“No problem. Everyone sleeps the first night; the drugs are still in your body. I read about it. They’ll wear off in a little while.”
Finn spoke softly in a hurried voice, and I listened to his stories about Russia, and old folklore that he found on the internet. My blinks were becoming longer, but that only made him more comfortable with talking to me.
Only a minute or two went by when I snapped my eyes open. Finn was off and running down the hall. Prickles of energy raced across my skin as I felt the flare of a Mage.
Nero stepped into the light with his hands in his pockets. Cool. Collected.
Nero spit, and a puff of dirt rose where it hit the ground. He removed his hands from his pockets and curled them around the bars. “You disgust me with your interbreeding. I’m placing you on food restriction, and I’ll return when you are more… cleansed.” His nose twitched, and he looked at me like garbage. “Welcome home.”
“This is not my home.”
“Possession is nine tenths of the law. Your days living under a Ghuardian are over; enjoy the accommodations.” A door slammed in the distance when he walked away.
Time moved forward at a crawl. I could wait patiently for centuries, or I could take charge of my escape. The key to my freedom was in my hands alone.
When the door clicked open, I lifted my eyes. I was anxious to talk to Finn because he was a likable kid, and he might be able to get me out of here. Instead—lifeless eyes watched me from behind the bars.
The dark-haired man stood as silent as a statue. His skin was heavy bronze, as if he spent all his hours in the sun. There was dirt on his rough hands, and mud on his boots.
We engaged in a staring match, a contest I easily won. He lifted an arm to take the key off of the wall.
“Diego, better get your ass out there, man. They’re looking for you,” Finn yelled from a distance.
Diego squeezed his fingers around the key.
“Did you hear me?”
***
Finn returned after a long stretch of boredom. The air was thick like summer heat and I rubbed at my sweaty neck. There were no windows or proper ventilation. A pair of sneakers briskly walked along the hall, and Finn took a seat by the door.
“How are you holding out?”
“I think I’ve lost twenty pounds in sweat.”
“It gets cooler in the evening. The sun hitting the roof tends to heat things up.”
“That’s the infamous Diego? Charming guy.”
Finn shifted on his ankle. “If I didn’t yell out, that clown would’ve come in here. I’m not joking around with you. He’s hardcore. Diego doesn’t react unless someone looks at him; he thinks it means something. Keep your eyes on the floor and play invisible.”
I knew he was just trying to help, so I smiled and nodded at him.
“I heard Nero put you on food restriction. Don’t worry. I’ll bring you a few apples, but I’ll have to sneak them in later. Sound cool?”
“Do you think there’s a chance he’ll move me with the others?”
“Why? Am I too boring for you?” he asked.
“No you don’t bore me, Finn,” I assured him. “What do you shift into?”
“That’s not a very polite thing to ask.”
I quickly looked up. “Well la-tee-da! I didn’t think it was such a big secret.”
Finn looped his finger around his shoelace. “I don’t go around showing everyone my animal. That’s
personal
.”
“Sorry, I’ve never met a Shifter. I don’t mean to be rude with my questions. I was just curious.”
“It’s like me asking what your gifts are. I may find out eventually. But you’re not going to just disclose them to me, now are you?”
He had a point.
“Do you go to school? Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Um, no. I’ve never been to school,” he said, combing his hair down with his fingernails. “I’m not allowed to leave the property so I don’t meet girls. They sometimes let me get on the Internet, so I read a lot. I’m not stupid.”
“Of course you aren’t, I can see you’re very bright. How old are you?”
“I think I’m about twenty-two. I forgot the exact day I was born, but I know the month. I’m a Leo.”
I wasn’t that much older than he was. I stopped aging at twenty-nine when my Creator made me.
“What would happen if you set me free?”
“I can’t,” he said, shaking his head. “Even if I had the key to those chains and let you go, Nero would beat the snot out of me.”
“Scratch that idea.”
He lifted his chin and disguised an emotion I couldn’t read. “You mean it?”
“No one takes a beating for me.”
For the first time, Finn was silent.
His jeans rustled as he stood up to leave. When he was out of sight, I heard him mumble to himself, “I wish I could give you a blanket.”
I loved that kid immediately.
Chapter 28
As promised, the meals were never delivered to my cell.
Late at night, I stared at the ceiling listening to an animal prowling around. Toenails scratched and clawed at the floorboards, and sometimes I heard a snort, or a thunderous run. Whatever lived up there was restless. They shut the main lights down at night, which gave me a sense of time. Finn brought apples, and I hid the cores beneath the straw to bury the evidence. He was good company, dropping in several times a day to talk about movies and facts he read on the Internet. Finn was an inquisitive young man—always wanting to know about the outside world.
When the hall door opened, I brushed a piece of straw off my cheek. No one ever came in this late, including Finn.
At the far end of the hall, a light switched on, throwing shadows across the floor. A silhouette of a man drifted in front of the cell. The door unlocked.
“Finn?”
It wasn’t Finn. It was Diego.
He came inside and I swept my leg out, knocking him off his feet. I didn’t have time to think—only react. I lifted my leg to stomp on his throat when he grabbed my ankle and pulled me off balance. I hit the floor and knocked my head hard enough that I saw flashing lights.
