Page 96 of Property of Bones

“Do you think Tank’s worried?”

“Honey,” I say with a small, dry laugh. “I think Tank’s losing his freaking mind.”

“Bones, too,” she says. “I bet he’s furious. Things don’t end well for the people who anger that man.”

“Good,” I growl. “I hope he skins them alive and makes them eat their own flesh.”

A beat of silence.

“Ew,” Abby huffs.

I laugh quietly. “Yeah… that was pretty gross.”

“I bet he does do that though,” she says quietly. “Makes people eat their own flesh. I hope he does that to Muerte when they finally capture him.”

“Yeah,” I say in the darkness. “Me, too.”

Silence.

“Do you think they’ll remember us if we die?”

I close my eyes as tears slip down my cheeks, but I steel my voice against the wave trying to pull me under.

“Yeah, honey,” I whisper. “I don’t think we’lleverbe forgotten.”

A lowclickechoes above us.

Then…creak.

The ceiling groans, followed by the harsh metallic scrape of bolts sliding open. A rectangle of pale light cuts through the darkness as a trap door opens.

A rope ladder unrolls and drops with a heavy thud, swaying slightly in the stale air.

“Climb,” a man’s voice orders from above. Cold. Unfamiliar. Commanding.

I rise slowly, squinting into the harsh light. “Who are you? Why did you take us?”

“Climb,” he repeats, unmoved.

“Let us go,” I plead. “We won’t tell anyone. I swear.”

“Climb the damn ladder,perra.”

I step forward, voice shaking. “Let my friend go. Please. I’ll do whatever you say. Just let her go home.”

A beat of silence.

“Last chance,” he says. “Climb.”

“And if we don’t?” I ask, jaw tight.

“We seal the room. Fill it with water. Leave you in it for a day or two. See if that changes your attitude.”

My fists clench. “You’re bluffing.”

“I wouldn’t test me, sweetheart,” he says like he’s bored.

I don’t flinch. I won’t give him that satisfaction.

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