Without a doubt, I knew I’d just met another lost child.
That thought made me grow cold as Dumb and Dumber prodded me along. Luke, Edgar and Susannah hadn’t mentioned anybody else like us in the underground facility they’d been imprisoned in. They’d have told us if there were other survivors.
Father hadn’t known about any more either. So, what does that mean? Is there another project, in addition to Project Renatus? Or is Raven an anomaly? Was he a stolen child that was experimented on completely separately to the original three groups of ten children?
The group I’d been in, with the twins, Di, Flint, Jacinda, Mica and Amber had originally been a group of ten. But a set of twins had died after they’d developed encephalopathy from their drug. The same could be said for the seven other children in Luke, Edgar and Susannah’s group. They’d all died when Marcus continued experimenting on them, pushing their brains further than they could tolerate.
And the third group of ten had all died. That had been Albert Darlington’s research group. Father had said he ran the elemental group.
So where does that leave Raven? Was he in the third group or a secret group Father never knew about? Father never said much about Albert’s group, and Luke said that they’d all died. But did they?
We approached the large building and Dumb reached out and opened a steel door. It made a grating sound in the night.
“Ladies first,” he said sarcastically. He pushed me again.
For a second, I stood rooted to the spot. I knew once I went in that building, the chances of me ever getting out were minimal. Trying as hard as I could, I closed my eyes to form an energy ball.
I couldn’t.
I did the next best thing I could think of. I whirled around faster than he’d been expecting and nailed him in the shin with my boot before taking off at a run. The pavement pounded underneath my feet. A thrilling zing ran through me. I might get away!
A wall of fire suddenly erupted in my path.
Ten foot tall flames licked the ground, almost double my height. Its heat was scorching. Gasping, I careened to a stop. With my hands bound behind my back, Dumber grabbed me and yanked me back to the door.
I looked wide eyed at Raven. He stood calmly by the building, that glowing in his eyes swirling a crimson orange color, even brighter than before. Abruptly, the flames vanished. His eyes returned to the smoldering inferno they’d been initially.
“You can create fire,” I whispered.
Raven just stared at me. His expression gave away nothing.
He is from the elemental group!
Dumb scowled, his leg bent as he rubbed it. He grabbed my upper arm, his fingers digging into my bicep as he pulled me to him.
“You’re really going to pay now,” he said under his breath.
His words chilled me. I had no doubt he meant it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Dumb shoved me into the building.
Lights flicked on when we stepped inside. It appeared to be a hanger of some sort, but it was empty. Nothing but a huge, vacant room greeted us. The air inside was cold and dry. There weren’t any windows or anything that would tell me where I was.
“Cozy, isn’t it?” Dumb said.
I ignored him.
Dumber poked me in the back. “Move.”
My heavy boots echoed as we walked. With wide eyes, I frantically looked around. Other than the door behind us, there wasn’t an exit to escape from. The only other door was in the back corner. They were prodding me toward it.
Dumb and Dumber continued to make lewd sounds and whispered comments as if sharing private jokes. I didn’t want to know what those jokes were. The farther they pushed me toward that door, the more vulnerable I realized I was.
I took comfort in one thing. Raven. I never heard him join in Dumb and Dumber’s berating comments. He walked steadily, not saying a word.
My hands clenched at my sides. “What are you going to do with me?”
Dumb sighed. “Still asking questions.”
Anger bubbled up. I tamped it down. It wouldn’t help if I kept baiting him. All that would do was get me hurt. Or worse, killed. We were almost to the door, and I didn’t want to know what waited on the other side.
“Raven, how long have you been working with Marcus?” My voice caught.
No response other than a few snickers from the duo.
“We’re the same, you know,” I continued in a hurry. The door was only a few yards away. “You’re no different than me.”
“Is that right, Red?” From the tone, I knew it was Dumber. “You hear that Trevor? They’re no different.”
