AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Then the noise fades. The sounds move further and further away…
Until all is quiet.
I’m electrified with rage. My body is trembling and Yasha has to pry the phone out of my hands before I can turn to him.
“Trap,” I growl.
His eyes close as he shakes his head. “Was it—”
“It was Cora,” I grit out, my voice growing louder with every word, “and we fell into afucking trap.”
I spin around and kick the emergency door closed. The metal door bangs back into the frame, and I don’t feel an ounce better.
I won’t feel better until I see Cora. Until I’m holding her—warm and alive—in my arms.
And I will. I have to believe that will happen. Otherwise, I won’t be able to put one foot in front of the other.
“What’s the plan now?” Yasha asks.
I snatch my phone out of his hand and stomp down the sidewalk. I hear him walking along behind me. “We find whoever took them and we eradicate each and every one of them from the face of the fucking Earth.”
82
CORA
For a second, I don’t remember anything that happened.
Then I pry open my bleary eyes and see my surroundings.
Shadowy corners. Dripping pipes. The air smells dank, like we’re miles below the soil. I try to lift a hand to push my hair out of my face, but I can’t. Because my wrists are bound.
“Shit,” I hiss, jerking my arms against the chair I’m tied to. The metal rungs cut into my forearms and the rope burns my skin. “Shit, shit—”
A pale leg catches my eye. I turn and see Jorden slumped in the chair next to me.
My stomach roils, threatening to upend the toast I barely nibbled on this morning. “Jorden?” I keep my voice low. I have no idea who did this to us or where they might be, and I don’t want to alert them. “Jorden? Hello? Are you—”
She’s alive, I tell myself.She’s alive, and we’re going to get out of this. Whateverthisis.
I’m still trying to talk myself back from the ledge when there’s movement to my other side. I spin around, moving so quickly that my shoulders twinge painfully against the bindings.
A sob wrenches out of my chest. “Francia.”
She’s in a chair facing me, her hands wrapped behind her chair. Her dark head is hanging forward. There’s dirt on her arms and a rip in her shirt. But she’s moving her legs.
“Francia, can you hear me?” I whisper. “Are you okay?”
She blinks slowly, opening her eyes wider each time. Finally, she lifts her head and looks around the room.
It’s strange to watch her shuffle through the same emotions I did. The confusion, the panic. Her eyes go wide, and I see her chest hitch like she’s going to scream.
“Francia,” I whisper again.
Her gaze slams into me and I feel every drop of her terror. “Cora, what is—Where are we? Who—What is happening?”
I take a deep breath and blow it out, hoping she’ll follow suit. Nothing is going to get any better if we panic. I need her to stay calm and help me figure this out.
Francia nods her head and takes a few deep breaths. When she’s calmer, she takes in the room again. She looks to Jorden and then to me, noticing the rope around my wrists.
