Chapter 26
“You didn’t think to check, did you?”
“She’s twenty-eight.”
“She could be lying.”
“You can’t tell that with anyone over twenty-five, and with her activity level—”
“Are you looking for miracles, Warden?”
“No, Madame, but what I do have is faith, and we can’t ignore that Two has shown up at our door with…”
“Rouse her at once, we’ll question her until I am satisfied.”
“To what end?”
“See if she’s lying and handle her accordingly.”
“But the interpretation allows for—”
“I am aware of what it allows for, Warden, rouse her. Now.”
?
Ammonia singed its way up my nose, down my throat, and into my lungs. But I’d been ready for it. Waiting, biding my time, to make my presence known.
“There, that’s it, my love, are you feeling better?” Warden White placed a lid over a tube of smelling salts, before shining a light over both my pupils.
I went to swat him away, knowing full well my hands were still tied.
Smack! My palm struck the side of his wrist.
Well, that was new.
My wrists and ankles were rubbed raw and red, but they were no longer bound. I was still in my hospital gown, sitting upright. Feeling Imaginary Todd’s phantom grip on my throat, I knew I needed to hide my anger. Let it fester until I came up with a better plan. And kick some ass in the process.
“Two, my love, we’re going to need you to confirm what you told me earli—” But Warden White was cut off by the woman devoid of all humanity.
“Who did you sleep with?!” Madame grabbed me by the roots of my hair, yanking my head back. Guess, I wasn’t the only one who was angry. But unlike Madame, I didn’t have the luxury of letting it out. Yet.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I sounded measured and collected. It wasn’t lost on me that I was nothing but a magical uterus to the Seal. And if that uterus ceased to be magical the rest of me had very little worth.
“Did you sleep with Warden Masterson?” She gripped my hair tighter, pulling her face closer to mine. “Was it him?”
“Who?”
“Warden Masterson!” But the name was no more familiar than it had been when she first said it. “Mads!” That was a name I knew.
“I’m a virgin.” I lied, the anger-fueled words coming easier now.
“Liar!” Madame released my head but reeled back her arm. Expecting her to hit my face, I almost flinched, almost, but her hand caught in the meaty palm of Warden White.
“Do not strike the key, Madame. Not when she bears the Seal. It is unbecoming.” The big guy had a conscience. I could work with him.
He was my way out.
“The key is just a vessel, Warden. And the child is not the Seal if the rest of the prophecy does not hold.” The woman spun and grabbed a remote. “I’ll have the truth one way or another.”
“Madame,” Warden White’s warning tone was back, “you know—”
“Did you sleep with Warden Masterson?” Her bitter words were directed back at me.
“No, I—" White hot pain shot through my spine, radiating down my arms, every nerve lit up like the Fourth of July.
I was frozen. Pinned in pain, words caught in my throat, I couldn’t think beyond the need to claw at my skin and extract the river of anguish that flowed there.
And just as suddenly, the pain stopped. I could breathe again. My hands went instinctively to my neck. The grip I’d felt around my throat wasn’t Imaginary Todd’s, it was real. Metal and leather from jaw to clavicle. I was wearing a collar.
“I wouldn’t do that if I—”
I pulled on it.
A jolt of electricity raced up and down my spine.
A shock collar. Grand.
“I don’t care if I have to shock the truth out you,” Madame waved the remote for emphasis, “but I will have it.”
“Madame…”
“You assured me that the electricity wouldn’t harm any child, were you wrong, Warden?”
“No, but…”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
I was still collecting myself, catching my breath, as the conversation continued around me. Being shocked sucked. So much. The shock collar was going to be a problem.
“But the stress to the child.” Warden White was trying to placate the madwoman wielding the remote. A gesture I appreciated despite our situation. I’d have to thank him later. Then kick him squarely between the legs.
“What are you smiling at?” Madame’s finger hovered over the pain button. Clearly, she didn’t like the expression I adopted.
“You don’t believe me.” My smile grew. I gave a chuckle. “All this set up, and prophecy-shit, and you don’t believe me.” I laughed, “It’s rich.”
She loathed the fact that I was making a joke out of this. I could see it in her beady little eyes. “And what exactly do you think you know, Two?”
Now, that I’d caught her attention—without her taking a fist-full of my hair—I had the upper hand. I’d learned a few things from Three’s singing while in my pit, even if I had done my best not to listen. “First, my name is not Two, I’m Deli—”
And she shocked me. Shocking. “You are Two.”
“—lah,” I exhaled while returning to my senses.
Warden White slid a hand over my shoulder and squeezed.
He may have been telling me to pick my battles, but being known by my name was a non-negotiable.
“Second, I will not answer you with that remote in your hand. So put it down and I’ll tell you what I know. ”
“Why would I, when I can just shock it out of you?”
Yep, I hated her guts. “It’s easier for us both if you don’t.”
Madame thumbed the pain button again, rolling her thumb over it, over and over again. Control freak, got it.
Just as I was sure Madame was going to press the button, again, Three shouted, “Dogs respond better to positive re-enforcement!”
Apparently, Three decided now was time for her to chime into the conversation. And thought I was worth the comparison to a dog.
