Far away, past the stone and the pipes and the men who smell like sour milk, something is breaking. It’s a tiny sound—the snap of a dry twig—but in my head, it sounds as loud as a lorry when you’re sleeping under a bridge.
Let me out. I have to get to it. Save it.
Wump—ppp.
Kitten.
I start crying so hard that I expect I’ll soon drown. But if that little bumpy heart-thing doesn’t live, what’s the point of my existence.
Wump—ppp.
Time passes. Finally, when I’m almost knee deep in a sea of my tears, the panic stops.
That was a close one.
I need to get out of this hole. No more mole.
No more chomping fingers.
I have to behave. I’ll be the most well-behaved lunatic this prison has ever seen.
I make the vow to the floor tiles, then settle down, lying on my back.
The lullaby of her heart will sing me back to sleep.
This Jack has to stay in the box, but not for much longer.
15. AURORA
“RORY!”
The weight on my chest vanishes.
There’s smashing and screaming.
Move, Rory. Hide. This is your chance.
I try to roll over to my knees but my body won’t respond. Instead I let my head loll to one side, and that’s when I see a blur of Digger gray.
A whirlwind of violence that throws the No-men aside like they’re rag dolls. Taliesin moves with a brutal, efficient speed that makes my ballet look like a slow-motion dream.
Beside him, Clay is bringing a heavy metal pipe down on all the red scrubs Taliesin throws his way.
Two more figures blur into the space behind them. I hear Keisha’s manic laugh.
Fuck, get it together.
My hands are shaking so violently they hardly work, but I manage to drag myself further from the fighting.
And then my heart does its fucking thing.
Wump-ppp.
Taliesin grabs the man with the twisted nose by the throat, “I told you,” he growls, slamming the man into the wall, “she is undermyprotection.”
Another no-man screams, and I see Alanna and Keisha taking turns to kick him.
“Can you walk?” Taliesin demands, his eyes furious and chest heaving.
