Page 34 of Her Magic Light

Again, their silence spoke far more than anything they might have said.

“Who are those people and what am I doing here?” The frustration and irritation had left me. “Can you at least tell me that?”

Repeating the questions no longer bothered me. I was so weary of it all. Perhaps I could annoy them so much I became less valuable somehow. More trouble. Or maybe I could pester them until they gave in and told me the whole story.

This time, Locke sighed. A long-suffering sound like he’d just expelled every last molecule of air from his body. Like I might accidentally step on his deflated self while walking around my darkened tank of a cell.

“You’ll find out more tomorrow.” Coop’s voice was so quiet I barely heard him, but it was soft and velvety in the dark, and my subconscious latched onto it as something comforting.

“Tomorrow,” I repeated.

“And now,” Locke continued, “it’s finally time to go home. End of shift.”

I laughed hollowly. “And when do I get to go home?”

But it was like I hadn’t spoken. Locke was already walking away, his flashlight half-covered by his hand as he used the illumination to light only his own path from my cell.

He paused. “Coming, Coop? We don’t get no overtime for this.”

“Yeah.” Again, Coop used his soft voice, and something about it made me look up. There was a strange longing in his tone, and for a moment it was as if I could see two piercing blue eyes through the darkness, like I could almost see inside him or him inside me, and my world tilted. Not so cranky Coop anymore. My fingers twitched, and I wanted to reach for his hand.

Then Coop turned to leave, and the silhouette of his sunglasses was briefly visible on his face, so I must have imagined seeing his eyes. The realization hollowed me out, and I didn’t know what to think.

He cleared his throat like he might say something, but there were no more words before he reached the door. Instead, it slid closed behind him and there was the soft click of a lock engaging.

Then I was alone. In a cell—a cell—for the first time in my twenty-eight years. I’d given in at every turn, always finding a reason to come along. I took a deep, shuddering breath. Why?

What was I hoping to find out? Maybe an answer, an explanation for why I’d been caught up in this mess. Exhaustion canceled out clarity.

I climbed to my feet, stepped away from the bed, and moved toward the window. We were all in our own units. Humans trapped in cages. I rapped gently on the glass and leaned against it like I’d seen the guy do when we walked past his cell. It was thick, but not as thick as I’d thought. Nothing moved on the other side, and I couldn’t see into anyone else’s cell, but when I pressed my ear to the glass, I could hear them.

It was like there were hundreds of people out there, whispering.Thank God the cell door was locked… Although it was ridiculous to feel safer because I’d been imprisoned. I wasn’t dangerous. Was I? What could they all know and I didn’t?

The whispering intensified, and it seemed to be about me. I caught the wordsrainbowandlightandnew. It was simple deduction to work out I was the only new person here with rainbow colored hair being held in the dark. But I was the talk of the cell block.

I paced and dozed then dozed and paced, over and over, as the seconds ticked by…

I’d never spent so long in the dark. It was so beyond draining.

I made another lap around my cell, stopping to peer out the large window. I pressed my hand to the glass, wishing for some way to sleep longer than ten minutes at a time.

A blue light flared outside, and the guy who had leaned against his window before appeared in front of me, his image hazy and bleeding at the edges. He pressed his palm against the window of my cell, over the place where my hand was resting, and he flickered like energy was all that was holding him there.

A jolt of power worked through me before receding, replaced by a warmth I’d never experienced before.

Sleep, the voices whispered, and the sound echoed in my head.

The image of the guy disappeared from in front of me, and darkness crowded the hallway once more. My head had been stuffed full of cotton and real thoughts didn’t even permeate the gauze now in my brain. I walked numbly to the bed, not needing to feel my way. My feet just carried me there.

I lay on the mattress without even undressing. I only took my clothes off when I felt safe, and cotton-brained or not, I didn’t feel safe here, and nothing about this place compelled me to think differently.

I covered a yawn. At least I couldn’t hear the whispering anymore. Everything had fallen silent after I had heard the command to sleep.

I curled my knees up, my legs nearly overhanging the narrow bed. Then I closed my eyes and released my iron-grip on consciousness.

thirteen

Iwoke, groggy and confused, so I kept my eyes closed. The light inside my cell seemed different. What the hell time was it? Why hadn’t the sun come up?

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