2. Raegan
Chapter two
Raegan
I jolt awake, sitting upright and gasping for air. A twinge of pain stabs the back of my neck, and I reach for it subconsciously, rubbing the area as I wrack my memories for what was real and what was just a dream.
I remember being on the island with Jackson and escaping through the window. Gordon found us, and then…
My eyes sweep around an unfamiliar room. It’s plain and basic, as any bedroom can be. It has white walls and a hardwood floor with a massive rug covering most of it. There’s a single upright dresser, an attached bathroom, and the simple twin bed I’m in.
And nothing else.
It’s reminiscent of the room I’d once shared with other girls back on the island, but just my small corner’s worth of furniture.
What’s strikingly different is the glass wall on the side opposite the bed. The only privacy I’ll have is my time in the bathroom. I shove the blankets down and drop my feet over the edge of the bed until they touch the scratchy rug. I move around the room, inspecting it for cameras or anything else I may have missed in my cursory glance.
The bathroom is tiny. It barely fits the toilet, sink, and a standing shower that’s only three feet across. I know my elbows are going to hit the walls while trying to wash my hair, but I’ll take the private bathroom. It could be worse.
I do a double-take in the mirror when I see myself. My hair tie came loose in my sleep, leaving my hair disheveled. Blood smears my face and neck, and when I look at my arms, the left one has dried blood cracking off like a dead second skin.
My chest tightens, and I can’t breathe.
Jack.
Is he okay? Did they get him back to Cassandra in time? Will I ever see him again? Or the others?
I shake my head and slap my hands to my cheeks to stop that train of thought. I have to believe that they’re all okay. I’ll do my best here so they can get Vera back and keep working to take down GE. I’ll just have to stay strong until they get to that point. I can help them from the inside.
The initial pain in my neck looks like an injection site where Gordon probably had me sedated as soon as we stepped through the portal. I can’t remember a single thing after walking through it. The rest of my neck is aching from the collar still around my neck.
My fingers poke and prod at the skin underneath, testing its soreness from a combination of its uncomfortable fit and being shocked in it.
This thing better be waterproof, because I need to wash this blood off me. I turn on the sink faucet and test a drop of water on it, waiting for a shock. Then I touch my wet hand to it slowly, again waiting for pain to follow, but nothing happens. Once I’m thoroughly satisfied that it is, in fact, waterproof, I return to the room and check the dresser for a change of clothes.
My options are a black workout outfit with the GE logo or a gray workout outfit with the GE logo.
Wonderful.
I grab the black and bring it with me into the bathroom, where I get to work on cleaning my hair and body of the previous day.
I roughly towel dry my hair and return to the room to inspect the glass wall and the only other door. I rap my knuckles against the glass, but the sound is muted. Tempered glass? Now I really feel like a pet trapped in a cage. I try the door for shits and giggles, but of course, it’s locked from the outside with no keyhole for me to attempt picking it.
Sighing, I step back from the door and then jump when I see someone standing on the other side of the glass.
“Shit!” I curse, slapping my hand against my chest to keep my heart from bursting out of it. Recognizing them, I take a step back, my next curse spilled on a breathless exhale. “Fuck.”
There’s a good reason why I didn’t recognize him at first. Because while the major characteristics are there, they’re also…not quite right. His skin is ashen in color, no longer a solid peach that made him appear…well, human. He has dark, sunken eyes.
His ears don’t sit right on the sides of his head, which is made all the more obvious because of his short hair that does nothing to hide it. And there’s a thick white scar wrapped around his neck where Jackson sawed it in two.
“Thorne?”
He sneers at me, revealing perfect teeth behind bloodless lips. “This is your fault, you stupid bitch. I should have just killed you when I had the chance. Now, look at me !” he roars, banging his fist against the glass.
I startle. A zombie is yelling at me. What’s more terrifying than that? “Um…I see you. Why aren’t you dead?”
