Gold Dust

Chapter 29

The girl inside of the cell could have been identical to Rose. Except that her eyes weren't blue, but a soft brown and long dirty blond hair. Maybe a little lighter than Grace's own.

"Hey, I'm Grace. Nice to meet you." Grace held out her hand through the bars, and Tabatha -if that was her name- took it with pinched fingers. Something about her threw Grace off, something that Rose didn't have that her sister did.

"Get me out of here." Tabatha demanded, once the shock faded from her face disappeared. Grace quickly deduced that no, Tabatha wasn't really like her sister at all. At least Rose was nice about it.

"Maybe." Grace shrugged, "have you seen your sister?"

"Duh." Tabatha rolled her eyes, "she was thrown in here a bit ago. Then the men came and took her away."

Grace swore under her breath, looking down the empty hallway. It had been surprising really easy to infiltrate the Warlock's hideout. It was at the top of one of the mountains of Switzerland, and it was slightly dangerous because it started to show heavily when Grace flew in. The snow up here tend to cause avalanches.

"Okay, so. This is obviously cursed, so where do you think the keys are." Grace asked.

"Um, I'm locked up here. Does it look like I know where the keys are?" Tabatha snorted, "you should go find them." And she mumbled under her breath.

"Curb your temper, kid." Grace snapped, not liking Tabatha and her attitude. "Or else I'd might do something about it."

"Whatever." Tabatha rolled her eyes, and Grace got up from crouching. "Just come back."

"Planning on it." Grace said, as she walked down the hallway in the direction she didn't come from. A breeze brush past her face, and from it came a vision of two men in black walking from the next hallway. Grace hoped they wouldn't hear her as she rushed to the end of the hallway and slid up to the ceiling.

"-boss knows what he's talking 'bout." The shorter, fatter one said in German. The other Warlock was taller and skinnier, but not much.

"Of course he knows. We got two wands, we can use our binding spells on the women when they come to gawk at some stupid jewelry. It'll be awesome pickings. Can you imagine using the Ruby Witches wand, or better yet the-" Their voices trailed off as they turned the corner. Grace let the breeze carry her far enough to poke her head around the corner and check to see if it was empty. It was. Thankfully.

Dropping to the ground, Grace took the hallway which the men had left. This was an epic game of hide and seek with dangerous consequences. The long hallway curved and stretched, until finally Grace heard more voices. Wait, hadn't there had been only three men in here? She noticed a curved notch in the stone wall. It would be her best shot, but there was no illusion that she would be hidden from view from the men coming down.

Grace pressed her back into the notch, but to her surprise she fell back into an empty space. The hallway disappeared into a wall, and Grace stumbled to her feet. She glanced around, wide eyed. What she found seemed to be some type of cavern with an actual illusion in front of it. The room was a dirt floor and barren with the exception of a desk and a chair. Grace stepped over and rifled through the drawers until she found what she was looking for underneath what seemed to be a three day old sandwich. Taking the keys in hand, and wincing how loud they were, Grace moved back to the wall, holding her hand out.

It disappeared into the wall, and Grace found herself in the hallway again. Turning back, Grace didn't encounter anybody else as she made her way to Tabatha.

"Hey," Grace said, moving the keys around and they noisily clanged together as she tried to find one that might fit the shape of the door.

"Can't you get any louder?" Tabatha sneered, and Grace stopped and looked at her.