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Wait … that means his name is literally this place? Cage? His name is also his space? It doesn’t make sense.
“I know, it’s weird.” She still seems so unfazed. “Everything is, here. Graham took me a few weeks ago,” she says. “He’s been keeping me locked up ever since.”
But you weren’t here before, I sign.
She continues to scrunch her face, but nothing I do helps her understand what I want to say. There must be some way I can tell her what I’m thinking. And then it hits me. Graham gave me lipstick.
I immediately reach for the dress and snatch the lipstick off the bed. And for the first time in ages, I write something down … Right on the glass.
Where were you?
The letters are thick, greasy, and bright red. The text is so vivid. She must be able to read that.
“Uh …” Syrena mumbles.
I look up at Cage who raises his brow at me. He points at his eyes and then cocks his head at Syrena. I follow his lead … and when I finally take a good look at her, I notice her eyes don’t focus on me. And they’re just as white as my hair.
She’s blind.
Shit.
How in the world am I going to communicate with her?
“She wrote on the glass,” Cage says to her.
“Oh …” Syrena says. “I can’t read.” She laughs and points at her eyes. “Blind, you know?”
Well, that’s …
“Unfortunate when I’m stuck in a cage with a guy who can’t read and a girl who can’t talk.” She laughs again. “Just my luck.”
She’s right. It’s almost … too much of a coincidence. Maybe Graham intentionally put us here together.
“Well, anyway, it doesn’t matter. I might be blind, but I’m not stupid. What’s in your cell? Look around you? Anything you can make noise with?”
I do what she says and look around, but there’s nothing apart from a plastic cup and a book that I can pick up. That’s when I realize what I need is right here in the palm of my hand.
I put the lid on the lipstick and tap it on the glass.
A bright smile appears on her face. “See? That was you, wasn’t it?”
I nod, but obviously, she can’t see that, so I tap again.
“Okay, two taps for no, one tap for yes.”
I tap once.
“Good.” She clears her throat. “Now, when I ask you a number, you can tap the numbers too, right? One to ten.”
I tap again.
“Great … See? It works.”
“Amazing,” Cage adds with a grumbling voice, rolling his eyes.
“Stop being such an ass, Cage,” Syrena says. “You’re just upset that two girls are busier talking with each other than fawning over you.”
I sniff a little, laughing through my nose, which she apparently hears because I can definitely see her grin.
Cage rolls his eyes and sighs after which he directs his attention to me. “Go on …”
He points at Syrena, and I’m wondering if he means he actually wants me to communicate with her. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to deal with being locked in with two girls. Who knows.
“All right,” Syrena says, groaning. “So tap one time for the letter A, tap two times for B, three for C, etcetera. You get it? You can make a word. Now tell me your name.”
I tap five times. Then twelve times and then twelve times again. Then once.
“Is it Ella?”
I tap once, and she smiles.
“I like it.”
I smile too, but then Cage opens his mouth and says with a gruff voice, “Ella.”
A shiver runs through my body.
He didn’t just say my name.
He claimed it.
Owned it.
Licked it.
Fuck.
I don’t normally swear, but that’s how it felt. Especially with him looking at me like that.
“God, my feet hurt,” Syrena mumbles, pulling me from my thoughts.
My lips part and I give Cage some looks, wanting him to ask for me.
“Tell her,” Cage growls.
“What? How it happened?”
“Yeah.”
“Well …” She sighs. “Graham takes me out of the cage for days on end. He makes me dance … in front of a whole audience of slimy businessmen. They’re all there to make fun of me. To hurt me. To … use me.”
It’s quiet for a few seconds, and I can imagine why.
A ‘rough time’ doesn’t even begin to describe what she’s been through. What we’re all going through. But it sounds like she’s had it the worst.
“They make me dance until my feet can’t take it anymore, and sometimes they find it funny to poke me or burn me.”
I swallow at the thought. I can almost feel my own feet burn just from her description.
“I don’t know who they are; those ugly old men who are just there to enjoy whatever the fuck Graham gives them. I don’t even know what Graham’s doing and why. I just know that he uses us for cash. The men pay him to make me do things.”
