Mistfall(Book One of the Mistfall Series)

21. The Other Shoe Drops





I awoke the next morning to the smell of lilacs. Opening my eyes, I found that my room had been turned into a lilac bush around its periphery.

John put his hand on my shoulder. “Good morning,” he greeted softly.

I turned around to face him. “What’s all this?” I asked gesturing to the floral bower.

He propped himself up on one elbow and entwined his fingers with mine. “You once told me you loved the smell of lilacs in the morning. I just thought that a beautiful girl should have something beautiful to look at when she woke up.”

“You remembered that?” I asked in awe.

I could just make out the wooden walls of the room. The flowers, all in bloom, were in shades of pink, white, and lavender. Their perfume wasn’t too strong or over flowery. Between the smell of fresh mowed grass coming from John and the delicate scent of the flowers, I could almost picture myself, back at home, waking up on a perfect spring morning. What a fantastic way to wake up, I thought.

“I would’ve brought you breakfast in bed, but my magic can only do so much,” John said. “We’ll have to rely on you for that.”

My stomach grumbled at the thought of food. “My body seems to agree with your train of thought,” I laughed.

John lifted my hand and kissed it. “How about we shower and dress first. We’ll meet back here in, let’s say, twenty minutes. Sound good?”

I nodded my head yes and he got up and left. He didn’t bother putting his clothes back on as he intended to leave the same way he came in. I was treated to an impressive view of his taut back end as he walked towards the wall of the room.

“See you shortly, beautiful girl,” were his last words, before the lilacs swallowed him. I couldn’t see the wall behind them open up, the flowers being so thick in that one spot.

I personally didn’t see the need to postpone breakfast in lieu of a shower. That was, until I thought about what state my hair had to be in. I groaned. I could only wonder what mess my face would be in after sleeping in full make-up.

Getting out of bed, I made my way into the bathroom. I would have thought last night’s sexcapades and sleep would have turned me into one of Hades’ nightmares. Looking into the mirror, I let out a big breath of relief.

My hair and face was a little mussed, but nothing too dreadful. The snarls in my hair wanted to do battle with the brush and it looked like the brush was going to lose. Conditioner was definitely called for today.

The warmth of the shower enveloped me in the blanket of its steam. I could have stayed there for hours. Unfortunately, I had to be ready to go in twenty minutes. It’s a good thing I have magical powers. How else could a girl shower, change, and do her hair and make-up in such a short amount of time?

Fifteen minutes later and I was almost done. I just needed to put on some clothes. Considering last night’s frippery, comfortable and relaxed was my mindset when choosing an outfit. I chose a pair of relaxed fit jeans and a fitted tee. Comfortable walking shoes were on the docket as I wasn’t sure of how long the walk from the Fae village in the Wildwood was from John’s house. I threw my hair up in a ponytail and had two minutes to spare.

When I opened the bathroom door to the room, I was saddened to find the flowers gone. They were so charming and I really hadn’t had a chance to enjoy them.

John wasn’t back yet. Somehow I’m going to have to fit in a joke about him taking longer than a girl to get ready. I contemplated packing, but decided to leave that for after we ate.

I decided to go ahead and create breakfast while I was waiting. I remember from our time together, years ago, that John preferred fruit for breakfast. Typically elves like a more vegan lifestyle, but weren’t necessarily religious about it.

With granola and grapefruit for him and bacon and eggs for me, my work was done. With nothing left to do, I sat on the foot of the bed and waited.

Twenty minutes later, John had still not returned. I knew his magic was more than capable of getting him clean in no time. He was a male, so all he really had to do was put on clothes. What was taking so long?

I knocked on the wall that separated our rooms. No answer. I gave thought to walking through the wall like he did. In the end, I decided against it. It wasn’t something I had done before, so it might be a bit tricky. The last thing I wanted to do today was to be stuck in a wall until I figured how to get out of it.

Maybe he got held up, I thought. I would just have to do this the old fashioned way and knock on the door to his room. I thought about grabbing Hofuo and my compass before I left, but ultimately left it behind. I wouldn’t be more than ten feet away and for once I was safe enough to not have to vigilant about my safety.

