Chapter 19 #2
My jaw clenched as we moved down the stairs. If I found out they were keeping children here, I would burn the place to the ground after saving each and every one of them.
When we reached the first basement level, Cy opened up the door, and we were greeted by a dark hallway.
I stepped into it, and automatic lights flashed on to reveal cells—empty ones, but they obviously had been filled at one point or planned to be filled.
I looked to my nightmares, each of them listening for any signs of life before Cy let out an extremely high-pitched whistle.
It messed with my ears, and for a minute I felt like I almost couldn’t hear, but it seemed to alert all of them to something.
“Three floors down,” Cy said.
“Five of them. The other floors are empty,” Amun agreed.
“Six of them,” Ashur corrected. “The sixth has a super low power signature.”
“Sis meta,” I murmured and followed them out the door before looking up at Cy. “What was that?”
“Allowed me to hear the sound bouncing through the space and vents. It also called out to the other nightmares,” Cy explained easily.
“The power signatures are of adolescent nightmares,” Razar said, trying to cover his anger.
“Fucked up shit,” Blackwell growled as I felt fury grow in me. Children. They were holding children prisoner. How much more fucked up could get you get?
Apparently pretty fucked up, because when we arrived on the floor of the basement they were talking about, I could immediately smell the blood. I pulled my backpack off my shoulder, suddenly glad that I had brought the medical supplies.
“We are getting all of them out of here and back to the institute,” I said, and no one argued. If these were truly children, then letting them out onto the streets wasn’t safe—children needed to be protected and loved, whether they were human or nightmare.
When Ashur opened the door, a hiss greeted us that caused Cy to freeze before stepping into the room.
He disappeared, moving four cells forward and crouching down, but my attention was quickly snagged elsewhere.
My eyes widened as I came to the first cell and knelt in front of it.
I could hear the others going cell to cell, with Ashur standing near me.
“Hi there,” I called out to a small frame curled up in the corner. I knew the young girl was a night terror by the way the cell seemed to grow darker, the shadows shifting in the corners. Her glowing silver eyes shone with fear as she whimpered and moved further back.
My other men were doing their best to talk to the other children, their conversations seemingly going a lot better than this one.
I decided to be a bit more forward. “We are here to get you guys out, to get you to a safe place.”
The little girl, who couldn’t be more than six, froze up and stared at me some more before black shadows began to cover her like a comforting blanket.
“Who are you?” she asked. Her words were slightly accented, English if I had to guess, and she seemed oddly alert for someone I knew was bleeding. I wasn’t positive where she was injured, but it was clear the blood was hers.
I also wasn’t positive when my sense of smell had become so acute.
“Arabella. Who are you?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “They don’t call me anything except Three. Everyone else has a name, but not me.”
“How long have you been here?”
“A year, maybe less?” She sniffed. “I don’t remember.”
“Do you want to get out?” Ashur rumbled.
“Yes,” she said, “but where are you taking me to? I don’t want to go if it’s like this place.”
“It’s not,” I promised. “You’ll have your own bedroom and everything. There will be others your age.”
The institute didn’t have many kids, but with more families coming together, the population was growing.
The little girl slid forward on the cement, and when she came into the light, I saw a giant gash on the side of her head. I hissed and looked to Ashur, who opened the cell before moving to do the same with the others, obviously realizing this girl wasn’t a threat.
Instead of entering the cell and her space, I offered her a bottle of water. In an instant she was in front of me and chugging it down as I examined her cut.
“Do you mind if I wrap a temporary bandage on your head until we can clean this?” I asked softly. “Just to stop the bleeding?”
She nodded, her dark hair matted with both dried and wet blood.
She kept drinking the water, but slightly slower now.
Her black eyes, seemingly only silver in the dark, were watching me with confusion as I gently went to wrap her head.
When I was done, she handed me the water bottle, looking relieved.
“Is she good?” Razar asked. I nodded and urged her out, pointing to him. “This is Razar. He’s going to help you get to the jet.”
“He’s nice, Three, really.” A young boy, maybe seven at most, peeked out from behind Razar and offered her an imploring look.
“Okay.” She nodded, and with a small smile at her, I slipped past and walked towards where Blackwell and Ashur were talking to two little creature terrors, both shifted in wolf form but listening to Ashur attentively.
I figured they had it handled and went to Cy, who looked a bit concerned as Amun spoke to whoever was in the cage.
“Are we good?” I asked, crouching down to see a silver-haired girl, around ten if I had to assume, glaring at both of them.
“No,” Amun grunted.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she hissed, her eyes turning into slits before looking at Cy. “Even if we are the same.”
“Basilisk?” I asked, her attention moving to me.
“Yes.” She nodded curtly.
“Why don’t you want to get out of here?” I frowned.
“Because you are only taking nightmares, and my other friend isn’t a nightmare.” Her face turned sad. “I won’t leave her here.”
Ah, that made sense.
“Is her name Nia?”
Her eyes widened. “Yes, you know her?”
“We want to free her also. Where is she?”
“Over there.” She pointed. “If you can get her out, I will come with you.”
I nodded and walked to the cell she’d indicated, Ashur appearing next to me as we approached a solid door with a screen pad next to it.
Anger hit me with the realization that they were aware she was something special—why else would she be locked up like this?
Ashur opened the door, and I was greeted with the same vision as in my dream-like state.
“Nia?” I called out. A silver head of hair snapped up from where she had been slumped against the wall.
Relief filled her face as I realized she was younger than I’d thought, maybe ten, a small cry escaping her throat as she tried to stand.
She fell, her small, starved frame hitting the stone.
I rushed to her, Ashur helping me unlock the chain on her ankle.
When Nia clung onto me, sobbing, an unmatched fury hit into me at the people who ran this place.
“You’re safe now,” I promised.
I would make sure this place had no ground to stand on tomorrow. Literally.