I sigh, making the fabric ripple with my skin until the color leeches out and my shirt is gray again. “There. Satisfied? You just made my shirt go from happy to depressed.”
“Yep.”
He picks up a camera from a shelf behind him, and I quickly take position. I want a nice mugshot, after all. I decide to go for a demure half-smile because I know that once my matriarch sees this, it’ll really piss her off. I’m basically smirking at her with a bigfuck youin my eyes.
He takes the first shot, and then has me stand in profile, and I hear the click of the camera again. “Done.”
“Can I see it?” I ask.
“No.”
I sigh. “Can I at least keep my placard?”
“No.”
“You should really broaden your vocabulary,” I mutter.
“My shift is ending, and all I want to do is sit on my couch and drink a beer. So get your ass in the portal so you can be somebody else’s problem.”
“That’s the spirit. Way to go above and beyond the line of duty.”
Ignoring me, he leads me through the back and stops at an unassuming white door. “Go.”
My heartbeat kicks up in anticipation. This is it. After all my planning, I’m finally going to the terrifying supernatural prison. This is so exciting.
I turn the doorknob and push open the door, coming face-to-face with the swirling smoke of the portal. I head forward without hesitation, confidently going straight down the middle. There’s no way anyone can try to bust me out now.
With a smug step, I move out of the grasp of Alpha Bowen and my matriarch, and right into the clutches of Nightmare Penitentiary.
* * *
I step out of the portal door, and as soon as it swings shut, it disappears. I turn full-circle to look around. Immediately, I feel the damp cool air, which is so different from the stagnancy of the jail office. “Man, I am not in Kansas anymore,” I mumble as I take in my surroundings.
If this wasn’t a convenient solution to my serious life problems, I might take this opportunity to run. I don’t have an escort, and surprisingly, the portal didn’t deposit me inside the prison like I expected. But as I run my eyes over the damp flat landscape and the thick tree line in the distance, I gather that there’s probably nothing surrounding this place for miles.
Good.
That should put a stop to the shenanigans that were taking place at the jail. It’s a good holding cell for supernatural criminals, but it’s not meant for anything long-term, and it’s definitely not up to the task of keeping crazy ass alphas from trying to break out prisoners. But this place is.
I turn forward and take in the ominous spread before me. There’s a large gothic gate about ten feet away with the initialsNPwrapped in barbed wire.
Nightmare Penitentiary.
I made it.
The gate itself is iron and tall, and past it, there are massive buildings that look like a cross between a decrepit castle and a creepy mausoleum.
Thorny vines are overgrown and trailing up the stone walls, and there are some menacing gargoyles carved as sentries on the top spires. There’s enough magic coming from the gate that it’s giving me goosebumps. There’s some serious power ingrained in that to keep the prisoners inside and everyone else out, which is exactly what I need.
Nightmare Penitentiary is an ominous fortress meant to keep supernatural people with all sorts of abilities and power on lockdown. It’s the most intimidating and protected place in our paranormal world. Everything about it screamsscary. There are even bats flying around as a dense fog creeps in all around me just to add to the terrible ambiance.
It’s awesome.
I smile as the gate creaks open and a really terrifying dude walks out. He’s wearing a long brown leather trench coat that has a distinct steampunk vibe to it and bulging pockets, probably filled with all sorts of weapons. He has a wicked glare and a cigarette hanging from his mouth that’s making an odd amount of smoke trail behind him as he walks.
He stops in front of me, and I’m forced to crane my neck up to look at him. I’ve never wanted to wear platform shoes so badly until right at this moment. “Man, you could give a girl a real crick in the neck.”
He ignores that completely. “I’m the Warden here. You’ll be in Section One for the minor offenses. You eventhinkabout escaping, you will find yourself brought to the deeper levels, and trust me, you won’t survive down there for a single day.”
