Page 21 of Aberrant Monsters
Hands grabbed me and fingers bit into my shoulders.
My gaze whipped up to tangle with startling azure eyes. The man’s pupils dilated. I kneed him in the groin. He sucked in a sharp breath, but his grip on me never slackened.
“Neutralize her. Do it now,” a female voice ordered.
Neutralize? Hell no. I bucked and struggled in the stranger’s unbreakable grip.
“Get off me. Get off.” My solar plexus hummed. Telarion was coming. He’d stop them, he’d—
An icy needle pierced my neck and the world started to dim.
“Don’t fight it.” The male voice was melodious and smooth, like a pretty little lullaby. “Just relax. I’ve got you.”
Telarion… I called out to him in my mind. Got to stay awake. Got to…
Oh, crap.
seven
My head felt as if someone had scrambled my brain and then stuffed the gaps with cotton wool. I came to slowly, painfully aware of every aching limb. Had I been in a fight? No, that made no sense. I’d slept, so I’d be healed now, what with Telarion back inside my body.
Wait…
When had I gone to bed?
Memory came rushing back: my visit to Elina, the revelations, my chat with Uncle Fred, and then—
My eyes snapped open to dim light and darkness beyond. I was on the ground lying on white tiles. The area around me was empty of any furnishings.
The Order of Yaga had me.
But where was I?
I stood on trembling legs and walked forward a few steps into the darkness that surrounded my circle of light, arms out, hands reaching for…whatever. My fingers brushed something solid and smooth. I pressed my palms to it. A wall.
A wall made of glass? No, this was something stronger.
“Whath da hell?” My tongue felt too large for my mouth. The aftereffects of whatever drug they’d injected me with, no doubt.
I was in a glass cell.
Where was Telarion?Telarion? Where are you?
Why couldn’t I feel him?
Panic gripped me.Telarion!I sent out a mental distress signal.
A flutter at my solar plexus was the only response. He was here, but it was as if he were buried beneath a thick layer of sand.
This had to be because of the drug they’d given me. It was muting him somehow. I should have been excited about that revelation but instead my panic grew.
I needed him. I needed him back now.
Hush, tiny human. Give me a moment.
I pressed my fist to my mouth, listening to the echo of the words I’d yelled out loud. My cheeks burned with shame, but my eyes stung with relief.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
