Page 47 of King of Ruin

“Shut up,” Zek snaps. God, if he would have spoken to me with this much bass in his voice I probably would have never done another thing wrong in my life.

“Umm. This is a little awkward. Name’s Maddy. My friends call me Mad.” She giggles. “I was calling for Lawrence. Is he busy or something?”

Phineas face morphs into something dark and furious. “Mad Maddy, is it?”

“Yep.” She pops the P. “That’s me.”

“And Lawrence was going to tell you where Onyx Embros is?”

“Well, yeah. Like he did the first time.”

Phineas snatches the phone and clicks the end button. Lawrence flinches and begins babbling, snot and tears streaming from his face. “Boss, I swear, I swear I didn’t. I’ve never talked to–”

A hard slap comes down across Lawrence’s face, blood splattering on our old couch. Phineas straightens before yanking the gun from Lawrence’s shoulder and shoving it at Zek. “Let’s take him back with us. Figure out what else he’s been keeping from us.”

My brother nods before stepping forward and leaving me to latch onto the wall, my nails digging into the hard texture. He ignores Lawrence’s raised hands, and hits him across the face with the butt of his gun. Lawrence falls face first.

“It was lovely seeing you again, Fiona.” Phineas nods his head toward me with a smirk curling one side of his lips.

Zek hoists an unconscious Lawrence over his shoulder and walks past me. “I’ll call you in a few.”

His voice is barely a whisper but I nod, watching as they leave me and load up back in the car. It isn’t until their car has long disappeared, and I’ve scrubbed the fabric clean of Lawrence blood, that my phone finally rings.

Iimagined that my sister being gone for a week would be a blessing. I figured I’d be able to pick up a couple extra shifts, and maybe get a few days off from having to hide her recent transgressions. Maybe that’s too strong of a word for an eleven year old.

She’s more like a Robin Hood.

For animals.

I miss her. I hope she’s enjoying art camp. Talented little shit won first place in her elementary art exhibition with an abstract heart she made. It was complete with ventricles, tissue, and anatomically-correct veins in a crazy mix of colors. It was cool, and I would have been pissed if shehadn’twon. But when I found out she’d be gone for an entire week, I knew not being able to see her after a night with Phineas would suck.

What an understatement.

Somehow, he found out she’d be gone for six days, and let me know the moment I walked through the door that I’d be calling this place home the entire time.

Phineas has always been a total dick–expected, and by now, a little underwhelming even–but lately something’s been up his ass, making him worse. More dangerous.

My first day, he tied my ass up and taught me about isolation. It wasn’t too bad considering up until now, it only lasted ten hours before I was sent back home. And while I’m certain it helped me build some type of endurance, nothing could have prepared me fortwo and halffucking days.

No food, no water, no visits from anyone.

I’m sure at some point I began to go crazy, seeing and hearing things that were impossible. The dream–or perhaps hallucination–which stands out the most is the chessboard. It was imprinted on the floor, and was never ending, extending as far as I could possibly see. There were trees and buildings sprouting out of the board making the black and white blocks appear as though they were nothing more than grass. Chess pieces at least seven feet tall stood all across, engaging in conversations. They paid me little mind until Phineas approached, wearing an all-white suit.

“Come here, boy.” He grabbed me by my collar, drawing me close. All the white pieces around him turned, their faces all pointed at us. “It’s time for you to do my bidding.”

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out, and when I tried to reach up, I realized I had no hands. That’s when I looked down.

My body was nothing more than a porcelain white pawn piece. My heart didn’t hammer, my mind didn’t race. Nothing happened because I was nothing. Nothing more than the pawn he always saw me as.

He shifted my body and rotated me around before pointing off in the distance toward a blanket of trees. They went high into the sky, the tops invisible to see, while the trunks were so thick they nearly touched one another. No light could penetrate it, casting the forest in dark, ominous shadows.

“I need you to go there, boy. You see, over there, to the right?”

I followed his finger to the edge of the woods, just before the only visible entrance, and saw her. A girl, not much older than I am, with long black hair stood there. Her light blue dress stood out against her beautiful tan, amber skin. From my angle I wasn’t able to see her face but I knew, and still know, how beautiful it was. There was an aura about her, and I wanted to see her.

“Yes, you see her. Now, I need you to capture her for me. Once you do that, I can set a match to her forest.”

Shock, anger, sadness. Those are all the things I wanted to feel, but couldn’t. Nothing was happening inside me but understanding. Understanding that Phineas’ long sought-out goal to make me feel empty and without emotions was beginning to pay off.

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