“Whoa, Grizzizzik,” Nick couldn’t help but shout.

Ezekiel moved forward, arm up. “Step away from Derek.”

“I’d be happy to, except this isn’t Derek,” Grizzizzik said.

Nick’s heart dropped into his stomach. He wouldn’t have believed it, but he realized he rolled over twenty on the insight check. But if Grizzizzik was right, if this wasn’t Derek…

“You can’t know that for certain,” Ezekiel said.

Evelyn glanced at Nick with wide eyes. “Does he?”

Nick showed her his two hands, both with two fingers. Evelyn gasped, covering her mouth. Derek was not here. Which meant Derek was somewhere else.

Ezekiel took a few more steps forward. “We need proof.”

The rogue sneered at Derek. “I’ll give you proof.”

Time came to a standstill.

Roll to hit

Nick sighed, then grabbed the d20. It landed on a seventeen. Even with his hell dagger, that would absolutely hit.

Time resumed and Grizzizzik moved his dagger from Derek’s throat to his shoulder, slicing him. Derek grunted, then Grizzizzik looked at Ezekiel, pointing to Derek’s stomach. Nick understood immediately. Grizzizzik, a creature from the Shrouded Domain, injured Derek. If it was actually Derek, one of his gray marks would have resurfaced. The only people who knew about the gray marks were those within the group. Which meant someone was impersonating Derek. Considering how dark Grizzizzik’s glare had turned when he placed the dagger back against the clone’s throat, Nick grabbed Evelyn and Rafael’s wrists and pulled them away. This could turn into a battle, fast.

The other characters gathered near Grizzizzik and the Derek clone. Nick didn’t dare let go of Rafael or Evelyn. Ezekiel, it seemed, didn’t quite understand why Grizzizzik hurt Derek.

The rogue glared at the cleric. “He’s got a magical hat of disguises.”

Clarissa blinked, then rolled her eyes. “Deities above, Grizzizzik. Do you have to make everything so violent and complicated?” She strode forward and grabbed the hat on Derek’s head and yanked it off. Once it was off, Derek’s frame trembled. Black and red scales traveled down his body as his legs merged. Nick realized he hadn’t backed away nearly enough as Evelyn let out a tiny scream, scrambling out of his grasp to back away further. Hraktar unsheathed his great sword as Grizzizzik smiled.

“I knew it.”

Nick panted as time came to a standstill, and he was once again asked to roll to hit. The d20 landed on a two.

Ezekiel leapt toward Grizzizzik, grabbing his wrist to stop the rogue from slitting his father’s throat. They struggled for a bit. “Let me go!” Grizzizzik snarled at Ezekiel.

“He’s stolen Derek. We need him alive to get information.”

Ezekiel’s words hit Nick like a hammer. Akshi had kidnapped Derek. Holy shit, this took a bad turn fast.

Grizzizzik glared at Akshi. “We’ll never get information from him. No amount of torture will make Akshi spill his secrets. Not when he can resurrect after dying.”

Akshi smirked, and Nick had a feeling the crime lord wouldn’t speak another word the entire time.

“We will not torture him,” Ezekiel said.

Grizzizzik kept his snake eyes on his father. “You think giving him cookies and friendship will make him change his mind? You’re a bigger fool than I thought.”

“And killing him will make him come back in a few days to a place we can’t control. We know where he is now. We tie him up and place him somewhere he can’t hurt anyone else until we can get rid of him permanently,” Ezekiel said.

This seemed like an idea Grizzizzik was slowly warming up to. Until Akshi started muttered something. Grizzizzik tried to cover Akshi’s mouth, no doubt trying to keep the spell from completing. Akshi grabbed Grizzizzik’s wrist and smirked as a glowing dimension door appeared behind him.

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“No!” Grizzizzik shouted.

Ezekiel tried to grab Akshi, but the crime lord slithered backward into the portal and disappeared with a smirk.

“Shit! You should have let me kill him!” Grizzizzik said. “He is as slippery as an eel.”

Rafael pulled out his phone with unmatched speed before pointing at Evelyn. “Call Tyler.”

Evelyn nodded, pulling out her own phone as Nick felt himself panicking.

“We’ve got to go.” Hraktar kept his hands on his great sword, glancing around. “We’ve got to save them.”

Milo stared at the place where the dimension door disappeared. “How? We have… no idea where they are.”

“Alejandra, are you alright?” Rafael’s voice betrayed his fear.

“Tyler? Akshi kidnapped Derek, and we don’t know where he is,” Evelyn said at the same time.

Nick placed his hands in his hair. Grizzizzik let out a shout of frustration before kicking the minivan wheel.