Thorne’s fist slides down the glass while his one good eye glares at me with pure malice. “I’ll never die until he’s done with me. Even if all that’s left are my bones. I should do the same to you.” He pauses as the words leave his lips, his expression turning thoughtful. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’ll do.” His mouth stretches to a wild smile that has dread dropping in my gut like a sack of rocks.
“I’ll kill you, make him bring you back to life as another of his puppets, and then Jackson will do anything that’s asked of him to keep you alive. Well, you know. As alive as I am,” he amends.
I swallow, trying to ignore the blatant threat to my life and focusing on gathering information. “So, this guy’s a necromancer? Is that how Vera’s alive?”
He rubs his chin. “Not like in the movies. He traps a person’s soul in their body before it leaves, which preserves the body in its current state. A healer heals the body as well as they can, but as you can see, you can only be put back together so many times before it starts…losing its life.”
That sounds horrifying. And I also have no plans to join him and Vera in that experience. I keep him talking, hoping to buy enough time that someone else will walk by and I can flag them down to get Gordon. I know he wouldn’t agree to this plan at least. He wants me only obeying him and no one else. His own personal weapon.
It speaks volumes about my predicament that I’m counting on him to keep me from joining the league of undead soldiers.
“How was Jack supposed to help with that? If your body is…you know…” I don’t want to piss him off by saying any of the words that come to mind, so I just nod at him and let him fill it in for himself.
Thorne keeps his eyes trained on me as he starts to walk along the glass to the door.
“Royce manipulates and controls souls. Which means he could move my soul into a better body. Kill them without causing much harm to the body itself, pluck out that soul and stuff mine in. I’ve already picked out the body as well. I just need Jackson’s help to set the plan in motion.”
I make a mental note of the name and everything he’s telling me, but then I see him entering numbers into a keypad next to the door and realize my time’s almost up. There are two beeps in rapid succession, and when the door doesn’t open, I assume it means he guessed the wrong code. He tries again. More double beeps.
I move further back, but the closest thing to a weapon in this room is the hairbrush in the bathroom that would do fucking nothing against a man as powerful as Thorne.
“Who did you pick out? Maybe I can help instead,” I rush out, trying to buy more time.
There’s a single, higher note beep, and then a click as the door pops open a crack.
Fuck a duck.
I’m dead. So dead.
The door pushes inward, and he slowly steps inside with a smirk. He closes the door behind himself, and I hear another click that tells me he’s locked us both in here. He moves toward me again, and I back up step by step until my ass hits the bed. Then I scramble up and stand on it to get whatever distance I can from him. Even though I know it means nothing when he can stop me from breathing or slash me to pieces with air from a distance, it’s just not in me to stand still and let it happen.
“You’re too weak to take on Royce. I need Jackson to do it, which is why you’re worth more to me as his puppet than alive. Incentive for Jackson to fight him.” He raises his hand up, and I dive to the bed, rolling off it and trying to avoid his aim. A swift breeze sweeps behind me, telling me how close I’d come to being hit. He laughs mockingly while trying to track my movements with his hand. “Stand still, girl. I’m trying to do Jackson a favor and keep your body intact for this death, which is more than he’s done for me. If you keep moving, I’ll have to slice you up and let you bleed out.”
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Gordon demands angrily from the other side of the glass.
Thorne scowls. But he doesn’t drop his hand. He raises it instead, and my gut tells me he’s going to try for a kill in a single blow.
I run to the dresser and shove it forward so I can use it as a shield, then duck to make myself as small as possible. The dresser shatters to pieces around me, knocking into my back and shoving me face-first into the wall. My head hits it hard enough that I black out for a second, then wake to find myself lying on the floor.
“Call your puppet, Royce. He’s not to harm my pet now or ever, do you hear me?” Gordon’s voice echoes from somewhere in the room.
I grab my head and groan as it pounds relentlessly, drawing myself up so I can see what’s happening. I blink a few times through the pain as Thorne storms out of the open door. If I wasn’t in so much pain, I might try to make a break for it.
No, wait. I can’t do that. I swore to stay. Breaking that promise could mean he goes after the guys and brings Vera back here. She’s another person who will try to kill me as soon as an opportunity presents itself.