Trevor. So Dumb’s name is Trevor. Trevor was the short one with blond hair, and . . . I peeked awkwardly over my shoulder. Blue eyes. When Trevor caught me looking at him, he shoved my shoulder. I grimaced in pain. It was my sore one.
Since my hands were still tied behind my back, I almost tripped, but that wasn’t before I got a better look at Dumber. He was tall and lean with muddy brown hair and that jagged scar. Raven walked just behind them. Like his name, his hair was midnight black. He also had olive skin.
I almost tripped. Dark hair and olive skin.
My heart thundered a hundred miles an hour. Raven had dark hair, olive skin and a build very similar to Flint’s.
It can’t be.
“Here you go, Princess.” Dumber reached around me to open the door. “Your palace awaits.”
With a twist of the handle, the door swung open.
A dim corridor appeared, but I was too consumed with the man that stood behind me to care. Is Raven related to Di and Flint? But how can that be? Father never mentioned anything about them having another sibling. Surely he would have told us if they did.
No, I’m just making connections where there aren’t any.
I was feeling desperate and alone, my mind jumping to conclusions in hopes of making anything about this situation better.
Trevor pushed me as I stood in the door frame. I stumbled into a long, narrow hallway. He flicked a light switch. Light flooded the hall revealing a line of doors on the right. No windows in here either. It was as quiet as a tomb.
Either Trevor or Dumber grabbed my upper arms and propelled me to the second door. Trevor placed a key into a lock. I watched meticulously as blood whooshed through my ears. All thoughts of Raven vanished. It appeared I was going to be locked in a room, and the more I learned about how it was locked, where it was located and how it was accessed, the better chance I had of escaping.
The sound of the key grating on metal as it slid into the lock filled the void. Nobody said anything, but Dumber’s hands tightened on my biceps almost painfully. When the door opened, he cut my wrist restraints with a quick slice, from what felt like a knife, and shoved me inside.
I reached out to steady myself. My arm muscles protested at the sudden uninhibited movement. It was inky dark in the room. I swirled around just as they started to shut the door.
“Wait!” I called. The door kept closing, but I managed to make eye contact with Raven for the merest second. “Raven, you have a brother and sister!”
The desperate words bubbled out of me as the door slammed. The room turned into a sea of inky black.
My panicked breathing sounded in the quiet. Nothing came through the door. Not even the sound of their retreating footsteps. I tried to stay calm, but icy chills ran up my spine. I wasn’t sure if Raven had heard me. Perhaps it wouldn’t matter if he had. Maybe he knew about Flint and Di but didn’t care. Or, most likely, they weren’t related and just happened to look similar.
Stay calm. Don’t panic. Just whatever you do, don’t panic. Already it felt as if my heart would burst. The gravity of my situation pummeled me like snow coming down an avalanche. The weight of it threatened to crush the life right out of me. I was currently locked in a room with no lights, no help and no way of knowing if I’d ever get out.
“Hello?” My call didn’t echo. The room couldn’t be that big. “Is anyone el
se in here?”
No response.
I tentatively reached out. My hand encountered the door I’d just stepped through. It was cold and felt like metal, smooth but also slightly rough. I trailed my hand along it. The metallic feel continued until it turned to a rougher texture. I’d reached the wall beside the door. I flattened my palm and inched it up and down. There were grooves within the wall, both vertical and horizontal. I ran my hands along it, trying to decipher what it was.
I kept that up until I reached the first corner, then the answer hit me.
Concrete block.
I was in a concrete cell. In other words, practically sound proof and most definitely difficult to break through. Even if I formed a huge energy ball, I didn’t know if it would penetrate eight inches of concrete.
Moving along the wall, I carefully felt my way to the second corner. “Two,” I said out loud.
Taking more careful steps, I shuffled to the next corner. “Three.”
