“It’s me,” I told her.
“Rowan? Sorry… The caller ID came up with Constance’s cell number.”
I explained. “My phone’s still in a personal effects locker, so I’m using hers.”
“Row… Is everything okay?” The concern that was initially apparent in her voice had dropped considerably, but a thread of tension was still palpable.
“Yeah…I’m okay…” I told her. “What about you?”
“I’m fine,” she replied, her voice a bit hesitant. “Why?”
“You don’t sound fine.”
“I’m fine… Rowan, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing… I just wanted to hear your voice, that’s all.”
“Breugadair.”
I met the Gaelic insult head on. “I hate to tell you this honey, but you might want to look in a mirror. I can tell you’re lying too.”
“That would be breugag.”
“You say potato…”
“One is masculine, the other feminine…”
“I’m sure it is, but I didn’t call you for a lesson in Irish Gaelic, and I hate to tell you this, but you aren’t any better at changing the subject than I am. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“You first.”
“Good Gods, Felicity, I’m fine…”
“If you were really fine you wouldn’t be calling then. Not yet,” she chastised, then stated as much as asked, “You’ve been in to see her already, haven’t you?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Who was she?”
“Miranda. But that’s pretty much who I expected.”
“Aye… So…what happened?”
I stifled a snort. “Just what she wanted, I’m afraid. She pushed all the right buttons and set me off.”
“Are you really okay then?”
“Yeah…” I half whispered. “Yeah… At the moment I think she bruised my ego mostly. But, she’s not going down without a fight, and that has me worried.”
“So…you didn’t find out anything?”
“Other than the fact that Miranda is still in control, no, not really.”
“Annalise?” she asked, a different sound of concern threading through her words.
“No…” I replied, shaking my head out of reflex. “Not even a glimmer. But Miranda is definitely dangling her out there in front of me like some kind of carrot.”
“How do you mean?”
“When today’s interview ended, she told me to come back tomorrow and she might let me speak to her.”
“Do you think she really will?”
“I doubt it,” I replied. “Why would she? Besides, other than the corporeal body itself, I honestly don’t know if Annalise even exists anymore. If she does, she might not even be lucid at this point.”
There was no reply, but I could hear Felicity breathing softly on the other end of the line. And based on some of our past conversations, I had a fairly good notion what she might be thinking.
Finally, I said, “Remember, honey, Annalise tried to kill you.”
“Aye, that’s true…but she’s still blood.”
“Blood you didn’t even know existed until less than a year ago, and that discovery didn’t come under the best of circumstances I might add.”
“I know. But…” She allowed her voice to trail off before saying, “I suppose you’re right then. I’m damned either way. One of them wants to consume me, the other wants to kill me.”
“Not going to happen,” I soothed. “Either one. I won’t let it.” I paused briefly and then said, “Okay…your turn.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told you the truth, now you owe me the same. What’s wrong?”
“I’d hoped you’d forgotten about that then,” she replied.
“I know you did. But I didn’t.”
She tried to object. “It’s nothing important.”
“Then it shouldn’t be a big deal for you to tell me, right?”
I heard her take a deep breath in resignation. After a suggestive pause she said, “I’m having…feelings… urges.”
Her admission sent a fresh chill tap dancing along my spine. I knew all too well the kind of urges she meant, and the hollow feeling now expanding through the pit of my stomach told me I knew why.
“These aren’t just your normal…you know…” I left the rest of the hopeful question hanging.
“You mean my normal desires to tie you up and play the dominatrix?” she answered, unabashed as always. “I thought so at first…but…no… That isn’t exactly how they feel. These are…” She hesitated before finally saying, “These aren’t just urges to play. They’re…much darker.”
The answer wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I asked, “How dark?”
“Very,” she replied, her voice leaning heavily on the word.
“How intense are they?”
“Enough. But, not so bad that I can’t cope.”
“You’re sure?”
“Aye, Rowan, I’m sure. They’re nothing I can’t handle.”
“You need to drink…”
She finished the sentence for me. “…salt water. I know, and I already am… And sage tea as well. You aren’t the only Witch here, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. Is it helping?”
“Aye. It seems to have taken the edge off then.”
“But the feelings are still there…” I replied, offering the words as more of a statement than a question.
“I’ll be okay, Row,” she appealed. “Really, I will.”
I wasn’t convinced, and she didn’t necessarily sound like she was either. But, right now there was a little too much distance between us for me to do anything other than worry.
“When did they start?” I pressed, a bit of hesitation creeping into my voice. I already knew what she was going to say, but I had to ask.
“About an hour ago,” she replied. “Maybe a little more. Why?”
I closed my eyes and whispered, “While I was in the room with her… That’s what I was afraid of.”
The ache bouncing around inside my skull took on a new dimension, making the back of my throat tickle with a thin wave of nausea. Recent events stuttered through my brain like a cartoonist’s flipbook until one exploded forth to fill my thoughts.
In my mind’s eye I could clearly see Miranda’s smug grin as she stared back at me. But even worse, I could also hear her mocking voice as she chuckled and said, “Really? How do you know I am not trying Felicity on for size again right now?”
CHAPTER 6
As soon as my mouth was able to sync up with my brain once again, I mumbled to Felicity, “Let me see about changing my flight. Just hang in there, and I’ll be home as soon as I can, even if I have to buy a new ticket out of my own pocket.”
“No,” she replied, a sudden sternness in her voice.
“What do you mean, no?”
“Exactly that. No. You can’t come home yet. You just told me you have to meet with Annalise tomorrow.”
“Honey, I also told you I don’t even know…”
She cut me off. “…if she even exists any longer, I know. And before you say it, I know Miranda might only be stringing you along with this.”
“There’s no might to it,” I replied. “I know she is, and so do you. It’s what she does. Besides, after the way things went today, the powers that be around here might not even allow another meeting to happen.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say I doubt the FBI is very keen on their consultants losing their cool during an inmate interview.”
“Oh, Rowan…” she sighed. “What did you do? You aren’t in any trouble are you?”
“I’ll tell you later, and I don’t know for sure on the trouble just yet,” I said. “But I don’t think so, which seems a little weird in itself if you want to know the truth. I’ve had a bit of a hinky feeling about all this ever since the interview ended.”
“Well, it is Miranda after all.”
“Yeah, but not just that. It’s something different. Something a little closer to home and definitely grounded in reality.”
“What?”
“That’s something else I don’t know for sure,” I admitted. “But I get the impression I haven’t been told everything that’s going on. Plus, with the way things have played out so far, it appears as though my presence here may be more important to the FBI than I originally thought it was.”
“I told you I had a very bad feeling about this,” she lamented.
“I know, honey. Me too. But it might all be moot. Like I said, after what happened today, I’d be surprised if they were actually willing to let me into a room with Miranda again.”