Ellyne’s eyes snapped open, and she struggled to move, immediately recalling prior events. She stared at the ceiling, unable to see much else except for the two Golgolonar nearby, each in front of her. Judging from the sounds in the room, her suspicions led her to believe there were two more behind her, maybe even more than that.
Her head was restrained, which kept her from getting any kind of decent view of her surroundings, though she didn’t need to see everything to realize where she most likely was.
“Where am I? And what exactly happened?”
The second question felt more important, and she played back what she remembered before she ended up … wherever here was. Of course, “here” was probably just another room where she could be poked and prodded like the lab rat everyone believed she was. What little she could see fit that bill so far.
It did feel eerily familiar, though she tried to convince herself otherwise. She couldn’t be positive, but she believed she was lying in a fully reclined chair—just like a medical chair from a hospital or … like the chair from the Kithrak prison.
But she obviously couldn’t be back in the prison for obvious reasons so, where was she? Her mind scrambled, trying to deny the facts. Try as she might, she couldn’t ignore the signs and she panicked.
Struggling against the wrist and ankle restraints, she thrashed and tried to pull herself free. She first tried breaking them and, when that didn’t work, she attempted to slide out of them. Her efforts were fruitless, and reality began to set in—she was trapped. Whatever restraint was around her head appeared just as sturdy as the others.
“No,” she muttered under her breath as a tear slid down her temple, “not this again. What the hell do you want with me now?”
There was no reaction from the two hulking lizards she could see, even when she tried to break her bonds. She still felt unnaturally weak and the brief struggle against her restraints left her winded and shaky.
She heard movement from somewhere in the room—possibly from behind her. It was impossible to see most of her surroundings, so she had to rely on what little information she could gather. She only caught fuzzy glimpses of the other two lizards from the far corners of her vision, but they hadn’t moved. There must have been someone else in the room.
“Get a grip, Ellyne,” she whispered to herself. “You’ll get out of here … wherever here is. Just be patient and wait for the opportunity. Just … breathe or some shit.”
She tried to relax, feeling her muscles loosen and her breathing slow. In doing so, she felt the flocia within her, like an old friend, except she still wasn’t on good terms with it and, try as she might, she couldn’t embrace the power within her. She reached for it, but it was always just slightly out of her grasp. It almost felt like it was moving away from her, and she was chasing it. But moving where? How? For once she wished she knew something about magic and flocia and how either worked. Her hatred of the Golgolonar and her captivity was possibly stronger than her hatred of magic.
But there was plenty of anger and hatred to go around, and her captors would discover this fact once she was free of her restraints—once she figured out where she was and whose asses she had to kick.
“Let me out of here,” she growled through clenched teeth while continuing to struggle against her bindings. “Let me go now, or—”
“The last time you got free,” a voice from behind her said, “you caused major destruction to an expensive prison facility. I think it’s best you stay put for now, lest you repeat that performance.”
“Wait, I know that voice.” She felt like throwing up, now her rage now mixed with fear. “You’re that asshole doctor—”
“Scientist,” the voice hissed, “and I tend to think I’m rather cordial—at least that’s what I’m told. My fellows don’t seem to have any problem with me, anyway. It only appears to be you who has issues. And you do have plenty of issues, now, don’t you?”
Ellyne heard him moving around behind her, making noise with his metallic instruments and whatever other implements of torture he had on the counter. On the edge of panic, she desperately fought back tears, gritting her teeth, and digging her fingernails into her palms.
She wished for rage to overtake her. Anger was something she could cope with but sadness—the hopelessness of Kithrak captivity—was overwhelming. She finally broke and the tears flowed freely down her cheeks.
“What do you even want with me?” she sobbed. “What can you possibly discover that you haven’t already found?”
The Kithrak appeared in her field of view, inspecting several shiny, dangerous-looking implements. Whether he was going to use them on her, or his display was simply to instill fear, she wasn’t sure, but she suspected both.
His face was scarred from what appeared to be severe burns.
“Nice face,” Ellyne quipped, momentarily chuckling, but her mirth was brief, and sadness quickly returned.
“Oh, we’re largely past the discovery phase,” the Kithrak laughed, poking her playfully with one of the sharp instruments. “I have it on good authority that you think you’re the most powerful being on the planet. You certainly made that message quite clear. For a while, I was beginning to believe the rhetoric. After all, that was quite a show you put on for us all.”
“Let me loose and I’d be more than happy to confirm it for you.”
“Not likely,” he chuckled. “You are, in fact, quite powerful, I’ll give you that. But you’re a fool to take on the Golgolonar—even with the Free People’s meager help. You could have a vast, well-equipped army and you would still taste terrible defeat.”
