The Return: Midnight Chapter 16

Once upon a time,began decent, in that pickle were a adept-year-old misfire and boyShe was immediately interrupted. What were their names?Were they slaves?Where did they cognise?Were they vampires? honest close forgot her misery and laughed. Their names were squatting andJil . They were kitsune, and they lived way up north in the kitsune empyrean around the Great CrossingsAnd she proceeded, albeit with many excited interruptions, to tel the falsehood she had gotten from the asterisk bal .So, honest concluded nervously, as she subject her eye and substantiveized that shed attracted quite a bunch with her story,thats the tale of the S level Trea sealeds, and and I suppose the moral is dont be too greedy, or you wont end up with anything. in that respect was a lot of laughter, the nervous giggling of the girls and the hawthorn Haw haw gracious of laughter from the campaign cig bet them. Which seemly straightway noticed was only when male.One part of her mind geni usted unconsciously to go into flirt mode. An otherwise part immediately squeeze it. These werent boys look for a dance these were daemons and vampires and kitsune and redden hands with mustaches and they treasured to buy her in her shortsighted non- innocence bubble enclothe, and as nice as the dress might be for well-nigh things, it wasnt similar the grand, spangled gowns that Lady Ulma had made for them. because they had been princesses, wearing a fortunes worth of jewels at their throats and wrists and hair and besides, they had had fierce tri preciselye with them at al times.But flat, she was wearing something that matte up a lot standardized a baby-dol gown and polished little shoes with silvery bows. And she wasnt protected because this society state you had to founder men to be protected, and, worst of al she was a slave.I wonder, verbalize a golden-haired man, moving through with(predicate) the girls around her, al of whom hurried step up of his wa y except nobble and Eren, I wonder if you would go upstairs with me and maybe tel me a story in private. fair(a) assay to swal ow her gasp. Now she was the one hanging on to s lip and Eren.Al much(prenominal)(prenominal) requests must go through me. No one is to take a girl out of the room unless I approve,announced a fair sex in a ful -length dress, with a sympathetic, almost Madonna-like face. That wil be treated as theft of my mistresss property.And Im sure we dont al indispensableness to be arrested as if wed been caught carrying mop up the silverware,she said and laughed weaklyly. there was equal y blank laughter among the guests as Well, and movement toward the woman at a sort of mannerly run.You tel real y good stories,Mouse said in her aristocratic voice.Its more than fun than using a champ bal .Mouse, here, is decently,Eren said, grinning. You do tel good stories. I wonder if that agency real y exists.Well, I got it out of a star bal , average said. One th at the girl um, Jil , say her memories in, I think further therefore how did it present out of that tower? How did she know what happened to Jack? And I read a story most a giant dragon and that felt real too. How do they do it?Oh, they trick you,Eren said, waving a dismissive hand.They convey somebody go someplace stone-cold for the scenery an ogre plausibly, because of the weather. clean nodded. Shed met mauve-skinned ogres forrader.They only differed from demons in their level of stupidity. At this level, they tended to be stupid in society, and shed heard Damon say with a curled lip that the ones that were out of society were hired muscle. Thugs.And the rest they unless fake somehow I dont know. Never real y thought some it.Eren looked up at decent. Youre an odd one, arent you, Bonny?Am I?Bonnie asked. She and the two other girls had revolved, without letting go of hands. This meant that there was some space behind Bonnie. She didnt like that. But, then, she didn t like anything virtually being a slave. She was starting to hyperventilate. She wanted Meredith. She wanted Elena. She wanted out of here.Um, you poke funs probably dont want to associate with me anymore,she said uncomfortably.Huh?said Eren.why?asked Mouse.Because Im rails through that door. I have to subscribe to out. I have to.Kid, calm mound,Eren said. Just go on breathing.No, you dont infrastand.Bonnie put her head down, to shade out some of the world. I cant belong to somebody.Im going crazy.Sh, Bonny, theyre I cant hindrance here,Bonnie burst out.Well, thats probably al to the good,a terrible voice, right in present of her, said.No Oh, God. No, no, no, no, noWhen were in a new crinkle we work hard,the Madonna-like womans voice said. We look up at prospective customers. We dont misbehave or we are punished.And eventide though her voice was sweet as pecan tree pie, Bonnie somehow knew that the harsh voice in the night shouting at them to note a pal et and stay on i t, had been this same woman.And now there was a strong hand under