I swung my legs from my cell bed, trying not to breathe too deeply. Russell and his minions had ordered pizza. The smell didn’t mix well with the stale waste in the bucket, but I was starving. Best think about something else. Russell wouldn’t feed me.
Do you think Shane and the others are looking for me?
I know they are. They’ve probably hired Mabel back again.
Brilliant. She’s bound to take her time getting here. If she wasn’t in hospital after that fall when I was captured.
I rubbed my face and leaned on the wall, the cold helping to calm me. I blocked out the laughing and the drinking and the pepperoni, even Lyall, and focused on my breathing until I slipped into that calm nothingness. Here I could pretend I was somewhere else. On a beach, savouring the salty air, the sun warming my skin. Hot sand between my toes.
The metal clatter of bolts snapped my eyes open. The hatch was shut, but the door was open.
I stood, but Russell put a finger up, stilling me.
‘Time for you to join the others in my collection.’
Pushing against his magic did me little good, so I let his air magic take me from the cell, out of the building, and into his waiting van. It was better to save my energy for a battle I might win.
Eugene watched me get shut away, my hands locked in handcuffs, then he got into his own car. Russell grinned at me and waved goodbye before joining him.
And as the workers piled in behind me, something sharp pricked my neck, and then the world went dark again.
I woke in a new cell with a cleaned-out waste bucket and a lot of noise.
A woman was moaning and yelling next door every few minutes. Someone was calming her between the yells, telling her it was almost over. She must be in labour.
Pain hit me hard, my stomach griping. I breathed through it and cleared my mind until the pain ebbed away. And I held my breath for the next few minutes until I was sure the pain wouldn’t return.
Being in the McKees’ clutches wasn’t helping with Avery’s memories. She was getting stronger rather than weaker, and I’d rather not be stuck with her.
Lyall?
I’m here.
Where are we?
Somewhere much more remote. It’s like the farm Avery ran from. Small roads and trees in every direction.
How the hell did I get into this?
It wasn’t all my gut. It was the witch system. Their society. I tried working within it, and they put me on trial. I tried gaming it, using it to get what I wanted, and I wound up back behind bars, albeit not the official kind.
So what did I do? How did I get out of this? The midwife Avery used wouldn’t be here anymore, and they would’ve tightened security after she’d escaped. So it’d be even harder for me to get away, and I didn’t have the advantage of knowing the place or the people. And, frankly, I didn’t want to get to a point where I had that advantage.
The hatch on my door snapped open, and Eugene’s bruised face took up the gap.
He’d put me here. He’d suggested this. After trying to make me believe he’d help me.
‘What the hell do you want?’
‘Why are you so angry?’
‘You told him to bring me here. To use me like livestock, and you’re asking why I’m angry?’
‘He would’ve killed you. It saved your life.’
It also stopped Russell punching him. ‘So what, am I supposed to thank you?’
He sighed. ‘Why couldn’t you trust me to get you out of there?’
I blinked. ‘You really have to ask that?’
I’d Seen a glimpse of a scared man who gave in to fear and refused to help Avery. How could I trust that? He’d done exactly the same thing when Russell caught me. He’d sold me out to save himself.
Eugene stared at me long enough the woman next door yelled again, the midwife telling her to push. He winced and shuffled away from her cell door.
‘Can’t handle what you’ve done?’
‘Why do you think I helped you?’
For a moment, I actually felt sorry for him, but I quickly burnt my sympathy. He’d sacrificed others rather than himself. Blackmailed or not, he didn’t deserve sympathy.
‘Why are you here, Eugene?’ I was tired of listening to his woe-is-me speech.
‘I want you to know I won’t leave you like this.’
I snorted. I gave him as long as it took for Russell to find out before he gave up on helping me. ‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’
‘Be ready.’ He closed the hatch.
I assume he left, but my neighbour’s yells were now higher in pitch, so I couldn’t be sure.
Poor woman. I shuddered, my ears ringing. One day that woman might be me. I wanted to scream.
I covered my ears and drew my knees up to my chest but I couldn’t slip back into that meditative state with a birth next door. Her cries jolted me out of my calm each time, another reminder of what was coming for me.
In the end I lay facedown on the bed and bundled the blanket over my ears. It only blocked out the worst of it, but it was better than nothing. What I needed was a distraction.
You seen anything useful out there, Lyall?
Useful, no. Getting out of here is next to impossible.
Damn it.
Maybe I should have taken Eugene’s hand and made a run for it back at the other place. At least he had a semblance of a heart. And that place was near a road.
All kinds of non-sentient fae are out here in a large open pen between the building and the fenced edge of the compound.
Chained up?
Walking free.
Then how did they get us in here? Oh. They used air magic.
Russell proved I didn’t have the juice to get past air specialists. If I wanted out of here, I either needed an escort, or I’d have to take them by surprise and fight my way out.
Shite.
Exactly.
If the trial had taught me anything, I couldn’t sit around and wait for rescue.
Which are the worst? Is there an easier way out?
They’re moving all the time. It’d depend where they were when you got out.
