He didn’t think another second. He raised his face to the sky and let out a howl that tore through the air, causing small birds to scatter from where they had been sitting on the Joshua trees.
As soon as the sound had died down he heard the rustle of sand. As if snakes were slithering towards him. A collective hiss.
He realised his mistake immediately. The voice of the woman had told him not to howl. They had located him now. He had been mistaken. The howls that he had heard were not his pack. The demons had called to him, imitating their howls. He had been duped.
Yes. They were coming at him from all directions. He could see the sun glinting on their grey leathery skin. They moved swiftly, from the left and the right, and from behind him and in front of him. They were closing in. Any direction that he might suddenly decide to run in would be blocked.
He crouched down, ready for the attack. He knew in his heart he was done for. There were too many of them. Two he might be able to defeat, but not five at once. But that didn’t mean he was going to surrender. He would die fighting, as all his pack would in the same circumstances. He was a proud Wild Keeper to his core.
He thought of her briefly, before the first one flew into the air, landing on him. The woman, with the soft brown hair and velvety eyes. He had loved her. He had tried to save her. But it was all too late now.
As the next one attacked, and his fangs tore into grey flesh, he closed his eyes, yearning for her.
***
Sienna fell forward over her mug of water suddenly, as if a wave of dizziness had overcome her. Lola swiftly put out a hand, breaking her fall.
“What’s wrong with her?” Barb asked, frowning. “Is she ill?”
Lola carefully lowered Sienna onto the ground, stroking her cheek gently. “No, she’s not ill. She’s had a vision. Something has happened.”
“A vision?” Helen’s voice was incredulous. “What do you mean?”
Lola sighed. “It’s hard to explain. She’s always been like this.” She took a deep breath. “They come upon her suddenly, like a wave. She can see the future with them.”
“The future?” Cara frowned. “That’s…that’s…impossible.”
Lola smiled grimly. “I assure you it isn’t impossible. I have seen her do it myself. It’s the reason Fitzpatrick took her and kept her with him for so long. She was his pet psychic.”
Sienna started bucking and writhing on the floor. The women all stared at her fearfully, backing away. Fiona paled and crossed herself.
“Why are you doing that?” barked Barb, frowning. “You aren’t a Catholic!”
Fiona took a deep breath. “No, but I was brought up as one. My family are second-generation Irish. That’s what you do to ward off the devil.”
Lola’s gaze was withering. “Sienna isn’t the devil,” she hissed. “She’s just a woman like you and me! She has the gift of sight, that’s all. One that she has suffered for, more than you’ll ever know. There’s no need to be afraid. It will pass soon.”
They all watched her silently. The writhing ceased slowly, and then she started to moan a little.
“Did Fitzpatrick really keep her to tell his future?” asked Georgia, her eyes wide. “Not for anything else?”
Lola smiled sadly. “He grabbed her one day at the place I worked. Our madam arranged it all. Sienna didn’t even see it coming.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “She wasn’t even working as a hooker. She always refused. She was the cleaner.” She was silent for a moment. “Fitzpatrick wanted more from her, but she was clever. She told him that if he ever touched her that her visions would stop. That’s how she protected herself in his grand mansion.”
“That’s sad,” said Georgia. “She had no choice. We’ve all chosen the life we have, but for Sienna it was different.”
“We haven’t chosen this,” said Cara slowly. “We haven’t chosen to be kept in this stinking box of tin, about to be put on a ship somewhere. We are all of us in the same boat now.”
Barb stared at Sienna, who was hesitantly trying to get up. She crouched down and swept the hair out of her face, staring at her gently.
“It’s alright, baby,” she said softly. “You’re safe now. No one is going to hurt you.”
Sienna stared at her, her eyes filling with tears. One by one the women all silently approached, embracing her. She was in the middle of a group hug. They remained that way for a few minutes, until they heard the steel doors opening.
The guard stood there, staring at them, scratching his head slowly, as if he couldn’t quite make out what they were doing.
“It’s almost time, ladies,” he said. “Last meal before this container is about to be loaded onto the ship. And the boss has decided to give you something extra special to mark the occasion.”
They all stared at him as if he had gone mad. He walked into the group, holding out a tray of cupcakes, all iced in different colours.
Barb stared down at the tray. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said slowly. “Cupcakes? What have we got to celebrate?”
The guard shrugged. “I don’t question the boss. I’d take one if I were you. No telling how long before you’ll get any more food on the ship.”
They all stared down at the tray, as if it might rear up suddenly and bite them. Then Helen shrugged her shoulders and grabbed one. “I’ve never had a cupcake for breakfast before.” She bit into it. “It’s good. God, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a sugar rush.”
The other women each took one, until there was only one left on the tray. Dazed, Sienna stared at it. Her mind was still foggy from the vision, and she felt the usual residual sickness. The thought of eating a sugary cupcake first thing in the morning increased her nausea.
“I might pass,” she said, slowly, almost gagging as she gazed at it.
