Authors: Bella Forrest
A
fter promising River
I would try to get us down to the basement, I now had to figure out how.
I didn’t need to examine the lock again to know that I wouldn’t be able to break through it without damaging it. It was far too complicated a lock to pick.
No. We had to find a smarter way to do this.
River took a shower while I thought, and by the time she’d finished, I’d come up with a plan.
She stepped into the room, dressed in new clothes—a crisp white blouse and cotton pants.
“Any ideas?” she asked anxiously.
“Yes. We’re going to need to pay another visit to Jeramiah.”
She looked confused, but didn’t ask questions. Perhaps by now she trusted me enough.
We left the apartment and headed to Jeramiah’s place. When I knocked on the door, an ebony-skinned half-blood girl opened it.
“You’re here for Jeramiah?”
“Yes.”
She looked over her shoulder and called back into the apartment. “Baby, it’s Joseph and his new half-blood.”
Jeramiah approached the door. He had a smirk on his face. “We’re seeing a lot of each other today.”
“I won’t take up much of your time,” I said. “I’ve come to request a visit to the basement.”
“Why?”
“I know River can help me cope with one human. I want to see how I cope surrounded by crowds of them. If I do end up accompanying you on a hunt, I’ll need to be prepared for this.”
I was surprised by how easily he agreed. “Yes, that’s not a problem. But I will send someone to accompany you. You’re permitted half an hour only.”
Half an hour.
I hoped that would be enough time. It would have to be.
Jeramiah called back into the apartment. “Lucretia.”
Lucretia—his new girlfriend, apparently—walked back to the door.
“What?”
“I want you to accompany Joseph and his girl down to the prison. I’ve given them permission to walk around there for thirty minutes. You don’t need to accompany them down. You can wait in the room upstairs if you prefer—just make sure they have returned after half an hour.”
“Okay,” she said, eyeing us. “I’ll be with you in a minute. I’d like to get something to do while I’m sitting there.”
Jeramiah disappeared back into the apartment, while River and I waited for Lucretia. She only kept us waiting a minute. She arrived holding a cosmetic bag and slipped out the door.
We descended the levels of the atrium and arrived in a familiar room, where the entrance to the basement was. She pulled out a key from her pocket and opened the lock, then pushed the door open. The smell of human blood was overwhelming. I reached for River’s hand and breathed in her scent. Together we descended the steps, leaving Lucretia at the top, where she sat down in one corner and began to file her nails.
Arriving in the first prison chamber, we began walking from cell to cell. The cells’ doors had windows, but they were fixed quite high up and River was too short to see through them. So I scanned all the windows first, and if I saw either a young man who fit the description of her friend, Hassan, or a girl who could have been her sister, I lifted River up to the window so that she could peek through.
We traveled from chamber to chamber, careful not to miss a single cell. When I had last been down here, I had been in more of a hurry, and although I’d run fast, I’d barely scratched the surface of the number of prisoners down here. After scanning six entire chambers with River, I was beginning to wonder whether half an hour would indeed be enough time. Especially because I felt the need to keep stopping and breathing in River’s scent in order to keep myself sane.
Finally, at the end of a row in the seventh chamber we passed by, River breathed, “That’s him. Hassan.” She was pointing to a young man curled up in a cot.
She banged on the window pane. Apparently he was fast asleep.
She banged more loudly. “Hassan! Wake up!”
The man stirred finally. His expression was that of utter shock as he gazed up at us through the window. He shot to his feet and hurried toward the door.
“River?” he gasped, his Middle Eastern accent thick. He pressed his hands against the glass. “Can you get me out of here? Please!”
River looked up at me. “Is there no way we could take him upstairs? We could hide him in your apartment.”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t risk it. We still don’t know how we’re going to escape, and his life could be in more danger than if he just stayed here.”
Hassan’s body was trembling. “This place is a nightmare,” he said.
“We’re going to come back for you,” River said. “I promise.”
“When?” he asked desperately.
River looked up at me, then back at the young man. “I don’t know. But… as soon as possible.” She leaned closer against the glass. “Do you know where my sister is?”
He shook his head sadly. “I have no idea. I’m so sorry.”
River swallowed hard. “Okay. We’re going to have to keep looking for her. Just… try to keep yourself well. I promise I’ll come back as soon as I’m able to.”
