37. Chapter 37
Maryn
Itouched my tablet screen to check the time. Trial Nine was confirmed for Thursday, which meant I had nothing to do today and tomorrow.
Should I call a chaperone and see more of the Center? Go to the lake?
A twinge of something uncomfortable burned in my stomach. Not the lake.
The front door rattled. Not a knock. A fist, again and again, demanding entry.
I stilled, moving to my bedroom door and pressing my ear against it, my heart beating loudly.
A man was speaking to someone in the foyer.
“Maryn Veil. Daughter of Joel Veil.”
My blood ran cold, and I stumbled backward. No. I’m too close. Three days.
“By order of the Covenant States, we require entry into the premises.”
Lucen will never forgive me.
Boots pounded up the stairs, and my body moved before my mind did, gaze shooting to the window.
I jumped when knuckles wrapped loudly against my door.
“Maryn Veil.”
I cleared my throat, glancing at the window again.
“Come in.” My voice squeaked out barely above a whisper. “Come in.”
Two men in black uniforms stepped through the door, guns at the ready.
“Maryn Veil, daughter of Joel Veil?”
“Yes?” My fingers laced together in my lap to keep from biting and tearing at the nails.
“You are under arrest on suspicion of leaving your home unchaperoned.”
Calden. The window. The night I’d climbed back in, hoping no one had seen.
My mouth opened, cottony and dry. Closed. There was nothing to say that would stop what came next.
I climbed shakily to my feet.
One of the men stepped forward. “Hands behind your back. Turn around.”
I turned. The metal bit into my wrists, the click of each cuff impossibly loud in the quiet room. His fingers dug into my bicep, steering me out the door.
Sera leaned in her doorframe, a single brow raised, lips tipped up in a cruel smile. She’d been patient, watching and waiting until I handed her something so damning there was no coming back from it.
I said nothing. There was nothing left to say.
Hands behind my back, I nearly tripped and tumbled down the stairs, but the guard behind me held fast.
Sharp laughter cracked from the top step. I kept my eyes forward, jaw locked. If I looked up at Lydia, I would cry.
Outside, a large black vehicle was waiting, back door ajar.
“Duck your head,” the guard behind me instructed.
I slid inside, sitting uncomfortably, angling myself so my hands weren’t crushed behind me. The guard got in, sitting across from me. He stared out the window, weapon resting on his thigh. There was no need for a chaperone now. I was already ruined.
“Will someone let Elias know?”
The guard looked my way. “Your father has been notified.”
I pressed my lips together to hold back the whimper. What could my father do for me?
We stopped, and I looked out the window. Outside, a tall black building made of one-way glass stretched up impossibly high. Every quadrant had one. Citizens averted their eyes, moving by quickly. People went inside, and they didn’t come out.
The guard opened the door. “Let’s go.”
I straightened, inhaling a deep breath.
“Miss Veil.”
I swallowed and scooted to the edge of my seat, stepping out into the crisp morning air.
I wish I had a jacket.
The thought nearly made me giggle. Cold weather was the least of my troubles now.
I followed the guard into a room not unlike the one I’d been in during my psychological trials.
“Turn.”
I did, giving him my back. Two loud clicks and my wrists were free. I rubbed them, grimacing at my crushed ribbon. At least it hadn’t fallen off. It was all I had to remember him by.
“Sit.”
I stared at the cold metal chair with cuffs hanging open for wrists and ankles and swallowed.
“Is my father on his way?”
The man in black touched the trigger of his gun, stroking it, eyes meeting mine.
I moved, sitting on hard metal. Goosebumps broke out on my bare arms.
He stepped forward, slamming the metal down on each wrist and bent down, lifting my gown and clamping metal around my ankle. He lingered, and I stilled as three fingers slid off the cuff, tracing a line up my calf.
It continued to my knee, and I squeezed my eyes closed.
The door behind him banged open, and my eyes flew wide as he straightened, backing up several steps.
A man in brown stalked in, missing the guard’s jerky movements—or ignoring them. He moved efficiently to a tray in the corner. I hadn’t seen it, too focused on the chair beneath the low yellow spotlight at the center of the room.
He wheeled it to my side and finally looked up at the guard. “You can go.”
The guard narrowed his eyes at the nurse, but thought better of whatever he’d considered saying and turned to stand outside the door.
“Asshole.” The nurse grumbled under his breath.
Warmth leeched into my frozen limbs. I hadn’t had room for anything but terror, but a tiny trickle of hope crept in. Perhaps this would be a fair hearing after all.
The man in brown lifted a vial, flicking the end. Inside a glass cylinder was a dark purple liquid, and at its end, a large needle. He flicked it again, and a drop of liquid beaded at the tip.
“I’m happy to answer any questions,” I breathed.
