CHAPTERONE
CHARLIE
Ayear ago, I had hope of getting out of this prison alive.
Now, I had nothing. No hope. No fear. Nothing. I had too much time to think these days, so I just… didn’t. I shut down.
It was all too easy to go into autopilot while labeling boxes during my Work-Study hours. The Warden obviously didn’t want me working in the mines anymore— not after the stunt the Villain’s Club pulled last semester, when my friends and I had exposed Forevermore. I’d been reassigned to a packaging facility located in the prison wing furthest from the classrooms. The guards had shoved a label gun in my hand and had me labeling boxes eight hours a day, every day.
Box. Label. Box. Label. Box. Label.
That’s all I let go through my head. It was easier to focus on the process than ponder any real problems— like how to save the Elves, or how to get over…her.
Tonight, though, my thoughts raced. I tried to shut them down, but they wouldn’t go away.
The sound of machinery whirred around me, and the heavy scent of metal filled my nose. A box moved down the conveyor belt to my station. I felt for the corner, then pressed the label on with the gun. I could feel the noxite inside the box draining my energy. I didn’t know what was actuallyinthe boxes. It could be raw noxite, cuffs, darts, really anything. The guards never said, and we weren’t supposed to ask.
No one spoke here in the facility, though I could hear other students shuffling around the large room, working their factory jobs. It was a dull job, but better than the mines, at least.
I hadn’t been to the mines since I’d found Forevermore with Ava-Marie.
Hell, Ava.
I hadn’t run into her since we’d broken up. The mere memory of her fingers gliding over my skin caused my entire form to go rigid, and my guts to twist. No magical torture could be so intense as the recollection of my hands running through her long hair. The thought of her beautiful voice, which I’d missed so much, almost dropped me to my knees. It had been months, but instead of getting better, the agony of losing her had only gotten worse. It was like my soul was being torn to shreds, hacked to bits by pieces of glass that were too fragmented for me to pull out, and I bled every time I tried.
Don’t think about her.
Iron bars came down as I shut the ever-encompassing thought ofherout of my mind. I wouldn’t allow myself to go down that pit to hell. No thanks.
I had no classes over the summer, just my Work-Study credit I earned from labeling these stupid boxes. During the summer semester at the Institute, classes were suspended, and inmates were expected to work forty-hours a week— or more— on our Work-Study courses.
I was supposed to keep attending counseling sessions, but no one had seen Professor Takahashi since the Elves had fled Forevermore. I didn’t know why he’d left, but I was sure it was for a good reason. Whatever it was, it was certainly more important than counseling a couple of college-aged criminals.
I took it as a blessing. The Institute hadn’t found anyone to replace Takahashi, so I hadn’t been forced to go to counseling and talk toherall summer. I’d been avoiding her as much as possible, for reasons too painful to consider.
When I wasn’t labeling boxes, I was training for the fight club. I didn’t really want to do it anymore. What was the point? I’d only been doing it to save money to provide for my girl when we got out of this hell hole, and she was gone now.
Although fight club certainly paid better than my garbage Work-Study job— if you could call it ajob. I was pretty sure I made less than ten cents an hour, though no one had ever given me an official number. Prisoner wages were shit.
But I didn’t need the money anymore, not now that she and I had split. Money just didn’t matter. I’d lived without it before. I could do it again.
But I couldn’t get out of fight club, even if I wanted to. When I’dhintedI wanted to quit, Captain had yanked a punching bag off its chains and threw it at me. He wasn’t the kind of vampire you wanted to mess with. It was easier to fight my peers than it was to fight him. So I just took the beatings, because at least I feltsomethingwhen I was being pummeled by a dragon shifter.
The rest of the time, I was just… numb.
Don’t think. Don’t feel. Just breathe.
Every breath I took felt suffocating.
My bonded partner wasn’t the only person I was avoiding. I avoided the guys at fight club as much as I could, too. I put in my training hours at night, when most students were in bed. The guards left my door unlocked so I could sneak down to the training center after my late Work-Study shift. I’d train all night, then sneak back into my room beforehercell unlocked from beside mine. I’d sleep most of the day, until my Work-Study shift started at two o’clock.
And I repeated that over and over. Like I said, it’d become too easy to fall into an autopilot routine. Any spare moment I had, I spent with Eddie searching for information about the keys to open the Elven gate on Darke Island, but we hadn’t found anything.
I was prophesied to bring the Elves into paradise, by opening that Elven gate using seven keys, one from every supernatural race, and leading them on into heaven— the Blessed Haven, where the Elves belonged.
Though at this point, it felt more like I was leading them to their doom.
I’d basically given up. What was the point, anyhow? The Warden had won.
