Page 17 of Enslaved By Magic

After the first day she’d gone out when Luke realized she wouldn’t be afraid to leave the house on her own, he’d begun leaving money for her on the counter. It wasn’t a lot—but then she didn’t think he had a lot of money. Still, that would all change soon, she was sure, and, in the meantime, there was enough for her to take the bus and go places. More than anything it was this casual kindness and freedom that had made it hard not to care for him.

Every other person who had owned her had insisted on keeping her leashed tightly to their side. Never before had she been allowed to roam free of her own will without an assigned task or errand. She took advantage of it to experience the wider world outside of her bottle. The bus picked her up at the corner and brought her downtown, and even after many trips, she still saw something new each time.

With a cheap sandwich purchased from a café, she headed to the park. It was relaxing to sit on the grass and eat while she watched children playing in the distance with their parents standing guard. There was a half-smile on her face as she mused about what it would be like to have a child. Not a thought she had often, but now she imagined what a child with Luke would look like.

A little girl perhaps, with bronze skin just the shade of his and long black hair that curled in gentle waves. Her eyes might be what Amari saw in the mirror—they were her best feature. Or maybe a son with her darker skin and Luke’s dimple.

She was so lost in thought she hadn’t realized she had company until she heard the sound of a throat being cleared and looked up in surprise.

It was a nice, if ordinary, looking man holding a brown paper bag in one hand. He smiled. “Hey, sorry to bother you,” he said. “I just saw you eating your lunch and I thought I’d join you—if you don’t mind, I mean.”

“Why?” She gave him a confused look.

“Uh, so you don’t have to eat alone. For company.”

“Oh, I don’t mind eating alone,” she assured him. She had just spent years alone after all, having lunch by herself wasn’t going to bother her one bit. In fact, she preferred it.

“No one likes to eat alone. Besides, you can’t make new friends if you don’t give people a try. So, I thought we—” He waggled the bag in his hand, trying to look enticing she supposed.

She was already shaking her head. She didn’t know who this man was, but she could see the predatory look on his face and knew exactly what he was after. Men could be trouble to a woman out alone, and even if she was free to date, this wasn’t the one she’d choose. Despite his good looks, there was an undercurrent of pushiness she didn’t like. He didn’t have the easy self-confidence she’d gotten used to with Luke, and under this man’s pleasant veneer, she felt a weird sense of entitlement. As if she should accept his company just because he wanted her to.

If she had to choose a man, it would definitely be someone like Luke. Strong and confident but not at the expense of refusing to take no for an answer, that was the kind of man she wanted. She had to stop for a moment to revel in the shock that she even had a type. It had been so long since she’d considered things like that, but even if she was still a slave, this man didn’t own her, and she didn’t have to put up with his company.

“Sorry, I don’t think so,” she said firmly.

“Oh, c’mon. A girl as pretty as you shouldn’t be sitting here all alone,” he said, coaxing her to change her mind.

One eyebrow went up and she fixed him with a stern look, saying, “I said no. I prefer to eat alone.”

The pleasant look vanished, and he seemed on the verge of scowling. “I was just trying to be nice, lady, jeez. You must think you’re something special,” he said. There was a tone to his words she didn’t like, and the wonderful thing about being what she was, was that she didn’t have to put up with unwanted advances from anyone except the one who had possession of her bottle.

“Go away,” she said. It was a clear warning.

“Fine, whatever. Bitch,” he snapped as he started to turn away.

He was going to leave. She was in no danger from him, but she didn’t like being called names. It was one step too far, and while her powers were limited outside the scope of a wish, there was one thing she could do very well. “You should be careful who you call a bitch,” she hissed.

His mouth was already opening as he turned back toward her. He’d probably planned to say something nasty, but the words choked off in his throat as she let her eyes shift from their natural color to a deep crimson. Her teeth grew long and pointed until her lips could no longer hide them, and a forked tongue rolled out from between the alabaster fangs.

His mouth hung open wide without anything coming out at first, but soon she could hear a low whine of terror as the blood rushed from his face, leaving him as pale as a corpse. He swallowed hard, and his lips worked like he was trying to say something but couldn’t remember how to form words.

She thought he might stand there frozen in fear until he began to gather attention and she couldn’t have that, so she slowly leaned forward and extended a clawed hand in his direction. His leg was close enough to touch, but before she needed to make the effort, he dropped his lunch bag and took off running. She stared, watching him go just in case he should look back—he didn’t.

When he was long gone, she fell back on the grass and the laughter burst out of her. Already her appearance had reversed back to normal, and she was just a woman enjoying the park on a warm afternoon.

She’d played similar tricks with her appearance on her last owner, encouraging the dark thoughts she’d seen in him until he was pushed over the edge into madness. Until he’d ordered her into her bottle and forbidden her to come out again, it had been easy enough to creep into his bedroom at night like a nightmare brought to life. Her illusions convinced him he was being haunted by demons, and she’d hoped it would lead to him passing the bottle on—but it had backfired on her.

He’d rightly guessed that it had something to do with her, though he didn’t seem to realize it was just a prank. He seemed convinced instead she was the evil entity he’d been warned about, but rather than pass the bottle on as she’d expected, he’d locked her away in a box, taking away her window to the world. She hadn’t known iron could control the bottle’s magic that way and she didn’t like it at all, but she was free now.

It was good to be able to protect herself and, yes, even play a prank or two.

All the way home her mind kept flashing back to the look of terror on the man’s face and she’d giggle softly. People probably wondered what she was so amused about, but she didn’t care. She was enjoying the sweet taste of freedom and all the new experiences. Luke’s kindness and insistence she act like a free woman had opened up her world. Now she was learning from being part of it, instead of from books, and it was so much better.

---