He looked devastated as we left him and continued walking along the corridor.
“Lalia?” she whispered. “Where could she be?” Then she began to shout out her sister’s name. “Lalia! Lalia! Where are you?” Her voice echoed around the prison.
I gripped her shoulder. “Don’t shout,” I said, my voice low.
We sped up, moving faster past each of the cells. We didn’t have much time left. We were on our thirteenth chamber of humans and we still hadn’t found her.
“My God. Where is she?” River looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown.
I gripped her hand hard. She needed to keep a cool head or there was no chance of her being reunited with her sister.
And then I spotted a little girl with long brown hair, two doors along. She was lying on a cot along with another girl who looked in her late teens.
I gestured toward the door and, holding River by the waist, lifted her up so she could see through the window.
“Lalia!” she gasped. She slammed her fists against the window.
The little girl stirred on the mattress, then looked toward the window. Her round young face looked dumbstruck, as though she was in a dream. Then she leapt up and rushed toward us. She was far too short to reach River’s level. But her small hands banged against the door and she cried out her sister’s name. “River! Help! I want to go home!”
The older girl in the cell with her woke up and moved toward Lalia. She wrapped her arms around Lalia’s midriff and picked her up so that she could be level with her sister.
River looked at me desperately. “Is there really no way we can take her with us now?”
“No. Lucretia is waiting for us upstairs. There’s no way we could smuggle anyone out unnoticed.”
River looked desolate, but she didn’t argue with me.
It was uncomfortable watching the two converse through the glass. River kept comforting Lalia telling her that we’d find a way to get her out.
I didn’t know what River was thinking in making such a promise to her.
River and I might be able to figure out a way to escape this place, but smuggling Hassan and Lalia out with us posed another set of obstacles entirely.
N
o words could describe
how painful it was seeing my sister on the other side of the glass. I didn’t know who that other girl was, but I was grateful that at least Lalia hadn’t been imprisoned alone. Lalia didn’t appear to be sick or wounded, but her face betrayed trauma that I feared had scarred her for life.
When Joseph touched my shoulder and said that our time was up, it killed me to step back.
Leaving Lalia in that cell was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.
As Joseph and I exited the chamber her cell was in, my legs felt weak. And as we reached the bottom of the staircase that would lead up to the exit of the prison, I broke down. I sank to the floor, pulling my legs up to my chest and burying my head against my knees.
I was thankful that Joseph gave me space even though we were late leaving the prison. He just waited for me until I composed myself. When I looked up, he reached down a hand to me and helped me up. I wiped my eyes, doing my best to avoid looking like I’d just been crying, and we continued up the stairs.
Lucretia was waiting for us, still working on her nails in one corner of the room. She looked up as we entered. Then she got to her feet and dusted herself off.
“You’re almost ten minutes late,” she said, looking at us pointedly.
“Apologies,” Joseph replied. “We got lost. It’s a really huge place down there. How many cells are there altogether?”
She shrugged. “No idea… So how did it go?”
“It went well,” Joseph said. “River’s blood is a real help to me.”
“Good,” she muttered, locking the entrance to the prison again and sliding the key into her pocket.
We left the room and stepped out into the brightly lit atrium.
We parted ways with Lucretia and headed back toward Joseph’s apartment. I was unable to speak a word. My mind kept replaying those few moments I’d spent with my sister, how forlorn she’d looked, and how utterly helpless I’d felt to do anything to help her.
As we entered Joseph’s apartment, he broke the silence.
“It’s late. I suggest you get some sleep.”
I almost scoffed. Sleep. That was the last thing on my mind. Even though my body was exhausted, I doubted I would even be able to get a wink of sleep tonight.
Still, since Joseph was turning in, I did too. He showed me to one of the spare bedrooms in his apartment, then left me alone and returned to his own room.
I looked around the spacious bedroom and flopped down on the bed. It was one of the most comfortable beds I’d ever lain on. Here in The Oasis, everything exuded luxury. The floors, the bed linen, the lighting… and yet I couldn’t enjoy any of it.
I was beginning to feel uncomfortably cold again, my bones starting to ache. I slid beneath the blanket and curled up into a fetal position, closing my eyes tight and praying for my sister.
I tossed and turned, trying to find some relief in sleep, but I might as well have prayed for a miracle.
