I picked Andy up by his shirt’s collar and his belt, using his head like a battering ram against the cage, growling with bloodlust I didn’t want to examine too closely. The bars didn’t shake – they were sturdy, providing me a great place to take out my anger on my lot in life.
“Is that what you wanted?” I shouted at Geon, whose mouth had fallen open. I dropped Andy and stomped my bare foot down hard on his nose when his head lolled to the side with a moan. “Is this what you were picturing? I did my job! I did everything you people demanded of me! Now you want to take me away from myself so you can get your hands on a lousy rock I was going to bring you a piece of anyway? How long do you guess you’ll get me to cooperate? You think you can control me?” I picked Andy’s heavy limp upper half up again and slammed it hard into the bars, knocking out two of his teeth when his head bent the wrong way. “That’s what I thought!”
There was no use playing civilized now. Andy moaned incoherently at my feet but didn’t move, which was best. I was in no mood. “You wanted me in a cage? You treat me like an animal? Just you wait till I sink my claws into you!”
Geon wasn’t in a place to be messed with either. He opened up his mouth, but instead of words, a mess of angry bees came out, swarming around me with purposeful buzzing. I’d forgotten that Lang was Prince of the Bugs or whatever, and that his dad no doubt had that same kind of ability. “That wasn’t very nice,” he scolded me, as if I’d stepped on his freshly mown lawn.
“Let me tell you, George, if even one of those bees stings me, you can forget about me ever going back to work. You care about your people? Attacking me’s just going to seal the deal that they’re dying young. You don’t have the stone, and if I’m sent home with even one little bee sting, then you won’t have me to help you anymore. Mariang’s on her last leg, so like it or not, you still need me.”
“Sama’s army is on its way with rations. We won’t need you for anything soon enough.”
I threw out my arms to the sides and popped my chin up in defiance. “Is that so? Then where is he? Shouldn’t he have been here by now? How many days was he expecting you to go without buhay? Wake up, Geon! Sama played you like the dummy you are.” I beat my fist down across Andy’s slack face three more times. “You think you hold the cards because you’ve got a cage? I own you! You’re in my cage!” I stared him down, daring his anger to be bigger than mine. I feared the words that birthed out of me, but my fury couldn’t be held back anymore.
I could tell Geon was questioning his plan by the note of hesitance before his reply and the forced bravado in his voice when he finally answered. “You own nothing. You belong to me as long as I say. I’ll find that stone, and then you’ll serve no purpose.”
“Good luck finding what I’ve never seen!”
“Such a brave little fighter. Let’s see how you fare after a few more days of this.”
“Even after you return me to Ezra, I’ll stop reaping and make sure everyone in Terraway knows why, so they have you to thank.” I knew his type. He only responded to strength, so I gave it to him in spades. While on the inside I was screaming in fear, on the outside I remained steadfast, my chin raised to dare him to make the next move. It was a dangerous game of chicken I was playing, but to be fair, he started it.
Geon stared me down, migrating from a game of logic to a battle of who needed to save face more. I could play that game all friggin’ day.
His bees encircled me, buzzing with a thousand little wings that were mindlessly waiting to be told which way to go to attack. The moments of silence were tense as a fiddle’s string and piled up until there was a whole minute filled with only the ominous buzzing.
“Yes, I think I’ll keep you locked up a little while longer. See how mouthy you are after you’ve been starved, as my people are. When Sama’s army gets here, they can decide what to do with your mouth.” Geon snapped his fingers, and the tiny lights went out. The head of the bug family left me with his buzzing minions alone in the dark with Andy, who was slowly bleeding out on the floor from the injury I’d given him to his head.
I was cold, terrified and alone, and as I scraped at the skin on my already bleeding arms, I began making peace with the darkness that swallowed me whole.
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Torture
Enjoy a free preview from Torture,
book three in the Terraway series.
1
The Perfect Guy
The worst thing about being alone with your thoughts is ignoring the ones you have no control over. The fears about my possible death if King Geon of Sakuna continued starving me were one thing. I could deal with those with some amount of quiet dignity. No, it was the childhood bag of crapfest that unleashed itself on me in the unending dark. Visions of the flies trying to burrow under our bedroom door plagued me, especially when Andy’s body began to rot after it became painfully obvious that I’d killed him.
Lang had been sneaking in to feed me bits of the baga root, a handful of berries or two and a canteen of water I didn’t have it in me to resist anymore. I’d begged him to take away Andy’s body, but he told me his father wanted me as uncomfortable as possible, so sleeping with a corpse became my norm.
I tried to reconcile my screaming guilt over my homicidal rage with the logic that I’d killed Andy in self-defense. I tried to assuage my horror at the lowlife I’d always known was lurking inside me by telling myself that it was either him or me. I knew I would skirt to safety in a court of law, but my own personal jury had me guilty as charged. I didn’t even know Andy all that well, and now he was dead.
And rotting.
The maggots started in after who knows how long. Those gave birth to flies. These were fat, hairy flies that had a whole body to feast on, and they did so with gusto. I’d promised myself when Ollie and Allie finally busted me out of Bev’s place that I would never let myself live like that again. I didn’t so much mind anymore when adults broke their word to me, but breaking my own promise to myself felt like a new blow I wasn’t sure I would recover from in a day.
Or two.
My days were broken up by sporadic visits from Geon, demanding to know where I’d hidden the sagrado stone. He’d come in with a platter of meat, my stomach lurching until he informed me it was roasted sigbin. After he left when I remained unwilling to divulge my secrets, I cried with the hope that Geon hadn’t cooked up Edward, the sigbin I loved.
