Chapter 2
Chapter Two
A week earlier…
How long had it been? One lifetime? Three? Or was it more? Did she even want to know? It wasn’t really the time that bothered her. It was the darkness. No, that wasn’t right. It was the absence of color. The perpetual, impenetrable, impermeable blackness that surrounded her.
Voices pulled her from slumber and sparked a glimmer of hope within her chest. Fedra listened for…
well, she didn’t know how long, but it felt like a long time.
It had begun with just a few faint words coming from far, far away in the city.
Others eventually joined in. She could never make out whole conversations, but hearing others gave her something to focus on besides her own dark thoughts.
She was sick of herself and tired of having one-sided conversations—if she wasn’t sleeping.
It had been ages—at least, she guessed—since anyone had been in the city.
Then again, that was expected. In all honesty, there was a chance she would never be found.
But she had taken that chance without hesitation.
That’s what one did when they were desperate enough.
And no one had been more desperate than her.
It was nice listening to the mumble of other voices. Sometimes, she could even decipher the males from the females, but try as she might, she couldn’t hear their words. Yet their arrival meant that it was only a matter of time before they found her.
She waited and waited. And waited some more.
Hope ultimately turned to desolation. She had been down this road before.
Bitterness would soon follow. She could rail and scream until she was hoarse, but no one would hear her, because it was all in her head.
She didn’t have a voice, and she wouldn’t until she was found.
Then, she heard him. A male. He didn’t speak, but his footsteps sounded as if they were right next to her.
She waited anxiously for him to find her, to release her, but it never came.
Even when he stopped moving, she could still somehow feel him nearby.
He stood silent and unmoving for long periods, making her wonder what he was doing.
She might still be hidden, but she didn’t feel quite so alone anymore.
She had never thought the day would come.
Part of her wished that, after so long within the unending darkness, she would forget about the past and her reason for being there.
But she recalled every second and each word as if it had all happened the day before. She relived it repeatedly.
And it only made her desperation grow.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice so loud and clear that it brought tears to her eyes.
“Tell me again why you doona just use magic to clear this last hall?”
The voice was deep, with an accent she didn’t recognize.
“That takes the fun out of it.”
The second male sounded distracted, as if the mere act of having to answer irritated him.
Footsteps echoed around her, drawing closer. She was sure they were about to find her.
“The debris looks different here,” the first male said. “The floor tiles are no’ cracked. They’re smashed.”
Fedra tensed. He sounded so close. Surely, he could see her. Was this the man who’d stood still for hours at a time?
“Did you hear me?” the first shouted.
“What?” Then, a second later, the second said, “Of course.”
“Did you now? What did I say?”
“Fine. I wasna listening. I have to…”
She waited for the second to finish the sentence, but he left the words hanging. Fedra tensed as she heard the first male moving about as if he were crawling through something. Had the corridor been damaged? Is that why they hadn’t found her yet?
After the bit of conversation, there was nothing but the male who’d stood so silently.
But that changed when she heard someone bellow a name.
Marcus. Now, the nameless male had a label.
There was an exchange between Marcus, the newcomer, and another looking for someone named Hector.
That must have been who she’d heard crawling around.
She didn’t hear Hector anymore. It was like he had vanished. Fedra began to panic, fearing the males would leave her alone once more. She knew it was useless, but she started shouting.
There was a loud rumble that silenced everyone, including herself. She swallowed nervously. It had sounded like it was directly over her. If the ceiling fell, she would be crushed, and everything she had given up would be for nothing.
She heard two people moving toward her hesitantly.
Had the rumble earlier finally revealed her?
She held her breath, but a moment later, someone barked some names and ordered them to return.
Then, Marcus and the others were talking again.
He directed someone to go into the city to keep it standing.
There was a flurry of movement as some ran away, the sound of their footsteps growing distant.
She screamed over and over, but it was useless since she couldn’t move, couldn’t blink, couldn’t make a sound.
Fedra felt a tear run down her face and into her temple.