The unsaid ‘if you get out’ was in his voice.
Talk me through the layout. I want to ken everything. Just in case.
Morning and evening the next few days were marked by deliveries of mostly stale bread with sweaty cheese and a soft apple. But there was lots of water to wash it all down.
Still, I found myself aching for a view of the sky, the stars, the sun. I was in prison too long this year. And I wasn’t ready to go back to it. I’d only just found a semblance of freedom.
The bolts on my door were pulled back as I finished my meal.
I glimpsed two guards before the door was shut and bolted, with a small man on the inside. He couldn’t be much taller than five foot, and his front teeth were unusually large.
‘Bianca Nash.’ His beady eyes looked me over, then he flicked through his paperwork. ‘Young, likely fertile, known sexual partners. No known STDs. Good.’ He handed me a swab. ‘I need a sample for tests.’
‘Tests for what?’
He frowned. ‘To ensure you are free of disease.’
‘STDs?’ I couldn’t believe he was asking me to swab myself for that. In front of him!
‘Yes. Now, please, I have rounds to finish.’
I tried to give him back the swab, but he put his hands up, flat.
‘This won’t be pleasant if you refuse.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘My helpers can be rough. Do we understand each other?’
I kept hold of the swab, seething. But I’d do what he asked. One man seeing this was better than three.
Eugene came back the following evening. He spoke briefly to the guards outside, muffled so I didn’t hear, and then he undid the door bolts and walked in.
I eyed the open door, tempted to make a run for it, but that hadn’t worked so well last time. And here, I wouldn’t get very far.
‘I know they sent the doctor yesterday. I’m sorry. If I’d known, I would’ve warned you.’
What good did warning me do? I’d still be on the same path to birthing an unwanted bairn, screaming as the long-toothed doctor watched on.
‘Now that they’ve started processing you, Russell will lose interest. He’s not often hands-on. He’d rather assess more women to collect while he waits on reports on your worth as a… carrier.’
‘That’s good news?’
‘Give me time. I will find you a way out.’
I shook my head. ‘Is this what you do to all the women here? Do you dangle escape under their nose to keep them compliant?’
‘No.’ He sighed and turned for the door. ‘Please, be patient.’
He bolted the door and left me stewing. I needed a plan. A good one. A way to use him and his guilty conscience, if that was what it was, to get out of here. Or at least have a semi-decent shot.
The doctor would be no use, and the guards were half terrified. That much I knew from the ones the WMCF had caught. But whatever I did, I couldn’t trust Eugene. He had too many faces.
The doctor gave me the all clear. He’d actually smiled as he informed me, like I should be happy this meant they could move forward in their ‘process’.
Where did they find people like that? Were they turned dark from money, or were they like that to begin with?
After the doctor left, I kept an eye on the door and, sure enough, Eugene turned up not long after. Again, he spoke to the guards and got a few minutes alone with me in the cell.
‘Back again?’
He crossed his arms. ‘We have a surprise delivery coming in late tonight.’
‘Is that a euphemism for more slaves?’
‘No, actually. They’re highly dangerous non-sentient fae we’ve taken off the WMCF’s hands.’
‘Ah, from your friends in the force.’
His lip twitched. ‘Have your familiar watch.’
‘Why?’
‘Just do it.’
He meant something he wasn’t saying. I grabbed his arm and got a quick flash of him offering WMCF officers an obscene amount of money to unlock the back doors before entering the compound.
Stumbling, I stepped back, letting him go. He really was on my side.
He nodded and left, bolting the door again.
I couldn’t hold back a smile. With the creatures escaping the transport, I had a chance.
Lyall?
Yeah?
Eugene wants you to watch the delivery tonight.
I can do that. Do you think he’s planning something?
If I was relying on my human gut alone, I’d think he was taunting me. But with that vision… He’s planned a distraction. We can use it to get out.
You’re sure?
My spirit powers are.
And really, they were what mattered. They weren’t clouded by the people I liked or past experiences. I should’ve relied on them more heavily far earlier. They were what worried Russell and Eugene, and they were what would get me out of here.
Hours passed, and my eyes grew heavy as the compound quieted for the night. I slipped into sleep before I knew it, dreaming of fences, creatures with spiked claws and gaping mouths, of not being able to move, held in place with air magic as the monsters descended.
Bianca!
Groggily, I sat up.
I’ve been calling you for ten minutes.
Why so snappy?
The delivery is here.
I rubbed sleep from my eyes. What’s happening?
The building’s lights snapped on, and a blaring alarm rang out.
Three creatures got out of the back of the truck, all riled up. They have air magic, and they’re fighting the guards.
He really did it.
I frowned and glanced at my door. Maybe…
It pulled back easily.
I gasped and stared at the handle for a good minute. He’d unbolted it.
Lyall, Eugene let me out.
And the alarm would bring all the guards to the front of the compound to deal with the escape.
How are the creatures spaced out?
Most are bunched around the disruption, but not all of them. There are some nasties elsewhere.
Got it.
I’d take my chances.