Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
Amelia
Amelia didn’t remember ever being so angry and so hurt at the same time. Fury mixed with pain as complete desolation swamped her. She was shoved unceremoniously into the little room with Kimberly. “Taron, how could you!” she screamed at the wall, and felt a little better.
Then, she sat down and cried. Tears were not her go-to. Crying had never been okay in her family. It seemed appropriate under the circumstances, though. The guy she’d been falling in love with—who just an hour ago had claimed to want her around “permanently”—had just sold her.
He’d left her here. There had been no expression on his handsome face—not even a flicker of regret. He hadn’t looked back. He took that pile of money and left her here as if she’d meant nothing to him. How stupid had she been?
She pressed her fists to her temples. “I can’t believe I let him play me.”
Kimberly stood to the side. She had her arms crossed around her middle and looked sadly at Amelia. “Hi there.”
“Hi, Kimberly. I’m glad you’re doing okay.” Amelia looked up, her eyes blurry with tears. “We were supposed to rescue you.”
Kimberly tilted her head and eyed Amelia thoughtfully.
“Wait, were you my escort guard—Amelia?” Her eyes widened.
“You are! They shot you in the neck with something. And you passed out. They forced me to change into your clothes and then took me off the ship and put me on a different one.” Her shoulders slumped. “I had hoped that they left you there.”
“No, they had planned to kill me. Well, me and the operator. Didn’t work out that way.” Amelia ran her fingers through her knotted hair. “Not that it matters. Everything we did was for nothing.”
“We?” asked Kimberly. “Were you and that guy toge—”
“Please don’t say it,” Amelia moaned. “If I ever see him again, I will kill him.”
“I’m sorry,” said Kimberly. She sat down on the couch, looking as dejected as Amelia felt. “I hate that you’re here too. I don’t even know why they took me.”
“I don’t either,” said Amelia. “Taron probably knows, that asshole.”
“Well, whatever we face, hopefully we will face it together.”
“Fuck that,” said Amelia. “We’re getting out of here.”
Kimberly actually laughed. “Do you think I haven’t tried?
I have examined every corner of this box.
It’s solid. Like thick plexiglass. They don’t open the door to feed us.
They slide a tray through that tiny slot over there.
There’s not even a bathroom. You literally go in that little hole in the floor over there. ”
Amelia did a survey of the room and found that Kimberly was accurate. The seams of the walls were sealed. The door did not budge. Even the tiny slot that food was delivered through was secure, and too small for either of them to squeeze through.
She sat on the sofa beside Kimberly, slouched forward. She rested her elbows on her knees and tried to hold back the rising panic unsettling her stomach.
She had been such a fool. She’d slept with him, worked with him, believed him when he said he wanted to be with her.
To make matters worse, this brassiere thing she was wearing, pinched the underside of her left boob.
She winced and moved to adjust it. There, she felt something small and metal, about the size of a lipstick tube.
“Are we being watched?” asked Amelia.
“You mean by cameras? Not that I know of. There wouldn’t be much to watch.”
Amelia carefully removed the small object. “I just found this in my bra.”
Kimberly peered at it. “How did you not feel that before now?”
“I have big boobs,” said Amelia. “I’m used to uncomfortable underwear.
A pinch here or there is nothing new.” Her mind rewound to when she put the outfit on.
It hadn’t been in there then, or she would have noticed it.
She remembered that just before they left their room, he’d felt her up.
He’d been thorough about it. Those sly hands had been all over her left breast…
“That sneaky bastard. I know when he put it there.”
“Okay, but what is it?”
Amelia carefully unscrewed the top. She tipped it over.
A vial of clear liquid fell into her hand.
It smelled strongly of acid, or something else very harsh.
She was about to put the cap back on, when a tiny, papery slip fell out.
It was translucent, like vellum. English words were written on it in a black ink.
They read: Highly corrosive. Be careful. Also, I love you.
Her heart stammered to a halt before starting up a rapid pace. He loved her? She digested those words on the note, reading them over and over. It didn’t quite jibe with his actions. The emotional whiplash was a little too much to take.
“What does it say?” asked Kimberly.
“He said he loves me. And this stuff is very corrosive.” She blinked up at the other woman. “Would you believe him? I don’t know what to think.”
Kimberly plucked the note from Amelia’s fingers and read it herself.