I fell asleep, restless and freezing, choking out a cry of relief when Philip appeared in front of the fire pit I conjured to warm my dream self. I ran to Philip, stumbling with my stiff joints, desperate to find some comfort, some connection in the stifling darkness. “Philip? Help me!” I crashed into him, pretending the dream warmth was just as good as actual heat.
“What happened? Are you still in King Geon’s prison?”
I blinked up at him as I buried my fingers under his shirt to warm them up. “Yes. And I don’t think anyone’s coming for me.”
Philip held me, warming my body and rubbing my back and arms to soothe my panic. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay. The dark’s getting to me, though. I’m trying with everything in me not to lose it. Geon’s keeping me here to hold me for Sama’s army. This Sama jackhole wants to keep me locked up so everyone goes to him for help, instead of being able to feed themselves. It’s so stupid! The whole thing, I hate it!”
Philip was stiff. “I’m sure this Sama character doesn’t know you’re being held in such terrible conditions. Are you well fed?”
“No! Geon’s starving me, and I’m sitting in a cell with a rotting body that’s got bugs in it. Help me,” I begged, wishing I was strong enough to break down the irons and save myself. “Come find me, Philip. Don’t leave me here by myself. I’m so scared.” My arms banded around my stomach as the confession rolled out of me. “I killed someone! I killed a guy I don’t even really know! He was Duwende. Andy was going to take my will so I’d tell him where the sagrado stone is. I didn’t
have a choice!”
Philip gripped my arms. “You know where the sagrado stone is?”
“Of course I do. Or, I did anyways. Hopefully Edward hid it somewhere safe.”
“Who’s Edward?”
“My puppy.”
“You’re not making any sense. Where’s the stone?”
There was too much edge to his voice. It was like he cared about the stone more than he cared about me. “I don’t want to talk about a stupid rock that’s done nothing but ruin my life! You’re supposed to be the perfect guy!” I started beating on his chest. “You’re supposed to love me so much better than real people. I can’t even imagine up a fake guy who cares that I’m starving and lying in a cold jail with a dead body? You suck, Philip! You suck!” I pounded on him over and over, taking out my frustration on the hard body he hadn’t even had to work at to earn.
Philip softened, letting me beat on him with angry fists. “I am the perfect guy. I’m the one you can tell all your secrets to.” He held me and slowly sunk to the grass, keeping me close as I broke down into shameful tears that fell into his shirt. “Talk to me. Geon’s got you in a dark cell. He’s starving you. What else?”
“I want to go home. He’s got Von and Mason somewhere, and I know he’s hurting them! I can feel it. I can feel something’s very, very wrong.”
“Mason can handle it. I’m sure Von can, too. Matruculans can endure a great deal. And if your half-vampire’s resisted the transition this long, I’m sure he has strength enough for a little torture.”
“I don’t care about strength! I hate Terraway! It’s ugly and mean here. All they do is use me. I was doing just fine until they came along.” I gripped Philip’s shirt, desperate for a connection, however fabricated. “I need my medication. I’m going crazy, and I worked so hard not to be crazy! I’m losing my mind! I need it, or I’ll get lost again. I don’t remember what happened when I went off it a couple years ago. It was a week before Ollie found me. A week! He was gone and I was alone. When he found me, I was a basket case. Like, I could barely talk without counting. I was bashing my head against the wall and hadn’t eaten or showered in days. I can’t go back to that! I can’t go under again! You have to help me. I work so hard not to be crazy. I’m not crazy! I’m not crazy!”
Philip’s hands scrambled to hold me together as I openly sobbed in his arms. “Quiet now, little one. We can’t have you losing your mind. I’ll come find you. My people are on their way. They’ll get you out of there and take you to my place. We’ll get you some food. My own special recipe. I don’t want you crazy or dead. I want you with me, by my side.” He clutched me, and I make-believed that he cared deeply about who I was, not what I could do for the kingdom. “I’ll see to it Geon’s punished.”
I snorted my disbelief. “You’re not real, though. I need actual help. I need my brother. I need Ollie.” I let out a loud wail. “Allie! Allie left us, and she’s not coming back!”
He kissed my cheek tenderly. “Tell me about Allison.”
“My sister never would’ve let me live like this. She did everything to make sure I never had to live with bugs and rotting things. Now she’s gone. She stopped loving me, but I never stopped needing her! If she was back, she would make me that chicken soup with the noodles Ollie loves and hold me so I didn’t hurt myself. She would sing to me and wrap me in heavy blankets until I felt warm and calmed down.”
“She loved you.”
“She was perfect, and she left us. She knows I’m too much. She knows I can’t be fixed. I can’t be fixed! I can’t be fixed,” I moaned, s0bbing in Philip’s arms.
He held my head to his shoulder, clutching me to him and providing the deep pressure that always calmed me down when I floated away from myself. “I can put you back together,” he promised, and with everything in me, I wished my perfect guy was real.
But he wasn’t.
Download Torture and continue on with
the next book in the Terraway series.
Other books by Mary E. Twomey
The Saga of the Spheres
The Silence of Lir
Secrets
The Sword
Sacrifice
The Volumes of the Vemreaux
The Way
The Truth
The Lie
Jack and Yani Love Harry Potter
Undraland
Undraland
Nøkken
Fossegrim
Elvage
The Other Side
Undraland: Blood Novels
Lucy at Peace
Lucy at War
Lucy at Last
Linus at Large
Terraway
Taste
Tremble
Torture
Tempt
Treat
Temper
Tease
Trap
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Tremble (Terraway Book 2) Page 25