“Why does Ellie seem turned on by that?” Dominic whispers, though I don’t know if he’s speaking to himself, to Beckett, or to Zane.
“Because she’s just as twisted as we are.” Zane pulls me closer to him and kisses the side of my head. “My beautiful, twisted psycho.”
The servants finish handing out the knives before disappearing out the door they entered from.
“The rules of today’s game are simple.” The Divine One’s voice is soft, almost lyrical, lilted with that weird mechanical undertone from the voice converter beneath her mask. “There are fifty of you.” She pauses, considers, then corrects herself. “Fifty-four.” She casts me and the guys a pointed look, which we ignore. “There will be five little lambs. Behind me”—she steps aside to reveal a darkened hallway—“are a series of halls that lead to dead ends and random rooms. The lambs will have a five-minute head start. You will all have an hour to find the lambs.” She waits, allowing her words to sink in, to feed thesick, insidious excitement already in the air. “And when you find them, you’ll slaughter them.”
Laughter ripples through the gathered members, and I feel physically sick to my stomach.
Fuck.
I knew this was going to be bad, but to actively be a part of it?
I find myself speaking before I can think better of it, taking one step forward and drawing every eye toward me. “What happens if the lambs survive?”
The laughter fades like a giant candle being snuffed out, until the room is still. Silent. Eerily so.
“Excuse me?” The Divine One cants her head to the side as she studies me.
“You said that we’ll have an hour to hunt down the lambs.” I swallow around the razor blades in my throat. “What happens if the lambs survive?”
“Then I guess we’ll have no choice but to let the lambs go.”
Am I mistaken, or does it sound like Aria is smiling? No. That’s impossible. You can’t detect emotions when she uses that voice modulator.
Would she really do that?
Free them?
I don’t know if she’s telling the truth—I don’t believe she is—but it doesn’t matter. Somehow, some way, we’ll save these people.
“Bring out the lambs!” The Divine One waves a hand toward the door, and it opens once more, five people being marched inside. Two women and three men, though they aren’t the ones I saw upstairs in the ballroom. Like them, they’re naked, their gaunt bodies on display for all to see.
One of the girls can’t be more than a few years older than me. She attempts feebly to hide her naked body from prying eyes. Tears streak her cheeks as she tries to turn away, to make herselfas small and unassuming as possible. The second woman simply stands there with her hands on her hips, strong and confident, appearing unaffected by everything transpiring.
But I can see the fear in her eyes.
The way her lips twitch.
One of the men stares straight ahead, his expression deadened, while another sobs and pleas for us to let him go.
And the fifth…
Horror catapults through me, and my heart makes a mad dash up my throat, trying to escape.
The fifth isn’t looking at the crowd but directly at me, his eyes pained.
I know him.
Senator Reece Whipers.
21
ELLIE
Itry to wordlessly converse with my eyes that I’m here to save him, to save them all, but I’m not sure I’m able to convey that.
After a long moment, he looks away, a resigned sigh escaping him.