“Corrosive,” she murmured, then handed the note back.
“I take it this substance will eat through the walls. He gave you the means to escape, so he doesn’t intend to leave you here.
Also, he didn’t have to add that last bit.
Why say it if you don’t mean it? My guess is, he made a plan, and he didn’t have confidence in your acting skills, so he didn’t tell you about that part. ”
Oh fuck, that made sense. “Yeah, I’m not very good at acting.”
Kimberly’s eyes lit up. “It sounds like there is a plan to get us out. Our part is to get out of this box, so we should do that.”
“When did they feed you last?” Amelia asked.
“A while ago,” replied Kimberly. “So they should deliver our meals soon.”
“Good.” Amelia put the cap on the tube and tucked it back inside her top. “We’ll wait until after they come. It will buy us some time.”
Sure enough, two Tulashi entered with a tray and slid it into the narrow slit on the floor.
Kimberly retrieved it while Amelia curled up on the couch, pretending to mourn her fate.
They were left alone to eat. This meal consisted of a rectangular gray thing that was nearly tasteless, and a small packet of green liquid, which tasted a little like algae.
“None of it will make you sick,” Kimberly assured her. “In fact, despite the taste, it seems nourishing.”
Amelia forced down most of the gray thing and the green stuff. They pushed the mostly empty tray back through the slot and pretended to snooze on the couch. “Be as boring as you can,” Amelia murmured. “Do nothing to arouse suspicion.”
Kimberly gazed at her from her end of the couch. “Amelia, do you think my family assumes I’m dead?”
“I think both of our families assume that.” She shrugged. “Soon enough, we’ll be on our way home and then we can send them a message.”
Tears made Kimberly’s eyes bright. “I hope so. Until you arrived, I had no hope.”
“Has anyone bothered you?” asked Amelia, careful to navigate a potentially traumatic subject. “Like, have any of these beings come in here and tried to—”
Kimberly cut her off with a laugh. “No. Thankfully, they seem to find humans, or at least me, repulsive.”
The Tulashi arrived to remove the tray. They left without looking at Amelia and Kimberly.
As soon as they were gone, Amelia got up and went to the wall. She opened the small tube and carefully removed the top of the vial. She jerked her head back. “God, this stuff smells bad.”
“Don’t get any of that on you,” Kimberly warned, holding a sleeve over her nose. “If it can eat through this glass, you don’t want it on your skin.”
With great care, Amelia slowly tipped the viscous liquid against the wall, moving it horizontally until a broad section of it was covered in a thin, dripping layer.
They stepped back as the glass began to melt.
It bubbled and cracked and sent up noxious fumes that had Amelia gagging.
But soon, the acid had eaten through the thick surface and a hole had formed.
A little while longer, and it was large enough for them to step out of.
“Yes!” said Amelia. “Let’s go.” They climbed out and made a dash for the door. No one was there, so they slipped outside and down the corridor. Amelia slowed down at the sound of a commotion up ahead. It was far enough away to not make out.
They turned a corner, though, and Amelia held up a hand to signal Kimberly to stop. Tulashi guards stood on either side of the hall. A crossway lay beyond them. The guards did not look armored up. They held a weapon, but wore no armor aside from lightweight red uniforms.
Amelia put a finger to her lips, and Kimberly sidled up close. “We’ll have to wait until they move,” she whispered.
Within minutes, the commotion grew louder. Amelia could hear yelling, and the occasional zing of blaster fire. As she had hoped, the guards on duty ran toward the fight.
Amelia gestured forward, and both women hurried down the corridor.
They had to get back to the Freezone, but she did not know which way to go.
She sort of hoped that Taron and his secret, magical plan would materialize before they got hopelessly lost. Judging by the sound of a scrimmage up ahead, the plan was in action.
They turned another corner, and Amelia collided with a warm, broad chest. She looked up to see a familiar grinning face.
“Taron!” She only got his name out before he lowered his head and kissed her.
It was hard and desperate and possessive and made her head spin.
His lips tasted like battle and fire—she meant that literally.
His mouth was hot and he felt fevered. His eyes looked weird too.
They weren’t quite green anymore. Instead, there was a red tinge around his pupils.
She frowned. “Taron, what’s going on with your—”
She didn’t have time to finish. Not that he could understand her, if she had.