I opened the bedroom door and immediately regretted my decision to leave Heimdall’s sword behind. Abel and the Aelfadl were awaiting me. Melissa and John, already captured, were sitting on the floor, restrained from doing anything to help by magical bonds.

The bonds were made by the dwarves of Elemental Deep. The bonds melded with a prisoner’s magic, rendering their power unusable. It was near impossible to break through them. Only a key that had joined with the prisoner’s magical DNA could free one from the bonds.

I only had one, very slim chance to get past them. Jumping backwards into the room, I intended to grab Hofuo. My feet had scarcely left the ground when I was pulled through the air by an invisible hand and slammed into the wall across from me.


“Oomph.” I felt as if a bear had parked its rear end on my chest as I gasped for air.

Finn appeared from behind one of the Aelfadl. I smacked myself in the forehead. I should’ve known…

“There’s no use in fighting this time Magdalene,” Abel warned me. “I brought the best of my warriors and have found this Fae,” he pointed at Finn, “to be rather malleable to my will.”

Still wheezing, I stood up, the Aelfadl making no move to stop me. They must have thought that I posed no threat as their stance was unusually relaxed. I was unable to tell anything from their faces as they were obscured by masks.

“I’d be careful of that one,” I said in reference to Finn, “he’s temperamental.”

Abel laughed silently to himself, the joke lost on me. “Yes. He is rather difficult, but that is my own fault.”

I raised an eyebrow at his vagary. What did he mean by that?

“I can’t give my hand away now can I?” he asked though the question was rhetorical. “It wouldn’t be as entertaining for me if I did.”

Abel was a sly devil. He had been the Elven king for over a millennia. You don’t stay in charge for that long without having a few tricks up your sleeve.

Once Abel got the Dwarf bracelets on me, there was no way I’d be able to escape. My only chance was to fight back right here. Even dying sounded like a better alternative. Alerting the other Fae to Abel’s presence sounded like a good idea. I would have the reinforcements and protection I needed. I decided on doing both things at once.

I didn’t have the time to let the energy build up in my hands to be able to attack everyone at once. Whatever I was going to do, it would have to be quick.

“Sorry Abel, but I won’t be able to stick around for your scheming today,” I said, unleashing a few concussive blasts at the ground. I aimed at the floor by John and Melissa. I was planning to catch everyone off guard. Then, I would escape by jumping down the hole I had created, all while slowing Melissa and John’s descent.

It should have been neat and tidy, crisis averted, and Fae alerted. For the second time in minutes I found that I had never been more wrong in my life. Nothing happened, no holes, no shock and awe, nothing. I tried again. Same thing. It looked like Abel had remembered to bring his invisible shield and had taught it a few new tricks. He must’ve known I’d try and rescue my friends.

I didn’t have time for the games. Every second I wasted gave Abel an advantage. He was already up in that department since he had cornered me like a dog. There were plenty of other targets and directions I could fire away at. There was no way Abel’s shield extended that far. I’d bring down the entire building if it had the required effect.

Lifting my hands, I began launching fireballs everywhere. I aimed over their heads, at their feet, and even lobbed a shot to my side in order to determine where the shield ended. I was so busy trying to find the chink in the invisible armor that I didn’t notice the Aelfadl who were guarding John and Melissa take a defensive stance.

That should’ve been my clue. None of the rest of Abel’s guard had so much as flinched during my assault. It was only when I let a barrage of shots off at Abel that I found out why he seemed so calm.

My arms were yanked down to my sides by invisible hands and a white hot burning sensation began creeping up from my wrist to my arm. I felt as if someone was sticking me with a red hot poker and screamed out in pain. I tried to fight back at the unseen enemy, but that just caused my pain to increase.

Abel’s face shone in triumph as he took a step towards me. “There’s no need to scream Magdalene, though I do enjoy the sound of it. You see, I had Finn poison all the fairy wine. In small amounts it does no harm. The Fae however, love to drink to excess at their celebrations. They won’t wake up for days.”

“You should have just said something,” I grimaced through the pain. “I wouldn’t have stood in your way if I knew you and your merry bunch of cobblers just wanted time to fix all of the Fae’s shoes.”