“She is right,” Warden White offered, which got him a swift glare from me, but he shrugged his shoulders and gave another tight squeeze.
“And I’m offering to tell you what I know. Answer your questions.” I was brewing up my story, solidifying it between breaths. “So, put the remote down, and we’ll talk.”
Madame exhaled a long and measured breath as we sized each other up.
Everything I had in me was used to exude ‘royal pain-in-the-ass’, unless we decided to do things my way.
Which must have worked because after a moment she rolled her eyes, put the remote down, and pulled up a chair next to me. “Tell me what you know.”
A small victory. Now, I just needed to keep up the momentum.
Mads had mentioned a bet. A large sum of money. Three’s song mentioned me—my number, rather—being the longshot.
Now, it was my turn to gamble.
So, I told Madame and Warden White what I knew.
The pieces of the puzzle that I’d fit together.
How I’d felt cursed and never gotten close enough to anyone to be intimate, Lawrence’s death, how he’d called me the key before he died, and what I knew of the prophecy.
But that was where the truth ended, from there I mixed up the timelines and offered a version of events that would not only support their beliefs, but place blame on someone I despised with my entire being.
And it was all thanks to Mads.
I told them about the mirror messages, about being followed, getting roofied, and how there wasn’t any evidence of foul play, so it was left at that.
No further investigation. I told them about the man who appeared in my life who seemed to have all the answers to my brother’s death, a man who tried to befriend me, grow close to me, and keep an eye on me after the roofying incident.
A man who brought up pregnancy an awful lot. The symptoms. How there were studies about one percent of births in the United States being to women who claimed to be virgin mothers—yet another random stat I recalled from headlines many years ago, probably, hopefully, no longer accurate.
All of which, I overlooked because he was helping me get closure with my brother.
Until he tried to kidnap me.
“After we collected the cash my brother left, Mads tried to convince me to join him. Said there was somewhere he wanted to take me where we’d make a lot of money.
When I refused, he got angry, started saying things that made no sense.
How he had eight million dollars or some other ridiculous amount riding on me”—specifics always helped in a situation like this, made me look trustworthy—“and how he’d manipulated my life, and I owed it to him. ”
Mads put me in this position. But I was putting him in a situation that was even worse. I could tell from the fire and ire behind my captors’ eyes.
“He said that he had to be the one to bring me in,” I continued.
“And when I refused, things got worse. He tried to grab me, force me to come with him, but I fought back. The whole time he said that I was lucky he was being gentle with me. If there wasn’t a chance I was,” I swallowed, I was going to say it again, “pregnant, he’d be a lot more difficult to deal with. ”
I still had the attentions of Madame and Warden White, and when they didn’t call my bluff, I kept going.
“When I managed to escape, I took a test. Imagine my surprise when I saw the results.” There I said it. Now I just had to hope they believed me. Figure out what room I left between the lines, and hints I dropped along the way.
“The roofies,” was all Warden White needed to say to Madame before she blew up.
“That fucking guy.” She smacked her fist down so hard the table rattled. “He had the nerve! The nerve!”
“Warden Masterson did have an over-inflated sense of self-worth,” White agreed. “But he wouldn’t have jeopardized his chances. He would’ve followed protocol.”
Madame’s anger was pointed somewhere other than me. It was nice. “Where is he now?”
“I don’t know, I just got the hell out of there.” If I told them where he was, he could defend himself, and I needed them to believe my version of events. “Left him in the middle of the road and drove off.”
Madame was pacing now. White tracked her movements. “There is a bright side, Madame. You know what this means.”
“Of course, I know what this means!” she snapped.
“You don’t seem very happy about it,” Three chimed in.
Something about Three’s words caused a change in the horrible woman. I wish I could say it was for the better, but somehow what came next was worse.
Madame took a deep breath and reset, walking over to where Three stood at the bars of her cage, and ran a tender hand through a lock of Three’s hair. “I am very happy little one.”
“Happy people usually smile.”
A weird twisted expression cracked Madame’s face.
It took me two solid seconds to realize what I was looking at was Madame’s attempt at a smile.
“Sometimes, little one, it is hard to believe what we want most when we finally get it. Especially, when it just falls into our laps. But I am happy. We all are.”
I wasn’t. I was anything but happy.
Warden White nodded, both he and Madame placating Three as if she were younger than Todd’s daughter, Remy.
“Now, I have some things to attend to, announcements to make.” She ran a loving thumb over Three’s brow and down her cheek, tracing the number etched into Three’s skin. “Warden White will keep you company as always.”
“But I’m bored of Warden White…”
“Then it’s a good thing you have a new friend to play with.” Madame kissed her pointer finger, then placed it on the center of Three’s chin. “Be good, and I’ll see you soon.”
I really hoped soon meant never.
My chances of escape improved drastically without Madame in the room. She was unpredictable, held power, and seemed as though she was only accountable to herself—all in all, a dangerous combination.
“And Warden…” Madame approached the heavy metal door, the only way in or out, punched a number into the keypad on the wall, then took a key out of her pocket to unlock the handle, “Make sure Two gets something to eat. For someone carrying our future, she’s looking rather frail.”