My chin trembled and tears sprung to my eyes.
I whispered in mutiny, “No.”
“Wrong answer.”
I screamed as he grabbed the back of my head with his free hand. He gripped my hair in a fist and shoved me into the room with too much force. I toppled on my side and rolled a few feet, landing on my back with my bound hands pinned beneath me.
My eyes found his, terrified. “Don’t do this!”
He set Megan gently on the floor next to me.
“Please,” I screamed at his retreating back.
He stepped out of the glass room and locked it.
I shook my head, scrambling for any thought. “Magic, right? Men change into animals! I know that! I can help you, I swear it.”
His eyes blinked, and his head cocked. “Maybe you will pass Master’s test, since you know that much. I imagine he’ll be extremely pleased with me.”
“I have names of the men! The beasts.”
“They’re calledshifters, Ms. Kramer,” he stated patiently, staring through the glass at my prone body on the floor. “Anyway, Master will be here sometime after the sun rises. It is late, you know. I’d rather not wake him right now.”
This man wasn’t going to back down, his mind set.
“Wait,” I hissed, my eyes wide in terror. “What is this test? Help me pass it. I want to live.”
He was quiet, staring. Thoughtful.
“Please.”
His masked head shook, his tone deathly serious. “I’ll be honest with you. The dead you saw out there? That is what you want. You want Master to kill you that way. The living he’ll give you won’t be living at all.”
My brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Rape…
“He’ll steal your soul, Ms. Kramer. Only if he dies or your body dies will your enslaved soul release to wherever souls go after death. But if one of those two things doesn’t happen, he’ll keep your soul forever, and your body will be a living corpse, dead but linked to Master for eternity.”
I sputtered in disbelief, “You’ve done that to someone?”
“Not yet. But I helped Master create the spell.”
“Why did you help him?”
He didn’t answer, turning his back to me.
“Why?” I asked again.
He started walking away.
“You fucking coward!” I screamed.
He didn’t flinch at my words.
“You’re just a puppet!”
Nothing, not even a sigh. He kept walking.
I sucked in a large breath. “Please don’t leave me!”
The door shut behind him as he left.
“Oh, my God,” I cried in panic, staring at the tiny holes throughout the glass room allowing oxygen inside. “This can’t be real. This can’t be real…”