I was still trying to fall asleep well into the early hours of the morning.
It must’ve been about 2am when a strange noise broke through my thoughts. I sat up in bed, holding my breath as I strained to listen.
It sounded like a machine giving off an odd grinding noise. And it was coming from one of the levels below. I wondered what on earth it was. I got out of bed and padded over to the door. Opening it, I walked down the corridor and approached the front door, then placed my ear against the wood.
Yes. It sounded like someone was grinding something. And it was loud, at least to my sensitive ears.
Since I wasn’t able to sleep anyway, I was curious to go and see what it was, but I didn’t dare leave the apartment by myself. I didn’t want to wake Joseph either, so I didn’t see any other choice but to head back to my bedroom.
I jumped as Joseph’s bedroom door creaked open. His dark hair was tousled, and his nightshirt hung loosely, revealing his muscular torso.
“You couldn’t sleep either?” I whispered.
He shook his head. “I rarely sleep in this place… Do you hear that?” he asked.
“Yes. That’s why I’m out of bed,” I replied. “Do you have any idea what it is?”
“I’m going to check it out.”
“I’ll come with you,” I said. Anything was better than going back to bed and lying there in silence with nothing to distract myself with.
Joseph opened the front door softly and we began following the noise. It led us down several levels until we realized that it was coming from the ground floor. We descended quietly and soon realized that the sound was emanating from one of the chambers directly opposite the lily pond.
I exchanged glances with Joseph. He held a finger to his lips.
My mouth sealed, I controlled my breathing to make as little noise as possible as the two of us made our way over to the door. Joseph bent down as soon as we reached it and peered through the narrow keyhole. I waited patiently until he had finished looking and gave me a turn.
The room was dimly lit and running the full length of the furthermost wall was a huge piece of machinery. Hovering next to it was a tall man. I couldn’t see his face because his back was turned toward me, but I recognized who it was based on his hair and physique. Jeramiah. His hands were obscured by a wide metal funnel, but it looked like he was lowering something into the machine, and each time his hands descended, that loud grinding noise penetrated my eardrums.
What is he doing?
I remained watching for about a minute longer, and then I looked back at Joseph. He gestured with his head toward our right, suggesting that we leave, and I followed him. We walked quietly, and didn’t speak again until we were back in his apartment. Even then, we spoke in hushed tones.
“That was weird,” I said.
“Yeah,” Joseph said grimly. “A lot of things about this place are weird.”
“What do you think he’s doing?”
“I don’t know.”
It was frustrating. There seemed to be far more things about this place that Joseph did not know than those he did.
I was reminded of another question that I’d been meaning to ask him. “This tattoo, it started burning when I tried to escape through the boundary. Why was that?”
He leaned against the doorway, running a hand over his own right arm.
“The same happened to me,” he replied. “I thought for a while that the witches here might be responsible for these tattoos. But after staying here a while longer, I’m really not sure…” He held my gaze for a few moments and then looked away. “I’m going back to bed. Good night.”
He headed toward his room.
Watching him disappearing down the corridor filled me with emptiness. Though he was still a stranger to me, his presence brought me comfort. And I wasn’t used to sleeping alone. I was seventeen, and although it was embarrassing to admit, I was so used to sharing a room with my two sisters, I actually didn’t like sleeping alone.
“Joseph,” I said, just before he closed his door.
“What is it?”
“I was wondering, would you mind if I just… slept on the floor in your room? I’m just not used to sleeping alone, to be honest. Especially not in a strange place. I don’t think I’ll ever get any sleep…”
He looked taken aback by my request. He looked back into his room, and then pushed his door open wider. He shrugged.
“All right. If you want.”
“Thank you.”
I hurried back to my bedroom and grabbed my pillow and blanket. I was going to carry these to his room first and then come back to drag the mattress. But when I stepped into Joseph’s bedroom, he had already stripped his bed of its pillows and was setting up a sleeping area on the floor for himself.
“Oh, no. Joseph, I don’t want to kick you out of your bed. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor.”
He turned around and gave me a smile. Dimples formed on his handsome face.
“It’s all right, River. You sleep on the bed.”
I felt guilty as he continued to set up his sleeping spot on the floor, but I wasn’t going to object to him acting like a gentleman.
God knew, I hadn’t known enough of them in my life.