Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
“Bitzy, get your finger out of there.” A voice slunk into my dreams, tugging me from the depths of my mind. “You don’t know where that one has been. It might be rabid.”
Chirp.
“Yes, I can see she likes it . . . a lot.”
Chirp.
“I do not! Total misunderstanding.” He huffed. “Now get away from the cerulean hellion.”
My lids cracked open, taking in Opie’s figure standing on my pillow, a groan leaking from my lips.
“It’s alive!” He deepened his voice, his arms going up. “It’s alive!”
Chirp! Bitzy’s tweet came from the bed next to mine, her tiny form leaping over to us, scrambling up my pillow. Her fingers waved in a morning salute.
“Good morning to you too,” I muttered, the heels of my palms digging into my eyes.
The dream from the night before stuck to me like syrup. Gooey and thick, muddling to just flashes and a deep feeling of something important.
Was it only a dream? The book couldn’t pull me in if I wasn’t touching it, right?
I couldn’t explain the visions. They were blurry and distant, but I recalled a small cottage I had never seen before, though something about it felt like home.
I had seen a secret hiding space and a notebook of some sort in it.
My dad was there. I didn’t see him; it was more that I felt him.
His presence whispered in my ear like he was trying to tell me something.
“We’ve been waiting forever for you to wake up, Master Fishy.
” Opie swung his arms dramatically, spinning his layered skirt up.
Today, he wore white bandage strips constructed into a long skirt and a bra made out of cotton balls.
His hair was in a Mohawk, a cotton ball speared through each spike like marshmallows.
Bitzy had the same layered skirt, but pulled up to her chest, and had two cotton balls on the end of her ears. All stuff you’d find in a small clinic.
“Like for-ev-er,” he emphasized. “We got bored.”
Sitting up, I wagged my head to shake myself awake. Something in my hair knocked against my shoulders. Reaching down, I found over a dozen tight braids with white cloth plaited through one side of my head above my ear.
“Told you we got bored.” Opie’s smile was full of chagrin. “And your hair was lacking oomph.”
Sticky, sweaty, bloody, and dirty, I lacked more than oomph.
“Is this . . .” I picked up, examining the material. “Sheets from a bed?” I peered down at my shredded top sheet. “My bed?”
“Did you a favor . . . you looked hot.” He shrugged, batting his eyes, trying to look innocent.
“Like I said, we were really, really bored.” He grabbed his strands of the striped sheet and twirled, the fabric floating around him like kite tails in the wind.
His Mohawk was the perfect juxtaposition.
“It was worth it, right? Though the fabric is dull. I mean, I had very little to work with here. I still think I added a certain flair to it.”
“Flair is certainly one way of describing it.” Blowing out a chuckle, I knew I could never stay mad at him.
Rubbing my temple, I tried to reach out for Warwick, feeling nothing but a wall. Was he blocking me? He looked irritated outside Andris’s office before, and I had no idea why. I passed out before I had a chance to see or talk to him.
Peering over where Kek still slept, I noticed strands of her blue hair were re-braided with white cotton, the brownie clearly finding her hair in need of a little more panache also. The color was back in her cheeks, and she looked mostly healed.
My eyes twisted over to Caden’s sleeping form.
Wes was guarding him now, trying not to doze.
My heart wrenched seeing Caden chained to the bed.
His expression was already strained as if he subconsciously knew he couldn’t relax.
A captive in enemy territory. I didn’t even want to contemplate how Caden would react once he woke.
It was going to be bad. But what choice did I have?
No matter what happened, I would do everything to protect him, even if he didn’t think I was.
Luk still lay in the same position, ashen and sweaty. Ash was in a seat next to him, bent over the bed, fast asleep next to Luk’s legs.
“How long was I asleep?”
“For-ev-er,” Opie moaned.
Chhhiiirrp. Bitzy flipped me off like it was all my fault.
“Okay, let’s try this. What time is it now?”
“I don’t know. Do I look like a time fairy?” Opie motioned to himself.
“I’m starting to see Master Finn’s side,” I grumbled, rising from the bed.
Opie’s eyes widened to saucers. “You want to spank me with rubber gloves and a dustpan too?”
“What?” I blinked.
“What?” he squeaked back.
Chirp?
“Did you say dustpan?”
“No.” Opie’s eyes moved around the room. “I didn’t say spatula either.”
“You didn’t say spatula.”
“I know; I told you I didn’t.” He busied himself, fiddling with the layers of his skirt. “You must be hearing things, Fishy.”
Chirp!
“I did not,” Opie hmphed.
