“I’m calling Rue,” I grab my phone and call her number, but it rings out and goes to voicemail. I check the time. 10:15pm, it’s late enough for people to be asleep but not Ruella. She never sleeps easily without me by her side. When I slept outside her room for the past couple of nights, I could hear her tossing and turning well into the morning.
I try Piper but again no answer.
I try Rue again and a third time but get nothing.
“No one is answering the phone,” My gut starts to churn as a horrible feeling takes over me.
"Get us back to the Academy,” I demand bringing up Piper’s camera feed from her hallway. Why the hell did I not put them outside of Ruella’s door as well.
Daylan throws the car in reverse, backing out of the restaurant carpark as fast he can, while Jacob tries Piper again.
“Anything?” I shout as I call Rue.
“Nothing,” Jacobs panicked eyes find mine.
I pull up Corden’s number to try him but his name flashes across my screen before I press call.
“Hello. Asher,” His voice is gritty but hysterical.
“What’s going on. Is Rue there? Put her on the phone,” I demand.
“That’s why I am calling. They’re not here,” My stomach drops. “They’re all gone,”
“What the fuck do you mean they are all gone?” I shout down the phone as Jacob and Daylan snap their head towards me.
“Deena, Piper and Rue. They are not here but all their phones are, they didn’t leave a note and.,” He sounds confused. “And I think I was drugged,”
“Call your brother now and get him to come to you,” I hang up.
“You have the guns in the boot yeah?” I ask Jacob with a shaky voice.
“Yeah, all of them,” I am so thankful for his uncle and the training he forced on Jacob, who then forced us to train. If it wasn’t for him, Piper wouldn’t be here today, and we wouldn’t have a boot filled with everything we could need to get our girls back.
“The church. Fast as you can!”
Daylan puts his foot flat to the floor as we race back through the country roads in the dark. I just pray we aren’t too late, and we catch them before they get transferred. If I miss it like I did the last time, I won’t only kill a few, I will hunt them all down one by one and dismember them little by little until I get them back. Maybe even after that.
THIRTY EIGHT
RUELLA
For the second time in only a handful of days, I wake up groggy and disoriented, my hands tied behind my back. At least this time it isn’t Asher and the others standing over me.
I take a quick scan of the space, and my nose wrinkles in disgust. The cement floor is stained with a nauseating mix of liquids, urine, something rancid I can’t name, and mould creeping along the edges of the walls. The stench hangs heavy, sour and clinging, making my stomach churn.
The walls are a yellowing white, paint peeling in wide strips, curling like dead skin. Black streaks of damp and mildew streak down from the corners where the ceiling meets the walls, and in some places, chunks of plaster have fallen, leaving raw patches of cement exposed. Dust and debris coat the floor, sticking to my ankles when I shift slightly.
There are no windows, only a narrow crack along the side wall, where a freezing draft slips in, biting into my already cold skin. The air is thick with rot and mildew, every breath tasting of decay. A rat scurries somewhere out of sight, claws scraping against the floor, and I can hear the faint drip of water from somewhere far above.
A subtle shift behind me makes my head snap around, heart hammering, searching for the culprit in the oppressive, filthy gloom.
“Piper?” My voice comes out slurry and uncontrolled.
“Rue?” Her bloodshot eyes turn to me then dart around the room as mine did previously. Her face confused then utterly horrified.
“No. No, No, No. This can’t be happening,” She shakes her head violently from side to side.
“Calm down Piper, I will get you out of this. I promise,” I tell her before murmuring to myself. “I will get you out if it is the last thing I do,”
