Bone Dry_ A Soul Shamans Novel - Cady Vance Page 0,27

me of the Borderland. I sucked in a deep breath only to taste blood in my mouth.

My eyes slid closed. I fought to keep them open, but they refused to listen…

***

Consciousness returned, and I immediately stiffened. The world was still, and my body was sitting up straight, my hands behind my back. I wiggled and felt the contours of a chair and heard the unmistakable creak of wood.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, fighting against the pressure throbbing in my skull and the nausea choking my throat.

Bright light shone in my eyes, and I had to blink several times. Nothing was in focus.

The fuzziness cleared after a moment. The light shone from an overhead bulb, and stars twinkled in the night sky through the open blinds. How long had we been sitting here? How far had we gone from Brent’s house?

Panic swirled in my belly. My mom was home alone.

I heard a rustling beside me and saw Laura in a chair to my right, her hands and stomach circled in thick rope. I glanced down and saw rope tied around my belly, too, keeping me strapped into the chair.

Brent and Nathan were nowhere in sight.

I stared at Laura, at her head hanging down with drool slipping out of her cloth-filled mouth. I felt a pang of guilt. She looked terrible. Even from this distance, I could see her eyes were ringed with dark circles.

It was my fault she was here. She’d thought going to Brent’s was a bad idea, and I’d talked her into it. And look where we’d ended up.

Which was where exactly?

I eyed the room. It didn’t look much different than the kitchen in my own house. It was facing a large backyard with lawn equipment and a grill. To the right, there was a small L-shaped counter with stainless steel appliances. Laura and I were strapped into two of the high-backed wooden chairs that belonged to the oval table on my left.

Just an ordinary, everyday kitchen. No sign of runes or dark magic. No blood or bones. I didn’t know what I expected, but this wasn’t it.

Who were these people?

A stack of envelopes caught my eye on the end of the table farthest from me. It looked like mail. I wasn’t sure if we’d get out of this, but if we did, it sure would come in handy to know the address of this house.

Now if I could just somehow get myself over there.

I twisted my wrists, grimacing when the tight rope dug into my skin. I pushed my shoulders back and forth, hoping to loosen the bonds, but they didn’t budge at all.

I shuffled my feet and realized they were free. At first thought, it seemed pretty stupid of my kidnappers, but then I realized that they were probably somewhere in the house, and there’d be no way for me to run with the rest of my body tied to this chair. And they had to know I wouldn’t leave my friend behind.

Still…if I could somehow manage to push myself over to the envelopes, it’d be better than nothing.

I leaned forward, and…nothing. With the weight of the chair, there was no way I’d be able to stand while being tied to it.

“Shit,” I mumbled around the cloth jammed into my mouth.

I thought for a few moments before remembering how easy it was to scoot in the desks at school while staying seated. I hooked my feet under the two front legs and threw my body forward. The chair inched forward. The sound of the legs scraping over the tiled floor made me stiffen.

I waited for a few moments to see if anyone had heard the noise. When no one came barreling into the kitchen, I scooted forward some more. Inch by inch, until I was on the other side of the table and could see the writing on the top envelope.

Bingo. The name “Mark Sampson” was prominently displayed on the receiver part of the envelope, as well as his address. I committed it to memory. Six-Seven-Two West Chase Lane, Berrytown, Massachusetts. So, we weren’t that far from Seaport. Only a fifteen minute drive outside the main drag.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with this information, but it felt good to know where we were and at least one of the names of our captors. It also told me they weren’t in the business of regularly kidnappings girls. If they were, they would have known not to leave their electric bill sitting on the closest