He ignored me, never looking my way as he moved to stand behind me.
Rough fingers gripped my head, turning it sideways, and a sharp sting bit into my neck.
I gasped as fire raced down my shoulder and arm.
Screaming, burning, agony chased it straight to my heart.
It banged painfully against my ribs, and my right arm seized, jerking in the restraints.
My eyes rolled back in my head as my whole body shook, my back bowing off the chair.
My head was thrust to the other side, and the process began again.
I was a shaking, sweating mess by the time the worst of the pain had subsided, and my eyes slid closed as I slumped back against the bitingly cold metal.
Visions swam in and out of focus, and voices came in blurry, unrecognizable waves.
Bright light pierced my retina as my eyelid was peeled up.
“Can you… me?”
I tried to lift my head.
“Too much.”
“What?” I croaked.
But the men weren’t talking to me anymore.
I struggled, finally managing to open my eyes.
“Hello?” A man in a long coat turned to face me. “Ah! There she is.”
I blinked furiously, trying to clear the crust from my eyes.
“Can you answer a few questions for me, Miss Veil?”
I tried to nod, but my head felt like it had been swapped for a boulder.
“Good.” He clapped his hands together, making me jerk in my restraints. The men behind him crowded closer, all of them standing over me.
“The night you went on your date with Mr. Hale.”
I swallowed thickly.
“Can you tell us why you left his company and your chaperone?”
My hazy mind turned over the question. It wanted to answer, to be helpful, but it wasn’t sure if they were asking about my run through the middle streets or later that night.
“I…”
The man asking questions frowned. “Is my question not straightforward enough?”
His companion stroked his chin and leaned closer. “Why did you leave Elias’s car alone Sunday night?”
“Angry.”
The word formed on my tongue with no prompting from me. The men all smiled, pleased that their drugs were working.
“And what did you do when you left angrily?”
“Ran.”
“Did you meet another man?”
“Yes.”
The man who hadn’t asked a question yet pulled his tablet out of his pocket, tapping the screen.
The first man who’d spoken was close enough I could smell his breath. Tea and something salty lingered. “Who?”
“My father.”
The three men straightened, giving me their backs. They whispered to one another. Finally, the first turned back.
“Did you meet with anyone else before returning to Mr. Hale’s vehicle?
“No.”
My teeth clicked shut, and I bit my tongue, tasting blood. A dull pounding had started in my head, radiating down my back, but the room was solidifying at the edges, the details coming more into focus.
“Why did you go back to his car?”
“Wanted to. Right. Safe.”
The man’s eyebrows raised.
The pounding was growing stronger, and my eyes slid closed, blocking the light.
When I opened my eyes again, the pounding had dulled, but my neck and jaw were sore. I opened my mouth, rotating it until I heard a pop, and some of the pain in my shoulder subsided.
Had it been hours? Days? Would I leave this room? I had no way of knowing.
The room was dark. I was alone.
***
When I opened my eyes again, my head was clearer, and the sting in my neck was the most immediate pain. My body was sore all over, my wrist and ankles bruised, but nothing felt permanently damaged or violated.
Outside, heavy steps pounded, and I jerked involuntarily with every slam of a boot as it neared my door.
Shouting made my heart jump erratically as a fist slammed against the door. It burst open, and I flinched, curling away from the noise as best I could. Blond hair. Blue eyes gone dark.
Elias stormed into the room, his murderous gaze falling on me.
My heart thrashed wildly under his stare before his gaze shot to the guard who came in behind him.
“Unlock her cuffs. Now.”
The guard rushed forward, and clicks sounded in rapid succession. I slumped sideways, tipping toward the floor.
Elias lurched forward, catching me in his arms and scooping me against his chest. I stared up at him, his face blurry, features hard to make out.
He looked down. “What did they do to you?” His voice was thick, scratchy.
“Needle,” I managed.
His hold around me tightened. “I’ve got you.”
I tried to nod, to thank him, but my dry throat was ravaged, as though I’d been screaming for hours.
We stormed down the hall, guards pressing against the walls to get out of his way, and he kicked the door open. Blinding light fractured my skull in two, and I squeezed my eyes shut, turning my head to bury my face in his chest.
“Open my fucking door.”
I tucked in closer, as his hold loosened.
“Please,” I managed to say, and his eyes widened when he looked at me again.
He nodded. “The back,” he said to someone I couldn’t see.
He maneuvered himself inside, never leaving me as I sank onto his lap.
If any drones captured this moment, I could find myself right back here again. But I didn’t have the strength to fight his warmth, his protective arms shielding me from the harshness of my world.
“I’ll kill him,” he said to no one.
“What?” I slurred.
“August.”
His words drifted on a current as my eyes fluttered closed, and I was asleep before we reached the Rite house.