I did risk it. I risked a new life with him.
Now it's gone forever.
My sister said nothing, her fingers touching mine, but the rift was too great. Even this close, she felt miles away. I'd clawed my way to her side across the country, and with inches between us, Claudine could have been a ghost.
Maybe I'll become one soon, too. It didn't comfort me, but I refused to be a slave.
The explosion rocked the walls, so loud that even the nearly comatose girls shrieked.
Gasping, I stared at the roof, then at Claudine. “What the hell was that?”
Her eyes were boggling. “I—I don't know.”
Fireworks crackled outside in the hall. Loud, sharp bursts that reminded me of how a whip would cut the air. Not whip cracks, I realized in distress. Gunshots.
The other women stirred, a few blinking towards the sounds. Claudine gripped my wrist, then pulled away. We shared a look. “Gunfire?” I whispered.
Wordlessly, she rose to her feet. The distance between us and the exit could have been a mile, for how long I held my breath as she approached it. She cracked the door, seeing things I couldn't. Whatever was happening out there, my sister watched for a long minute, never moving.
Abruptly she spun around, staring at me.
“What?” I blurted. “What did you see?”
Claudine ran my way, dropping to her knees. “It's madness out there, people shooting each other—chaos.” Her fingers worked over my rope knots, but when that was too slow, she looked around the room. Hurrying to a table coated in powder, she returned with a razor. It must have been used to help divide the cocaine into neat lines.
“Who's fighting? What are you doing?” I asked, a thread of hope weaving through my heart.
Claudine cut the last of my bonds away, standing back. I rubbed my wrists, hardly feeling the mild burns. Both of us looked at the door, the gunfire raining sporadically.
“I don't know who they are, I just saw bullets and blood. You need to get out of here, Flora.”
“What about you?” Furrowing my brow, I swung an arm out to indicate the room; the girls who were wasting away, or eyeballing the door with hazy curiosity. “And what about them? Tully is selling these people, we can't let him do that!”
The sympathy that flooded her eyes did nothing for my mood. “Flora, these girls aren't being sold.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
“The ones you're talking about? The ones that arrived the other day?” Hugging herself, Claudine nodded at the left wall. “They've got them towards the back, closer to the docks.”
“I don't understand,” I whispered.
A faint, sad smile crossed her face. “The girls in here aren't being forced. They're townies, or working girls... women who followed the drugs and the power. They don't care what the Knights are doing.”
Narrowing my eyes, I said somberly, “Just like you.”
Her smile melted, and she looked at the floor. For a moment we stood there, unable to explain the scars and emotions that criss-crossed our lives. I didn't understand her, and I didn't want to.
If she was happy here, then...
Another gunshot popped. Claudine reached out to give me a shove. “Go already. It's a war out there, no one will notice you. You can leave the way you came.”
I snatched the razor from her grip, sticking it in my pocket. It wasn't much of a weapon, but it was better than nothing. “That won't work.”
“I—what? Why not?”
“Because,” I said, peeking out into the hallway. “If the girls are near the docks, it'd be better to exit that way.”
Gaping after me, Claudine took a small step. “Flora, you can't be serious.”
Tightening my jaw, I leveled her with the most severe expression I could muster. “If you don't want to be saved, I can't force you. But those other women? I'm sure they'd love to know someone cared about them enough to try and help.”
My sister watched me, never blinking. Perhaps she wanted to say more, or was expecting me to. After this, I'd never come back, and the chance would be gone.
She never took the opportunity.
Neither did I.
Turning my back, I slid out of the room. The hallway's gorgeous rugs were splattered with gore. Claudine hadn't lied, this was a battle scene. Men leaned on walls, clasping their chests as their eyes stared at nothing. No one was around to stop me.
The back, she said they were...
Rounding the corner, hunching as he stared over his shoulder, Tully ran my way. He hadn't seen me, and clearly, he wasn't expecting to. The large man was nearly on me, his weight making it hard for him to slow down, when he finally twisted.
In the very centers of his eyes, I saw his surprise turn into hatred.
Skidding on his polished shoes, his gun whipped my way. “You!” he snarled, pacing closer as I backed up with my hands held high. “You little fucking liar! You did come here with backup!”