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Druin took a moment to consider my words before shaking his head. “Look how low you’ve fallen. No, I won’t abide by the promises of my predecessor. Instead, I will cut her, beat her, enough so that everyone will see the bruises on her face and treat her as the human garbage that she is. I might even arrange for you to come and watch.”
Druin grinned with glee at the thought of it before turning on his heel and marching out of the cell.
His men folded in behind him. I caught a glimpse of Cayggod at the back, looking at me through his broken spectacles, a lost and forlorn look that might have been a reflection of my own.
I sent him a message with my pleading eyes, hoping he would somehow understand what I was begging him for: to give me a way out, the same way he had all those years ago with his advice. It hadn’t worked out but maybe, just maybe, this time, it might.
He lowered his eyes, closed the door, and the lock snapped shut behind him.
I ran at the door and beat at it with my fists, kicking and clawing, kneeing and elbowing, and put not a single dent in it. It had been built from the hardest material in the known galaxy and could withstand anything a prisoner might throw at it.
Exhausted, I slid down the door and burst into tears. They couldn’t escape my mask and formed a shallow puddle beneath my chin.
The worst had happened and Lily was going to pay for it. And that, more than anything, was what killed me the most.
* * *
I had no idea when I had slipped into the welcome arms of sleep. It was the only way to escape for me now. My eyes felt rough and grainy like someone had poured sand into them.
I immediately peered up at the small shaft of light from my tiny window that had grown dimmer but had not yet turned to darkness.
How long had I slept? I wondered. Had I slept the entire day? With how exhausted I felt, how much my body ached, it was possible.
Had the worst already happened? Had Lily already paid for my mistakes?
Maybe not if I had only slept for a short time. After my nap, my mind had become clearer and I put it into considering what to do next.
After all, there was a way out of every situation. All you needed to do was have the right idea, say the right thing at the right time, mutter the magic words… and the problem would resolve itself.
But what was it? What was the solution?
I was trapped in the depths of Ikmal prison and Lily would suffer a rough and grisly fate if I failed.
What did I need to do? What could I say? And to whom?
I paced back and forth, searching out one solution after another. They all depended on the same thing: Getting out of this damn cage.
And that meant somehow bypassing the door and its security system. I approached it and ran my hands over it. Perhaps there was some weakness in it, some way I could force it open…
I felt at its edges and tried to slip my fingers between them. As I did, I felt something very strange.
I hooked my fingernails around the door’s edge and pulled. And, incredibly, unbelievably, the door began to open.
This can’t be happening, I said to myself. This wasn’t real…
I stepped into the hallway, and peered up and down it. I saw one guard lying unconscious halfway down the hall.
I peered back at my cell and then the door. Someone had opened it for me and left it open.
Had that been what had awoken me? The soft thunk of the lock as it snapped into place? Now that I thought about it, there had been a sound that had shaken me from my sleep.
But I wasn’t sure. When you were in the throes of deep sleep, it was hard to distinguish between the waking and sleeping worlds.
But someone had unlocked the door and taken out the guard. Someone was helping me.
I didn’t know who and I didn’t know for what purpose, and that made me nervous.
Maybe the Supervisor had ordered it done? Or Druin? As some way to make me feel hopeful? Was someone toying with me? Did they want my hopes to be raised only to be dashed the moment I turned the corner and found a squad of guards there to beat me into submission?
