Chapter Eight
Sage
Bruises litter my skin, some purple, some yellowing across my stomach, over my arms, legs, and I’m sure the open wounds on my back are infected. The attempted escape, two weeks ago now, is the reason Gregor likes to give for the daily beatings. Not once a day, no. Try four times.
I’m awakened—not from sleep, but from being knocked out—in what I’m guessing is the morning, slapped around a little, then given some porridge that I’m pretty sure is dirt.
Water for lunch is delivered with several lashings to the backs of my legs.
Dinner consists of something that definitely isn’t chicken and a few punches to the ribs while hanging from a hook via the chain on my wrists.
Finally, bedtime comes with a liquid masquerading as water and some lashes to my back.
Every day.
For two weeks.
Well, one day short of two weeks. I’ve been counting the porridge. Unless Gregor the gorgon has been fucking with the meals to throw me off, then yeah…it’s Halloween.
“Drink the water, girl.” Gregor seems more frustrated today than usual as he paces in front of my cell, the bedtime whip in his right hand dragging across the rocks underfoot.
“And what if I don’t?” I’m feeling brave today, but it’s waning, along with the hope that Hack will finally find me, take me away from this place and help me forget what pain is.
The power that Hekate unlocked inside me is the only thing keeping me alive at this point and I’m pushing to test my limits. I’m positive I should be dead with the number of injuries I’ve sustained, but my ribs were broken a week ago and now they’re not…
If I can make Gregor angry enough, maybe he’ll lose control completely. I’m never chained before bed, and he doesn’t lock the cell when he’s inside, so maybe tonight’s the night.
Saffron doesn’t seem to be fairing as well as me, she’s barely spoken for days and one of her beautiful, delicate wings has been snapped off.
The screams that came from her cell that day will haunt me forever.
The dormant magic inside me may be keeping me alive, but it’s doing nothing for my new faerie friend.
“Are you trying to give me more reasons to hurt you?” He narrows his reptilian eyes and tilts his head. The snakes are covered with a silk wrap, and thankfully he has done this since that first day. I’m not sure avoiding eye contact with them for this long would have been possible.
“You’re going to hurt me anyway.” I shrug, trying not to wince at the pain shooting through my arms as I do.
His snarl reveals his sharp teeth as he steps forward, key in hand to unlock the heavy metal door. These cells are much like the last ones, in a mountain somewhere, but the doors have a face-sized hatch that Gregor leaves open, mostly so Saffron and I can hear each other being tortured.
Just two months ago, I thought my life was boring and had no meaning, but now it’s all been turned upside down and zig-zagged quite dramatically.
I have lived hundreds of lives, most of which I can only remember snippets of, all of them ending prematurely, but I feel like a whole new person this time around.
The memories are giving me the strength I need to hang on to hope, because a couple of weeks of torture are nothing compared to the deaths I’ve experienced already.
I’m still me though, at my core. The me I think I’ve always been.
And that is someone who laughs—albeit stupidly—in the face of danger, someone who believes in true love—when I’m not hexed to the eyeballs—and someone who will fight to the death for her friends.
Tonight’s the night.
It has to be.
I refuse to let Saffron die.
I refuse to spend my birthday in this cell tomorrow.
If I still had my chains and charms, I’d find a way to wrap one around Gregor’s neck. Yeah, I’m down the dark, deathly, killing, rabbit hole.
“You insolent child. Drink the water.” His demand is slow and dangerous.
“No.” And I’m playing with fire.
“Now.” The wrap around his head is beginning to move, the snakes beneath no doubt trying to break free.
“Why?” Come on, open the door…
I’m standing as far back as I can, my back against the wall, but I can see through the open flap. His grayish face looks like it’s getting darker as his eyes practically bulge.
The sound of the key sliding into the lock makes me take a deep breath, readying myself. I have no real plan, no fighting experience, no reason to win here, but I’ll only fail if I stop trying.
The metal cup in my hand, full of the water he’s insisting that I drink, is unsteady, but it’s my only weapon.
I don’t know exactly what’s in it, but I know it tastes different today than any other day.
The strange scent it usually gives off is stronger, and while I may have gulped down the first one before I realized, this one is a no-go.
Gregor swings the door open, standing in the open gap with his chest heaving heavily. It really riles him up when I question him…
Good.
“What you gonna do, huh? You planning on using that huge whip that you wish was your dick? Or are you just mad that you can’t find said dick because it’s so small? Must be, the way you beat on women who can’t fight back.” Adrenaline is fueling me, my heart beating rapidly and my limbs tingling.
“You’re no woman.” He spits at my feet, two feet away from me now as he eyes me up and down. One of my arms is ‘relaxed’ by my side, the other holding the metal cup at chest height. “You’re merely a pawn, a vessel to be used as my master sees fit.”
He steps closer again, tilting his head from one side to the other, a wicked snarl curling his top lip at the corners. His face is now so close…
Throwing the water into his eyes, I duck and step around him as he goes to grab for me, then I swing the cup as hard as I can into the back of his head.
The thick crunch makes me gag, my eyes watering on impact.
