She was warm. If she kept her eyes closed, she could maybe just stay here, undisturbed. And warm. She smiled. ‘Splendid, she’s ‘wake. ‘Ere, Alex, our little witch ‘as woken up.’
She groaned and opened her eyes, seeing little except the pasty face peering down at her. He looked how he sounded, small and bitter and not unlike a rat. She was lying on a table, like, a dining table, with her feet hanging off the end, and she rolled onto her side.
She’d misjudged the size of the table and rolled right off, landing hard on the floor, and shouting in alarm. As the pain sank into her left arm, she held it with her right hand, and despite her best efforts, a few tears ran down her cheeks. She scrubbed them away, looking up at her captor.
She was kidnapped, properly-held-against-her-will-by-mysterious-men-kidnapped. She almost laughed, it was so ludicrous. Then Alex leant over her, and the humour died in her throat, crawling down into her stomach to curl up into a hot little ball and hide.
Where the other man was skinny, Alex was wide and his face looked like someone had smacked him with a saucepan, many times. His nose was flattened across his face, and his smile was leery and contained more than a hint of menace. She shuffled back, her head bumping against the top of the table.
She thought about scrambling under it, when he grabbed her, his hand tight around her arm.
‘Ow, let go, that hurts.’
He sneered. ‘Please believe me, little girl, that doesn’t hurt. You’ll know when it hurts.’
She was sweating now, and glanced around. They were in a kitchen, though she wasn’t convinced it had been used for doing any cooking in. Dirty plates were piled high in the sink, plastic cartons spilling out of the bin and onto the floor. It smelled in here, of old food and rot and she wrinkled up her nose.
Alex pulled her forward, and she stumbled, losing her footing. She wasn’t light, god knows, she wasn’t light, but the American barely seemed to notice, dragging her across the floor and throwing her into a chair. She rubbed her arm where he’d grabbed her and bit her lip. She tried to picture Martin, but could only see him in his tramp outfit, grubby and a bit creepy. I’ve been through hell, I’ve actually been through hell, this shouldn’t be scary.
It was, though. Was mum panicking yet? She probably wouldn’t call the police, they might come round and discover the dodgy lead from next-door’s satellite dish. But she’d be worried, calling everyone they knew and asking about her. She might never see her again, never get the chance to cuss her latest horrible hair cut, or take the piss when she tried to use some ‘cool’ expression.
The thought was far worse than she’d expected. Alex bent down, his face stopping inches from hers. ‘Where is he?’
‘Huh?’
‘Where is he? You know him, you know where he is, so where is he?’
‘I don’t know, I don’t know who you mean, who do you me—’
He hit her, his hand catching her cheek bone and slamming her head around. Her neck cracked and she swore as lights flashed before her eyes and she swooned. She’d imagined swooning, but it had always been following a meeting with some gorgeous person. This wasn’t like that.
He was back in close. ‘I have neither the time, nor the patience, I really don’t. My friend here, he’d be happy to play with you. Maybe I’ll let him, just for a while. Or you can answer my questions.’
‘Why do you want him?’
‘He stole something. My employers want what he stole.’
‘Do your employers own them?’
Alex raised an eyebrow. She went on, wincing at the pain opening her mouth caused her. ‘So, your employers are paying you to steal something from someone who already stole it?’
Alex raised his hand and she cringed. ‘I don’t know where he is, really, I don’t. How did you find me?’
She’d try anything now, anything to make him put his hand back down. He sat back on his heels, both hands folding in front of him. ‘You left some pretty serious residue back at Martin’s place, when you jumped out. Clever hiding spell you used though, didn’t see you at all. But we came back, had another look round, and saw what you’d left behind. You might like to work on your subtlety.’
She sniffed, affronted and embarrassed at the same time. It hadn’t even occurred to her she might be leaving a trail. Probably looked like she saw people, green tracks to say where she’d been. ‘So who are your employers?’
Alex snarled, and put his foot between her legs on the chair, shoving it until she tipped over backward. She held her head up, but the impact still drove it into the kitchen floor and she howled as her teeth slammed together. Rat man bent over her this time, broad smile showing dark, dirty teeth.
‘We’re gonna play for a bit, ‘ee says we can play. Would you like to play with me?’
She bit her lip, feeling the blood well up and into her mouth. She wouldn’t cry, she wouldn’t. He grabbed her hand, and yanked her to her feet.