The guard frowned. “The boss is very insistent that everyone have their share.” He pushed the tray forward, almost menacingly. “Take it.”
Sienna stared at him, bewildered. What did it matter to him if she didn’t eat a cupcake? She was the only one who would suffer for the lack of it. She knew if she declined there would be no other food offered, and if they were going to be taken onto the ship today she had no idea when she might eat again.
But even the thought that she would probably be starving for the entire day wasn’t enough to tempt her. She shook her head again, slowly.
“Just take it, Sienna,” said Lola, who had already finished hers. “It will do you good. Give you a bit of energy.”
Sienna sighed, picking up the cupcake. She took a bite and chewed slowly. The guard grunted, then turned and left, shutting the doors behind him.
As soon as he was gone, she spat it out into her hand. The others looked at her as if she was insane. They had already demolished theirs, and Georgia and Cara were licking their fingers.
“You won’t get anything else,” warned Barb, gazing at her steadily. “Food is food, and at least it’s better than the usual stale bread we get for breakfast.”
Sienna held out the rest of her cupcake to the woman. “Be my guest. I just can’t stomach it.”
Barb shrugged her shoulders and took it. “If you insist.” She placed the whole thing in her mouth in one bite.
“Happy Sailing Day, everyone,” said Fiona, grinning sardonically. “Welcome to the rest of our lives.”
***
The day was heating up. Sienna could feel it emanating through the steel of the container in waves. The wall had almost become too hot to lean against.
The time was dragging on. She would have thought that they would have been loaded onto the ship by now. She could hear the movement of people outside, and other containers being moved. Maybe they had an order they had to follow. She sighed. It didn’t make a lick of difference when it occurred. By the end of the day, they would be on that ship and sailing away from the only life they had ever known.
Her gaze lingered on the others. They seemed unusually low in energy. One by one they had a
ll succumbed to either the heat or the stress of the situation and had fallen asleep. Barb had gone first, crawling into the foetal position almost as soon as she had finished Sienna’s cupcake. Her eyelids had been so heavy she had barely been able to keep them open.
She sighed, lying on the hot floor of the container. The only sound was the soft trumpet of Fiona snoring. They were all out for the count, well and truly.
With no one awake to see her, she let the tears that she had been fighting since the vision finally fall. She sobbed bitterly. She knew now that it was all over. She had seen the wolf being attacked by the creatures in the desert. He had howled, and they had heard him. She knew that they had lured him with their own howls. She hadn’t been able to save him.
Zach was gone. He wasn’t coming to save her. He had been unable to save himself. All was lost.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm down, but failing utterly. She had loved him. And like everything in their brief relationship, the realisation had come too late. She had never told him. He had died not knowing how she felt about him, and now he would never know. The pain of it was almost too much to bear, and yet she knew that she must.
But how could she go on without him? He had come into her dark life like a shooting comet, filling it with colour and light and purpose. Nothing had been bright before him, and nothing could ever be bright again. He had taken her hand so gently and shown her that she was worth something, and that he believed in her. And now here she was, lying on the floor of a shipping container, imprisoned forever.
Her gaze swept over Lola, sound asleep next to her. Poor Lola. She had tried to save her. She had failed. All the sacrifice and the pain had been for nothing in the end. Fitzpatrick had won, just like he was always going to. It had been a foregone conclusion.
Suddenly, Zach’s voice drifted towards her. She gasped, closing her eyes.
I sense something in you that is even more than your visions. If you were just open to it, you could find your power. It’s there, waiting to be discovered.
She stared around the container filled with sleeping women. Where had the voice come from? She recognised the words. He had said them to her in his cabin on the boat. But why were they coming to her now? His voice had sounded so real. And yet, she knew that he was gone. She had seen the wolf being attacked in the desert, overcome by the creatures.
And then his voice whispered into the air again, surrounding her.
I believe in you.
She took a deep, shuddering breath. Zach was reaching out to her from somewhere. From the place beyond? Had he crossed over the divide between this world and the next? Or was she simply hearing an echo, or an imprint, of his soul before it fled this world?
She didn’t know. And for now, it didn’t matter. The only thing she knew for certain was that she had to heed his words. They had arrived at this moment for a reason.
Her gaze swept over the women again, stopping on Georgia. The woman was curled up against Barb, deep in slumber. Suddenly, her words drifted back to Sienna, filling her mind.
My mama told me that no one can save you but yourself.
She took a deep breath. She knew what she had to do. She waited patiently for the others to wake up so that she could tell them her plan.
***
Another hour dragged by. But still there was no movement of the container, and the women slept on without stirring.
Sienna stared down at them, frowning. There was something wrong with it. Why had they all suddenly been overcome with sleep? And such a deep sleep. Her frown deepened. It made no sense. They had barely been awake an hour before the guard came with his tray of cupcakes.
Sienna gasped. The cupcakes. Had they been tampered with? Had something been put in them to cause them all to fall asleep? Some kind of sedative? It was the only explanation. She was the only one of them who hadn’t eaten one, and she was the only one who was now awake.