“Such a waste,” Gordon chides as he walks over to me. He kneels and grabs my chin, jerking my face up and tilting it this way and that. “I’ll have a healer come down to fix you up. I’m not losing a day of training because of that imbecile. You’re weak enough as it is when you’re not injured.” He tosses me away as he stands to make another call.
I pass out on the floor before the phone starts ringing.
When I wake up next, the headache has disappeared and I feel as I did before Thorne arrived—better, actually, because the pain in my neck has also vanished.
Gordon stands over me with his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. “I don’t have all day, pet. Open your eyes and get out of bed. We’re already almost an hour behind schedule.”
I push myself out of bed and move to stand, hoping Gordon will step back to give me some room, but no, of course not. I brush against him when getting back on my feet and feel nauseated at him starting this so soon.
He takes my arm above my elbow, pinching it between his thumb and fingers while directing me out of the room. “Your tour is going to be briefer than originally planned, but you’ll have the opportunity to explore later. For now, I’ll give you the basics of how to get around or the different areas we’ll be working in so you know where to go.”
Cringing, I try to tug away under the guise of getting more comfortable, and I’m surprised when he releases me. “I don’t understand.”
Gordon stops walking, and I stumble in my effort to do the same. His hard brown eyes travel from my feet to my face. “Don’t tell me your brain’s gone stupid while you’ve been away as well. I’m not sure I’ve met anyone more worthless than you, pet. If not for your gift, that is. It’s a shame that you were born with it.”
My jaw tightens at the jabs he effortlessly throws my way. I’ve worked a lot on my self-confidence since the last time he had me. I realize it still may not be enough when a twinge of pain slides its way into my psyche. Worthless . I hate that fucking word.
“Since you are here willingly , I see no reason to keep you locked up. We both know if you try to run or fight back, Vera will come immediately home, and I’ll send hunters to track down and kill those five boys who were with you.”
Five? Oh, shit. Reid was there. Good job, Rae. Another innocent in danger because of you .
I nod to show him that I understand. This was what I had offered, and I won’t put everyone else in danger by not upholding my end of the deal. Dane needs this time to try to win Vera back. Try being the keyword. I don’t have much confidence it will work, but at least she’s not here. And the others can focus on GE the way they were before I came along to distract them.
“Good. The fifth through tenth floors are off-limits. First through fourth is where you’ll find food, the indoor pool and recreation area, the gym, the library, or anything else you might need. The eleventh floor is for medical, and the twelfth floor is where we’ll do any indoor training. The thirteenth floor and up are primarily sleeping quarters, plus some mini apartments and such. Your room is on the thirteenth floor, and as of right now, you’re our only guest on the island. It’s new, so others will eventually join us, but for now, it’s just staff and you.”
I nod again, even though I’m trying to wrap my head around how big this building is. We head down in an elevator to the first floor, walk through a lobby and then through the wide front doors that have a perfect view of the beach. We’re on a hill, but I can see trails that lead down on either side to get to the water.
Gordon leads us in that direction, and I pause to look back and up at the building we just left.
It’s…massive. Like a luxury hotel propped on a cliff on its own private island. I count at least twenty stories but lose track when the windows start to blend together.
“Keep up!”
I spin and jog to catch up. “When can I take this collar off?” I ask him, touching it as it chafes my neck.
“Mm…yes. A formality for when you’re not with me. The staff was uncomfortable with you being here unless you would be wearing it.” The staff? Why would they think I’d attack them over Gordon? Probably guessing my confusion, he shakes his head and continues, “The last time you were on an island, you broke it with your gift. Not just the manor, but the island, too, eventually crumbled to sand at the bottom of the ocean.”
Oh.
Fuck.
I knew about the manor and had seen some cracks in the ground, but I didn’t realize…
“Figures you’re too dumb to realize the full potential of your gift. I want to see more of that while we’re training. Without ”—he looks at me pointedly—“destroying this island, of course.”
