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She led me into the next room, a crowded rectangular space with rows and rows of boxes lined up on the walls. Tala was sitting in a plastic chair on the other side, her back hunched. She straightened and reached for my hand when I sat in the chair next to her.
“What are they going to do to us?” she whispered.
I didn’t know what to say. It didn’t matter. We would be out of here soon.
“Aaron, please leave the room,” my mother said.
He groaned, a playful grin on his lips. “Do I have to?”
“Don’t make me go to Wesley,” she warned.
A sour frown replaced the grin. He slid out the door on the other side, sending us one last longing glance before slamming the door behind him.
“I need all your belongings.” Mother dropped a box in front of each of us. “Put them in here. They’ll be safe.”
Tala and I looked at each other. The only belongings we had were a few pieces of jewelry and our dirty clothes.
“Come on, I need everything. You’re not allowed to take anything into your rooms. Not even your clothes. Drop them in there.”
Instinctively, my arms crossed over my chest. If she thought I was going to strip naked for her, then she had better get a clue.
“Do it, now,” she continued, a warning glare in her eyes. “Wesley Blake is not a patient man. He’ll come in here and rip them off if you don’t strip in the next ten seconds.”
I didn’t know who this Wesley Blake guy was, but I didn’t want to find out. Following Tala’s lead, I pulled off my blouse and dropped it in the box. Next, came the boots. With utter precision, I unzipped them and slid my feet out. Athena’s jewel hung low over my chest.
“Wesley say’s hurry up.” Aaron peeked his head in the door, causing Tala and me to squeal and cover ourselves up. “He’s getting bored.”
“Get out!” Mom cried.
Aaron laughed and pulled his head back out, slamming the door once again.
“That’s a pretty jewel.” She pointed to my necklace. “Where did you get that?”
I wrapped my fingers around the gemstone. “From a friend. Please don’t make me give it up.”
If she took Athena’s jewel, I’d be screwed. Ruth and her army might never find me.
“Give it here.” She held out her palm expectantly. “Come on, give it to me. Wesley will take it if he sees you wearing it in there.”
The clasp stuck when I went to undo it. With rage building in my cheeks, I managed to yank it open and dropped the beautiful piece of jewelry onto my mother’s hand. The moment it left my fingers, I felt a hollow sensation build in my chest. The power of the jewel had been working, slowly, inside of me. Without it, I’d never get out of here.
“Hurry up with the rest of your clothes,” mother snapped. “We’ve been long enough.”
Once Tala and I were fully nude, trembling in the dank cold of the storage room, my mother brought out a small device that resembled a TV remote. She pushed a few buttons on the metal surface and asked us to hold out our wrists.
“This will only burn for a second,” she explained. “It’s a mark that IDs you as property of the Ranch. A magical mark. It can never be erased.”
She swiped it over each of our wrists. My skin burned as if I’d stuck it against the inside of a hot oven, causing me to hiss in pain. On the inside of my wrist appeared a thick black box. Inside of the box was the letter R in a cursive typeset.
“You are now the property of Wesley Blake,” she said. “Always remember that. He is a fair leader to those who mind the rules. To those who break them, he is unforgiving. Second chances don’t exist here. Mind yourselves.”
With a second wave of the controller, our metal collars fell open and clattered to the ground. I felt along my neck, relishing the bare feeling of unhindered flesh. I hadn’t realized how much that metal collar choked me. It was like breathing fresh air. My wings and talons urged to be stretched, but from the warning look in my mother’s eyes, I thought it best to hold them in.
“Come on. He’s waiting.”
With a wave of her hand, she marched us through the door Aaron had used only minutes before. This room was very similar to the waiting room we’d landed in, but bigger. A giant desk took up a good quarter of it, with a similarly lit fireplace across the room. Sitting at the desk was an unassuming man of about fifty, with salt and pepper hair, gray eyes, a thick beard, and his hands folded on top of a stack of papers. He watched us come in, smiling with gratitude when my mother lined us up in front of him.
The fact that we were still nude distracted me quite a bit from the man. I tried to cover my body with my hands, but found myself shifting awkwardly. Tala stood still next to me, her arms at her sides and fists clenched. Free from her collar, her eyes shined yellow with anger. It made me grateful to not to be on the receiving end of that glare.