Not because it hurts me, but because of the screeching snakes and the pool of blood darkening the light-blue fabric that covers them.
I hadn’t even considered the snakes, but as Gregor wobbles on his feet, one of the snakes starts piercing through.
I’d like to avoid being turned to stone.
Dipping to pick up the whip Gregor dropped as he continues to stagger, now holding the back of his head, I grab the key chain hanging from his kimono and hobble as quickly as I can out of the cell.
Just as I slam the door closed, Gregor’s gurgling stops as he collapses, so I don’t waste time locking it because my priority now is finding the key to get Saffron out too.
I’m a little shocked that this is working. All it took was a hard hit to the head. It feels too easy but I’m not about to complain. My body is in enough pain and I’m kinda glad I don’t have to add more with a fight.
Crossing the cave, I stop at Saffron’s door and try one of the keys. It doesn’t work, but there are seven others, one of them will work. Key number five is the winner and the sound of the lock clicking open gives me a thrill.
I pull the door open with no idea what to expect, and what I find is a broken faerie. The smell is much like my own cell, rank being the only way to describe it, but it’s a tertiary thing that barely registers in my brain at this point.
“Oh, Saffron.” Kneeling down beside her, where she’s curled into a ball on her threadbare blanket, I tentatively wrap my arm around her waist, below her wings. “Can you walk?”
The time it takes for her to lift her head and look at me is painstaking, but I don’t want to rush her—as much as we really need to get the hell out of here. Her light-purple eyes are bloodshot and puffy, her already pale skin almost translucent.
“I can walk. But where’s Gregor?” Her voice is soft but shaky.
“Hit him over the head with a metal cup really hard.” I chuckle, allowing a light smile, hoping to cheer her up even a tiny bit.
“It’s Halloween today, and your thirtieth birthday tomorrow…I think your powers are finally starting to show.” It worked, because she’s smiling right along with me, although it looks as pained as mine feels. We have matching bruises on our cheeks, thanks to Gregor.
Standing, I hold out a hand for her. She takes it and, together, we heave her up. With one arm around her waist, the other holding the whip and keys, we walk out. Flaming sconces line the walls, and the farther away from the cells we get, the more red the rocks become almost a deep crimson.
The light at the end of the literal tunnel is a deep amber, like flames on a dark night. Neither of us have spoken, too busy concentrating on walking through the injuries. There’s an opening, the sconces no longer on the walls, and that hope in my chest burns brighter with every second that passes.
I know Hack is near, too. I can feel him. So close I can almost taste him.
The ground starts shaking as a deep growl vibrates through the tunnel, and I don’t want to stick around to face the thing it came from.
“We need to be faster.” I’m not trying to make it sound like an order, because Saffron is clearly suffering more than me, but we don’t have much time if the growing thuds are anything to go by.
We both speed up, Saffron’s arm around my shoulders gripping tightly for leverage as she walks.
The growling gets louder, the shaking rocks more intense, and I know our chances of escape are getting smaller by the second.
A roar that sounds like it’s coming from the pits of Hell echoes all around, making me pause to lift Saffron into my arms. Her wafer-thin physique and the way she wraps both arms around my neck for support mean this isn’t as difficult as I had expected, and the few seconds wasted to pick her up are more than made up for in speed.
“Leave me, Sage. You’ll be faster on your own.” Her whispered words are light against my ear, almost as if she isn’t physically speaking them, they’re just seared into my mind.
“Not happening.” I think the adrenaline that kicks in when someone you care for is in danger is the only thing keeping me going right now. The guilt I’d feel for leaving her behind would surely kill me alongside what I’m guessing is the fenrir I’d forgotten all about.
“Tell my twin sister that I love her, and that I’m sorry. She’ll know why.” This time, I know the words are only in my mind, and the strange cloudiness that came with it is whipped away as Saffron jumps from my arms.
Winding her outstretched arm in circles, she creates a breeze that begins to pick up its intensity as the fenrir finally comes into view.
“Saffron! We have to go now!” My shouts go unheard as the wind increases.
She’s hunched over, her face creased up in agony and concentration.
“Run, Sage. I’ll hold him off as long as I can.” Her voice is in my mind again, her lips remain unmoving, but her wide eyes plead with me.
I’m about to protest again, to demand she comes with me, but she shakes her head and tears begin falling down her soft, pale cheeks right before she takes a deep breath and pushes a heavy gust of that wind she’s creating in my direction.
The scream that comes from her throat is guttural, like she’s using up every ounce of energy she has left.
My feet lift from the rock beneath us and I fly backward.
The opening of the mountain of rocks we were inside is now in front of me, crumbling like an avalanche as I make my own descent into a thick bush.
My landing isn’t pretty, but neither is the way the clear entry inside the mountain is disappearing, with Saffron still inside.
Every muscle and bone in my body aches and I know I should move from this bush-like thing, but instead, I just stare at the devastation caused by my friend.
I assumed it was night, but there’s no moon to see, only a dark red-orange mist that is thickening the longer I lay here. The avalanche of rocks eventually stops, but my tears don’t. My stupid escape attempt may have worked, I’m free, but Saffron…
“I knew I’d find you.”