Page 42 of Custodian

“I’m so glad you let me love you.”

“I am too,” she whispered in return.

TWENTY

Dex stared at the grey monstrosity in front of him and felt himself shrivel up a little. It was like his element was trying to hide from the concrete, rectangular building. He could admit that the feeling scared him a little, knowing what it felt like to lose his precious air domain when he had become a chade.This isn’t the same situation, he assured himself,don’t be a pussy. It’s just a big, ugly, unnatural building filled with your worst enemies and where no element can thrive.His internal monologue caused him to laugh.

Darius looked at him, askance, “You’re laughing? There is nothing funny about this building. Just looking at the place is giving me the heebie jeebies.”

Darius’s exaggerated, full-body shiver as well as hearing the wordsheebieandjeebiefrom the staid man’s lips had Dex relaxing and some of his anxiety slipping away. It was good to have his brother at his side again, even if it was only on loan. “Trust me, Bro, I’m with you. This place is creeptacular. How do you stand it?” he asked his hosts.

Ivy shrugged, “You get used to it.”

Somehow Dex doubted that. But the rangers had a duty to fulfil and he could appreciate their drive to perform their calling, even when faced with personal discomfort.

“Come on,” Nik said, ushering them inside a huge cement door. “Let’s start in the control room. I’ll show you the set-up and go through the security with you all and we can go from there.”

Every wall they passed looked identical to the one before, every hallway a mirror image of the others. They were all a muted grey and made from the same artificial, synthetic substance. Nikolai had explained the prisons were built entirely from man-made materials. There wasn’t anything natural on site – nothing the wardens-slash-chades could potentially bend to their will or coax to do their bidding. Even the air felt thick and murky, and Dex couldn’t help scrunching his nose in distaste.

“You ever think of adding a little colour to the place? Because, dude, this place is fucking depressing,” he volunteered.

Nik pushed his way through a heavy, grey door identical to a dozen others along the wall and cocked an eyebrow, “It’s supposed to be depressing. It’s a prison. It’s supposed to be hell.”

“Touché,” Dex tipped his head in Nik’s direction, finally looking around and seeing something other than grey.

Dozens of security monitors lined the walls, each displaying small three by three metre cells. Almost every cell held a man – or what remained of a man, anyway. Dex could see dozens of chades in various degrees of regression, from simply pale skin, to black eyes, to gaping mouths. He knew there would be no complete chades here, those were executed immediately because even the fake prison couldn’t hold them. Dex’s body pulsed in recognition of his fallen comrades and he knew immediately that many of the chades there were redeemable. Looks like some good was going to come of the visit, anyway.

“Which chade should we start with?” Darius asked, looking equally as uncomfortable in the oppressive environment, his hazel eyes glued in morbid fascination to the screens.

Nik shrugged, “I honestly have no idea. There are some chades here that are less into the transition. We should probably start with them.”

“What about Ignatius?” Lark inquired. “Isn’t that him?” he pointed to a thin man, with long dank hair who looked ill but nothing like a chade.

“That’s him,” Ivy confirmed. “Looks like Max was right about him. He hasn’t regressed into a chade but there’s no doubt he is one sick fuck.”

Nikolai snorted, “Ya think? I swear, that guy is nuttier than squirrel shit. You’re welcome to talk to him but I’m not sure how much good it will do.”

Dex felt himself still as he listened to the words swirl around him. He knew the disgraced Fire Warden was the one responsible for almost killing his brother. If it hadn’t been for Max and her miraculous ability to heal, Dex knew he would have lost Darius before he’d even had the chance to be whole again. If that had been the case, he wasn’t sure if Max’s healing of him would have been so successful. Although, Cali and Hitch would always be enough motivation to get him through even the darkest of days.

“Hey, you okay?” His brother asked.

Dex managed a nod, “Just the thought of what that psycho did to you and the others …”

Darius actually grinned at him, “You are such a big brother. I’m fine. No lasting damage.”

“Really not the point,” Dex grumbled.

Darius had the audacity to roll his eyes at him, “Okay, daddy,” he teased.

“Why you little –” Dex reached out a hand to grab his younger sibling by the scruff of the neck only to be brought up short by Lark.

“Um, I know I’m new to this whole chade-imprisonment thing, but is that normal?” Lark pointed to the dozens of security monitors watching the prisoner’s actions every second of every day.

They all leaned in closely to examine the screens and Dex was shocked to see every single chade now staring up at the cameras as if they could see them through the lenses. “Um, what the fuck?” Dex asked nobody in particular.

“That is definitely not normal,” Ivy’s hushed voice sounded loud in the overly quiet room.

“I don’t mean to sound like a pansy or anything, but that is creepy as hell,” Lark shuddered, stepping into Ivy’s personal space.

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