Page 49 of How Does It Feel?

I waited a moment, continuing to press as hard as possible. I removed the now key-shaped piece of squished bread from the lock.

Returning to the center, I sat crisscross-applesauce style in the long rectangular light across the cell floor with my spoon poised in my hand.

I pulled the bone free from the kraut and tested its bend.

It was perfect, just as I had hoped. The acid of the vinegar in the sauerkraut had penetrated the bone and removed the calcium carbonate, causing it to be flexible like rubber. I held it carefully and began to carve with the sharp edge of the spoon, frequently referencing the shape of my bread key until it felt like my hands and neck might fall off.

Finally, it was done and just in time. The bone key had begun to absorb the carbon dioxide from the air and was becoming hard once more, making it difficult to carve.

I stood, cracked my neck, and readied for escape.

Chapter 14

The Debts That Tie

Callie

I calmed my breathing.

I needed to form a plan. Where would I go after I left the dungeon? The only room I’d seen was the blood chamber, and I certainly didn’t want to go there if Alistair wasn’t there. Maybe I could open the wall panel he had exited through? The probability of that leading to anywhere outside was unlikely, and I needed to avoid falling into a maze of castle rooms. I would just have to figure it out as I went.

I stiffened at the sound of something moving behind me.

I knew next to nothing about magic or the creatures that wielded it, had the bog not really been dead?

“Where are you going? Oh my—” His startled, squeaky voice echoed off the stone. A small gasp escaped him as he passed the full gore of the bog’s smashed head and walked to the center of the small cell. “Glad I’m your friend and not foe.”

“Are you my friend . . . shifter?” I turned to face the small creature, my chapped lips pressed together in a sharp line.

I really could trust no one, and I struggled to remember that.

Brown rat, which felt like a good name for him right now, stood on his back legs just out of the shadows.

“Yes, and likely the only one you’ve got,” he bit out in his squeaky rat voice.

I wondered if it sounded like that normally.

“Tell me then, if you wanted to help me as you say, then why not shift into whatever it is you are and set me free,” I said angrily.

I didn’t know who to trust. It seemed like everyone wanted me dead. Why would he be different? Everyone in this place was so full of danger and hate.

Everyone.

“Who spilled? Another rodent in the dungeons I should worry about?” he asked playfully, even though his deep brown rat eyes held a bit of sadness in their depths.

“A certain nine-tailed cat told me. He—”

“You saw Lord Alistair?” The rat raised his body in alarm as he scanned me from head to toe. “You couldn’t have, you’re still alive,” he said in awe.

“I promise you that I did, now shift into something useful or leave,” I bit out, angry that I had found even a small bit of comfort in him only to be deceived.

“You cannot leave this cell, Callie,” he said with a warning tone from the floor. “I don’t know how Lord Alistair didn’t tear you to pieces, but I assure you that was a fluke. As much as it upsets me that you are in the dangers of this realm and court, it is far more dangerous outside of this cell without a way to get you to a portal.”

“He didn’t kill me for what I believe is the same reason you are here now. I understand it even less than you, but animals have always been kind to me and I to them. Maybe it’s some sort of karma, I don’t know,” I rambled, beginning to grasp the oddity of all the animals’ behavior to me over the years.

I didn’t have time to worry about that now. I needed to get out of here before the guards returned.

I pressed the now hard bone key into the iron lock and tried to turn it with no luck.