Page 8 of I Regret Nothing
Rajack killed a pedophile. They should have given him a medal after what he told me he caught the guy doing. Apparently, even rich perverts had families that loved them, despite being deviant. They made sure he got sent to Scorchwood for life.
We were done. We survive the frigid temperatures, shitty conditions, killers, rapists, and psychos in Scorchwood. We served our time. We couldn’t file for any type of appeal in Scorchwood. We didn’t even have a library in there. Silverhold had books and computers, but those of us left to rot in Scorchwood didn’t even know what a fucking computer was, much less how to use one to get ourselves out of jail.
Rajack and I figured out the magic box long enough to start the process of an appeal, but we’d been waiting for months for a reply, and we were done. We were breaking out. We just needed a thief we could trust. I was good at selling stolen goods, but I wasn’t good at stealing them myself.
Oh, fuck. I got my first look at the Silver Fox when she got dragged in by Faust. Faust was the evilest CO in the entire prison. We all knew he was killing prisoners, but we didn’t have a shred of proof. And no one was about to bring that shit up to the warden without it because Faust would just kill you next.
I so didn’t need Faust’s attention on my thief, and based on how he wasn’t even trying to hide it, he was super interested in her. He finally got his big ass, bulky wolf frame out of the way so I could see her. Oh! She was so tiny and pretty! I wanted to keep her when we got out. We’d have to find a safe place to live once we were wanted fugitives. Color me curious about this fox.
I snarled when Faust roughly shoved her in her cell and threw her bag of prison essentials at her face. That wasmythief. No one was allowed to touch her, not even fucking Faust. He whispered something in her ear and stalked off to do whatever psycho COs do when they aren’t murdering inmates. I slipped into her cell all sly like.
“Well, hello there. I’ve been wanting to meet you. I’ve been following you on the two magic boxes the prison offers.”
She cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Magic boxes?”
“The television and computer. They didn’t have those in Scorchwood. We didn’t even have books. Dreadful place. Some of us who transferred here are seeing a brand new world of things we didn’t know existed.”
She visibly recoiled when I mentioned my previous stint was in Scorchwood. That was to be expected. All the bad people ended up in Scorchwood unless some palms were greased or you really offended someone. The Egyptian government had always hated the black market and tried to shut it down. It wasn’t usually a Scorchwood sentence, though. They thought making an example of me would deter people. It didn’t.
I held up my hands.
“I was there for trading much needed medical supplies to hospitals on the black market because they couldn’t get them from the government or anywhere else. There was a virus spreading around Egypt, and hospitals and medical clinics didn’t have the things they needed to treat people. I got them those things. They made an example of me to discourage the whole black market by sending me to Scorchwood. My cellmate in Scorchwood is here too. They gave him life for killing a pedophile he caught in the act.”
She wrinkled her nose in confusion.
“Why’d they throw him in Scorchwood for that?”
“The pedophile came from a rich family, and they tried to make the argument he was unarmed and could have been subdued. There were some bad people in Scorchwood, and there are some bad people here, but they can all agree you don’t hurt kids. If you end up in jail for doing that, you aren’t going to have a good time of it.”
“I guess you know I’m here for theft, then. Rei Anderson,” she said, holding out her hand.
“Dakarys El Sadat. I’m a sphinx. Rajack is a gargoyle, but he’s not here right now. He’s checking his appeal on the magic box. We both desperately want to get out of here.”
Baby steps. I needed her, but I needed to know we could trust her. Trusting people was hard in prison. We were all criminals, after all. I couldn’t just dump an entire escape plan on her right when we first met. I didn’t know whowouldn’twant to break out of here, but I needed to know she wasn’t a snitch. She could rat us out to get a few years knocked off her sentence.
She sighed and slumped against the wall.
“So do I, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. They totally wanted to nail my ass for everything that’s ever been stolen, but they couldn’t link me to anything except one theft and being at the scene of another. I thought if I kept my head down, I might get off early on exemplary behavior, but Faust has taken an interest in me.”
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. I didnotneed Faust killing my thief. Everyone knew better than to attract his attention.
“Stay away from Faust at all costs. He’s dangerous.”
“What’s the deal with him? I got that vibe off him.”
“No one has any proof because they aren’t wolf kills, but three inmates have mysteriously died since Rajack, and I got transferred. People who have been here a while talk. There’s been a lot of unexplained deaths since Faust got the job. This place isn’t Scorchwood, where there were no guards on the floor, and you had to watch your back because we expected someone would kill you. There’s a lot more security here, so inmates don’t die. It still happens here. Inmates like to brag. If someone here did it, they would have copped to it for cred with the gangs. If one of the gangs were responsible, they would have said so to make a point with the other gangs. It wasn’t anyone here, so it has to be a guard. Faust is the only one who makes people here uncomfortable, and that’s saying a lot considering we are all criminals.”
Faust flat out gave me the creeps. His hair was black as night, and his beard was just too well-groomed. His amber eyes always seemed to hit the light like his wolf was scratching at the surface to come out and rip throats out.
Rei just smiled at me.
“I’ve never met a sphinx before. Or a gargoyle for that matter.”
I shrugged. That wasn’t shocking. She had an American accent.
“We tend to stick to certain countries unless we get arrested and thrown into magical prisons and don’t have a choice. I’d like to see my home again, but I doubt that’s possible.”