They had hidden her as well as they had promised.
She had doubted them. But they had been desperate, too.
And their mutual desperation allowed them to join forces.
Marcus and the others, whoever they were, weren’t the dragons she had been hoping for.
If they were, they would’ve found her already as it had been foretold.
She barely paid attention after that. Not even when she heard Marcus getting closer. She knew the sound of his footsteps and his breathing now, and the glimmer of hope it stirred hurt far more than the events that had put her in her current situation in the first place.
Fedra wanted to ignore Marcus, but it was difficult when he was so close.
Having the silence broken was wonderful.
She hung on his every word, and when he and someone named Ryder got close, she soon realized that they were in the corridor.
She thought they were in the room with her, but they had yet to cross the hallway.
It didn’t matter. She could hear them, and she knew by the changes in Marcus’s and Ryder’s voices that something was seriously wrong.
They eventually made it out, but they’d lost time and memories in the process.
Fedra would’ve clenched her hands if she had been able.
It seemed there were more obstacles in the way of them finding her than a caved-in corridor.
She clung to every name she heard when others got close.
She had gathered a fair number of them and even imagined some faces to go along with them.
Though she’d never find out if the likenesses in her head matched the actual people.
It was a fun game, and it was good to have something to occupy her mind.
Then everyone moved farther into the city. Including Marcus. Fedra hadn’t minded being alone once, but now, she hated it. It was the price she had been willing to pay, though. The silence descended quickly, cutting as deeply as any blade.
The sound of Marcus’s footsteps pulled her from her melancholy, but he wasn’t alone. He was upset about losing memories after being in the hallway. She inwardly smiled when she realized that both males were looking down the corridor, and she had the sudden urge to ask for help.
A word formed in her head, but it never fell from her lips.
Still, she tried again. If she could just reach out to them, she could get them to find her.
Fedra was so focused on the task that she missed the males walking away.
She wanted to follow Marcus and see how deep he went into the city, but she had missed her opportunity.
“Help,” she said in her mind, putting as much despair and yearning as she could into it.
“Who’s in here?” Marcus asked.
Had he heard her? She was so shocked that he had heard her that she couldn’t think for a full minute. Then she realized he had asked a question.
“Help. You must find me. Dig through the rubble of the hallway.”
“Where are you?” he asked. “Tell me where you are so I can help.”
Had he really heard her? Wait. She had answered.
Didn’t he hear? She repeated the words, but he didn’t say anything more.
If he’d heard her once, he could hear her again.
At least that’s how it was supposed to go.
But no matter how many words she formed in her head, none seemed to reach him.
Then he was gone from the city, and it no longer mattered.
Was this a last cruel jest? She should stop trying.
It would only bring more heartache. She hadn’t dared to hope, only to have it repeatedly snatched from her.
Fedra shut out the sounds of the city as best she could, but it became impossible when Marcus was near.
Even when he didn’t speak, she knew he was close.
She didn’t know why, but she tried once more to reach out to him.
“Help.”
“Who’s there?” he called.
He’d heard her again.
“Answer me!” he bellowed.
She was trying. It took so much energy to attempt to reach him. Fedra drew in a deep breath and focused on the words once more. “Help me, please. Marcus, I’m right here.”
The answer was him walking away.
No one had visited after that. She heard the distant sounds of the city, and every once in a while, she picked up Marcus’s voice. She’d tried to reach out to him several times, but she must have been doing it wrong, because he never replied.
Fedra heard Marcus walking the corridors. He got close a few times, but he never returned. She missed the times he would stand still, doing whatever it was he did. She hadn’t been alone, then.
Marcus was walking that night, but her attention shifted to the sound of small feet with quicker steps. The tune whistled was rhythmic and upbeat. She fell into the sound of it, letting it soothe her. It had been ages since she had heard any kind of music.
Then, Marcus’s voice, strong and clear, cut through the whistling.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
Without thinking or hesitation, she found her mind reaching out to him.