Amanda Bonilla - Shaedes of Gray - A Shaede Assassin Novel

How long was I to remain a prisoner? Almost twenty-four hours had passed since my abduction, and I was still just as clueless about my fate as I had been yesterday. Where were the strange kids? Where were the Lyhtans? And, more important . . . where was Tyler? I almost hoped someone would come try to kill me. At least it would break the monotony.

The bear rolled away from me, and though the freedom of movement was a welcome relief, I would have liked for him to leave his pile of fur on top of me. He was waking as well. Perhaps he was wondering how much longer he had on this earth, just like I was.

The chill in the air burned off by slow degrees, and my black clothes drew the warmth of the sun. Signs of life—besides my furry companion—appeared minutes later. The fair-faced youngsters had returned.

The four that had hauled me here were accompanied by an additional five, and the significance of the number was not lost on me. Nine strange kids, guardians of nine gargoyle statues. I looked at the bear and jerked my chin in their direction. “Maybe they should just sacrifice those weird little things and let us go?”

The bear snorted, as if laughing at my attempt at humor, and then cried his mournful bear cry. “Yeah, I know,” I said. “Wish in one hand . . .” My furry friend gave a very pointed stare, as if saying, Couldn’t hurt . But my wish granter had betrayed me. I didn’t have much hope that the bond between us still held. If there ever was one to begin with. Even so, I decided to give it a shot. Anything was worth a try at this point. I closed my eyes, the words waiting on my lips and . . . Clank, clank, clank . My captors circled the cage, running sticks along the sides like bored children before cable television and video games. Pissed didn’t begin to describe the angry sensation boiling over my skin. “How about some breakfast?” I shouted out to our jailers, rather than follow through with a wish I knew would not be granted. “Or is that what I’m in here for?”

They turned as a collective body. One of them smiled. And as the same collective body, they turned and walked away.

As the day wore on, the heat increased to a sweltering temperature. The Washington area wasn’t exactly a tropical climate, yet the air was warm and humid. Lucky for me, I didn’t mind the heat, but the bear lay panting and stretched out. “We need water!” I shouted to no one, and was answered by the frantic chatter of some kind of squirrel or bird. My throat burned with thirst, and I could only imagine how my furry friend was faring.

I longed to stand up straight. Stiff from lack of movement, my feet and hands constantly tingled. But every time I tried to rise, I tripped on my own bound limbs and tumbled without the use of my arms to break the fall. I tried to uncross my feet in their fetters, but the Lyhtan-hair rope held tight, and I was unable to loosen them even a little. Frustrated, tired, hungry, and parched, I let out a wild and primal scream that echoed all around me, bouncing back to my ears, taunting me with the helplessness of the sound.

The bear cowered away from me in his corner, and I laughed long and loud. I guess I was scarier than I thought.

The air began to cool with the setting sun, and my anger turned to despair. I was about to mark the passing of another day of captivity, having no idea how many more were to come. Tyler had betrayed me, lured me with love and devotion, and I had eaten every spoon-fed bite of it. Truly alone in this world, I had nothing more than a wild animal for company. I scooted closer to him as the sky darkened, more afraid of the loneliness than I was of being eaten. He didn’t protest as I cuddled deep into his shoulder, but sighed contentedly and licked the side of my face. I hoped he wasn’t just sampling the dinner menu.

Creatures stirred around us, both supernatural and natural. An owl landed in a tree branch above the cage, and I trembled, thinking of the bad omen it presented. In just the short time since my capture, a new and disturbing feeling had begun to take root deep in my soul. I was possessed with the feeling that every particle of my being had begun to shift, transform. The presence of this process frightened me more than the prospect of the coming hours, days, or weeks. The Sylph had been right. Xander’s fears of revealing my existence were well founded. Something had happened to me.

I was changing.

Chapter 26

I’d lost count of the days. For some reason, I thought I’d been locked up for three or four, but I was so weak from hunger and thirst that I merely passed the time slipping in and out of consciousness. Was Tyler really here, holding me prisoner? I held on to a small glimmer of hope that I was dreaming—or dying, and that the final, dark end would come soon.

At least I wasn’t alone. I had the strange, docile bear that shared the cell with me. He seemed to have taken up the habit of watching over me, and whenever I managed to wake, he’d be next me, mewling and worrying and rubbing his warm, soft face against mine. My world had been reduced to the cage. And, like my beastly companion, I had been reduced to a kept thing, ignorant of my purpose or fate. My entire existence was made up of ignorance, and I found myself laughing and crying hysterically in the moments before I succumbed to the welcoming void of darkness once again.

I dreamed. More than I ever had. Or maybe I just remembered the dreams more now than I had in the past. Fleeting images like a slide show floated through my subconscious, a montage of my past, present, and, perhaps, my future. I dreamt of Henry, handsome and cruel, beating me into a state of despair and loathing so intense, I found myself longing to become invisible. I wanted to melt into the dark places of night and remain there—strong and safe from human harm. I dreamt of Xander, beautiful and aloof. But rather than pull me toward him, he pushed me away, proclaiming my mere existence a threat to everything he held dear. I dreamt of myself, free from captivity, walking in the sunlight that permeated my skin, sparkling and luminous, until there was nothing left of me at all. And I dreamt of Tyler, again and again, drawn to him like a magnet. Wanting him no matter how he’d betrayed me.

Those hours of unconsciousness mingled with the days of wakefulness. I passed the time like a moth in a chrysalis, waiting to emerge as an evolved species. Change swirled within me, and though I was aware of it, I thought on it little, until the first time I recognized the transformation from day to night as a physical sensation. With almost perfect detail, the changing time washed over me. Its scent a mixture of rain and diminishing sunshine, twilight had become a woolen blanket—warm but rough as it scratched against my skin and rustled over my ears. Like a living clock, I marked every second, felt every hour. The clarity of it astounded me. The passage of time came to me as a living, breathing thing. I’d been in my cage for eight days, twelve hours, and forty-seven seconds.

A pair of small, bare feet came to a halt on the other side of the bars. I tried to lift my blurry gaze to see the face that went with those feet, but I was so weak. I reminded myself I didn’t need my eyes to see, and I closed out the graying world around me to feel the being standing before me. Heat grew from the center of my chest, and I drew a shallow breath. One of my nine young tormentors belonged to those feet. The burning intensified as another and yet another approached. I curled into a tight ball, unable to bear the sensation of so many of them standing close. The bear pawed at me. He whined and sniffed my hair before giving me a nudge with his giant head. I panted through the pain, so intense it blazed a path through my body.