Page 66 of Shadow's Chosen

Elise placed a hand over her eyes. She remembered the day they went into the tunnel and she had seen his face right before. She could have never guessed. "So, he planned to set the Red Blades on the gate in hopes to get to us right off the bat."

"Seems about right," said the woman.

Elise let her hand drop. It had been planned from the start.

She thought of Jerico and Adrien being left behind. Of the rest of them now trapped, waiting to be traded off. She thought of Nezka taking her, separating her from her team. She didn't want to believe he had betrayed her like this. She wanted to believe he was going to come for her—for them, still. But what hope she had was fading fast.

He let them take me away. He didn't so much as look at me.

Elise slammed her fist down on the ground. She bent forward and let the rage finally consume her. Body shaking, she opened her mouth, hoping he heard her scream.

***

The room lay quiet. Elise rested on her side, eyes open, peering through the dark. The others slept around her, some snoring softly or shifting in their sleep. They rested together though they had no way of knowing if it was night or day. Only going by when they began to feel tired.

After she'd come down from her episode, they offered her a meal bar, which she didn't take, and some water from a large jug which she only took a few sips from. Her team understood her anger, but they didn't know how deep it went and for what purpose. They were enraged by their capture. It only made sense for her to be as well.

But they had no clue what it had been like for her. What it had taken her to get to this point. All to save them. All for nothing.

She lay there thinking about how stupid she was for trusting Nezka. She supposed she hated him again, but there was still that small piece left that longed for him. She wanted to snuff that piece out with the heel of her boot.

She heard someone grumble softly in their sleep. She shifted her eyes around the room, unable to see anyone but knowing they were there. The Grayhart team had been shut away in darkness for so long she was surprised at how well they were holding up. One of the scientists, a man named Vincent, mentioned that guards came only once a day to throw meal bars at them and trade the empty jugs for filled ones. It was all they were living on, and by the last glows of the flame, she had seen how gaunt they had become. Soon her team would become the same. Too weak to fight.

They had talked of escape many times. But the door was sealed and there were no windows. The vents might be big enough but those leading to the room had small openings and were sealed tight. The only tools available to them were a lighter one man had hidden in his boot and the clothing they had come with. The Red Blades had taken all their gear and their weapons.

So, all they could do was wait and hope another team would come along and not make the same mistake they did.

"Meg might still find help," one of the Grayhart girls had whispered after the team told Elise their plans (or lack thereof) when she had asked.

"Meg is dead," replied another.

The girl, with wispy brown hair and round glasses, shook her head. "She's still alive. I'm sure of it."

"Who’s Meg?" Elise asked.

"She was one of our engineers," replied Vincent. "There was a small scuffle when we were first brought here. The power had gone out for only a moment, and we tried to scatter. The Red Blades were ordered to bring us to this room and thought they got us all, but they didn't realize one was missing."

"Meg was always a wallflower, so it's no surprise," said one of the Grayhart men with a thick black beard. "Quiet too. They probably didn't even notice her from the start."

"But we haven't heard from her since," Vincent said. "Not that she could ever get past the guards."

"But they must have not found her either, or she would be back here by now," said the brown-haired girl.

"Or she did get out somehow and got killed trying to run. Either way, she can't help us," said the bearded man.

They had argued for a little while about whether or not Meg was still alive. Tom whispered to Elise that they argued quite a lot. But then there was nothing much else to do. When they eventually settled down to rest, Elise knew she would find no sleep no matter how much she tried.

It might have been a few hours now since she had laid down with the others, but her mind always remained in the same place.

No matter how much she tried to block him from her thoughts, she could not escape the hunter. Eventually, she gave up and let the thoughts pass. An awful swelling ache had settled in her stomach, growing larger by the minute until she was sure she would be torn apart. She thought about the hours before they had journeyed together to the deposit. About how aloof he had suddenly seemed. She had noticed his tension, his unusual quiet and intense focus but had chalked it up to his anticipation for the battle to come. But in reality, he was only preparing to push her aside.

And she had told him so much, opened herself to him, given herself to him. Hell, she had told him things she hadn't even told her teammates, her friends. She had felt so close. And he had only been playing with her.

Tears welled up at last, falling down her face. She brushed them angrily away. No. He wouldn't get her shame or her despair. If she saw him again, she would make sure he saw nothing but her dry eyes and her cold indifference. Just like he gave her.

A soft tapping started on the wall behind her. At first, she thought nothing of it, taking it for whatever the city's equivalent to rats was or maybe a leaking pipe. But the more she focused on the noise, the more she realized there was a pattern. She sat up and listened for a moment then turned her eyes to the wall. Some of the others stirred as the tapping continued, until Elise heard someone jolt up and cry out, "Quick, Vincent, the light!"

As Vincent flicked on his lighter, a woman with thick curly locks flung the jacket she used as a blanket off her and fumbled over to the wall, nearly tripping over one of her teammates. She pressed her ear against the wall and smiled. "It's them." She began to tap back in an obvious pattern as Elise's team sat up, their attention fully on the wall.

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