21. Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-One
Charon
“Read with me.”
Mother’s soft voice draws me away from the screams echoing below.
I crawl across the creaky mattress without hesitation, curling beside her in the narrow cot we’re not supposed to share. Her fingers are cracked from scrubbing the floors, but when she opens the worn leather book on her lap, they hold steady.
It’s the only book left. There used to be more, but he destroyed them all .
She starts to read as I lean on her shoulder, following the page with my eyes. The words don't make a lot of sense yet, but she turns them into music. My fingers trace the lines as she sings them in my ear.
A door slams down the corridor, making us both flinch. Her thumb tightens on the page, but she only reads louder, like maybe the words will keep the monsters out.
“He’ll never hurt you,” she murmurs when the chapter ends, brushing my hair back to repeat the words she scrawled in the corner of her book. “Not while I'm here. I'll protect you for as long as I breathe."
The lights flicker above as boots stomp toward us, and I know what’s coming before he enters the cell. But I don’t want to go. I don’t want to fight in the pit again.
I don’t want to be the monster he’s making me into.
My mother’s grip tightens when the bars slide open, but it doesn’t stop him from yanking me out of her arms.
“Charon, remember who you are. Remember who you are!”
Her screams still echo in my nightmares.
Remember, remember, remember…
Remember.
A flutter of wings pulls me out of the dream.
Something cold brushes my cheek, a sharp nip not quite hard enough to draw blood. With a strained exhale, I blink through the pounding in my skull as the world shifts into focus—the bars, the damp stone floor, the sharp ache in my ribs.
I don’ t remember how I got here—just pain, and agony, followed by the cold embrace of darkness.
Nyx sits on my chest, head tilted with one beady eye staring into mine urgently. When I don’t move fast enough, she hops up onto my collarbone and pecks at my jaw again.
“ Pass ,” she croaks impatiently.
I drag myself upright slowly, breathing through my nose as the air shifts, thick with the scent of blood. A choked sob leaves my throat when I recognize where I am.
The pit . Zone T. Down below, guards pace while two rotters battle it out for food.
My stomach turns at the screams, echoing the same as they did back then, and I drop my face into my hands.
Just like that, I see my mother again. Not in the flesh, not now, but in the memory I’ve buried so deep it rips my heart clean from my chest.
She’d been standing in the center of the pit, blood dripping down her face. He threw her in there—the one they called the Judge. My father.
He’d said she was too soft, that her love made me weak. She wasn’t immune like me. She’d never survive in the pit. I remember shouting for her as he’d held me down, forcing me to watch her die.
But it wasn’t biters she’d been facing.
No, it was her .
Lena.
Hector’s sister killed my mother and took her place.
The memory fades, but the ache it leaves behind claws at my ribs. I curl my fingers into my hair, nails biting into my scalp as the echo of her victory shout rings in my ears .
She looked right at me after she did it, holding my mother's head high. They’d dragged me away screaming. That was the last time I spoke to anyone, other than Nyx.
I’d found her the very next day on the dock, sick and unable to fly. She was small then, one wing dragging uselessly along the dirt. Wouldn’t eat. So I’d cupped her in my hands and carried her back to my cell, naming her after my mother.
She’d learned my voice before I lost it. Every word I spoke to her, every soft murmur to keep myself from breaking, even when Lena demanded we use the crow for testing the infected after taking my voice from me.
And now she's taken Hector, too.
Nyx flutters from my shoulder to the bars, her beak clicking as she glances back at me with an impatient caw. I lift my head and huff at her, yanking on the bars to show her that I'm trapped .
Her wings snap open with a hiss of air as she launches herself up into the shadows, disappearing just as heavy boots thump down the corridor. A guard strolls past the cell, chewing on something, and his lip curls when he sees me.
“Well, look at the freak, all locked up tight,” he sneers, leaning closer to the bars. “Thought you were tough, but this place breaks everyone eventually, huh?”
Tilting my head, I let him ramble as Nyx drops silently from the rafters above, completely unseen by the arrogant bastard.
But I see her just fine.
And I smile darkly.
With a sharp shriek, she dives for his head.
The guard barely has time to gasp before claws rake across his face, tearing through flesh and eyes.
He stumbles back, swatting wildly at the air as blood spatters the wall.
She plunges again, this time straight for the key ring at his hip, and by the time he fumbles for his weapon, it’s too late.
She yanks the ring free before flinging it through the bars with a triumphant caw, where they clatter to the floor beside me.
I flip through the keys quickly, already knowing what to look for from years of walking this prison myself.
Click .
When the bars slide open, I’m on him in an instant, wrapping my fingers around his throat. The guard tries to fight, but he’s too weak as I crush his windpipe beneath my hands.
Nyx flutters onto the ground beside me, blood still streaking her feathers. She watches me grab the guard’s gun before slumping against the wall, chest heaving in agony.
He’s gone. Hector was mine, and she took him, just like she’s taken everything else.
My gaze darts toward the walkway ahead, then down to the pit where the soldiers claim a victor. I need to move, to get away, but… I don’t want to, not without him.
If I stay here, I’ll die. If I run, I’ll still probably die, just a little slower. But maybe I can make my death actually mean something.
And when I finally see Hector again in Elysium, I can greet him proudly.
Nyx caws quietly, nudging the keys toward my boot as if she can read my thoughts. I pick them up slowly, formulating my plan. They jingle in my grip, metal slick with blood as I move down the corridor and up to the top level, screams echoing somewhere below .
First door on the left, I pause.
Inside, a woman sits curled in the corner, wrists raw from the silver cuffs.
Her eyes track me as I open the door and unlock her shackles.
She doesn’t move at first, but I leave her for the second cell.
Then the third. Some of them are too far gone to register what’s happening, others blink like the light burns after so long in the dark.
One man starts sobbing, falling to his knees.
“Thank you, thank you,” he sobs into my hand.
I continue on.
Down and down I go, opening doors, letting every forgotten soul free. By the time I reach the last level, the hall behind me is full of murmurs and shuffling feet. I press my back to the wall, meeting their hopeful stares as Nyx lands on my shoulder with a satisfied ruffle of her feathers.
She understands what we have to do.
The match has been lit, and now all that's left is to watch this place burn.