Ellyne perked up, still fighting back tears and failing. But she couldn’t ignore what the Kithrak had just said. “You sound like you’re familiar with the situation and—wait a minute. You seem to know a lot about me. Who’s been spilling my secrets?”
“I believe you’re familiar with him,” the Kithrak laughed. “He’s a close colleague of mine, actually.”
Marik appeared from behind her and stood next to the Kithrak. “Hello, Ellyne,” he said, his voice devoid of any emotion. The look on his face matched his demeanor. “How nice to see you here. I’d say it’s a pleasant surprise, but it’s neither pleasant nor a surprise.”
Ellyne winced as fine spittle droplets landed on her face.
“Asshole!” Ellyne shouted. “I knew you were playing us! Nicole trusted you but I told her—wait, where’s Nicole? If you hurt her I will—”
“Relax,” he chuckled. “I’m sure she’s just fine. But if you’re asking if she’s also a captive, the answer is no. She’s not a prisoner. Honestly, though, I didn’t figure you to be the caring sort, given how you blasted the crap out of her.”
“And you.”
“Yes, and me. Pain I’m sure will be returned to you.”
Ellyne winced as spittle droplets flew from the man’s mouth again with his over pronunciation. The tears had stopped and the anger within her began to surface. “It felt pretty good,” she laughed.
“Anyway,” he continued, “your ability is quite impressive. You put the most powerful mage in her place with a simple thought. I merely told Kisternes here how impressive you were. His eyes lit up when I mentioned you, and he wanted you brought to him which, I must say, you cooperated rather willingly. You basically gave yourself up.”
“I’m not your damned lab rat.”
“From where I stand,” Marik laughed, “that’s precisely what you are. But none of this is really my concern now, as I’ve got more important work to do than babysitting a … lab rat. She’s all yours, Kisternes. I’ve got a few individuals to discuss things with.”
“I commend you on your efforts. You’ve done a fantastic job of pissing me off yet again.”
The bald man flourished his purple robes and exited the room, leaving Ellyne alone with Kisternes, the two lizards in front of her, and the two behind her she could occasionally hear but could barely see.
“Just lie still, Elleene.” Kisternes inspected one of the instruments and then disappeared behind her. “This is a delicate process, and it could take a while. I wouldn’t want a sharp instrument to accidentally slip on account of your annoying squirming.”
“My name is Ell-een-ya. With all the time we’ve spent together, I’m surprised your brain can’t comprehend that fact.”
“Oh, it’s not that I can’t understand what your pitiful name is, human, but I simply don’t care. You’re nothing more than a toy at this point. An annoying, mouthy toy that will soon no longer be a problem.”
“You’re lying.”
“Maybe,” Kisternes chuckled, reappearing next to her. He leaned in close, grinning. “But now that you’re tied down in a chair and, thanks to my colleagues here, helpless, it doesn’t much matter does it? Now be a good girl and lie still. I need a blood sample.”
“So, the lizards are definitely part of this. They’re more than just brutes sent here to protect this asshole from me.”
“Ow. Are you sticking the whole syringe in there?” Ellyne winced, feeling the needle penetrate her skin. She’d had blood drawn before and it was never this painful, so the Kithrak was either lousy at his job or he was doing it deliberately. Of course, he’d drawn her blood countless times so she knew he was doing it deliberately.
“You know,” he continued, “if I thought you would give honest answers, I would simply ask you some questions, and this could all be over both quickly and painlessly.”
“I wouldn’t tell you if I knew.”
“That’s the spirit.” The Kithrak once again leaned in closer, his face now inches away from Ellyne’s. “Quite honestly, It’s more fun this way. Even if you answered all my questions, I’d still run these tests on you because it’s enjoyable for me. I’m not even sure what I hope to find, and I doubt the results will be conclusive.”
“How very psycho of you.”
Ellyne felt more impending tears which she fought back successfully this time, focusing more on her anger and trying to plan her escape. There was only one door she saw, and it was on her left—where Marik had exited the room. But it wasn’t an escape route, that was the problem. She’d have to evade four Golgolonar and a Kithrak, and who even knew what lay beyond that door? She could’ve been in another asteroid prison, far removed from Seralune.
“What are you even looking for?” she asked. If she couldn’t immediately escape, maybe she could distract him long enough to find her opportunity. “I’m just a human.”
“A human immune to magic. A human who can channel flocia.”
“Well, okay … yeah, there’s that.”
“And, just recently, a human who has proven she can not only control flocia but can also keep it from other magic users. To say these are not common traits is a tragic understatement, since not even my kind can perform these feats. In fact, nobody but—well, let’s just say it’s exceedingly rare in the first place.”
