Page 103 of Bones
“Where are we going?” I choked out.
“Solitary,” Sax growled.
I didn’t know what that meant, but we kept going deeper and deeper underground. The air smelled stale and increasingly like damp dirt. We reached the end of the electric lights, but the corridor continued. Sax clicked on a flashlight, revealing that the walls were growing rougher and more like a rock cavern than something man-made. My skin began to crawl. Finally, we stopped, and Sax unlocked an iron bar door to a small single cell that looked like it’d been carved out of the mountain. I winced as he wrenched me around to remove the handcuffs. Then he shoved me in, slammed the door behind me, and locked it while I stood there staring at him in silent panic. He didn’t even bother saying anything before he strode away, taking the only light with him.
I had to bite my cheek to keep from calling after him, begging him to leave the flashlight. I listened to the sound of his footsteps growing fainter until I couldn't hear them anymore. I stood there for a long time, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but I couldn't see anything. Panic began buzzing in my head, and I tried to take deep breaths and calm down as I sank to the floor, feeling blindly around the cell. The small space probably wasn't even large enough for a tall person to fully stretch out. The floor and walls were rough rock. Not like the outside of the watchtower, but like I touched the very roots of the mountain. A bucket stood in the corner, and from the smell, I guessed it was the toilet.
I folded myself into a ball against the cold rock wall and tried not to panic about the silent pressing darkness.
* * *
I couldn’t keep track of the time passing. I tried counting in my head for a while but eventually gave up. It reminded me of being locked inside Wrangler’s safe, but at least there my eyes were able to adjust to the dark.
It’s gonna be ok.The darkness felt like it weighed on my lungs, making each breath difficult.She can’t keep me down here for long. I have to work.
I grew less sure about that as time crawled onward.
I told you, don’t get involved,Wolf snarled in my head.Keep your head down.
“Fuck off,” I muttered out loud.
You’re smarter than this,he persisted.You know better.
“I’m not apologizing for trying to save that girl.”
You know she’s probably dead. All you did was delay her death a little. So what good did any of that fuckin’ do?
I closed my eyes, not that it made any difference. It was just as dark when my eyes were open.
She’s probably gonna hurt Trey now. Or one of the kids. Is that what you wanted?
Nausea curdled in my stomach.
You don’t need them. You have me.
“No, I fucking don’t,” I snapped. “You’re not here, so stop.”
Gods, maybe I’d gone insane a long time ago. I was having a full argument with my brother’s voice in my head.
Wolf went silent, and my thoughts drifted back to Sam’s grey face. A chill brushed across my skin and I shivered. How had I hurt him? Had I accidentally taken some of his life force? Had my powers harmed him because he wasn’t injured? But why couldn’t I heal him?
The last time I failed to heal someone?—
I slammed those thoughts back down.
I remembered that golden light pouring from my hands like sunbeams and lifted a palm, calling on my powers. They began to flow, giving me a brief moment of hope, but then vanished as though my body knew I wasn't trying to heal someone. I frowned. Had I been able to throw my power like that because Trey was there, and it just sought the nearest injury like a magnet? If that was the case, how far could it reach?
Trey. Just thinking his name made my stomach flutter with either dread or longing, maybe both. I brushed a finger across my lips, remembering how his mouth had perfectly fit with mine. That was the problem with Trey, wasn’t it? I wasn’t just attracted to him. Being with him felt like we were two halves coming together, and the rightness of it was something powerful, something dangerous.
What if Madame hurt him?
I shouldn’t have kissed him.
Fuck.
I lay down and tried to force myself to sleep a little. To have little difference between being awake and being asleep nibbled away at my sanity. As time passed the line between being awake and asleep began to blur even further. I tried again and again to summon my powers, desperate for some light to break up the darkness, but nothing happened.
Sometimes as I lay on the ground, I would swear I could feel things crawling over my skin. I tried not to think about what sort of bugs and creatures would live this far underground.
