Page 122 of In Between Darkness
“The one known stabiliser for serpent venom is the blood of the Stars.” His words linger in the thick air for a moment as if they are feeding on the tension to stay alive.
“No!” I shout and thrash against the chains again. “You’re lying, the book wouldn’t answer to you.”
“You think this is just a little after-school project?” he asks with an eerie enthusiasm. “This project is hundreds of years old. See, we have Star blood, only a few vials left, but we have it,” he continues. “Now that we have finally perfected our serum, guess what…. We need more.”
His words make me cringe as I realise why I am chained up. I am a fucking blood bank.
“FUCK YOU!” I thrash against the chains again, hoping they loosen just by an inch so I can break myself free.
“A Star to make Stars… how poetic.”
He stares proudly at the serum in his hand like it is his baby, and I feel sick to my stomach. The shackles fight me as he knocks on the pane of a clouded glass window on the side of the room. The window is rectangular and large, and I hadn’t noticed it before because it is the same colour as the walls. It must be a one-way window. I fidget again, feeling uncomfortable at the thought of people watching me. The door swings open again.
“Ahhhh, Asha.” Miss Worthington’s voice invokes every hair on my body to stand on end. “It seems you have been keeping a little secret.”
She walks with purpose towards me as Ryder’s dad leans with his back against the wall. “Very clever girl, making us all think you were a light worker.”
She cheers as her heels clack against the marble floor. I feel exposed.
“You see this nifty little pebble here.” She pulls it out of her pocket and touches its smooth surface like it were a precious stone. It glows a bright red in her grip. I stare back in confusion. “See, I had it enchanted to help with our little experiment. It glows red in the presence of the Sunkind.” She chucks the pebble over to Ryder’s dad, who catches it quickly. “Blue in the presence of the Moonkind.” The pebble undulates a deep blue colour. “And purple in the presence of the Starkind.” Her words are slowand purposeful as she takes the pebble and presses it onto my forearm, and every part of my secret unravels.
It glows an unforgiving purple. “You see, it was an accident I stumbled upon you. - You just happened to brush past me one day, and I could see the purple glow through my pocket. Blink and I would’ve missed it.”
Her jaw must ache from the way she is smiling. “But you see, I’m not naïve, no… I had to make sure… which is why I sent someone to spy on you.”
I stare back at her perplexed. Someone has been watching me this whole time? I fight against the chains again and scream, trapped in my own little hell.
“You’ll never get away with this.”
My wrists burn as I try to use my Gifts again. This time, I grit my teeth to stifle the pain. A small ember ignites from my palm, and I see a sliver of hope seep through the cracks of these prison walls. I need to save my energy.
“Don’t you want to know who?” she asks, her smile still wide and obnoxious.
“I don’t want to know anything from you!” I spit at her. “LET ME GO!” I scream, still resisting the chain’s grip.
“Not before you see the show.” With her eerie smile still plastered to her face, I look back confused, my brain not computing the overload of information being hammered at it.
“It seems your little boyfriend is the perfect candidate for the new and improved serum.”
She doesn’t blink, her eyes narrowing in on mine to drink up the horror I feel in real time.
“What?!” My words hang on the edge of my lips in disbelief, clinging for her words not to be true.
“He is stronger than the others, and serpent venom already runs through his veins.” She speaks as if it would be rude not to experiment on him. I shake my head to filter out her words.
“How could you experiment on your son?” I direct my words at Ryder’s dad. “You’ll kill him,” I cry and fight the chair’s grip again.
“If he’s strong, he’ll survive… if not, I’m afraid he’s too weak to inherit the Xoro legacy.” Ryder’s dad looks so unaffected. A body with no warmth, no emotion. How could he feel this way about his son?
“You’re not serious,” I question, feeling like I am the only sane person in this room. “He’s too good for you.”
“He was raised a soldier… he’ll understand.” His words sound devoid of sentiment, an echo of human emotion, counter to everything a father should feel for his son. Tears stream down my face again, clouding my vision, although my eyes are happy to take a break from such evil. I breathe deep and blink away the tears.
“Bring him in!” Ryder’s dad bellows as he commits three hard knocks to the glass again. The door swings open, and I hear a series of grunts. Ryder is chained at the wrists and neck with the same Enchantra shackles that cling to me. Two soldiers grip his shoulders as they walk him into the room. He fights them with his shoulders and barges them fiercely, his skin turning red as if the anger is a fire burning beneath its surface. My eyes cry out to him.
“Asha, are you okay?” He fights his way towards me, but the soldiers kick the back of his legs, forcing him to his knees.
“LET HER GO!” he shouts with fury, and I swear the walls shake.