So far, it was concrete block the entire way. I continued until I reached the fourth corner and then rounded the corner until I brushed the door texture again. My initial impression had been correct. This room was small. Doing it all again, I felt my way along the wall, except this time, I walked toe to heel to better assess the room’s size.
After going around the room three times, I did the same with the floor, feeling along the smooth concrete but finding nothing. I figured the cell measured roughly eight by ten feet. Not much bigger than a large walk-in closet. I backed up to the first wall, by the door, wrapped my arms around myself and sank to the floor. Pitch blackness still surrounded me. It made this room more terrifying.
The hard, concrete floor was cold and unforgiving. The backs of my legs cooled against it. I drew my knees up and burrowed into a ball.
It was only then the tears came.
My eyes misted over. A feeling of absolute despair settled in my chest, like an elephant sitting on me. A sob constricted my throat as tears poured down my face. I may never be free again. I may never see my family again . . . never see Flint again. No!
Marcus had caught me, and I was alone.
Worst of all, I had no idea if my family was okay and safe. I had no idea if Flint was all right or what had happened to him. He could be hurt. He could have been captured too. Everyone could have been captured. Perhaps we’d been taken to separate facilities.
I pictured the other doors in this hall. Is this a facility O’Brien created when they kidnapped small children? Was this once a cell for another lost child?
I slumped against the wall, falling on my side in a fetal position. Harsh sobs wracked my body. It was the only sound in the dark room.
HOURS PASSED WITH nothing but blackness and silence. After my tears dried up, I’d tried everything I could think of to open the door, but the lock was impenetrable. And the hinges were on the outside. There was no way to pick those either.
It was awful, being alone in a dark cell. My mind spun in a thousand directions. I kept wondering about my family. Not knowing if they were okay was torture. I also wondered how in the world Marcus’ men had snuck up on us and what that sound machine had been. It was like a weapon. I could only imagine the damage to Jacinda’s ears. My ears still faintly rang, but I didn’t think my eardrums had burst.
At some point, I fell asleep. It had to be the early hours of the morning by now, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t stay awake. The absolute blackness didn’t help. My brain automatically went into nighttime mode.
The noise of a key sliding into the lock woke me. I immediately straightened, wincing. Between my sore shoulder and the cold, hard floor leaving a crick in my neck, I felt like a train wreck. It didn’t help that when the door opened I bolted to standing. It sent a searing pain down my arm. Taking a step back, I instinctively reached for the switch in my brain to activate my ability. Nothing happened. Trembling, I readied myself for whatever was to come.
Light from the hall seeped inside. I blinked. It was crazy how harsh the light looked after being in a room completely devoid of any illumination.
“Lena?”
Raven. And apparently, he knew my name. I’d never told it to him. That meant Marcus had deliberately sought me out.
“Yeah, I’m here.” A ray of hope bloomed in my chest. Maybe Raven had thought about what I said. Perhaps he was coming back to ask me about Di and Flint.
“I’m here to take you to the bathroom.”
The hope in my chest crumpled like a discarded balled up piece of garbage.
“Turn around. I’m going to cuff you.”
There was no gentleness in his tone, only practicality. I reminded myself Di and Flint were the same. They both got straight to the point and never beat around the bush. The small rationally functioning part of my brain knew I was grasping at straws, but I needed hope right now. Maybe Raven really was their sibling.
Instead of turning around, I faced him and stared directly at him.
For the first time, I got a good look at him. He had deep-set, dark eyes, a straight nose, dark unruly hair, and an identical olive skin tone that welled up memories of my love for someone else. My breath sucked in as my gaze wandered over his features. Hope grew even stronger in me. It was like looking at a younger, slightly altered version of Flint.
He’s got to be their brother! “You have a brother and sister.”
His face remained impassive. “Turn around.”
“You look just like them.”
“I said, turn around.” His tone grew hard.
He’s not going to believe you and you need to get out of here. Now, Lena. Now’s your chance to escape!
