“I think that’s enough for today,” Phillip said. “Back to your room.”
My wings lowered, now I knew there was no immediate threat. “What happened at Stonehenge?” I asked. Anything to prolong having to go back to that room.
I saw the fear on Phillip’s face, but he quickly hid it behind a fake smile. “Back to your room, now, Nova.”
Scowling, I did as he asked. Once inside, he locked me in. I paced around the room, bored out of my mind already. I wish I had my phone. Or a TV. Or even a magazine. Anything to take my mind off this place.
I tried moving my wings again but couldn’t even manage a flutter this time. I really needed to get a handle on them, or they were useless to me. If I ran, they would slow me down, but if I could fly, I could get far away from here.
“Come on, you stupid things. Work,” I urged.
I thought of what Phillip said, it was a fear response. I thought of what could happen to me here. My worst fear – being dissected.
Instead of pushing the fear aside, I let it in. Sure enough, my wings responded. They flicked out again.
Okay, now to try and fly with them.
I imagined myself lifting into the air, even though the ceiling was only a few feet above my head. It took a while, but I finally got a flutter out of them. Not enough to lift me off the ground, but it was a start.
I would keep trying. Sooner or later, I would get control and then Phillip better watch out.
Chapter 5
Each day, Phillip would test me and each day I hid what I could do, practicing myself, later, when I was alone. Over the next few days, I managed to lift myself, momentarily, off the ground. No more than half a foot. I would just have to keep trying.
Lurch was around a lot less, most of the time it was just Phillip in the lab. I still didn’t know where I was, but there was a door at the top of the stairs in the lab, which I hoped led outside. I’d never seen it opened though.
I had been formulating a plan. I would have to try and knock Phillip out or hurt him enough that I could make a run for the door. I would get outside and try to fly away. It wasn’t a great plan and there were a million ways it could go wrong, but what other choice did I have? No one was going to rescue me, I had to rescue myself.
About a week later, I couldn’t tell for sure, each day seemed to bleed into the next and with no access to the outside, it was impossible to tell if it was day or night. I was practising in my room, when I thought of Roxy. This summer was supposed to be our last hurrah. We were going to get part time jobs, save some cash and then take a trip before we headed to college. I wondered what she was doing right now. Did she think I was ignoring her? She would see that I hadn’t posted to social media, sent no messages, would she assume I was dead? It scared me, how she was about the only person on the planet who actually cared about me, the only one who would miss me. I needed to get out of here, I needed to find a way home.
I glanced down and gasped. I was hovering off the ground, my head brushing the ceiling. I tried to hold it for as long as I could, but I dropped to the ground with a thud. Lying on my back, I laughed. I did it.
It was time to try and escape. When Phillip let me into the lab in the morning, I would try to get out.
As I lay on the mattress, trying to sleep, I kept going over the plan in my mind. I went over every possible way it could fail until I nearly drove myself insane. What if the door wouldn’t open, what if Lurch was waiting on the other side, what if it didn’t lead outside and just into another locked room? What if, what if…
I let out a frustrated groan. What ifs weren’t going to help me. If I failed, well then, I failed. Phillip would never trust me again and I would probably be confined to my room permanently.
No, whatever happens, I have to get out.
I forced myself to think of more pleasant things. Like getting home, seeing Roxy again and who knows, maybe going on a date with Todd. I snorted. After all this, how could I ever go on something as normal as a date?
One thing I planned on doing, no matter how long it took, was to find my mother. Or whoever she was. I needed to find her, to look her in the eye and ask her why. Why she did this to me? Why she used me and then left me alone. I hated her so much.
Deal with it once you get out. You need to focus.
After a few hours, I realized that sleep was going to be impossible. I sat up on the mattress, crossing my legs. This would all be over soon.
More time passed, but no one came for me. I got up and started pacing the floor. I was probably wrong about how much time had passed in my eagerness to get this over with. Although my full bladder told me that if he didn’t come soon, I was going to have an accident. My wings fluttered as I walked, there was a strange sensation, like they wanted to take off. I was confident that if I could get outside, I could fly.
“Come on, come on,” I muttered.
Where the hell were they? At least another couple of hours passed and I was ready to bust. They needed to let me out of here.
“Hello!” I yelled, banging on the door. “I need to use the restroom!”
There was silence on the other side. The door was thick, but sometimes I could hear some noises, now there was nothing. Had they left me here? Abandoned me to starve to death?
“Help! Let me out!” I screamed, bashing my fists against the door until they bled.
He knows. That’s what’s wrong. He knows that I’m planning to escape, and he won’t let me out to try.
That’s stupid. How would he know?
For all I knew, he could read minds. Or he had a camera hidden in here somewhere and was watching me practice. I moved around the room, checking every crack or mark on the wall for a hidden camera. I found nothing. At least nothing obvious.
When I could hold it no longer, I had no choice but to crouch in the corner and relieve myself. I used my wings to cover myself.
I felt better afterwards, but it begged the question, what would I do if no one came? I needed water, food.