My palms sweat at the memory of what caused me to lose complete control of my gift back then. I want to snipe at him because he was the reason it had happened in the first place, but I can’t bring myself to say the words. Even thinking about them makes me sick to my stomach. Then don’t rape me again .
The last thing I want to do is remind him of it. While I agreed to train and do what he wants as his weapon, I won’t let him touch me again.
“Just play nice, do as you’re told, and I think this time, you’ll have such a good experience that you won’t ever consider leaving me again. I’ll give you everything you need to be happy so long as you make me happy, pet.”
My stomach twists and binds at the possible implications of what he might ask of me, and I’m forced to wonder if I’ll make it out this time with my life or my sanity.
The tour concludes in a clearing about half a mile behind the main building. There’s scrub and other low island bushes and trees surrounding it, with nothing but sand in the middle. That, and a huge mound of concrete that’s the size of three monster trucks.
“This is where we’ll meet every day to train. You’ll be here first thing in the morning as soon as the sun is up. If you choose to eat beforehand, that’s up to you, but be sure you aren’t late. I’d skip breakfast in the beginning until your body starts getting used to these warm-ups.” Gordon’s seated off to the side in a tall chair with a wide umbrella over the surrounding area. Mini fans hang off the poles on the underside of the umbrella to give him an additional breeze.
“We’ll be training from sunup to sundown every day, with a break for lunch. After that, you can do whatever you please, so long as you’re up in time for training the next morning.”
I stare at the pile before me with apprehension. This was how he started training me last time. No wonder he’s saying I can do whatever I want on the island after training. I’ll barely be able to drag myself back up the hill to the lobby after this, let alone wander or do anything else. At least he removed the collar when we got here. I rub absently at the temporary freedom on my neck, but I’m more relieved to feel the connection to my gift again.
“Your body seems to have forgotten how to use your gift, or you’re still fighting it. You’re going to get rid of this entire pile, and then I’ll let you off for the rest of the day. How long that takes is going to be up to you.” He leans forward, gripping the tablet in his hand. “You’ve grown weak, pet. It’s time to break you down and build you back up again. Just like muscle fibers must be torn for your body to adapt and get stronger, the same is true for your gift.” He punches something on his tablet screen. “Begin.”
I call to my gift, reaching into that place deep down and spreading it up and then to my hands. The burn is worse in this heat, but I clench my teeth and push through it. I haven’t even started yet, and I know I won’t be allowed to eat or sleep until this is done. If I can somehow power through, then maybe I can make it and still have time to rest.
It doesn’t help that he has yet to let me eat since waking up here, so my body’s fuel is already low, leaving me at a disadvantage.
I get to work grabbing each piece of cement and thrusting my gift into it one at a time.
I’m only five minutes in, and it feels like I’m going to be sick. My hands are on fire, my stomach is growling fiercely, and I’m unsteady on my feet. When I pause to see what progress I’ve made, I can’t see it. Have I even made a dent?
I keep going until my body switches to autopilot. I’m numb to the pain now, just going through the motions and trying to stay conscious.
Until I’m not anymore.
Sand pelts me in the face, and I sputter awake, choking out the grit that went up my nose and into my mouth as I try to brush it away from my eyes.
“Pathetic.” He grabs my hair at the roots, twisting it back and yanking hard so I’m forced to look up, eliciting a cry from my lips when the pain snaps me completely awake.
Gordon’s scowling at me. “You need to do better than this. Consider today your orientation and practice run. If you fail me like this tomorrow, Holt will shock you awake every time you pass out until you finish the job.” He shoves my face down into the sand and then clicks the collar back around my neck.
Footsteps peter away, but I don’t bother raising my head to confirm that he’s leaving. I know he’s done with me today, and it’s better for me to keep my head down until he’s out of sight than look at him where he could misinterpret it as some act of defiance.
I move my forehead onto my arm and take a shuddering inhale. It’s like my entire body has been sliced open and filled with sand. Heavy. Burning.
You can do this, I tell myself, even as my body screams otherwise. This is just day one, and I’ve already seen how it gets worse.
But I survived before.
And I’ll do it again.