Strings of Fate

189- Detention and deserving “Lady, can you tellyour name?” She asks quietly. She sounds like she doesn’t actually expectto answer.

Which is fair | guess, I'm not even exactly one hundred percent sure that | can. My head is aching. But that’s the question she asked and | am going to do my best to answer. It takesa minute to manage it and | watch as Kiara’s face falls even further with every second she doesn’t hear from me. Finally | succeed.

“Ryann.” For a second, | don’t think it worked. Kiara doesn’t react and I sigh through my aching head and prepare to try again.

“That's a nice name. Ryann... | didn’t want to believe it, | was hoping | was wrong but... I'm pretty sure that my mum and dad are dead. They weren't moving when | was taken away. | was hoping they were just asleep or under a spell but... if that were true “ould have cto getby now, Daddy would have gottenout of here and then probably lockedup in a tower like sfairytale character to make sure that no one ever gets toagain.” There are tears in her eyes and she lets out a whimpery sort of chuckle before a deep sigh.

“You don’t talk much, | don’t even know how you talk toat all. But | do know that you're nice. You're a good person. | can feel it how you want to help me. | think you might be the only person | have left that cares about me. You're my only friend now. | don’t think | really deserve a friend anymore... but you're still here and I really want you to cfindokay? Ryann... I'll be your best friend forever and ever if you can getout of here.” She promises. Oh the poor darling. How can she think that she doesn’t deserve a friend? What have they done to her? Everyt| speak to her I love this child more and more. I've never even spoken to her in person but | can’t imagine feeling closer to her than | already do. | try to send reassuring vibes towards Kiara but | have no idea if it helps. | sit with her a little longer before | return to myself. At spoint, | tipped over sideways and | am now lying on the bedroom floor. Oops. It’s probably a good thing Bellamy hasn’t cupstairs. He would not be thrilled to findlying on the ground. Still, | need to go tell him what I learned. | try to get to my feet but immediately fall back into the pillows. | crawl over to the bedside table to grab the glass of water Bellamy gaveearlier. Okay, I'll tell him in a minute when the world. stops spinning.

| stumble down the stairs and Bellamy must hearcoming because he is waiting forin the hall at the bottom of the stairs. It's probably a good thing because | trip over the third stair from the bottom and accidentally launch myself at him. He catcheseasily.

“Well hello to you too.” He greetswith a grin and | can’t help but smile back. It doesn’t last though.

“I spoke to Kiara again. Well, mostly she spoke to me. But she knew | was there.” | tell him. Bellamy gently liftsoff of my feet and carriesto the living room. I'd complain but I'm still a little dizzy and | just can’t be bothered He sits on the couch within his lap.

“What did she tell you?” He asks.

“A lot of things. Most of it sad. She said I'm the only friend she has, and she beggedto cfind her.” My voice breaks as | tell him and Bellamy hugstighter.

“I did learn suseful stuff though. Cheryl's partner is definitely a woman. Kiara kept referring to the partner as “her’ and ‘she’. Also, Kiara is spelled. I'll have to ask Cam more about it, but she said they did something to her and she can’t take more than two steps away from the spot they leave her in.” | explain. Bellamy nods and | can see he’s contemplating the implications.

“We couldn’t sneak in and just take her. We need to deal with the partner first. We might need a Witch too in order to 1/2 189- Detention and deserving break the spell.” He observes and | nod my agreement.

“Yeah, oh she also tried to describe where she’s being kept. It sounds like a basement or something. She described it as having stuff like the Witch shops do. So it has to be the Witch partner's hright?” “Probably. That's useful to know. Almost definitely a Witch, definitely female and probably keeping Kiara in her own house. I'll let Alex know. He's currently searching through Cheryl's computer looking for... Well, anything useful really.” He texts the new information to Alex. | take the tto call Cam. She doesn’t answer my call but does text back immediately.

Cam- Hey sorry, there's a huge party booking here and it’s super loud. | wouldn't be able to hear a phone call. | can text? Or | can call you back in a few hours.

Ryann- That's alright. Texting should be fine. | managed to speak with Kiara again. She toldthey spelled her or something. | was hoping you could helpidentify it, maybe tellhow it can be broken? Cam-Sure, tellwhat the spell is doing and I'll do my best to answer.

Ryann- It stops her from running away. She says she can’t take more than two steps in any direction from the place they left her. | think it kind of makes her fall over or something if she does?.

Cam- Oh that’s an easy answer. A basic detention spell. Mostly used for prisoners, but most parents learn it and it’s occasionally used to give overly rambunctious kids a tout. Not something | approve of. There's a whole debate about it. Magically enforced punishments that is.

Cam- It should be fairly harmless, and usually they only last a few hours maximum. Less if you intend it to be short lived. If it's going for longer than that, the Witch would need to re-cast it regularly. Probably a couple times a day at least. At night too. Maybe every six hours if the Witch is reasonably powerful? It’s more used for prisoner transports since it’s not practical to have to spell someone that much.

Ryann- Can it be broken? Or do we have to wait for it to tout? If we tried to take her away from that spot could we do it? Cam- The spell is to stop someone from leaving. It doesn’t stop them being taken. If you were to pick her up and carry her it wouldn't stop her. When you put her down she would be stuck in the spot you place her until the spell runs out though. So you could carry her from danger, but she couldn't run away of her own volition.

| am horrified. Why would anyone do that to a child? And she’s been trapped like that for weeks now! The poor thing. | am going to get her free and make sure that she is never trapped that way ever again! Chapter Comments