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I gasped and a hand went to my mouth.
It was strong validation of the darkest thoughts that crowded my shocked mind.
“You mean, they’re dead?” I said.
Some of the slower girls joined in my gasp and muttered among themselves.
Lily sighed, evidently revealing more about the situation than she’d intended.
“I really didn’t want to have to tell you this,” she said. “But as you’ve already guessed… And well, you are right. You are their friends. You deserve to know the truth. As you know, Jixam was chosen as Prize by a Lizik by the name of Lark. She was with him last, and while they were together, a gang of prisoners broke into his cell and… They took her. The guards investigated the details and discovered her body. She won’t be returning to us.”
I shut my eyes to block the images that sprung, unbidden, before me. The same thing could have happened to me if Trayem hadn’t rescued me.
Jixam had been a sweet girl, kind and decent. More than once, she had lent me her hairbrush. And now, to think she was dead, forced to serve an uncountable number of monsters that she’d been abducted to service…
It was too much to bear.
A couple of the other Prizes sought comfort in their friends’ arms. They wept freely and no one judged them.
I felt like weeping myself.
I cleared my throat and thumbed a tear from the corner of my eye.
“And what about Agatha?” I said. “Where is she? Is she dead too?”
“She was chosen by Egara,” Lily said. “Since that moment, we know nothing more about what happened to her.”
I shut my eyes, refusing to believe the news. Agatha was human, from England. She didn’t deserve to meet whatever end had been brought to her.
“She could still be alive somewhere,” Lily said. “All we can do is hope.”
Hope.
That was a joke.
Hope died the moment we arrived in this place.
Hope was escaping this place and there was precious little chance of that happening.
Except in a body bag.
“Listen to me,” Lily said over the wailing cry of the others, still grieving for their lost friends. “We need to put all this nasty business behind us. We survived, holed up in the Prize Pool. There is a lot to be thankful for.”
“Thankful?” I said incredulously. “They murdered one of us. Maybe two for all we know. And you want to put it behind us?”
Lily turned to face me. It was never wise to confront her. Anyone who did ended up becoming the example she set to warn everybody else.
She walked down the steps and stood before me, nose to nose. We were of a similar height, but even so, I felt her glaring down at me.
But I didn’t back down. I was too angry to do that.
“Okay, Harper,” Lily said. “Let’s hear it. What you suggest we do?”
I clenched my teeth and my hands formed fists at my sides. It was all I could do not to slap her across the face.
“Refuse to give the prisoners what they want,” I said. “We won’t play along with this stupid game of theirs. We won’t let ourselves be their prizes any longer.”
I tore my eyes from Lily and focused my attention on the other girls. If I was going to win this argument, I would need them on my side.
