He let go when I said nothing.
“You were promised to me, Violet. Like it or not, love me or don’t, I don’t care. But this will go a lot easier for you if you try.”
I just stared at him. I was sure my expression was neutral, but I couldn’t hide the disgust in my eyes.
He sighed. “Fine. Hard way it is.”
I spentthe rest of the day getting punched, kicked, and elbowed. As far as torture went, I imagined this was pretty mild. I was covered head to toe in bruises and my left eye was swollen shut, but by some miracle, nothing was broken.
I was untied and dragged out of the room by two ginormous guys a few hours after waking up. The hallway was the same as the room—black stone lined with torches. We took the first left to another identical hallway, then the third right before they finally tossed me into a room at the end of the hall.
The door shut the second I landed on the floor. There was a soft yellow light, barely overtaking the darkness.
I peeled myself off the cold ground—slowly, so slowly. Everything fucking hurt. I considered just staying here, but I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.
Officer Psycho-Pants had stood in the corner of the cave and watched his goons beat the shit out of me with displeasure all over his face. He seemed to get more and more pissed the longer I sat there without a sound. No crying, no begging, no screaming. So I sunk my teeth into my tongue to keep any noises from escaping and glared at him.
Now all I wanted to do was stay curled up on this floor and let all my tears escape but they were probably watching me.
No cameras in here.
I pressed my lips together to keep a sob from escaping. Didn’t stop the tears, though. “Niko?”
The shadow took the form of a mini Toothless in front of me.It’s me.
“Does that mean Austin is already here?”
The little dragon shook its head.I didn’t want you to be alone. I broke off at the cottage to come with you. I tried to leave, to tell the others where you are but I can’t get past the devices.
“You’ve done a thorough search?”
Another head shake.I… I didn’t want to leave you. I only did a quick scan before I heard the whispers that you were awake. I…
More tears poured out of my eyes. He saw everything. I held out my hand and he snuggled into it.
Are you okay?
“I will be. Can you tell me what you’ve gathered so far? It will help to think about escape options.”
We’re in the mountain, at least two hundred heavily armed guards. There are devices completely surrounding the perimeter. From what I overheard in my short time searching, they keep anyone with powers from crossing. Or they stop powers from passing through. I’m not exactly clear. I’ll have to get back to you on that one.
There are fifty levels. We’re in the mid-section, just below the surface. This is a government sanctioned lab. It is a fully funded, top secret experiment to try and get more people superpowers. They want a way to regulate who can get powers—anyone they can easily manipulate and use for an advantage. But it hasn’t been working.
The officer and his family were responsible for the incident, that’s why they were given this base. But they haven’t been able to recreate the same results. That’s why you’re here. They’re hoping that by triggering your powers, they’ll gain insight into how it works.
“What’s so special about me? I don’t understand.”
I don’t know. I’ll do my best to find out.
I managed to get myself to my feet and use the wall to get over to the bed. If you could even call it that. It was a mattress on a giant black box with a single pillow. There weren’t even sheets or blankets on it.
They clearly didn’t want me to have anything I could turn into a weapon. Jokes on them—I was the weapon.
“Go. Scout.” I watched my little guardian hesitate. “Please, I’m going to sleep and you can give me a better report the second I wake up.”
I’ll wait until you fall asleep.
I nodded as he curled up next to me.