The plastic bottle that Phillip had given me with my last meal lay empty on the floor. I should have kept some of it.
“Phillip! Where are you? Let me out!” I screamed.
An explosion went off overhead and I instinctively ducked, my wings curling around my body. The light in the room went out, leaving me in darkness.
I slowly lowered my hands to look. The room was still intact, whatever that was, it hadn’t damaged my room.
Is he going to blow up the building with me inside? Is that his plan?
I waited, but there were no further explosions. Perhaps it wasn’t Phillip, maybe it wasn’t even an explosion. A car could have driven into the building, or any number of other explanations.
I let out an angry yell. Sinking to the floor, I put my head in my hands.
Someone please help me.
***
The door being slammed open, woke me. I jumped to my feet, still half asleep. It was Phillip and Lurch. I opened my mouth to ask them what the hell was going on, but they each took one of my arms and dragged me from the room.
“I’m telling you, they tracked the wings. It is the only way they could have found us,” Phillip said.
“What do you suggest? Do we let them have her?” Lurch said.
They were talking as if I wasn’t even here. “Who found us? What is going on?”
“No, I’ve spent too much time and energy to abandon this now. If it’s the wings they are tracking, then we deal with them.”
I was lifted off my feet and placed face down on the table in the middle of the room. “What are you doing?” I cried. My wings started to react.
Before I could get up, Lurch handcuffed my hands under the table, trapping me. “What are you going to do?” I screeched.
My wings were going crazy, I could hear items breaking as they smashed into them. I even felt the table shift as they attempted to lift me off it.
“Get me a sedative. We’ll have to work quickly. Once we are done, we’ll h
ave to move again,” Phillip said.
I was jabbed in the arm with a needle. I fought against it, but I finally lost consciousness.
What are they going to do…?
Chapter 6
I opened my eyes to more pain in my back. This time it was worse than when my wings came in. It was a raw pain and I could feel something sticky on my skin. Part of me knew what had happened, but I didn’t want to admit it. I was still on the table, but the room was trashed. Did my wings do all of this?
I turned my head slowly, looking for Phillip or Lurch, but they weren’t here.
“Hello?” I croaked. What had they dosed me with? My head was fuzzy. I managed to twist my head enough to get a look at the door at the top of the stairs. It was lying open.
I struggled, trying to move, but the cuffs held me in place. Freedom was right there, taunting me.
“Help!” I called, my voice barely loud enough to hear.
Panic filled me, and I started struggling, kicking my legs, sending fresh pain through my back. I gripped the chain between the cuffs, trying in vain to pull them apart. Who was I kidding?
I rested my forehead on the table, breathing hard. I refuse to die down here!
That strange heat filled my hands again, and suddenly, the chain in my hands seemed to melt and my arms were free.
I rolled off the table, hitting the floor in my disorientation. I stared at the cuffs. They had melted. How was that possible? Was this some other strange Fae ability?
That reminded me of my wings. With a shaky hand, I reached back, my hand bumped against the stumps where my wings once were. A choked cry escaped my lips. They had cut them off! They cut off my wings!
They may have made me a giant freak, but they were a part of me. They had represented hope, hope of escaping here.
Sobbing, I crawled across the floor to the bottom of the stairs. I could smell fresh air. It was a way out. I pulled myself up using the railing. As I stepped on to the first step, I realized that I looked a mess. I was covered in blood and I didn’t have any shoes. I was wearing sweatpants and a tank top.
Looking around the lab, I spotted a raincoat hanging on the wall. The thought of wearing one of Phillip’s or Lurch’s coats creeped me out, but I needed to cover the stumps. I gingerly pulled it on, wincing when the fabric rubbed against the stumps.
I searched the floor for shoes, finding an old pair of sneakers in the corner. They were several sizes too big, but I couldn’t walk around in my bare feet.
Searching the clutter on the desk in the corner, I grabbed pages from a notepad, balled them up and stuffed them into the sneakers before slipping them on.
My eyes landed on a laptop. Would it have information about me on it? Answers to what I was?
Get moving while you can, a voice in my head urged.
Glancing up the stairs, I still couldn’t see or hear anyone. I opened the laptop, but the screen was smashed. Frustrated, I slammed the lid shut and shoved it away. As I did, I noticed the flash drive plugged into the side, attached to a lanyard. Phillip wore it, I remembered the lime green and black lanyard. Snatching it, I hung it around my neck. The police might be able to find useful information on it. After I had a look at it first.
With a final look around, I finally headed up the steps to freedom. I hoped.
The steps led to an old deserted department store. It was dark, so it was hard to make much out, but I could see a few clothes rails from the streetlight outside.
I walked slowly forward, ears strained, listening for any sound of Phillip or Lurch. They could be back at any moment.
A figure loomed out of the dark on my right and I fell on my ass in shock. I stared up at the figure, but it didn’t seem to be moving. I sat on the floor, heart hammering in my chest. When it still didn’t move, I slowly got up and moved closer.
