Shivering, I sit forward and twist to look at them. Now that I’m closer and on their level, I can see that they’re human shaped but very obviously not human.
There are half a dozen of them in the cage.
“Thank you.”
The one who touched me gives me a shy smile.
I look around me before sliding away to examine the cage. As if it would be as easy as opening the door, I stupidly tug on it. “Where’s the key?”
Three of them point. “That one has it.”
It’s a dismembered body that they’re pointing at. Great. I’m quickly realizing that I don’t have the stomach for this shit. Nodding, I carefully get to my feet, prepared to sway and lose my balance. I don’t. Magic hands healed me.
I’m reminded of Slade, the “glow stick” from Base 6, who my monsters brought me to so he could heal my ankle. What did they call him? Nephilim?
With the toe of my boot, I nudge the pieces of the monster that I think Kaida has disassembled based on the teeth marks. Then again, as I glance up, I find Drystan with some wicked-looking teeth too. Notto’s here now, and I watch as he pulls a monster’s head from his shoulders with his bare hands. Part of the man’s fucking spine follows.
I look away. Nope. Not for me. I’m going to release the children. Maybe.
I’m still digging through body parts when a shadow falls over me. I roll away, grabbing my blade and holding it up. If they fall on me, they’re going to get a bloody knife through their chest.
Keary grins. “What’re you doing, precious?” He reaches down and hauls me to my feet like I’m little more than a rag doll.
“Looking for the key to the cage,” I tell him.
“Cage?” he asks warily, head tilting to the side.
I shift and point to the cage where the kids are lined up against the bars, watching me.
Drystan is standing over the man on top. I wince when he snaps the man’s neck, killing him.
“It’s a much kinder death than what he’s lived through already,” Keary says gently. “Trust me when I tell you there isn’t a chance that we’d get him to a point where he’d live in peace again.”
Notto crouches beside the cage, frowning at the kids. “How did you get here?”
I’m surprised when one rolls their eyes. “The same way the humans did. We were stolen.”
Notto looks at Keary, and something passes between them.
Drystan shoves Notto until he gets to his feet. “Pull the cover off, big boy.”
Notto inclines his head, and Drystan takes a step back. “Move away from the bars,” Notto tells the children. They scramble back, but the cage isn’t very deep. There’s only a short distance they can go.
I gape as he heaves the tabletop—cooling corpse still on top—and it comes away. A pingingsnapsounds, one after another, as the bars give way, either remaining embedded in the floor or clinging to the top of the table. The corpse rolls off, making me wince.
My stomach churns when the tabletop lands on the dead body of the tortured human.
“The dead deserve more care than that,” I say, pulling away from Keary to get the man out from under the top of the heavy table. “He’s a victim. Not one of the monsters.”
“Sorry,” Notto says, meeting me around the back of the cage and pulling the tabletop off him. “We’ll dig him a grave.”
I don’t answer as I hover over the body, unable to bring myself to touch him. A small hand rests on my shoulder, and I look up into the face of one of the kids. There’s no way they’re more than five or six.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
They give me a small smile. “You can’t save his life,” they say in a tone that’s wise beyond their years. “Mourn for him, but don’t let the sorrow make you blind to life.”
I huff. “You sound like you’re eighty,” I mutter, looking back at the corpse. This was someone’s son. Someone’s friend. Maybe someone’s lover and father. It’s a very unfair loss of life.