A growl rolled through the open door like a starting motor. It was vicious, causing all the little hairs on my arms to stand up as it moved in closer. Diego stood up and I scurried across the dirt until I met with the wall, pulling the chain in my hands to use as a weapon. Diego I could handle, but something that wild made my heart beat out of control.
My nerves seized up when the hall light went out, throwing me into darkness. That was the first time I ever fell asleep with my eyes open.
***
In my dream, the cavern floor was hard, but that’s exactly how I remembered it. Glowing embers from the fire crackled, and a familiar face leaned against the wall, kicking up a spray of shimmering dust.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, you’re Mr. Doublecross.”
Logan furrowed his brow. “What is that supposed to mean?”
I pointed an accusing finger at him. “Did you sell me out? What was this date really about, Logan? How much did Nero pay you to get me out of the house?”
The temperature dropped twenty degrees. “I would never do that!” he shouted, his upper lip trembling in anger.
“Can you promise me that? I will
never
forgive you if you were part of this.”
“On my word,” he said softly. “On my very word I would never consider it.” Logan looked down, hair falling in front of his face like a veil. “I couldn’t track you; they blocked the scent. How did they take you without a fight?”
“
Drugs, drugs, drugs
,” I sang.
He looked at me sideways and a sly grin spread across his face. “You seem in good spirits. I hope you realize that I’m not a dream.”
I felt more lucid than usual, so I knew he was right. “I have a new friend. Isn’t it interesting where I’m meeting all my new friends lately?”
We sat down against the uneven wall and Logan held onto my knee.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Nero is keeping me locked up in some kind of barn. There are others here, but I haven’t seen them because he’s kept us separated. I think Nero is trying to replace Samil, but good luck on that,” I muttered.
“Nero,” he whispered. Something dark flashed across his face. “Is your friend a Mage or human?”
“Neither. He’s a Shifter.”
Logan squeezed my knee. “A Shifter is half animal, and their animal cannot be trusted.”
“Finn is just a kid. He couldn’t hurt anybody.”
Logan threw his head back and stared ahead. “I should have never let you go alone. I had a feeling before you left the table that something wasn’t right. It could have been their adrenaline, or smell…”
“Then why did you let me go?”
“Because I’m not Justus. I don’t require you to wear a leash. You should be able to go to the bathroom without a shadow, and I wanted...” He slammed his head against the wall angrily.
“I’ve never kissed you in my dream.”
He didn’t move, so I stretched until my lips pressed to his. They were soft, but unresponsive.
Logan turned up his chin. “Not like this.”
“I know you want to kiss me,” I said, stroking my mouth softly over his cheek. That’s when he pushed me off and stood up.
“It’s not real, Silver. I don’t want anything with you if it’s not real.”
***
The next morning, the guards allowed me to bathe in a narrow stream just a short walk from the building. Finn was my handler, so they linked us together with neck shackles and a long chain.
“Make it easy or make it hard. I could give a fuck,” one of the guards huffed.
I decided to make it easy and let them switch out the chains.
The guards didn’t follow us, and there was no need to. I wouldn’t get far trying to drag Finn through the woods against his will. The neck shackles contained the same magic suppressant. I guess it just made things easier for Nero if we couldn’t put up much of a fight.
The water was chilly and clear. Finn sat on the shore and never spoke a word. He looked a little embarrassed, but went through the motions as if he’d done it a million times. I wondered why Finn never escaped. Perhaps he did and learned a hard lesson, but most likely, he didn’t know how to live outside of captivity. When you belong to someone for that many years, you forget how to belong to yourself. While
my
chains were physical, Finn’s were psychological, and this was something I knew a little about.
When we returned to my cell, the guards locked me inside.
“Diego visited last night,” I said.
Finn’s knuckles whitened, squeezing the bars.
“I couldn’t see much,” I continued, “but I had a protector watching over me.”
You would have thought I presented him with a medal. Finn puffed out his chest proudly. How much did a Shifter remember in their animal form? I guessed very little, but not wanting to ask another inappropriate question, I left it alone.
“Why does Diego obey you the way he does?”
“He’s a human. I’ve already established that I’m the alpha and he’s the beta.”
Shifters were interesting creatures, indeed.
I spent the rest of the day alone and hungry. I had visions of Justus sitting at a table brushing barbeque sauce over a rack of ribs. While the hunger was uncomfortable, I had a few laughs remembering the quirky things about how he liked to eat his food.
By evening, the temperature dropped. It was unusual that Finn hadn’t stopped in. I wanted to know more about the others Nero was keeping.
When the hall door clicked open, I was relieved. “Finn,” I sighed. “I was beginning to worry. Where have you been all day?”
“Misbehaving,” a voice replied. “Sorry to disappoint. Were you expecting someone else?”
Nero walked by the bars without making eye contact. He pulled the corners away from a white napkin, holding the dirty remains of apple cores. I felt sickened at the sight of them. Finn brought them to me, and they must have searched the room while I bathed.
“Where’s Finn?”
“I’m making sure that he stays an obedient dog.”
“Don’t you hurt him!”
“I’ll send him your regards. My, don’t we look all fresh and clean today?”
A smile polluted his face as he slid the key into the lock. The door opened and my pulse quickened. I picked up the chain, rehearsing a scene I’d imagined in my head a hundred times. I ran the slack through my hands expectantly. He wanted to taste my light, and I would die before I gave it to him willingly.