Taken

In Too Deep

I stride smoothly into the library and slide into my chair beside Dad. Instead of my gross cleaning clothes, I changed into a pencil skirt and blouse with dress shoes to match. They aren't new, and Dad bought all my clothes so he knows all of my clothes. Still, I hope they give off a composed air around me. I clasp my hands onto the table. I am calm. I am composed. I am relaxed. Underneath my demeanor, I am shaking like a scared little boy.

"How are you doing today, Dad?" I ask.

"Just fine." He looks at my appearance. "You seem to be in an effort-full mood today." I nod my head. As he flips through the environment book, I can't help gnawing my lips. I'm falling through the cracks. I take a deep breath.

"How is your business?"

He gives me a curious look. "It's been going steady, with a few dips. Why?"

"I'm just curious."

"And I'm just curious because you have never asked before."

I force my feet to stay flat on the ground. Don't stutter. "I want to become more involved in your business." I thought I was going to feel relieved after I spoke those words, but my shoulders tense and slowly develop knots.

"Do you now?" I start to nod again, but I take the time to say yes out loud. I remember hearing somewhere that being vocal makes people look less of a push over. He raises an eyebrow but stops what he is doing.

"Give me a few reasons I should consider the idea." Dad relaxes into his chair, but still looks attentive. He doesn't have anything to lose. Even though I rehearsed this a thousand times, I can't seem to get the words out. Dad gives me time to respond. Like any businessman, he knows how to negotiate. The first step is to see what the other person wants to say. He's almost harmless, but I know there can be a shark underneath.

I clear my throat. Oh God. This is harder than I thought. "I have proven to be overachieving with most of my training. I am academically skillful, showing that I can comprehend material efficiently. I believe I am not at my full potential. I know studying under a successful mentor like yourself will get me to a level where I can contribute more to the household and help me develop my abilities."

He smiles politely. Like any businessman, he knows how to bite. "Flattery won't get you anywhere with me. Also, you said that you were overachieving, correct? I may not have the same opinion. Just last week you failed to notice the tipping boxes in a dream of yours. You almost did not complete your challenge. You would have been smooshed like a bug."

"I still completed the challenge..."

"In addition, you said that your academic skills are good, but for my business, there is more than knowledge learned from a book. Some things are life and death. Right now, I would never consider putting my life in your pathetic hands." I look at my hands. My palms are calloused. My knuckles are rough from use. I clench my hands into balls as he continues.

"I won't be able to hold your hand. One slip up will cost you more than a few lashes of punishment. You need to know my mind better than your own, but not by much. I don't think you know your own mind at all."

"Then let go." I mumble quietly to myself.

"You don't know what you are capable of. You don't know how to act. You don't know how to think for yourself. You are just a rag doll! I animate. I throw you around and hope you find a way to not kill yourself completely."

I think back to Ezza's speaking lesson. My thoughts unleash as clear and powerful as I could without booming my voice, "Let me go! If you are holding my hand, let my fall. Let me drown in the deep end. I can take the pain. Nerezza will be nothing. Make is so that people underestimate me by a mile." My voice feels charged with energy buzzing in my veins. Adrenaline thumps my heart, steadying myself and my mind.

By now, Dad holds the fires of Hell in his eyes. At the moment, I can almost feel his thoughts and emotions. He wants me to be scared. He wants me to crumble beneath his glare. Crawl back in a hole. He would win. But he would also lose, because he wants to see the monster I could become too. He wants me to fight back.

"This is bigger than you and I and Nerezza. Nerezza has taken the time to become involved, but that was by default. Now, I do not know anyone else I could rely on more. Now, let me ask you. Are you willing to fail? Die actually. Are you ready to have your mind twisted toward torture? Soul ripped away? Committed to jumping in a black hole you can never escape? Never escape my grasp?"

There's no way I can say no now. My thoughts run faster than light with all of the ideas. I am caught up in his riptide of devilish plans. All of his corruption surges my blood. A feeling of power spreads. It's a drug I don't know if I can ever quit. I would be powerful, brilliant, fearless... deadly.

My voice deepens. If only my eyes could turn to slits or have fangs to show a hideous smile. My daunting gaze and snarl do the trick. Dad's eyes twinkle with the same madness as mine. "Let me fail. Make me a nightmare. Teach me to win." The truly horrifying element is that I don't go back on my word.

He smiles his Joker famous smile and leaves his seat to return the environmental book. When he sits back down, he holds his notebooks from over the years. He pulls his chair beside mine. We flip through page after page. There are at least 8 notebooks. I realize how little I know. I don't know anything. However, I couldn't let my mind be blown or else I wouldn't keep up. No time to question.

Dad runs his own underground, secret organization determined to make humans pay.

Magic is real.

He is one of the strongest sorcerers of them all.

It's a short chapter. I will add other scenes to this one or switch into a new chapter. Tell me what you think. Do these confrontations with Becca's Dad seem repetitive?

~~Jade King