She turned to Lola, asleep at her side. She wasn’t moving at all, and her face was almost ghostly pale. She shook her quickly. The woman didn’t stir at all. Taking a deep breath, she shook her again, quite violently.
“Lola,” she said loudly.
But Lola slept on, not acknowledging the touch at all. Sienna got up, calling and shaking the others. None of them stirred. Barb was so pale she looked almost ashen. Sienna quickly put her ear against the woman’s mouth, checking to see if she was still breathing.
She let out a sigh of relief. It was faint, but she could hear the soft intake of her breath. That was when she realised that Barb had taken a double dose of whatever they had been given. She had eaten Sienna’s cupcake along with her own. The sedative had hit her more forcefully than the others.
Sienna stood up, slowly, shaking with rage. It was all becoming clear now. They had been fed the sedatives so that they would be unconscious when they were moved onto the ship. They didn’t want them yelling or making any noise to alert customs. Even if they had bound and gagged them they would still have been able to throw themselves against the walls of the container to alert someone that there were people in here, being taken against their will.
The bastards had thought of everything.
The doors were slowly opening. Sienna gasped. They would be expecting that all the women would be unconscious. What would they do to her if they found that she was the only one still awake?
Quickly she lay down, curling up against Lola. She closed her eyes tightly.
She heard footsteps come in. Two guards this time. For a moment there was silence, then they started speaking in low voices.
“Looks like it worked,” said one. “They’re all sleeping like logs.”
“Yeah,” said the other. “But we’d better make sure they won’t wake up during it and make any noise. They’ve already been left too long. The boss will have our guts for garters if even one of them makes a squeak.”
A stab of fear shot through Sienna. She squeezed her eyes tighter. What were they going to do to them?
“Kick them,” said one guard, casually. “If they don’t respond to that, they won’t respond to anything.”
Sienna felt a wave of rage wash over her. The sons of bitches. A curtain of red fell over her mind, and she braced herself for the impact.
When the blow came it was swift, sinking into her left side. She almost saw stars. With a gargantuan effort she suppressed the cry of pain that rose to her lips. Beads of sweat broke out on her face, and she could feel it trickling down her neck.
“All good,” said one. “These ladies aren’t going be singing any time soon.”
Sienna heard footsteps receding, and then the grate of the doors being closed. Almost immediately she felt the container being lifted and moving along.
It was happening. They were heading to the ship.
She slowly opened her eyes. The rage at what they had done, and what they were doing, was almost incandescent in her now. It was so intense that she wondered that it didn’t light the whole space with its brilliance.
Everything was becoming clear. She would bide her time; the others were unconscious and couldn’t run, but they would wake up eventually. And when that moment came, she would strike. Zach couldn’t help her, but he had given her the key so that she could help herself. And the others. It had been there all along. But she had let fear and her own lack of self-worth overshadow it, as always.
Sienna took a deep breath. No more. She wasn’t a victim any longer. They had pushed her and pulled her to her breaking point.
She took another deep breath. She was a seer. She was a shapeshifter. She was a wise woman. She was everything. Her power was beyond belief. She wasn’t a freak or broken because of her gifts. They made her. Without them she wouldn’t be who she was.
And she was proud of who she was.
The container lurched. She staggered forward, holding out a hand to break her fall. None of the other women stirred an inch. When they woke up from this they would be sore and aching. Sienna’s rage intensified at the th
ought. No more. Fitzpatrick and his crew weren’t going to hurt any of them anymore.
She was a seer, she repeated to herself, holding her head high. A shapeshifter. A wise woman. And when she finally found her true power, those bastards would wish that they had never laid eyes on her.
She took another deep breath, raising her chin higher. Even more than that.
She was a survivor.
Chapter Nineteen
The container landed with a sharp thud. The sleeping women didn’t stir. Sienna watched them, her eyes narrowing. They had to wake up soon. If they didn’t, the ship would sail before she could do anything about it. And even though she knew now that she could do it, and that she would do it, she wasn’t going to do it when they were all unconscious and vulnerable.
Anything might happen. She had never transformed into the eagle before and had no idea what it was like. Would she keep her own thoughts and be able to control what was going on? She wished now that she had questioned Zach further about what it was truly like to shift into another creature. He might have been able to guide her.
A fresh spurt of pain consumed her at the thought of him. She pushed it quickly out of her mind. Now was not the time to be overtaken with grief and pain. After it was all over she would let herself feel it. But for now, she had a job to do.
The doors of the container opened slowly. She quickly shut her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
Footsteps again. There was silence for a minute, and then they started speaking.
“We’re going to have to carry them,” said a guard. “There’s no way they will be able to walk into the room.”
“Let’s get to it, then,” said the other guard with a resigned sigh.
She heard them grunting as they picked them up and the receding footsteps as they carried them out. She kept her eyes firmly closed. And then she was being lifted into one of the guard’s arms. She let her arms and legs go slack, letting her head loll back so far that she could feel her hair swaying to the floor.
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