48. Jay
Jay
Ilet go of the weapon and stare at Brian impassively. He likes fear, so I will give him exactly none of it. Father will let him hurt me, but only so far. He can’t break bones or injure me so I die.
It will hurt, but I can survive a little pain. And a lot.
“Come on, little girl.”
Asshole. It’s not even a good taunt. My lips curl, and he has to almost shove me to get me moving. I refuse to go willingly anywhere with him. If Father wants to hurt me, he can do it his damn self.
The smell of dust is familiar. Soon, it will mix with the smell of my blood. I hate that smell.
Just being here has my stomach churning.
The body is reacting, even if I don’t feel fear, the body is reacting like it feels it.
I lose track of the turns, but then I’m searching the shadows, looking for him and anything else that can save me.
I stumble to a stop, my thoughts tangling with Merle and Raptor’s memories, and I realise the critical, absolutely idiotic, foolish mistake we just made. Pix isn’t with his family.
He’s with our alphas.
“Fuck,” I breathe out, stunned by how incredibly stupid we were.
We lost our damn minds because we let ourselves panic. We just handed ourselves over to him. Gift wrapped. He never had anyone. This was all just to get me back here.
Brian drags me to a room that I’ve never been to before, but when he pulls up my wrists and secures me to the chains, I realise I know this room. I know this room well.
I stare straight in front of me, staring at my mirror.
She’s alive.
She’s dead.
She’s me.
She’s a stranger.
My fear turns the room sour, and I turn my head quickly and vomit as I try to press the memories down, forcing them to be gone.
He’s carving her up, and we’re both screaming.
She was the delicate little blue robin. And he broke her wings.
I stare at the spot, seeing the past, ignoring the way he jostles me, ignoring the way the pain splinters and threatens to collapse the world around me.
“There’s no one here but me,” I whisper, but my voice shakes. I’m scared, and it’s clear as day.
It seems to please Brian. He grins wide, gets a little bounce in his step.
“Yes, it was a trap. The live was just a recording of a live. He wants them, but you are who he really wanted.”
A trap. Idiot, he thinks I don’t already know.
I lift my gaze and stare into his eyes. He looks away first and then, with a huff, retreats from the room, leaving me alone.
Staring at the past, wishing again that I’d had the strength to be able to save her, just once. There’s no point trying to get away. There’s never a way out.
“You are the blue robin, and I am the blue jay. I didn’t forget you. I haven’t forgotten our promise. You didn’t die for nothing. I won’t let you.”
A sound draws my attention back to the here and now. It’s not time yet.
I flee before I make everything a thousand times worse.