her chin and Bonnie couldnt keep it from forcing her head up, or from covering her mouth when she screamed.In front of her, with the delicate pointed ears of a fox, and the long sweeping black arse of a fox entirely otherwise looking human, looking like a regular guy wearing jeans and a sweater, was Shinichi. And in his golden eyes she could see, twisting and turning, a little scarlet firing that full matched the red on the tip of his do-nothing and the hair that fel across his forehead.Shinichi. He was here. Of course he could travel through the dimensions he Stillhad a ful star bal that none of Elenas group had ever found as well as those magical divulges Elena had told Bonnie active. Bonnie remembered the horrible night when trees, actual trees, had turned into something that could discover and obey him. About how four of them each grabbed one of her arms and legs and pul ed, as if they were planning to pul her apart. She could feel separate leaking out behind her shut eyelids.And the Old Wood. Hed underwrite ed every aspect of it, every nightcrawler to trip you, every tree to fal in front of your car. Until Elena had blasted al but that one clash of the Old Wood, it had been ful of terrifying insect-like creatures Stefan cal ed malach.But now Bonnies hands were behind her blanket and she heard something insure with a very last-sounding click.Nooh, please noBut her hands were definitely fixed in place. And then soulfulness an ogre or a vampire picked her up as the attractive woman gave Shinichi a smal key eat up a key ring ful of identical keys. Shinichi handed this to a voluminous ogre whose fingers were so large that they eclipsed it. And then Bonnie, who was screaming, was quickly whisked up four flights of stairs and a straining door thunked shut behind her. The ogre carrying her fol owed Shinichi, whose shine scarlet-tipped tail swung jauntily from a hole in his j eans, back and forth, back and forth. Bonnie thought Thats satisfaction. He thinks hes won this already.But unless Damon real y had bury her completely, he would hurt Shinichi for this. Maybe he would kil him. It was an fishily comforting thought. It was even ro No, its not romantic, you nitwit You have to find a way to get out of this mess Death is not romantic, its horrible They had reached the final doors at the end of the hal .Shinichi turned right and walked al the way down a long corridor. on that point the ogre used the key to open a door.The room had an adjustable overhead gaslight. It was dim but Shinichi said, Can we have a little il umination, please?in a false courteous voice, and the other ogre hurried and turned the light up to interrogation-lamp-in-your-face level.The room was a sort of bedroom-den combination, the kind youd get at a decent hotel. It had a couch and some chairs on the upper level. in that location was a window, closed, on the left(a) side of t he room. There was also a window on the right side of the room, where al the other rooms should be in a account.This window had no curtains or blinds that could be drawn and it reflected Bonnies pale face back at her. She knew at once what it was, a nonpartisan mirror, so that people in the room behind it could see into this room but not be seen. The couch and chairs were positioned to face it.Beyond the sitting room, off to her left, was the bed. It wasnt a very fancy bed, just white covers that looked pink, because there was a real window on that side that was almost in a line with the sun, sitting as it always was, on the horizon. ripe(p) now, Bonnie hated it more than ever before because it turned every light-colored object in the room pink, rose, or outright red. The bow at her own bodice was deep pink now.She was going to go against saturated with the color of blood.Something on some deeper level told her that her mind was thinking of such things as distractions, that even thinking about hating to die in such a juvenile color was running apart from the bit in the core, the dying bit. But the ogre holding her moved her around as if she weighed nothing, and Bonnie kept having little thoughts were they premonitions? Oh, God, let them not be premonitions about going out of that red window in a sitting position, the glass no impediment to her body being thrown at a tremendous force. And how many stories up were they? luxuriously enough, anyway, that there was no hope of landing withoutWell, dying.Shinichi smiled, lounging by the red window, playing with the cord to the blinds.I dont even know what you want from meBonnie found herself formulation to Shinichi. Ive neer been able to hurt you. It was you hurting other people like me al the time.Well, there were your friends,murmured Shinichi. Although I seldom wreak my dread revenge against lovely young women with red-gold hair.He lounged beside the window and examined her, murmuring, Hair of red-gold subject matter true and bold. Perhaps a scoldBonnie felt like screaming. Didnt he remember her? He certainly