Page 100 of What did you do?

I took another step, hearing the bones and tendons crunch and snap under my feet. Only another six inches or so left before the edge. The tangerine sun heated my skin as it moved, now nearly behind the mountain. Puffy white clouds passed just below the ledge, steadily moving as the gusts of wind propelled them. “Edin…”

“Even the animal power is too much for me. I will never make it to him, and I will never make it to her,” I whispered to myself. One more step and I would be done with all of this.

“Puddle, I have an idea for when they come tonight. Get away from the ledge—this will work. I saved broth from dinner. We will rub it on you. It will work—Edin!”

“You really that stupid?” the girl named Edin demanded. “You think you’ll die and plummet to your death if you step off that ledge? I don’t know what the hell you are, but you must not either. If they put you this high up on the mountain, you won’t die from the fall anyway and you’ll be back staring at the sky in a few hours.”

“I’m nothing,” I breathed.

“You know what’s so great about being nothing?” asked the man. “You can become whatever you want.”

I lifted my foot, fighting the suddenly strong wind.

Heavy footfalls rang through the hallway. They were here. I was too late.

“Edin!”

“It doesn’t matter anyway; they’re here,” she said with a shaky voice.

Giant white objects pelted into each of the cells. Blood-curdling screams ricocheted through the space.

My foot instinctively hit the ground as my head snapped to my right. The curvy, black-haired girl had been pinned to the ground by the creature.

Cries of pain made my head snap in the other direction, where a similar scene was unfolding. The brown-haired man who called me Puddle had been pinned by another of the giant birdlike creatures. Soul-tearing screams sounded from the rest of the cells around and below us.

My eyes flashed back to the sky, where the feathered monster flew straight at me.

I turned around and walked to the middle of my cell. The sound of screams and tearing flesh pressed into me fromall directions. One thing I could never numb out was the unforgettable sound of flesh being ripped.

The monstrous birds mauled the people, each viciously fighting to rip out all of the prisoners’ internal organs, leaving pools of blood and bones in their wake. Soon, after having eaten their fill, the birds would fly off into the orange evening sky, their white feathers painted various shades from the blood of their victims.

The first hour of morning, the prisoners’ bodies would be fully restored, completely intact, left with nothing but the fresh memory of the carnage from the previous day. Then they would spend the rest of the day counting down the hours until another painful massacre that evening.

Angrily, I watched one of the large creatures land in my cell. They were mythical looking, like eagles with feathers as white as fresh snow and bodies the size of a train car.

The creature flared its taloned feet and skidded to a stop right in front of me.

I couldn’t take another one. Why hadn’t I just jumped? Even an hour away from this hell would have been worth it. Besides, it was possible that I didn’t have enough power to live through it. I still didn’t understand why the queen hadn’t destroyed the other half of my heart yet, and she most certainly hadn’t, or I would be dead.

Hot tears fell like rain down my face as I looked at the monster.

“Do it!” I shouted, feeling the spittle fly from my mouth.

Its sharp, yellow-and-black eyes softened as it looked me over. No longer raging and ready to shred me.

I lifted my tank top and uncovered my stomach. “Please!” I bellowed hoarsely.

The bird of prey lay down in front of me, bending its head and nudging my legs as I furiously shoved it, hoping to anger the feathered beast into attacking me.

My knees cracked as they hit the floor, and I tried with every fiber of my being to shove the animal away from me. The bird’s eyes flicked over me; the feathers of its head softened as it laid its body down, continuing to calmly nuzzle me.

Sadness poured from its concerned eyes as it turned their efforts toward tucking me under one of their expansive wings.

“Go, please! Please!” I howled.

Unable to see more than a white blob through my tears, my hands gripped its silky feathers.

The door of my cell opened. Breathless sobs shook my body. I reached as deep as I could and collected every bit of strength I had left to make the calm bird leave the cell.

---