“Insolent bitch!” Abel shouted, backhanding me in the face. “I’ve told you time and time again to watch your mouth. I promise, I will make it my personal mission to teach you some manners, little girl.”

My face smarted, but in no way felt worse than the continued burning I felt on my wrists. Just when I thought that couldn’t get any worse, my whole right side felt as if it had burst into flames.

I screamed again as my legs gave out from underneath me, but I did not fall. Whatever it was that had a hold of my wrists kept me from falling to my knees. The pain was unimaginable. Invisible flames licked at my arms and sides, melting my skin and branding me with their mark. I looked down at my arms, while I could still hold my head up, to see the carnage. There were no marks or burns. My skin told no tales of the torment it was currently under. I knew of no kind of being that had both the power of invisibility and a fiery touch.

My screaming continued. Abel and his men laughed at my torture, finding it entertaining. I was unable to use my magic. My invisible attackers had been absorbing my magic, first with the fireballs and blasts and now by touching me. I was overwhelmed with the pain and quickly became weak. I was as useless as a human against an oncoming train.

As suddenly as the burning feeling started, it stopped. Only a smoldering feeling was left on my arms. As relieved as I was, I couldn’t move.

Abel knew I was harmless when he stood before me. He lifted my chin so he could speak to me face to face as I was unable to lift my own head “I feel it my duty to tell you that your friends over there have been dishonest with you,” he informed me, pointing to Melissa and John with his turquoise eyes.

“Liar,” I spat, barely above a whisper.

“Regardless of your feelings towards me, I am telling you the truth,” he replied while turning my face this way and that, inspecting me. “I have two children, both sons,” he informed me. “You’ve already met Luca.” I’d introduce you to the other, but I think you already know him. His intended wife is here as well, but yet again you refuse me the honors of introduction.”

My eyes grew as wide as hubcaps and I attempted to shake my head in denial. I looked over at Melissa and John, still restrained on the ground. They couldn’t reassure me of Abel’s lies due to the duct tape covering their mouths (Yes, even Otherworlder’s know the benefit of duct tape). Their eyes, however, spoke volumes. Guilt emanated from the two of them like a bullhorn in church.

I was devastated. The tears I had been holding back from the pain of torture began to well and flow freely down my face.

“I bet you didn’t know I sent this son as well as Luca to kill you and that other abomination five years ago either,” Abel said, wickedly enjoying his one sided conversation and the pain it brought me.

Abel looked thoughtful for a moment. “What is it about my sons finding the need to seduce you?” he mused. “I think everything we’ve worked for could have been accomplished without that, but I guess the ends justify the means. However, John has been a bit of a disappointment. I think he may have actually fallen in love with you.”

He wiped a tear from my eye, inspecting it as if it was some alien life he had never encountered before. I wondered if the man had a soul at all. He wiped his fingers on his pants and returned to my torment. “His marriage to the Witch was arranged years ago. The union   will give me more power in regards to the alliance with the Witches.”


Done with me, Abel let my head drop and turned to his men. “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

Two of the Aelfadl grabbed Melissa and John, hoisting them over their shoulders and headed downstairs, with Finn in tow.

Abel turned his attention back to me, yet again and yanked me up by the hair. “I’ve been horrible with introductions today, haven’t I? Well, don’t worry Magdalene. I have some friends you haven’t met yet, though you’ve felt their power.”

Abel ordered my invisible captors to show themselves. I was faced with the answer to my question about whose magic had been protecting Abel.

Wraiths. When jinn who are bound inside objects are forgotten by time and their masters, they turn into wraiths. Over time the jinn lose their sanity, turning into something inhuman and animalistic. It is conceivably the worst torture on the planet.

Even jinn bound to, but not inside, objects that are lost fare a better fate. Occasionally an object will be found and they endure servitude. For the most part though, they enjoyed relative freedom as objects usually stayed buried and forgotten.

Iblis, as cruel and sadistic as he could be, led the hunt to find these lost jinn six hundred years ago. They couldn’t be released back into the world. His mercy for them was death, an end to their suffering.