Chirp.
“Oh, don’t bring it up again. He wanted to know how the vacuum got stuck.”
Chirp.
“I did not show him five times.”
“O-kay.” I held up my hands. “I’m gonna stop you two right there while I still have an appetite.”
“Oh, I’m not sure you want one.” Opie wrinkled his nose. “We already sampled the breakfast, the after-breakfast, snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. All blah . . .”
“Dinner?” My eyes widened. I had gone to sleep just when the sun rose. Had I slept all day? It felt like I was scarcely out for a moment. Parts of the dream were still vivid in my mind, rubbing at the back of my head like I could step right back into it.
With no windows or way of telling what time it was, I had no idea how long I had been out. My stomach grumbled, telling me it had been far too long since I last ate.
“Yeah, dinner . . . it’s eight-thirty.”
“Eight-thirty.” I lifted an eyebrow. “You know what time it is?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
My lids shut, fists rolling up, breathing in and out of my nose.
I had slept more than twelve hours.
“Have you seen Warwick?” Trying to reach out to him through our link, I still found it barred, which shifted me onto my feet with irritation. Why was he blocking me?
“You mean that big, bad, sexy wolfy?” Opie fanned himself.
My cheek flinched. “I’m thinking we’re talking about the same person.”
“Like you don’t know, Fishy,” Opie scoffed, Bitzy copying his response. “Weren’t you the one screaming out, “‘Oooooohhh, Wolfy, what a colossal dick you have—’”
“Stop. Now.” I cut him off. “And I did not call him Wolfy.” Folding my arms, I lowered my lids. “I probably called him a dick.”
Opie winked at me. “That too.”
Chirp! Which sounded something like, “You’re an idiot and a liar.”
“Before this train went off the rail, I asked if you had seen him?”
“We were on a train?” Opie tilted his head, peering at Bitzy. “Do you remember being on a train? I thought we were on those zoomy-zoomy things.”
Chirp! Which I was sure was, “You are all idiots.”
A groan climbed up my throat. “You know what? I’m gonna go find something to eat.” I motioned over my shoulder.
“Good luck, Fishy!” Opie waved at me. “Wear protection!”
Chirp! Middle fingers stabbed the air in response.
I didn’t even want to know.
Leaving them, my legs carried me out of the room. Loud chants down the hall took me to one of the largest areas in the condensed compound, discovering where most of the inhabitants were located. They were circling two fighters in the middle of what had to be their training workout room.
A tiny blonde warrior against a man who had to be at least eight feet tall, his body built like boulders.
Birdie scaled up his back, leaping on his shoulders, her legs wrapping around his throat.
“Bir-die! Bir-die!” Her name was chanted as the huge man flailed about, trying to get her off his back, swinging her around to me.
“X,” she called out my name, her eyes glinting with fire. Like me, she came alive when she was fighting. Some might find it sick, but walking the line between life and death sparked my blood with vigor. “You’re awake.”
“Yeah, I was gonna go get some dinner.”
“Oh, I’m starving.” She talked to me like she wasn’t in the middle of battling this half-giant man.
His face had turned a deep red, his fists trying to punch her as he slammed her back into walls, trying to dislodge the bird perched on his back.
Her legs only tightened down on his esophagus, forcing him to gasp for any air.
People bellowed around them, money in their hands waving in the air with enthusiasm. “Hold on a moment.”
I laughed as her face went serious, done playing around. Her bitchy, bored expression covered her features as she used both of her arms and legs to constrict his airway.
The man clawed and struck her, but the girl held on like an octopus. He stumbled, his skin shading into purples, blood vessels in his eyes popping before he fell, hitting the ground with a thump, tapping his arm to say he was out.
Birdie unlatched herself, standing up and brushing back the loose hair from her ponytail.
“That was fun. Maybe we’ll do this again tomorrow.
” She patted the guy on the shoulder before turning to me.
She strolled over, one eye bruising with a shiner, but otherwise, her heavily lined eyes were perfect, not a scratch on her.
“Think tonight is krumplileves again.” She rolled her eyes, sauntering right by me while yelling and money changing hands continued behind her.
Snorting, I trailed after the petite girl dressed in all black.
The miniscule canteen was a few rooms down, a rectangular room filled with folding chairs and wood slabs propped on cement blocks for tables.
Against one wall, food, drinks, and snacks were spread out.
Nothing like the setup they used to have, and not even close to Povstat’s situation.
Birdie stopped in front of a crockpot, her nose wrinkling as she scooped out the traditional Hungarian potato soup.