“It’s a mannequin,” I muttered, then I laughed, feeling like an idiot.
I headed for the doors up front. As I passed the front counter, I noticed a sign hanging. Some kind of special offer for ten dollars. Dollars, not pounds. Could it be? Was I…home? I took a shaky breath. Phillip had moved me, but could he have really flown me all the way to America? Maybe, if he had a private plane. And considering his house, that was a possibility.
Moving to the doors, I tried to look outside, but the glass had a thick layer of dust on it. I rubbed a section clean with my sleeve and looked out.
There was a street beyond it, a deserted one. I could see a car parked a few yards up on the right. The ground was littered with trash. Wherever I was, it looked like the bad part of town. I tugged on the door, but found it locked.
Of course, it’s locked. Otherwise anyone could wander in and find his secret lair.
I could break the glass, but if Phillip was somewhere in the building, I didn’t want him to hear me.
I turned and looked around the store. My eyes were adjusting to the light a little, but most of it I couldn’t make out. There had to be more than one door. A store like this, it would have a back entrance, maybe a loading dock. And fire escapes. I didn’t see any Exit signs glowing in the dark.
I pressed myself to the wall and slowly moved along it, checking for another door. Halfway along the second wall, I found one. Pressing on the bar, I pushed and was relieved when it opened. About two inches. Then it struck something on the other side.
I pushed it again, coming up against resistance, but with a little more effort, it began to move. The scraping sound on the other side, suggested that someone had put a dumpster against the door. I managed to open it enough to squeeze out.
An alley lay before me, stinking of rotten food, but I was outside. The relief at being out was short lived, I needed to move, or risk being locked up again.
I half jogged along the alley, stopping at the end to check the street. It was quiet, too quiet. I couldn’t hear any traffic or people talking. Further down the street on my right, I could see someone moving. Someone small. A kid?
Who would let their child out alone around here? I could worry about bad parenting later, I needed to figure out where I was, and where the nearest police station was. Pulling my coat tighter around me, I winced as the fabric pressed into the stumps.
I walked toward the girl, not too fast in case I startled her. Ha! Startle her? I’m going to end up with serious anxiety issues after all this.
She had her back to me, shuffling around in a garbage can. She couldn’t be more than eight or nine years old. Her hair was a stringy mess and her clothes had holes in them.
Poor kid, she’s probably homeless.
“Excuse me?” I said softly.
The girl’s head snapped up and she started making snuffling noises. She turned to face me, and my breath caught in my throat. There was something wrong with her face. Her eyes were far too big, like freakishly big and her skin had a strange blue hue to it, which was visible in the streetlight. She stared at me, cocking her head to the side.
“Uh, forget it,” I muttered, backing away from her.
She tilted her head back and sniffed the air again, like a dog. Her mouth spread into a grin, which revealed tiny little pointed teeth. She gnashed them at me.
Terrified, I turned and ran.
She was right on my heels. I could hear a strange rasping noise from her. What the hell is she? She was gaining on me. I didn’t want to end up eaten by whatever the hell she was.
“Help me,” I screamed into the night. Who was going to come to my rescue, I had no idea, but I couldn’t be the only person around.
I ran down another alley, praying that it would lead to a busy street. It was almost pitch black and as I was running, my foot suddenly caught on something and I pitched forward. I hit the ground hard, too stunned to make a sound.
I scrabbled to my feet, but the girl had caught me. She grabbed the back of my coat and yanked me backwards. I fell back onto the ground. I couldn’t see her face in the darkness, but I could imagine what it looked like.
“Yum, yum,” it g
rowled.
I screamed.
Chapter 7
I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the pain from lots of gnashing teeth, but it didn’t come. There was a shout and the sound of footsteps running in my direction. I could hear the creature growling at whoever had disturbed its meal. There was a thwack sound and then a thud.
The next thing I knew, I was being dragged to my feet by someone and led down the alley. We came out onto another street, this one equally deserted, but it also contained burnt out cars. Small fires lit the street, the place looked like a war zone.
I turned to face my saviour and was certain my theory was right when I saw that he was dressed in army fatigues. He was young though, barely twenty I would guess. He was Latino with dark hair, brown eyes and he was carrying what appeared to be a fireplace poker.
“Who are you?” I blurted.
“The one saving you, it would seem. Are you crazy? Why would you go out at night?” he snapped.
I shook my head. “I didn’t…where am I?”
He had an American accent, so I knew I had to be back home. I just needed to figure out where.
“Street names have kind of lost all meaning, don’t you think?”
“What? Why? This is America, right? I need to get home. I need to get to the nearest police station.”
He looked at me like I was insane. “Police station? What are you babbling about? There are no more police stations.”
It was my turn to think he was crazy. “Of course there are. Forget it, I’ll find one by myself.”
I started walking, with no idea of where the street would lead me. The guy caught up to me, grabbing my arm and spinning me around. “You need to get underground before more Fae attack.”
Bloodlines Page 3
