Behind me, I hear Sky whimper. All I wanted was for the kid to have a nice shower, but now we have to deal with this.
“Dimitry can take it up with François,” I say, stepping up beside Layla. “In the meantime, take off the coats and wash, or get the hell out. You’re ruining the atmosphere.”
Elizabeth looks at me and sneers, but then takes note of Layla’s clenched fists, and the twins at her side. She and her friend move off silently to the back corner of the room. Layla points to her eyes and then the girls, doing the “I’m watching you” gesture. Dot follows it up by spitting at the tile in their direction.
OK, now that’s sorted, what the fuck is going on with Sky?
I put my hand on Layla’s arm. “Can you help me with the kid?” I mutter. “Sky’s freaked.”
Layla shakes the aggression out of her fists, then bends down to Sky’s level. “What’s up? You can tell us.”
It seems she can’t. Her eyes grow wider and sadder.
Dot, Lay and I look at each other. What’s going on with her?
“Sky?”
After a few seconds, she turns around and lowers down her underwear a little. On her right butt cheek is a series of numbers, tattooed in dark red ink, on her pale skin. “I-I didn’t want you all to see…but I guess you will eventually.”
The numbers are blurred, like the tattoo was done a while ago, and not by a professional. Why does it register as familiar in my brain? I rub the scars on my wrists, confused.
Layla’s face turns instantly to thunder. “Did they do that to you? The men who took you?”
Sky nods.
Shit. I pull her into a slightly awkward, wet and naked hug.
“I try to forget about it, but it’s impossible. I’m like a cow. They brand numbers on cows, don’t they? I’m just a stupid cow.” She collapses out of my arms and onto the wet floor, her knees hitting the tile with a painful thud.
“Sky!” I throw myself down next to her, ignoring the spray hitting my face.
“After we went on the boat,” Sky whimpers, her voice shaking so hard it’s barely audible. “They put me in a jeep. I was so scared, but then I thought it might not be bad. The big house was so pretty. It was painted blue like the sea, with big trees full of pink flowers all down the driveway. There was even a statue of a lovely woman out front. She had a long robe and an owl resting on her shoulder, all made out of stone. She made me feel braver because I pretended she was guarding me.”
Hmm. Sounds like the goddess Athena.
“But inside… inside it was ugly,” Sky sobs, pulling me back to the damp room. “They gave me to an old woman who scrubbed me down so hard it made my skin bleed.”
Layla and Dot form a wall, blocking the other women from seeing the kid break.
“It hurt so bad, but not as bad as what came after,” Sky sobs. She’s shaking violently now, her small body vibrating against mine. “That number means I belong to them. It means if they find me, they’ll take me back. I don’t want to go back, Rory. I don’t want to go back.”
The room has gone silent. Layla’s face is a mask of pure, murderous rage.
But I’m stuck on a memory. The sound of an engine. Orange fabric.
London.
He had the same kind of mark, the same color ink, on his chest. I saw it through the tear in his jumpsuit on the bus.Was he another of their victims?
Fuck.
There’s nothing I can do to help him, but I can help this poor kid. I look up at Layla and Dot, then tighten my hold. “We’ve got you, Sky,” I whisper, smoothing her wet hair. “No one is ever going to hurt you again. Not while I’m breathing.”
“It’s easy for you to say,” Sky whimpers. “They wouldn’t dare touch an Elite like you, Rory. But a no one like me? We can just… vanish, and nobody cares.”
Dot looks at the door, then back at us. “This is why we can’t let a guy like de Vaux run things. He’s one of them, Barbie. He’s the kind of man who would be a customer in that fucked-up world. We have to get rid of him.”
I think of François lounging in his chair, reading his book while people freeze and kids like Sky live in terror. He might have given us this safe hour, but he’s still the monster. I can’t ever forget that.