There it was. Kisternes may have calmly said the words, but she was certain her abilities were a major cause of worry among the Kithrak and Golgolonar ranks. Until he said them, she wasn’t even sure that’s what was happening, but his candor confirmed it. The Kithrak would never let her be free. The Ilserate wouldn’t either, and they would try to control her just as they had Nicole.
She had powerful abilities. Controlling those abilities, on the other hand, was proving difficult at best. She wondered how much the Kithrak knew about her control, and she decided to prod further.
“What’s so special about that? It seems to me the Golgowhatevers did the same thing to me before I was brought here.”
She was bluffing, having no real idea if that’s what had really happened. All she knew was she had been surrounded and felt strange … as if something or someone were pulling energy directly out of her, not only preventing her from retaliating, but causing her to collapse.
“And, if that’s what they were doing, then what’s the big deal? Does this mean I’m really a lizard and I just don’t know it? Ooh! Do I get a membership card to their little club or something?”
Kisternes disappeared behind her, making noise with his equipment. “You’re very perceptive. But it’s one thing for the Golgolonar to do it. It’s entirely unheard of for another species to have that ability—especially in an individual who can’t use magic in the first place. Like I said, it’s unheard of in any species but the Golgolonar to exhibit such ability. And, whereas all Kithrak are attuned to magic, not all Golgolonar are capable of commanding flocia.”
“That’s it, keep talking,” she whispered.
“Besides, it’s currently taking five Golgolonar to siphon enough flocia from you to keep it from your grasp. You alone managed to lock flocia away from hundreds of thousands of people at once and I would like to know how you did that. So, yes, if you’re not going to tell me then I will find out on my own.”
“Five, huh?” she laughed, satisfied with the information Kisternes had leaked to her. She’d only seen four, so this was good information. “Sounds to me like they’re not as powerful as they think they are, then.”
“Oh, it’s not that,” Kisternes continued. “You’re more powerful than they thought.”
Ellyne smiled, trying to remain calm. She’d gained priceless information through the Kithrak’s overconfidence. When she finally escaped, she would spread the knowledge to the Free People. Hopefully it would help them in some way. Maybe she would be able to finally control her ability better but, to do that, she first had to actually escape.
“Okay, look,” she relented. “I … I do know a couple of things and I can tell you if you promise to ease up on the doctor of pain persona. Because, damn, that needle is painful, and your hands are super cold.”
She was improvising with every passing second, unsure of what an escape opportunity would even look like if one presented itself. If there was something she did well other than shooting people, it was bullshitting and stalling.
“Ah,” he replied, the surprise in his voice readily apparent. “So, you remember our last sessions, do you? They were truly a lot of fun, as is what I have in store for you now. However … I might skip a couple of tests if you were to divulge what you know.”
“Please don’t hurt me,” she said meekly. She wasn’t used to the role but hoped to use her internal fear to her advantage. “Yes, I remember. But I didn’t know what you wanted back then. I wasn’t aware of my abilities or my potential.”
“My dear,” he chuckled, “neither did I. That didn’t make it any less enjoyable for me.”
“You’re a damned monster.” Her tears were real, but only because she let them flow. She used her very real fear to complete the ruse. “Please, just … listen to what I have to say before you go cutting me open.”
“Very well. You may speak. I guarantee nothing, however.”
“I need you to lean in closely, though. I don’t want them to hear.” She motioned to the Golgolonar with her head. “And you also probably won’t. This is most likely information you’re going to want to keep to yourself.”
Kisternes hesitated, obviously considering the opportunity, but Ellyne could see the skepticism on his face.
“Or if you’d rather these boys learn the secret … and no longer require your services, I—”
The Kithrak perked up and appeared at her side. “Very well,” he whispered, “you’ve got my attention.”
“They might use it against you,” she whispered back.
“What makes you think that?”
“It doesn’t take a genius to notice you guys aren’t exactly fast friends. What is it, more of an employer-employee relationship? Do they pay you?”
She was far out on a limb, making up whatever she could and hoping there was a shred of truth behind it. Kisternes’ facial expression did nothing to shoot down her theory and, for that much, she was relieved. She might have been touching on some truth.
He smiled and leaned in, apparently eager to hear the juicy information Ellyne had to share with him.
“I’m not entirely sure how it works,” she whispered, completely making up everything as she went.
“Okay, yes?”
“But when I concentrate and I’m able to reach inner peace,” she continued, barely able to comprehend her own lies. “It’s sort of a placid pool and, when I touch flocia, that pool ripples and I can shape it into whatever I want.”
This was prime bullshit, and she was impressed with her own lies. The urge to include a joke about his mother was strong.
“Yes?”
She motioned for Kisternes to lean in closer, and he obliged.