The call was put out to all Otherworlders to help find the wraiths. Sympathy moved most to help. Even Abel contributed, finding the majority of wraiths. The wraiths, once found, were returned to the great scorching fire all jinn were created from.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed the color of the wraiths,” Abel pointed out, interrupting my thoughts.

I had. Almost ghost-like, all the wraiths were a muddied purple color. I didn’t know how it was possible he had these creatures.

Abel put my questions to rest as he spoke again. “Yes Magdalene, you even recognize that these are no ordinary wraiths. You see, when Iblis asked for help all those years ago, I concurred with the Otherworld community. To exist as a caged animal must have been one horrifying nightmare after another.

I found many of the wraiths, contributing the most to the cause. I sent many Ifrits and Marids to a humane end. It wasn’t until I encountered one of your kind that I realized a wraith’s worth.

I was in rural Russia on a tip about a cache of wraiths. My information, it turned out, was wrong and I only came across one.

I had been poking around the ruins of a house, burned to the ground long ago. I had been ready to give up my search when I spied a slight depression in the earth, near the house. I decided to give finding the cache one last try. I attempted to cause the earth to remove itself, but a spell protected the site. I dug the earth by hand for over an hour when my shovel hit something solid.

I had dug up an old oaken box. I knew then that I didn’t have what I was looking for. If as many jinn had been trapped in that box as I had been told, the energy from all of them would have blown this area to kingdom come, like they did in Tunguska.

Curious to what the box retained, I opened it. Inside laid a colorful matryoshka doll. It, unlike the box that held it, had been untouched by time.

I had recently begun to release the wraiths from their confines, curious as to the power they wielded, before returning them to Iblis. Overall, I was unimpressed. That was until I opened the doll.

The jinn’s previous master was cruel, a trait I admired. Each doll was not just nestled within the other, but locked magically. It was the work of a powerful Warlock and it took me days to release the locks.

I’ll admit, at first I didn’t recognize that the place I had found the doll in had once been the home of Rasputin.” (Rasputin was much older than the human history books state. His gruesome end, however, was true.)

“When I did realize that, I understood the reasoning for the locks. The power of the creature he had bound must have been so great that containing it was his only option. I grew excited as I came to the last lock.

What came out of the doll almost killed me, it was so powerful. I was just able to fight it off and contain it once again. There was something that stood out about that particular wraith. The Ifrit wraiths were a sickly yellow color and the Marids a blue-grey. The wraith I had just released was dusty heather, an Iblian.

I sent this one back to Iblis, it being too powerful for me to control. I continued my search, not for lost jinn, but for lost Iblian jinn. Later on our world believed all the wraiths to be found and put to eternal rest, but I had a secret though.

I collected the Iblian wraiths that weren’t completely insane. Oh, they have no sense of humanity left in them, but they can still take orders from their master. I almost thought I had lost them after the war when the gods eradicated your kind. Luckily for me, the gods didn’t even recognize these creatures.

I’ve had them for over six hundred years. They are my creatures who do my bidding and they do their job very well.”

Abel had finally finished his diatribe. I really didn’t think it possible to hate him more, but was surprised when I found that I could.

I managed to lift my head up. “Good for you Abel. You’re an a*shole that likes to play with dolls,” I gritted through my teeth and then spit at him.

I couldn’t believe it. He had furthered the torture of already lost souls. Even Iblis, one of the nine kings of Hades, wasn’t even that demented.

Instead of Abel’s usual venom at my verbal barbs, he merely laughed at me. The look on his face screamed predator. “Enjoy your jokes at my expense Magdalene. You will soon learn your place. I think now is as good a time as any for your first lesson.”

Abel turned on his heel, gestured to the smoky outlines of the wraiths and headed downstairs. The wraiths, six in number, closed in on me. The burning increased tenfold. It felt like the ground had split open and Hades had swallowed me. I screamed out in pain again, taking the torment for as long as I could.

I now knew what it meant to be burnt alive. Though it was only in my head, I could feel my skin pucker and fry in the wraith’s inferno. Every time I breathed in, fire would cause the delicate tissues of my mouth and throat to sizzle. It only took minutes of this before my mind disconnected from my body and shut me down, breaking the scorching cycle of pain.