He is... Unrecognisable. A burned up mess. Nausea takes over and I vomit up everything in my stomach. The sight of his body makes me lightheaded and the smell... I'm frozen in place. I should leave. Get away, hide somewhere else. But I can't move any further. I'm stuck on my hands and knees. I can smell burnt flesh, smoke and vomit. My eyes are watering and my throat is burning. My hair is sticky with vomit. Bast nudges me with his head a few times. I don't respond. He keeps trying and after a few minutes he bites me. The pain makes me jolt. I can't bring myself to climb over my dad's dead body to leave the room. I don't know where to go anyway. Nowhere is safe and nothing will ever be right again. Mindlessly, I crawl back under the desk. I clutch Bast to my chest and curl up in a little ball on the floor.

I don't know how long I lie on the floor under that desk. I hear familiar voices calling out my name, calling my dad's name. But I don't move. I'm not even sure if I can. The door to the office opens and one of the familiar voices swears. More people come in. Everyone is talking and swearing. I'm pretty sure someone else vomits. But none of the words process in my brain. It's all background noise. Everyone is so focused on my dad's body that they don't think to look under the desk for me. I don't know if I'm waiting to be found or just waiting to wake up from this nightmare. Two of the familiar voices stand out from all the rest. They're speaking fae. Ashton and Fin are here, but it doesn't matter anymore it's too late for them to do anything. Fin's magic can't fix this. The boxes around me are tossed to the side and someone kneels beside me.

"She is here. She is alive." Ashton sounds relieved and terrified all at once. He reaches out to touch me and I flinch away. He stops and moves his hand back.

"Kat? Kat, I am here." Ashton lowers his voice to a soothing, soft tone. He switches to fae.

"Kat, I'm so sorry. I should never have left you behind. I should have known something like this would happen. Kat, can you speak? Can you sit up? Please Kat." He pleads with me. I don't answer.