Page 198 of Shadowman
“Fair point,” the voice croaks.
It sounds male, raspy yet smooth. Tired, though that’s to be expected.
Who is that? It doesn’t sound exactly like him, but…
“Leo…?” I murmur, stopping at a door that has no window, around a corner and set apart from the other cells.
“Sorry, no,” he responds.
He’s definitely inside this room, and now that I’m a bit closer, I can tell it’s not Leo. This is a real person, a young man.
“Are you… a friend of The Ivory?” he asks me.
I’m taken aback by the question at first, though I don’t know why. I suppose that’s exactly what I am; a part of his team. On hisside.
Beholden to the devil.
“It would appear so, wouldn’t it?” I lean against the door, my mind swimming.
“You’ve put your trust in him?”
I purse my lips. “I wouldn’t go that far…”
“So you get it, then,” he goes on. “That in order to be on hisside, you have to accept that you’ll never come first. Your wants, needs… They’ll all take a backseat to his. Because he isall of it.”
I swallow hard, reeling from his words. “You sound like you know this from personal experience…”
“In a way.”
Turning to face the door, I tap my knuckles on it gently. “Why are you in there?”
He’s quiet for a moment before he sighs, “Revenge.”
That one word… It sets my teeth on edge. Thumps my pulse in my neck.
“It’s… important,” I tell him, though my voice trails and I add, “Right?”
“Yes,” he answers with certainty. “It is.”
I breathe out of relief. But then he says, “I heard once that the best revenge is living a healthy, happy life.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
He chuckles. It’s a nice sound; melodious and pure.Who is this mystery person?“I guess it’s likerising aboveor something. The best revenge is not needing it, you know?”
I frown, picking at some chipped paint on the door. “I suppose… But getting it just feelssobloody good.”
The lad laughs again. “You’re funny, bad guy. I hope you get your revenge.”
For the sod of it, I try the handle on the door. It doesn’t open.
But it doesn’t matter, because voices up the hall alert me that it’s time to go.
“You too, stranger,” I whisper, my chest aching with a memory. Of Alice. “Stay safe.”
I think he’s mumbling something in Spanish, but I can’t hear it, nor can I stick around.
Darting away, I rush back toward general population, all the while plagued by that voice, and those words. Everything that’s happened today, and yesterday, since my arrival at Alabaster Pen, and even before.
