“Help me! Somebody please, help me,” I shout at the top of my lungs. I get nothing. I walk as far as I can toward the windows and call out again. Nothing. I sit back down, close my eyes and try to calm myself. There has to be a way out of here. I just need to remain calm.
There’s a door behind me. I can only go halfway to it before the string stops me. Even if I could reach the door, it looks locked. I call out for help again, but there is still nothing. My toes and the tips of my fingers are numb.
I’m trying to think logically and not panic. And judging by the size of the rat that just ran in front of me, panicking would be fairly easy to do. I make a sound to scare it away but it looks at me as if to say, “Who are you kidding?” They know I’m scared. Be calm, Emmy. They’ll find you.
I try to think back and understand what happened. I saw Ben turn into a Runner before I blacked out. I don’t know how the Runner was able to do that. I know Ben could be not evil. But did the Runner kill Ben in order to become him? What happened to the rest of Ben’s family?
I refuse to consider that they’re dead. I won’t think like that until I know for sure. I think about his little face asking to stay up and watch one more cartoon. I remember the cute, shocked look on his face when I sneak up on him during hide and go seek. His mouth makes a perfect “O” shape and his eyes are as wide as oceans. I push back the dread inside me. I can’t fall apart now. Ben is fine, he has to be.
What about my mom? How long did she stay outside waiting for me? Did she come back upstairs to find me? Did the Ben Runner hurt her? Did another Runner come and attack her outside the building? No, Reese would have seen it. Reese…. Okay, now is so not the time to be thinking about the kiss.
Where did the Runner take me? All I remember is falling and waking up here. Why hadn’t they killed me yet? Triweekend. They weren’t allowed to attack me until it was over. So, that means I have only hours to live. What I wouldn’t give for a watch. They could just have the Runner kill me. But then they wouldn’t get the information out of me.
It would be easier for me to tell them the clue they were looking for if I knew what it was. I doubt they’ll take my word for it. What if this isn’t where the Akons are? What if the Runner took me to Lucy? Then that would make this the house of fire, right? But this can’t be Lucy’s house—it’s freaking cold.
I try to untie the string one more time. It is useless. “Aargh!” I slam my foot into the pole out of frustration. Had I been an angel the pole would have bent in half. But since I’m only human, the only damage done is to my foot. I howl as the pain makes its way across the bottom of my foot. Damn, that hurt.
“Are you okay?” someone says in the near darkness.
Startled, I jump.
“Who said that?” I ask.
“I’m over here, to your left, by the corner,” the voice says.
“Who are you?”
“A guy who made way too many mistakes. Who are you?”
“My name is Emmy. Where are we?”
“Somewhere in the fashion district, I think. I can hear trucks backing up and the guys talking about fabric shipments. That’s the best guess I got.”
“Can you help me out?”
“I’m tied, too.”
“Who brought you here?”
“Akons, you?”
“A Runner pretended to be a boy I know and attacked me. Next thing I know, I’m here.”
“How’s your foot?”
“Not too bad, but I’m freezing.”
“Do you have a coat on?”
“Yeah, but it’s not helping”
“Here, take this.” He throws something at me that lands just out of my reach.
“Can you get it?”
“Wait let me see.” I reach out as far as I can and am able to pull it closer to me. It’s a heavy knitted sweater.
“Don’t you need this?” I ask.
“I’m warm enough. Don’t worry about me,” he says.
“Why are you here?”
“I told Lucy I would give her my soul if she gave me riches, but at the last minute I chickened out. She had a Runner bring me here.”
“You almost sold your soul?”
“I’ve done a lot worse. But I’m not a bad person. I mean, not completely.”
“I’m not a good person. I mean, not completely.”
“Did you go back on the deal to give your soul, too?”
“No, they want me to give them information that I don’t have. At least I don’t think I do.”
“I don’t get it.”
“It’s complicated. But it’s gonna work out. Soon, the Guardians are gonna come and save us.”
“Us?”
“Yeah, you and me.”
“Guardians don’t save people like me.”
“Well, these Guardians will. We just have to hold on. How long have you been here?”
“Long enough,” he says.
“Have you seen anyone?” I ask.
“The Akon leader, Rage. He tied me here and said he’d kill me when he had more time on his hands. He said he didn’t want it to be quick.”
“We’ll be out of here soon. Don’t worry.”
“Did you put the sweater on?”
“Yeah, I put it on under my coat. It helps a lot. Thank you.”
“Wow, I have not heard that in a long time.”
“Thank you?”
“Yeah. I haven’t done anything to get one of those.”
“Well, you have now.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Can I give you a piece of advice?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t bother screaming, it does no good.”
“Why?”
“The windows have a sound Holder over them”
“What’s that?”
“It’s just like a regular Holder but it doesn’t hold in a person, it holds their voices. It’s basically a way of soundproofing.”
“Great.”
“Sorry.”
“What do you think they’ll do to us?”
“They’ve already had a crack at me.”
“Are you hurt?”
“A few burns.”
“They burned you?”
“Rage is not a very nice guy. I guess you don’t get to be head of the Akons by being nice.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I have done some really bad things in my life. Maybe it’s what I deserve. But you strike me as innocent. How did you get here?”
“The universe hates me.”
“Yeah, me too. But I struck the first blow.”
I study the layout of the room we’re in. There isn’t a lot to see in such dim light, but I look anyway. Above us is a smooth ceiling. If this were TV there would be some kind of hatch or something. But of course there is none. And the windows are useless.
I turn and looked towards the door. There is simply no way to get to it. Unless I had wings and somehow flew over to it. But then if I had wings, none of this would have been a problem.
“You okay, Emmy?”
“Yeah.”
“You were so quiet I wanted to make sure you still had some of that hope in your voice. It’s easy to lose and nearly impossible to get back.”
“I’m trying.”
“How do you know the Guardians?”
“We just kind of crossed paths. But they will be coming for us.”
“All of them?”
“Except for one, I kind of pissed her off.”
“How?”
“I kissed her boyfriend.”
“Impressive.”
“I told you, I’m not completely good.”
“Yes, you did,” he says with a little laugh.
“Tell me the truth: are you in a lot of pain?”
“You really care what happens to someone you don’t even know?”
“You care what happens to me, don’t you?”
“I’m really starting to.”
“See, you’re not completely bad.”
Just then the door opens and a big guy with wings and dark hair appears. He closes the door behind him.
“Who are you?” I ask.
He doesn’t say anything. He kneels down in front me. He has a strong chin, steel-gray eyes and a hard stare. In his right hand, he holds out a cup filled with green liquid inside. In his left hand is a bottle of water.
“Drink this,” he orders, shoving the cup in front of me.
“Leave her alone, Rage,” the prisoner says from the corner.
Without taking his eyes off of me, Rage shoots a small bolt of fire out of his arms and straight at the prisoner. Shocked, he is barely able to get out of the way.
“My leg is on fire.”
“Help him! He’s on fire,” I yell.
“I don’t give a damn about what he’s on.”
I take off my coat and throw it over to him. “Use it, hurry,” I say. He sounds like he’s in agony.
“Drink this,” Rage says again.
I’m livid. How dare he play around with people like that? He had thrown just enough fire to burn the prisoner but not kill him. He’s like a cat playing with a mouse it doesn’t feel like killing yet.
“Drink this,” he says again.
“No.”
He slaps me with the back of his hand. My face jerks to the side. It’s like being hit by a train. The pain is blinding. Rage’s face is swimming in front of my head. I can’t steady the image. I taste blood as it runs from my nose down to my mouth. There’s another stream of blood going down my lower lip.