Page 89

Cracking my neck, I placed my palms on the cold concrete and pushed myself to my feet. Vanishing, I returned to void form.

Unfortunately, my little freakout had made me shift between two forms. It wasn’t for long, but it wasn’t good either.

The girl's cell sat at the center of the building, and forty guards patrolled the corridors around it—more than I’d normally expect, even on a marathon day.

Fucking Damon probably tipped them off.

Perhaps that was his surprise.

But again, it didn't matter.

The girl lay curled in the fetal position on her cot, in no condition to be rented out. She must have just endured a brutal session.

Which made the number of guards all the more curious. The Order preferred to keep its girls in working condition, even allowing them time off when they were too damaged.

How kind of them.

Sometimes, I'd hoped to be damaged badly enough to earn that time off.

Since this girl was on time off and couldn’t be rented, there should have been at most ten guards.

So more than likely, this was a trap.

But it didn’t matter, because I could void.

The lights cut out just as I reached the girl’s cell, and guards scrambled outside, trying to figure out what happened.

I materialized in front of the girl with a flashlight in my hand, and I knelt beside her.

“Hi,” I said, my voice unsteady. “I am here to help you.”

She groaned. My fingers barely touched her shoulder before she flinched in pain.

Fuck. Another complication I hadn't planned for. I'd hoped she could walk out on her own, but despite being skin and bones, she probably weighed at least 120 pounds.

A hundred and twenty pounds of dead weight was no joke.

“Umm, girl, uh, lady, my name is Xeniya, and I’m here to rescue you.” God, I was bad at this part.

She wasn't the first Forgotten I'd rescued. Shouldn't I be better at it by now?

Apparently not.

“No one is coming to rescue me,” she moaned.

I swallowed. “Well, I am, and we don’t have a lot of time to argue about this, so I would really appreciate it if you would stand up and come with me.”

“Why should I trust you?” she asked, her voice barely audible.

“You shouldn’t, but I was a Forgotten like you, and I am the only fucking hope you have.” Fuck, that was far too harsh, so I tried again. “They raped me, tortured me for three years, and killed me. I didn’t survive my time here. But you can.”

I slipped into ghost form to prove it.

Her expression was difficult to make out. In hindsight, cutting the lights had been a terrible idea; she could barely see me, even with the flashlight.

“I don’t believe you,” she said coldly.

“Fine.” I huffed. Another demonstration would drain precious energy, but I needed her cooperation. “Hold my flashlight and shine it at me.”