Page 16 of Midnight Sanctuary

I nod meekly and take the bottle of prenatal vitamins she hands me. “Will you come see me again?” I ask when she’s at the door.

“I’ll come back next week for a follow-up.”

My stomach sinks. I was hoping that she’d be able to come sooner, if for no other reason than that I need some human contact. I need to talk to someone who treats me like I’m a real person, not a pawn on a chessboard.

Emily knocks twice on the basement door and, a second later, it opens. She gives me a last parting smile before she disappears and the door slams closed.

When she’s gone, I lie back down on the bed and stare up at the ceiling. Despite the doctor’s advice, the only thing that keeps circling around in my head is Polly.

A pair of hazel eyes, begging for help through the darkness.

* * *

I wake up in cold sweats, so sure that they’re right there in front of me that I reach out, trying to grab Polly from their grasp.

“No!” I gasp. “No! You can’t take her.”

The darkness scatters away from me and I grasp at thin air.It was a dream. Just a dream.I’m not in that cell anymore. I’m in an entirely different basement, living an entirely different nightmare.

But once reality settles in, something pushes through the thick curtain of my memory—Polly’s panicked voice as she told me what the Russians were discussing. There’s something else scraping the surface of my memory but I can’t quite reach it.

It doesn’t matter. I havesomethingto offer Uri. Something that might help him locate Polly. I stumble out of bed and half-limp towards the door. My right leg still hasn’t woken up, but I ignore the pins and needles as I start pounding my fists against the basement door.

“Hey! Anyone! I need to speak to Uri. It’s important!”

“Pipe down!”

I jerk away from the door, startled by the deep, commanding voice. Apparently, I’ve got guards stationed outside my basement prison this time. I shake it off. Now’s not the time to be worried about myself.

I keep up a steady stream of pleas. “I have important information I need to share. Please. Just give me five minutes. It’s about Polly!Please!”

I hear the door unlock. I step away from the door just before it swings open. But it’s not Uri standing on the other side; it’s his sour-faced older brother. They have the same bone structure, but whereas Uri’s is gaunt and sharp, Nikolai’s is blurred by stubble and more flesh around the jowls. His eyes burn a darker shade of blue.

“What do you need to say?”

I could tell him. Ishouldtell him. But I need to see Uri. I don’t know his brother—I’m not sure I evenlikehis brother—and I’m definitely not gonna trust him with this information.

“I’ll only speak to Uri.”

“How convenient,” he drawls in a scathing, deadpan voice that matches his expression.

“Please. This could potentially help get Polly back.”

His eyes narrow. Is that hope I see flickering across his face? Before I can figure it out, he slams the door closed hard enough that I almost lose a toe under the edge.

I recoil, confused.What the hell?Is that a good sign or a bad one? Did he think I was bluffing? That this was a ploy to see Uri again or something?

I’m on the verge of giving up entirely and just telling him what I remember from the Russians’ cell when the door opens again, almost taking my toes off for a second time.

“A little warning would be nice!” I snap, lunging out of the way.

When I look up, Uri is standing there with his eyebrows raised, a stone-cold scowl on his face. It doesn’t take a genius to interpret:This better be good or you’re a dead woman.

It’s odd to see him so not put-together. His shirt is wrinkled, his hair mussed, and the dark circles under his eyes say he hasn’t slept in days.

My first instinct is to apologize. But I have a feeling that if I start with that, he’s just gonna shut the door in my face before I can get a single word out. So I jump straight to the important point.

“I remember something about Polly.”

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