She led the way into the house, then up the stairs to the living area. Alley, who was sitting on the floor staring into space, looked even older today, even if only by a small amount.
"What's going on?" she demanded, springing up when she saw Kenzie and Patrick heading toward her. "You mean to tell me that this man is..." Alley cut off, her gaze riveted on Kenzie's face.
"I heard her little accusation out front," Patrick replied. "That's why I said we needed to talk. But first, I must ask, Alley, why do you look older yet?"
Alley? They were on a first-name basis with each other? How could Alley not realize who Patrick truly was? Did he get his voice changed too? Was that even possible?
She told herself to snap out of it and focus on the situation at hand. She hadn't called Jillian yet, and if she didn't soon, the police wouldn't show up. Now she and Alley both needed help. This guy wasn't just going to have a civilized conversation with them.
But he was sure going to imply that when he said, "Alley, I only want to help you. You can't possibly believe this amateur detective over me."
Amateur detective? She resented that. She tried to spin around to face him, but he stopped her with a sharp, "Stay where you are." He then asked Alley again why she looked older.
Alley began crying as she confessed, "I couldn't take it! I had to try! I had to try to use the fountain again!"
Patrick grumbled from behind Kenzie. "I told you that you should avoid that fountain since it's what's causing you to age. That's what you told me, and I advised you to stay away from it."
"Oh, cut the act," Kenzie snapped as she stepped away from Patrick, facing him at last. She saw with relief that the "weapon" in question was indeed just his fist. "You're lying. You put some sort of spell on Alley so that every time she used the fountain, she'd get older instead of younger, even if it was only her appearance that was altered. Why don't you show her the tattoo on your arm?"
Kenzie saw Patrick stiffen. He didn't know that she'd seen the tattoo. But he tried to counteract her accusation by saying, "I may have a tattoo, but what does that prove?"
"It's not just the tattoo. It's what and where it is. A sword cutting through vines on your left shoulder."
Alley gasped and Patrick glared at Kenzie with malevolence. "You've been a pain and a burden since I met you. I'm downright tired of it."
"Patrick," Alley interjected as she stepped forward. "Let me see the tattoo."
"It's gone now, and she's making this all up anyway."
"It's not gone yet," Kenzie said with certainty. "A tattoo wouldn't be removed that fast. At least not all of it. So do what your client asked and show her the tattoo."
"Or what?"
"Or I'll call the police," Alley threatened as she headed for the phone.
"Good idea," Patrick replied tartly. "Tell them a psycho is in your house, and she's an intruder that won't leave. FYI, that constitutes trespassing, Ms. Detective."
"And what you've done constitutes stalking, intent to harm another, and attempted kidnapping."
"Attempted kidnapping my foot. I never tried to kidnap anyone."
"Oh no? How about the fact that you plastered your hand against my back and ordered me into this house, making me think your hand was a weapon?"
Patrick looked like he was about to explode in anger. Kenzie tried to take a step back to escape his wrath, but bumped into the loveseat instead. She looked over her shoulder and said, "Alley, call the police."
"Don't even think about it," Patrick threatened, fury engulfing his voice. "I've had it with you, fatty. It's time to teach you to keep your nose out of other people's business."
At this, Patrick lunged at Kenzie. He grabbed her around the neck, catching her off guard. He pushed her down onto the floor, her head barely missing the loveseat. Alley stood idly by in horror.
"Call the police!" Kenzie shrieked, beginning to choke because of her assailant's grip.
"I gave you everything!" Patrick shouted, though she saw that his gaze was riveted on Alley. "And you took it away! You threw it away because you cared more about your appearance than me!"
Kenzie tried to fight back, but to her utter shock, Patrick released her. She tumbled to the floor, gasping for air, as Patrick turned to face Alley.
"I loved you! Why did you do that to me?!"
"So you really are Galen?" Alley asked, unable to believe her ears.
Patrick's response was to remove his jacket to reveal what was left of the tattoo. As Kenzie had suspected, it wasn't all gone.
Alley gaped at the tattoo, then wheezed, "How?"
"Plastic surgery does wonders, doesn't it?" Kenzie stated as she regained her balance and stood up.
"But...what about my appearance?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Patrick chastised. "All you care about is how you look. Your job means more to you than anything else. I gave you everything. I loved you, and you took everything away from me."
"I did love you, Galen. I just..."
"You just didn't want to be seen with me. I know how you really feel about my kind. We're people too, you know. We just have a different skin color. You were too concerned about your image to put your racism aside."
"Racism? But I'm not..."
"We're basically our own race, and you don't like us. I know how you really feel. You think we're freaks because of how we look and because we know magic. I showed that fountain to you because I trusted you and I wanted to make you happy. You used me for it, just to help yourself like a selfish, spoiled brat. Once you got what you wanted from me, it was over."
Alley's eyes filled with tears. "Please, Galen. I did love you, I really did. I just didn't feel it as strongly after a while. It had nothing to do with what you looked like."
"You can't fool me, Alley. You're just lucky that spell only affects your appearance and not your mind. I wouldn't want your mind to get old too. Then you wouldn't remember why you deserved this."
"Don't do this to me. This is ridiculously childish. You put a spell on me to get revenge on me because of something we had in the past? I get the point. Now turn me back to normal!"
"No way. Then you'd be let off too easy. You need to really suffer the consequences. Like I said, I gave you everything, but I don't believe that you ever really loved me. I should have known you could never really love someone like me. You only came to Hidden Springs for the Fountain of Youth. You told me that, remember? All the other big celebs are in Bridgeport, but you wanted to come here for that fountain. And as soon as you got what you wanted, I was history."
During this confrontation, Kenzie attempted to sneak away and call the police. There would be no point in wasting time calling Jillian now. Unfortunately, Patrick saw her. He zipped over to her, snatched her cell phone out of her hand, and hurled it behind him toward the kitchen. Kenzie clenched her fists in frustration. There had to be a way out of here.
"It's time for you to really pay for what you did," Patrick said to Alley, "and you know too much," he told Kenzie, "so it's time to deal with both of you."
Kenzie then saw Patrick withdraw a small piece of paper from his pocket. He snidely explained, "This is a list of possible spells I was going to use on you two. How fortuitous for me that you're both here at the exact same time."
Kenzie looked at Alley, and their fear was reflected in each other's eyes. That was just Kenzie's luck. She'd met a celebrity in person for the first time, and one of her favorite ones at that, and this was how it would end. Her being cursed, killed, or any number of possibilities in said celebrity's house.
She'd been in tight situations before, but this was different. Her captor had the ability to use magic to do with her whatever he pleased. How was she going to get out of this one?
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