I could recall her like a vivid dream even though their magick tried to take away my memories.
The haunting song taunted me as I tried to forget her.
“We’re losing control of him,” a cold voice said beyond the bright, burning light they had trained on my body. “Something is making him fight. What could have happened during the last excursion?”
“I don’t care what happened,” a woman’s voice said angrily. “Just fix it.”
Another voice joined the group. “It could be time to dispose of him.” The annoying speaker sounded like he was talking more through his nose than his mouth. “I don’t know how you manage to even look at this thing.”
“If I wanted your opinion, I’d ask for it, necromancer,” the woman replied with enough bite that the other two men appeared to flinch back from her. “Get him under control.”
Loud clicks against the floor, then a closing door signaled her exit.
“How do we get him under control if what we normally do isn’t working anymore?”
“I have an idea,” the nasally man said after a beat of silence. “We’re going to tie this thing to someone wecancontrol, which will make it fall into line. Even if it doesn’t want to.”
“He has a name?—”
“Trying to humanize your failed experiment doesn’t make it a success,” the other interrupted. “I’ll get what’s needed, but I do need something from you.”
“What is that?”
“Blood.”
There was movement beyond the hot light, then I felt a prick in my arm.
My blood.
That’s what they need… What are they trying to do?
“What the hell is this? You know what, no, never mind. Give me the vial and keep him contained until I’m back. At least one of us is doing our jobs correctly.”
The door slammed shut a few minutes later, then the person left behind with me exhaled, the sound long and heavy.
“Fucking prick. He has no idea, none, of what you could do, Kaden. So much potential. Even if there are some flaws in your design… That just makes you even more interesting.” I screamed out in pain and protest as his hand brushed along my hair. My body shook as he shushed me. “We’ll show them how amazing you are, son, but for now you need to rest. I heard your big day is coming sooner than we thought, and we need you at your best. Hungry.”
A sharp poke, then coldness invaded my body, making darkness take over.
Later, when I awoke, I was back in my forest. My body felt too heavy to move, so I laid in the dirt thinking about the witch I had followed.
Black hair.
Swaying in the glass cage of her choosing.
A beautiful snake.
I needed her bite, the sting of her.
Looking to the side, I stared at the only friend I had in the world as my lips turned upward into something odd… new.
Even if her bite killed me, I was going to bring down the others here with me.
Chapter 14
Isla
SATURDAY
