“Wait! Stop!” she yelled as she craned herhead to look back at Kyle.
“Let her go!” Kyle bellowed and threw himselfagainst the glass.
His cage shuddered but held firm. Then, hestepped back and threw himself at it again and again and again. Thebattering had to be doing more damage to his body than theglass.
Melanie kicked the guard to her right,catching him in the knee and causing him to go down. She would payfor that, but she was already going to pay, so what did itmatter?
The guard’s leg bent at an unnatural angle.He released her as he went down. She spun toward the other guardand unleashed an uppercut that caught him under his jaw. His headshot back.
Her years of self-defense training floodedback to her. As he was recovering, she planted her foot in hisstomach and shoved him away from her. When his hold on her broke,she turned to flee back toward Kyle, but the other guard caught herankle and jerked.
She cried out when he ripped her foot outfrom under her. She barely had the time to get her hands under herbefore she hit the concrete. Her palms slapped off the floor, andthe air rushed out of her lungs. Struggling to catch her breath,she wheezed as she kicked out at the man holding her ankle.
The other guard recovered, and seizing herhair, he lifted her from the floor. Melanie swung and hissed like acat trying to avoid a bath, but he held her away from him as hehauled her toward the elevator.
The other guard gained his feet, and catchingher arm, he yanked it up and behind her back. Her shoulder and armscreamed against the wrenching, unnatural movement, but between theone holding her hair and the other her arm, she had no choice butto continue toward the elevator. Still, she managed to twist enoughto see Kyle throw himself at the glass again.
“Kyle, no!” she screamed when blood formed onhis shoulder.
And then, she realized it wasn’t blood. Somestrange red and black color was seeping across his skin as itspread throughout him. She went limp in her guard’s hold, and thetoes of her feet dragged across the floor as they led her away.
And then, with Kyle’s next blow to the glass,a crack raced up its smooth surface a second before a gas cloudflooded his cage and the fog swallowed him. Blood smeared thesmooth surface as the skin on his hands broke from beating againsthis cage.
The guards released her as they tossed herinto the elevator. Unprepared for the sudden motion and release,she staggered into the back wall and bounced off it before slumpingto the ground.
Kyle threw himself against the cell oncemore. The crack ran further up his cage, but it didn’t break. Shewaited for him to batter the glass once more, but he didn’t.
The gas had taken its toll on him; he was asdefeated as her. A sense of hopelessness descended over her. Whenher gaze shifted to her father, the rapt look on his face made herblood run cold.
That gas was only the beginning for Kyle. Herfather had seen the strange color encompassing him too, and thatcrack in the glass was somethingnoone had ever donebefore, or at least not to her knowledge. Judging by the expressionon her father’s face, he’d never seen it before either.
When her father’s gaze swung toward her, shealmost recoiled. Instead, she lifted her chin and glowered at himas she used the wall to help her rise. Cruel calculation shimmeredin his eyes; Kyle would pay for what happened today.
This was her fault. Shenevershouldhave come here, but it was too late now. Not only were things aboutto get far worse for Kyle, but they were going to get worse for heralso. She could only do her best to fix this… somehow.
But how?
She’d asked herself that question a thousandtimes since coming back here, and she still didn’t have an answer.As the doors slid closed, she realized the not knowing might be thedeath of her.
CHAPTER 28
Melanie’s head liftedwhen the lock clicked. She pushed herself up on her bed and paddedover to the door. Her hand trembled as she reached for theknob.
When her hand fell against the cool metal andit turned beneath her touch, she almost sobbed with joy. It hadbeen a week since she last saw Kyle and they led her into her roomand locked the door.
A week in which they’d left her behind. Aweek in which she’d done nothing but ponder if she would ever walkfree again while she relentlessly paced the small confines of herroom.
Lucy came by every day and talked to herthrough the door. That small connection helped to keep her fromcompletely falling apart, but it hadn’t eased her terror over thepossibility she might never walk free again.
Three times a day, someone came by to escorther to the bathroom. They were always armed, and when they returnedher to her room, there was a tray of food within. It was all theygave her to eat and the only time she was allowed to leave. Therewere more than a couple of times she almost pissed herself whilewaiting for them to arrive, and she hadn’t been allowed toshower.
Cautiously opening the door, she poked herhead outside. She held her breath as she waited for someone to yellat her to get back inside; no one did.
At the far end of the hall, her father turnedthe corner and vanished. She almost called him back to thank himfor releasing her, but he was the one who put her there in thefirst place.
Instead, dread crawled like spiders over herflesh. He hadn’t come to see her over the past week, and althoughhe’d set her free, it was clear he didn’t want to see her. And thatwas fine with her.
And why?
