The Hero and the Hidden Royal - Renae Kaye Page 0,49

pet do?” he asked in a deliberately sarcastic voice. “Open locks on doors?”

“Nah,” the man replied. “Although that would be a great power. Nah, this pet could fly, you know? Regular fucking bird. Freaky ass. But his head got too big for his shoulders, you know? Went and did some shit that got him arrested and so Joe was without a pet and with your ape boyfriend agitating shit up. So Joe decided to fix both problems.” The man turned and held up the goggles again. “Fucking freaks,” he said. “But your big boyfriend shouldn’t have been messing with us.”

“So what do you want with me?”

The man hoisted his rifle over his shoulder as he lowered the mask, squinting and trying to see Derek. “You’d be better at robbing places than the other pet. So you’re going to become Joe’s pet. He’s sent a letter to the ape that said piss off and we won’t kill your invisible boyfriend.”

Derek swallowed and tried to take it all in. “You sent a letter to Sam?”

“If that’s the name of your ape delivery driver boyfriend, then yeah. We had Leah go past his place and give him the letter before she ran. She’s a good runner, that woman. She got back just thirty minutes ago. Now we wait while Joe plans which place we’re going to hit next. With you helping us out, of course.”

Sam knew about it. Derek heaved a sigh of relief and began to calm down. Sam knew he was missing. Sam knew he’d been kidnapped. Sam would take care of it.

Derek rubbed at his forehead as his brain was still a little foggy and noticed his jacket sleeve was back. Huh. That was odd. But he could think about it later. Because all he had to do now was wait. Sam would find him. This Joe wouldn’t want to hurt Derek, because he was counting on Derek to do his robberies. All Derek had to do was cooperate until Sam arrived.

As he watched his hand reappear, he realized he was hungry. It was probably hours past his dinnertime. “Any chance of getting some food?” he asked his captor. “Maybe a pillow or blanket to lie on, too? The floor is cold.”

The man grumbled and shook his head at the reappearance of Derek and his clothes. “Freaks,” he muttered and left.

~~~~~~~~

Chapter Seventeen

DEREK SPRAWLED ON THE FLOOR of the basement and scribbled in a notebook. They’d given him a blanket to keep him from the cold floor, and a box of doughnuts to eat. He felt a bit sick from the amount of sugar he’d consumed, but it was better than starving.

Joe, the leader of the gang, had come and done his “bad act” on Derek, threatening him with violence if Derek didn’t help them. Derek shrugged and agreed. Joe had just trotted out another series of threats. He’d seemed rather disconcerted and extremely suspicious that Derek was so cooperative. Joe said he was going to keep an eye on Derek, which would’ve usually been exceptionally hard because Derek should’ve been invisible. But he wasn’t. He knew Sam was coming for him. He wasn’t scared at all.

Down in the basement, Joe and a couple of other gang members discussed business. They brought chairs down and sat within Derek’s hearing, openly conversing about their plans.

After an hour, Derek asked if he could have a pen and notebook.

“Why? Are you planning on trying to break out of there with a pen?” Joe asked dubiously. “Try to stab one of us?”

It was so farfetched that Derek didn’t have to pretend his outrage. “Of course not. I’m an archivist. I don’t do violence. I wouldn’t be able to defend myself even if you had both hands tied behind your back. I’m completely bored and I thought I would practice my Latin verbs.”

“Your what?”

“Verbs. Latin. Language. Ability to communicate. I’m bored listening to you. Give me something to do or else I will have to start considering of ways to escape.”

So a notebook was produced, and a pen. And while the gang discussed their business, Derek eavesdropped and wrote it all down. In Latin so they didn’t know. Names he overheard he needed to hide, so he converted them to the Greek alphabet and put them in his notes as well. Joe. Leah. Pav. Raul. Byron. Salvatore. Sylvester. Monica.

And still Derek waited.

The time got late and they gave up their planning. Derek was escorted to a toilet, allowed to use it, then shoved back in the