I moved forward two steps. The straw on the floor crunched under my boots. Yes, I said straw. The room appeared to consist of a long row of cells, with large and heavy bars along them.
Crap, could you time-travel using the doorways?
I couldn’t tell if there were people in the cells. Although, as I moved further along, my nose wrinkled in distaste. There was a distinctive smell of sweat, fear and other disgusting-ness lingering in the air. If that aroma was any indication, humans had been held here and it hadn’t been that long ago.
A noise from behind had me swinging around. The door was opening.
Awesome.
What was coming through there now?
I crouched down to present a smaller target. I was just fumbling for my throwing knives when a massively tall person stepped through.
Okay, how many people could be that tall? I hesitated for a moment, just in case I was wrong.
“Baby girl?”
Relief flooded through me. I recognized that whispered and deep baritone.
Trembling, I scrambled to my feet and took off at a flat-out run. I dived into Josian’s arms.
“What the hell. Where have you been?” I whispered into his shirt front.
He was clutching me close, my feet hanging off the ground.
“Sorry, baby girl. It takes a few minutes before anyone can use a doorway again.”
Lallielle was at our side. I could smell her unique flowery scent. “Thank the gods we found you; I could not get through that rift fast enough.”
Josian laughed as he lowered me back to the ground. “She was definitely a riled up mama bear. I was a little scared for my life.”
“Yes, my love. Lucky you got us here in time or things could have gotten very dangerous for you.” She sounded only half-serious.
Josian kissed the top of her head.
“I would never let our baby go again, Lalli. You know that.”
“Where are we, Abby?” I smiled as Quarn interrupted them, probably deliberately.
“No idea; I didn’t make it far before you arrived.” I tried to keep my voice low, but someone had to have heard this racket.
It appeared that everyone had better eyesight then I had. None of them were using their goggles. I turned back to look around the room again.
“Can we go back in time using the Walker travel, Josian?”
I felt him shift next to me. “There are no Walkers that have that type of power anymore. One of the powers we have lost.”
I shook my head. “It’s just strange. This looks medieval.” I pointed toward the barred cells. “Fifteenth to sixteenth century.”
Brace’s voice came from the darkness. “We’re definitely still on Earth; my energy power isn’t swirling around as it usually does.”
Now just to figure out where on Earth.
A loud clang sounded from behind us. Josian pushed me and Lallielle aside and he stepped forward, hands raised.
The door at the far end was opening. Everyone fell silent. Keys clanked as a whistling man stepped inside.
“Time to wake, you disgusting wastes of good quality air.”
I felt a small relief that he had the distinctive clipped tones of Brooklyn. We might still be near New York.
Suddenly the room lit up. One by one, each cell came alight.
We remained crouched in the darkness near the initial part of the room. As each cell was illuminated, the inhabitants began to move behind the bars, as if they had been in stasis until that moment.
I shoved my glasses up to rest on top of my head and squinted into the brightness for a moment. Finally the scene before me came into focus.
Noise was everywhere, sobs and groans echoing throughout the stone walls. There were about twenty cells, ten lining each wall.
The occupants had moved forward to grasp at the bars of their caged homes.
For the first time I could see every one of them.
A hand covered my mouth just as I was about to scream out loud. I looked up. Brace was beside me and it was his hand preventing my shriek of outrage.
The girls from the compound filled many of the cells. But that wasn’t all – Lucy was there, and she looked terrible – thin and pale. Her hair was limp and dirty, hanging in swirls around her face.
I tried to wriggle out of Brace’s grasp, but he tightened his hold. I had to get to Lucy. Her expression was blank, as if she had seen it all and nothing affected her anymore. Something inside of me crushed, seeing her so broken.
I bit down into the fleshy pad of Brace’s hand.
“Naughty, Red, don’t make me spank you,” he whispered into my ear.
I spun around to glare at him. At the same time my elbow flew back into his abdomen. He released me slightly.
“In your dreams, douchewad.”
“I know this is probably beyond your capabilities, Abigail, but try and exercise a small level of patience. We need to assess this threat before we act.” His tantalizing voice was still low in my ear, sending shivers along my spine.