62 Where Is Ruby?

He went outside and greeted the very confused deliverymen wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, and a face mask. "Hello, are you delivering this for Ruby Gardner?"

"…uh, yeah. Can you sign for her?"

Ash took the proffered electronic device that required his signature and signed it in ancient looping script. The delivery driver didn't even notice how odd that was in the face of dropping off a fridge and wood chipper in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere to a guy wearing such heavy clothes in the middle of summer.

"Thank you," he said perfunctorily. "I can take things from here."

The deliveryman was skeptical but let it go. "Sure…have a nice day."

Once he and his comrade got back into the car and drove away Ash felt secure enough to lift the fridge and carry it one-handed, balancing it against his chest and head. With the other hand he dragged the wood chipper just inside the barrier to deal with it later.

His grip on the fridge was much more secure with two hands even though he was strong enough to hold it with one. He brought it to the kitchen and set it down in an empty space. If Ruby didn't like where he placed it he could move it when she got back.

Come to think of it, where was Ruby? Had her errands really taken so long?

Ash had a bad feeling about this. He sent her a text but still hadn't gotten a response thirty minutes later so he tried calling her instead. It rang for a long time before going to voicemail.

Panic seized him. Had she been caught or was he overreacting? He didn't know how much she intended to do today or how long it would take but he couldn't help but worry.

He tried getting through to her multiple times in the next few hours to no avail. That was it! He was going out to find her himself even if she did make fun of him for being overly paranoid later!

Ash ran as fast as he could until he reached the area where he could get spotted. Then he slowed to a normal human sprint.

He wasn't sure where exactly she had been planning to go today other than the witch coven so he headed there first. Philomena's expression turned from welcoming to pitying the moment she saw him and his heart sunk. That couldn't be good.

"Hey Ash…Blair told me to send you straight to her if you showed up," she said apologetically, tugging on her oversized witch's hat.

He blew past her and went straight back in search of the witch he was looking for. Blair was in her workroom and gave him an unbearably gentle expression as if she was about to break terrible news.

No. This couldn't be happening.

"Blair, where is she?!" he demanded. "Where is Ruby?"

Ash sunk to his knees and let out a primordial howl of rage that was so forceful it shattered some of the glass in the room. Gone. Ruby was gone and she might never be coming back.

The only person who would use her cousin to threaten her had to be whoever her uncle tried to sell her to. Flint Gardner's greed had caught up with him after all if his child got involved.

He couldn't lose her; he just couldn't! Not when he finally found something to live for.

Ash pulled himself together and got to his feet, seizing Blair by the front of her robes so she dangled a few inches from the ground. He growled, "Tell me everything you know RIGHT NOW."

She slapped at his hands so he released her and straightened her robes in a huff. "I would have done that anyway; there's no need to get nasty. Some mystery fae in a hood dropped off a USB for Ruby the other day saying only she could watch it.

"Of course I thought that was super sketchy so I had to watch it for myself first. Come on, I'll show it to you. I thought I recognized the voice but I can't put my finger exactly on who it is because it's been a long time since I talked to whoever it is…"

He already had a terrifying suspicion based on whoever dropped it off being in a hood during daylight hours but the worst was confirmed the second the video began playing. Ash would have to die before he would forget that voice.

Dorian Cromwell. Ruby had been bought by the most merciless fae he ever had the great misfortune to encounter.

His fist went through the screen the second the video finished and Blair chewed him out. "Hey! You owe me a new laptop and you better pay to have all of my data recovered to boot."

"That isn't important right now!" Ash shouted, clutching his head with crazed eyes. "Ruby got taken by Dorian Cromwell!"

The witch's eyes went wide and she stumbled backward in shock before letting off a bizarrely mixed stream of curse words from several different centuries. "What would he want with an earth fairy?!"

He paced back and forth waving his arms about wildly, on the verge of destroying everything in this room. Blair would not be happy about that so the tiny, still rational part of his brain tried to hold back.

"Her glamour isn't the only thing that's special about her," Ash said sharply. "She's unique. One-of-a-kind. She controls minerals, Blair. She could destroy the world if she wanted to but she wouldn't do that because she's the sweetest, most wonderful fae…"

He got too choked up to continue for a moment. The thought of something as beautiful and pure as Ruby being within a hundred miles of Dorian Cromwell made him sick.