Unable to make any other noise, Michael clicked his tongue loudly against his teeth and stabbed his finger at the image of Carissa’s limp form. His fingers curled against her back in agitation.
“What?” Carissa turned her attention up to Michael. He mouthed a word that brought her head spinning back to the video. She restarted it again and studied their figures before letting out a bark of laughter. Carissa stood up and waved her hand at the video.
“That isn’t Michael.” She smiled at the confusion on Daniel’s face. “That isn’t even me.” How could whoever had copied them have gotten it so wrong?
“What?” Daniel spun the computer around and replayed the video. “That is most definitely you.” He studied the limp woman.
Carissa laughed and pointed to the woman’s dress. “It may look like me, but it isn’t. My dress was gold with bronze filigree. This dress is bronze with gold filigree.”
Daniel’s eyes worked over the picture again. “Are you sure?” There was a note of hope mixed in with the disbelief in his voice.
“Oh yes.” Carissa smiled and nodded. “It took me nearly three months to get that fabric. The company kept sending the bronze with gold.” Carissa paused as she thought about the numerous complaints she’d made about receiving the wrong material. “I had a dress made of the wrong stuff for a function a few months ago because I had to, but I wore the gold with bronze filigree to this ball. I was so excited that I’d finally gotten the one I wanted.” She paused again as something else struck her. “And come to think of it, where’s the curtain?” Carissa looked at the still image again.
Michael caressed her back and nodded his head in agreement.
Daniel looked up from the image to Carissa. “Curtain?”
“I woke up wrapped in one of the curtains from Baron Estivis’ main sitting room.” Carissa looked up to where Michael was nodding his agreement. She looked back to Daniel. “There’s no curtain here. Does Michael go back in after putting me in the van?”
“No.” Daniel shook his head and sped through the video. “He just gets in the van and drives off.”
“Then how did I get wrapped up in the curtain?” Carissa asked.
Daniel zipped through the video a few times, thinking. “Then how do you explain this video?” He looked up, waiting.
Carissa smiled at him. There was only one possibility. “Doppelgangers.” Her smile got toothy. “Very inattentive doppelgangers, at that.” It was the only reason she could see for them keeping Michael alive. If they wanted to frame him for her abduction, the mage casting the spell would need a living subject to image from.
A light clicked on in Daniel as he put things together. “And, if we thought Michael was responsible for your abduction, then we would be more likely to believe he was also responsible for the other disappearances.” Daniel rolled his head back and looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. “We would never have even looked elsewhere for the real culprits. How could I be so blind?” He tipped his head forwards and looked at Michael.
“I am sorry, Michael.” Daniel genuinely sounded remorseful. “Jareth brought forth such a compelling case, and with Carissa’s abduction and that video, I didn’t think to question the logic.”
“And what are you going to do about that?” Carissa asked the question she was sure was running through Michael’s head.
Daniel let out a breathy sigh. “I’m going to arrest him.” He looked over the file and the video. “But this is going to make life hard.”
“How so?” Carissa asked. The facts were all laid out for anyone to see.
“I have two files on the same case. Two opposing views, and each points at the other very convincingly,” Daniel pointed out. “And the fact that Michael kidnapped you a second time.”
“He did not kidnap me!” Carissa hissed.
Daniel’s eyebrows did those pushups again. “Maybe not, but you did disappear and were later seen in his company,” Daniel replied. “Your brother is absolutely furious at the moment, which does not bode well for Michael’s case.” He looked up at the clock. “And he should be getting here at any moment.” As if by magic, a pounding came from Daniel’s door, followed by Carissa’s name in a very angry voice.
This was bad.
“Shit,” Daniel cursed as he stood up to face the hammering.
They only had a few moments before her brother broke that door down. If they were ever going to prove Michael’s innocence, they had to get out of there now. Carissa turned and grabbed Michael, pulling his attention from the weakening door. “Shift!”
Michael nodded and slipped into dragon form.
Carissa grabbed him up and rushed to the window.
“He’ll never make it out.” Daniel had followed her. “Not even dragons can make it off the property.”
Carissa knew about the safety measures used to secure Eternity’s main headquarters. “He doesn’t have to.” She yanked open the window and set Michael on the ledge. “Please,” Carissa turned back to Daniel, “make my brother understand.” Without giving him a chance to respond, Carissa shifted to dragon form and jumped up to the window. The creak of wood sounded from the door.
“No, Carissa,” Daniel protested.
“Once he understands, tell him I’ll be waiting for him.” Carissa shouldered Michael and jumped off the ledge.
Michael followed in a beat of wings.
“Where?” Daniel yelled after them.
“He’ll know.” Carissa’s answer was almost lost in the roar her brother let out as he finally broke into Daniel’s office.
Terror coursed through Michael’s veins as he beat his wings, trying to keep up with Carissa’s pointless flight. A second roar had announced the king’s shift to dragon form. Thankfully, he had to shift in Daniel’s office, making it impossible to transform into his grand dragon state, but that didn’t mean the small dragon form wouldn’t be deadly enough. Yay, torn to pieces versus roasted alive! And then there were the magical barriers in place to secure the area. They might as well give up. They were only making their plight worse.
Michael wanted to stop, to turn himself in, but something inside him forced him to franticly chase Carissa. They were being pursued by an insanely mad dragon, and Carissa was injured. He had to protect Mine!. Michael caught up with Carissa as she slowed slightly. He nipped at her tail as it swished past his face. They needed to go if they held any hopes of finding a safe place to hide. As it was, they were coming up on the edge of the property.
Suddenly, Carissa flipped in air, landing right on Michael’s back.
What the hell?
She folded up her wings, and they dropped like a stone.
He flapped vainly, but she had grabbed onto his wings, hampering his ability to move. Michael rolled, trying to get her off, but she clung to him. They were only feet from solid concrete! Michael opened his mouth in a silent scream as they collided with the ground… and it gave way under him. Water rushed into his mouth as Carissa’s wings shot out and pulled them both to the surface of a lake that hadn’t been there a moment before.
Carissa turned Michael loose as his head broke the water.
He thrashed about for a few moments until he realized his wings were more of a hindrance then help. Tucking them back before he drowned, he dog-paddled for all he was worth. His eyes tracked Carissa as she glided through the water. Crazy woman! She moved surprisingly quickly as she swam circles around him. How the hell did she move so quickly? He watched her graceful form pass his face again. Hell, she wasn’t even using her legs. Tail! She was using her tail.