seemed to have remembered their group, since hed mentioned revenge. What do you want?she gasped.You are a hindrance, Im mysophobic. And I find you very comic and delicious. Young women with red-gold hair are always so elusive.Bonnie couldnt find anything to say. From everything shed seen, Shinichi was a nutcase. But a very dangerous psychopathic nutcase. And al he enjoyed was destroying things.In just one moment there could be a crash through the window and then shed be sitting on air. And then the fal would begin. What would that feel like? Or would she already be fal ing? She only hoped that at the bottom it was quick.You seem to have learned a lot about my people,Shinichi said. more than than most.Please,Bonnie said desperately. If its about the story al I know about kitsune is that youre destroying my town. And She stopped short, realizing that she could never le t him know what had happened in her out-of-body experience. So she could never mention the jars or hed know that they knew how to catch him. And you wont stop,she done for(p) lamely.And yet you found an ancient star bal with stories about our legendary treasures.About what? You mean from that kiddy star bal ? Look, if youl just impart me alone Il give it to you.She knew exactly where shed left it, too, right beside her sorry excuse for a pil ow.Oh, wel leave you alonein time, I assure you,Shinichi said with an unnerving smile. He had a smile like Damons, which wasnt meant to say Hel o I wont hurt you.It was more like Hul o Heres my lunchI find itcurious,Shinichi went on, Stillfiddling with the cord.Very curious that just in the middle of our little dispute, you arrive here in the colorful Dimension again, alone, apparently without fear, and manage to bargain for a star bal . An orb that just happens to detail the location of our most priceless treasures that were stolen from usa long, long time ago.You dont kick about anybody but yourself, Bonnie thought.Youre suddenly acting al patriotic and stuff, but in Fel s Church you didnt pretend to care about anything but hurting people.In your little town, as in other towns throughout history, I had orders to do what I did,Shinichi said, and Bonnies heart plunged right down to her shoes. He was telepathic. He knew what she was thinking. Hed heard her thinking about the jars.Shinichi smirked. Little towns like the one on Unmei no Shima have to be wiped off the face of the earth,he said.Did you see the number of ley lines of Power under it?another(prenominal) smirk. But of course you werent really there, so you probably didnt.If you can tel what Im thinking, you know that story about treasures was just a story,Bonnie said. It was in the star bal cal ed Five Hundred Stories for Young Ones. Its not real.How strange then that it coincides so exactly with what the Seven Kitsune supply are supposed to have behind them. It was in the middle of a bunch of stories about the the Dz-Aht-Bhiiens. I mean the story right before it was about a kid buying candy,Bonnie said. So why dont you just go get the star bal instead of trying to scare me?Her voice was rootage to tremble. Its at the inn right across the lane from the shop where I was arrested. Just go and get itOf course weve tried that,Shinichi said impatiently. The landlady was quite accommodative after we gave her somecompensation. There is no such story in that star bal .Thats not affirmableBonnie said. Where did I get it, then?Thats what Im ask you.Stomach fluttering, Bonnie said, How many star bal s did you look at in that brown room?Shinichis eyes went blurry briefly. Bonnie tried to listen, but he was obviously speaking telepathical y to someone close, on a tight frequency.Final y he said, Twenty-eight star bal s, exactly.Bonnie felt as if shed been clubbed. She wasnt going crazy she wasnt. Shed experienced that story. She knew every fi ssure in every rock, every tail assembly in the snow. The only answers were that the real star bal had been stolen, or or maybe that they hadnt looked hard enough at the ones they had.The story is there,she insisted. Right before it is the story about little Marit going to a We probed the table of contents. There is the story about a child and he looked scornful a sweetshop. But not the other.Bonnie just shook her head. I swear Im tel ing the truth.Why should I believe you?Why does it matter? How could I make something like that up? And why would I tel a story I knew would get me in trouble? It doesnt make any sense.Shinichi stared at her hard. Then he shrugged, his ears flat against his head. What a pity you keep saying that.Suddenly Bonnies heart was pounding in her chest, in her tight throat. Why?Because,Shinichi said placid y, pul ing the blinds completely open so that Bonnie was all of a sudden drenched in the color of fresh blood, Im afraid that now we have to kil you.T he ogre holding her strode toward the window. Bonnie screamed. In places like this, she knew screams went unheard.She didnt know what else to do.