Rafael walked a bit from the group. “I need you here. To make sure you’re okay. Akshi has kidnapped Derek. Teleport Hraktar to you. Now. We need to get everyone together to make sure we’re safe. Once Hraktar is gone, I’m hanging up and calling Hazel.”

“He’s gone. Akshi’s gone, and Derek’s gone.” Evelyn’s voice wasn’t as steady. “They’re gone. They’re gone.”

Nick sank to the ground where he stood, staring at nothing as Hraktar disappeared. The reality of it all smacked into him hard. They had been so concerned Alejandra would get kidnapped that they didn’t consider anyone else. Now Derek was somewhere, and they had to get him back.

***

Derek didn’t know how long he’d been tied up in the chair, but it didn’t take long for it to be uncomfortable. Hearing Pippa humming to herself was again what kept him from teleporting Milo to him. Of all the people, Milo could not be teleported to the same room as Pippa.

He couldn’t see a thing. Not just because they kept the burlap sack over his head, but even with opening his eyes wide, all he saw was blackness. Since Pippa and Akshi both had dark vision, it only made sense that they’d take him somewhere so dark he couldn’t see.

Derek tried to guess where he was, but Pippa had securely tied him to a chair in the darkness. His hands remained behind his back, his ankles tied to the legs of the chair. He tried moving the chair around, but Pippa saw and slapped him for that. Derek had crouched over as one of his gray marks exploded into reality. Though he was certain he got stabbed, he realized after a moment that it wasn’t as deep as he thought. Pippa didn’t notice, or she would have commented on the blood on his shirt.

Derek’s fingertips searched for the knot around his wrists when he heard groaning that stopped him short. His second fear was realized only a few hours after his deepest fear happened. They had kidnapped Emma, too. It had been so dark he didn’t realize she was in here with him.

“Emma?” Derek asked. Or tried to ask. They kept the gag on him.

She groaned again, and Derek was worried Pippa would slap her for making a noise. Derek really didn’t know where they were. It was deathly quiet.

“Ugh, where am I?” Derek tried to say something, to let her know she wasn’t alone. “Who is that?”

He felt her hands on his pant leg, feeling the chair. It was as dark for Emma as it was for Derek, but he kept talking so she could get his gag off.

Emma’s hands were on the burlap sack, and she pulled it off before her fingers found the gag. “Alright, alright. I’ve got it. Give me a second.”

It was more than a second. The knot proved difficult for Emma, and Derek didn’t blame her. It was pitch black in here, and he didn’t even know what kind of knot Pippa tied. Or where Pippa was. He realized, with a cold sweat, that he no longer heard Pippa humming. She could be anywhere, and he was too scared to teleport Milo here. He could hear Emma grumbling behind him before the gag finally came free, and Derek gasped for air.

“Thank you,” Derek said.

There was a pause. “Derek?”

“Obviously. Who else would it be? Pippa and Akshi don’t talk to anyone else.”

“Is… that who kidnapped me?”

Derek winced. “What do you remember?”

“I… Pippa bought me a drink, saying she wanted to talk some more about my situation with you. I told her no.”

Her words sent relief through him, though he was afraid to hear the rest of the story. “But you drank what she gave you?”

“I’m not about to let a caramel macchiato go to waste, Derek.” Emma talked like Pippa offered world peace.

“Both of you will shut up, or there will be consequences,” Pippa said.

Derek froze, feeling terrified.

“You can’t do this to us! That’s completely unacceptable,” Emma said.

“Emma, shh.”

“Oh, let her fight, Derek. It’s adorable seeing a bunny stumble into a den of wolves without realizing it,” Pippa said.

“Let us go!” Emma said.

“No.”

There was a scuffle, then Emma let out a scream. Derek’s mind jolted into the worst probable scenario, terrified Pippa had stabbed her.

“Let her go! Stop! Please, she doesn’t know what she’s saying!” Derek shouted to the pitch-black darkness.

“You can’t get away with this! My parents will have already called the police!” Emma shouted.

Emma’s words began to muffle, and Derek struggled with his own bonds. He was still afraid Pippa would murder Emma. He tried to believe the Shrouded Domain people couldn’t hurt people from earth like that yet, but it didn’t stop him from feeling terrified for Emma’s life. Only Derek and his friends could get hurt, not people like Emma. He could only hope she was still protected.

Emma struggled, but was now gagged. Derek remained quiet, so Pippa wouldn’t remember to gag him again. Pippa and Emma moved behind him.

“Now that we got that taken care of, both of you will remain silent, or there will be consequences,” Pippa said before moving away.

Derek calmed his breathing.

Something near them slithered. Derek’s entire body stiffened as Pippa and Akshi moved to the corner of what he could only assume was a completely dark room to discuss things.

“Emma, stay quiet, stay still. We don’t want Akshi to hurt us,” Derek said.