I made a move to turn. Raven reached into his back pocket. The jingle of metal came next. Handcuffs. Just as he pulled them free, I shoved him. Hard.
He stumbled back as I pushed past him.
The hall was exactly as I remembered. No windows. Eerily quiet. Fluorescent lights overhead. The closed door waiting at the end. My only way out.
I took off at a sprint. My shoulder burned as my arms pumped.
Get to the door! My lungs protested from the frantic sprint. But the door neared. Only a few feet away!
A wall of fire erupted in my path.
I screamed and fell backward, my butt landing hard on the concrete. The fire grew, growing to the ceiling. It was an impenetrable wall of flames.
Heat from it licked at my face making me scramble back. I bumped into something. Shoes appeared by my thighs.
Raven stared down at me with an annoyed expression. “Do you need help getting up?”
I inched away from him and stood. He merely raised an eyebrow, the annoyed expression now gone.
He looks just like Flint.
Raven lifted the handcuffs. “Turn around.” He sighed. “Please.”
I put my arms behind my back as he instructed. There was no point fighting him. I couldn’t form energy balls, and I couldn’t walk through a wall of fire. As soon as the cold metal handcuffs locked around my wrists the fire disappeared. Only a thin black line remained on the floor. It was the only evidence of Raven’s power.
“Follow me.”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall. I leaned backward, trying to slow us down.
“Their names are Di and Flint. I grew up with them.” My hair brushed against my cheek when I peered up at him, trying to gauge his reaction.
He gazed straight ahead, his expression blank.
“You look like them. They have dark hair and olive skin too, and your features and build are similar to Flint’s.”
It smelled stale in here, as if the building never got fresh air.
“How long have you been with Marcus?”
He remained silent. The only sounds were our footsteps.
“Father . . . I mean Conroy, never said anything about you.”
His stride faltered for the merest second, but it was such a quick fleeting movement, I could have imagined it.
“I don’t remember you,”
I continued when he refused to respond. “Do you know how old you are? Or what group you were in? We thought everyone else in O’Brien’s experiments had died.”
Raven continued walking. His presence felt like a heavy shadow looming above me.
He stopped me at a door at the end of the hallway, gripping my shoulder so I wouldn’t pass the door. It wasn’t a harsh grip, like Dumber’s, but was just enough pressure to let me know I should stop.
We’d passed at least half a dozen doors in the hall, which I could only assume were other concrete cells. I hadn’t heard anything. I wasn’t sure if that meant they were empty, or perhaps their occupants were sleeping. A sick feeling swirled in my stomach. This place was like a prison, only no windows, no bars and no rules. They could do with me as they pleased.
“Bathroom’s right here.” The door he indicated looked the same as all the others: cold, metallic and sinister. Anything could be behind it. “I’ll wait out here,” he added.
Since my arms were behind my back, he opened the door before switching the lights on. A hum sounded when the harsh fluorescents lit up. I stepped into the small, cramped room. It held a simple pedestal sink and toilet. The floor and walls were concrete. There wasn’t a mirror. No windows either. He closed the door behind me, the sound deafening.
The first thing I did was scan the area for something, anything, that I could use as a weapon. I groaned. Nothing. The room was too basic.
With slumped shoulders, I shimmied down my pants. It wasn’t easy. Between my hands tied behind my back and sore shoulder, it took forever to get them down. Getting them back on proved just as challenging. I could have sworn I was in there for triple the amount of time.
When finished, I kicked the door and not just to let him know I was done. Anger flashed through me again.
Raven opened the door. His fire filled eyes met mine. His jet black hair was just like Di’s, but the way it stood up at all angles while slightly curling at the ends, was like Flint’s. His skin tone was the same as theirs, like warm honey. If he had the same heritage as Di and Flint, he’d always look tan, even in the dead of winter. His eyes though, were obviously unique. Their swirling, orange and red hue looked like smoldering embers just waiting to be ignited.
The Complete Lost Children Series Page 64