Page 26 of Splitting Secrets
This has to be a trap.
“They’ve got you locked away in a cell that is supposed to nullify your gifts. No one is expecting you to come walking up those steps.”
I have no clue how to respond. The two messages are so different, I can’t discern which one is true.
“And I’m supposed to trust you?”I question mentally.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve got less than twenty-four hours before they come to slit your throat.”
“You mean beforeyoucome to slit my throat...”I correct. And I know, based on the hard set of his features, that I’m correct.
Instead of disagreeing, he says,“Don’t let anyone see you.”
15
Sonny
The two men escort me back to my cell, and I follow along with them without issue. I can tell both of them want to make smartass remarks about my sudden change in heart, but they have enough self-preservation not to voice them. Just as they had done before, they use dimly lit headlamps to light their way through the winding tunnels.
I know it’s meant to be a form of punishment for us in the cells—perhaps even a message. They’ve taken away our light and left us to rot in the dark; both literally and figuratively.
But the dim lights are a mercy more than a punishment. Once they dragged me into that brightly lit room with Raze, I could hardly see anything. My eyes are accustomed to the darkness now, and I’ve adapted.
Just like I’ll adapt to their constant challenges.
I watch our footsteps closely, committing the path to memory as much as I can to make it that much easier to navigate when I finally get the hell out of here.
The door to my cell was left open when I left, so once we reach the corridor where all four cells face each other, they grab my arm and throw me into mine. I land on my knees with a loud crack and hiss out a string of curse words as the pain radiates up my thighs and into my sore hips. The bigger guy swings the steel door shut just as I catch a flash of the smaller one shoving a key into Matilda’s.
“What do you want?” she shouts, sounding every bit as terrified as I felt when they came for me.
“Just got new orders,” the big one tells her.
I fight my way to my feet to watch through the barred window in my door.
“I won’t tell them anything,” she insists, then snorts through her nose and launches a glob of spit into the smaller one’s face.
He makes a gagging sound and swipes his hand across his cheek, flicking the mucous onto the floor.
I glance toward the steel door beside hers, where Ava, Beatrix, and Jonah are squished together to look through their small window, even though they can’t see what’s happening in Matilda’s cell beside them. My chest tightens at their haggard appearances. I haven’t actually laid eyes on them since they were brought down. When the men came for me earlier, I was too preoccupied with fighting them to try to look at anyone else.
Dried blood and dirt are caked across their faces, and they each look like they’ve lost at least ten pounds in the few days we’ve been down here.
Beatrix’s blue hair has faded to near-white and the perfectly slicked back pony that Ava usually wears has broken flyaways dancing along her head like a spiked crown.
I want to tell them I’m sorry. I want to promise I’ll get them out of here and into safety as soon as I possibly can. But I have no idea if Raze can be trusted, or if there’s enough time to figure it out.
“Get off me!” Matilda shrieks, calling my attention back to the scuffle happening before me.
The large man is standing behind her, his enormous hands wrapped around her wrists to hold them behind her back. She thrashes against him, knocking his chin with her skull when he gets too close. He roars in pain, yanking her arms further back until I’m positive they’ve popped out of their sockets.
She doesn’t cry out, though.
Instead, she bites her lip and stifles the sound of her agony in her throat. The scowl puckering her eyebrows together is filled with pure hatred, her eyes rimmed red. If she could set them on fire with the rage burning inside her, they’d be dead in an instant.
