“And we’ll see.”
* * *
Hope didn’t return the next day. Or the next. Jace bought food in twice a day, and when she asked about Hope he ignored her, only depositing the tray and leaving right after. Fearful that Shanna had been caught, Ari started to think of her only other alternatives. Suicide or murder. To survive, she might have to kill Nick or Jace to free herself and the girls.
The problem was finding a weapon. She should have kept a shard from the broken wine glass, but they were too small anyway. Nothing in the room seemed sharp or heavy enough to really be used to hurt anyone. She thought back to her juvies and what they used in detention. They seemed to be able to make weapons out of the most benign objects. All she needed was a piece of plastic or metal. She thought for a moment and then realized her bed must have had metal pieces that could be removed. She pushed off the mattress, leaning it to the side and studied the frame. Her eye was drawn to something different though. The black box.
Ari had forgotten about it in her excitement of Shanna going for help. She picked it up and wondered why Nick would bring it from her house. Surely he knew it been a gift from his brother.
Other trinkets in her cell were from Ari’s room at home. The journal from her desk. A hairbrush. Hair clips from her bathroom. Small things that she wouldn’t have noticed were missing right away. They weren’t replicas, but her real possessions.
The box looked the same, no damage from the fall. She opened it, finding the paper inside. The symbols from his tattoo. Vigilant.
Ari ran her fingers across the markings on the side, over the tiny gold painted flowers. She fingered the latch and tiny metal plates. The box was heavy. Too heavy to be empty, yet when she shook, nothing rattled or shifted around.
“What the hell, Davis? I’m starting to think your perfect timing gift is bullcrap and you were just lucky,” she said out loud, feeling defeated.
Closing the top, Ari set the box on the table and to her surprise, heard a small click. The end of the box jutted out just a bit. She pushed one end with her thumb and pulled with the other, revealing a hidden space.
Ari reached inside and pulled out the long, wrapped object. Barely containing the smile on her face, she knew what it was the minute she touched it.
Unfolding the cloth, she found exactly what she needed. A knife.
“Perfect timing,” she said, sending a silent thank you to Davis.
* * *
Ari had refused to push the button since she’d been there. Hope had used it more than once, but Ari couldn’t bring herself to do the same. There was nothing she wanted, other than leaving, and no way would she voluntarily call Jace into her room. But this time was different. Armed and ready, she pressed her finger to the smooth white button. She heard nothing, but paced the room with the knife tucked in the back of her shorts.
She had a plan. Once Nick or Jace opened the door she would stab him, hopefully in the neck. From her perspective, she had two advantages, the knife and the element of surprise. The thought sickened her and just thinking about it made Ari run her hands over the top of her shorts to dry them off. To make it out of there alive, Ari would have to be a murderer. She had to come to terms with that.
Minutes passed and no one answered her call. Normally, the door opened quickly after Hope pressed the button. Not today. Ari decided to try it again. This time she pushed it twice, not caring if she seemed impatient. She was impatient. For this to be over.
When the door finally opened, Ari frowned. Neither Jace nor Nick stood before her. Not even Hope.
“Who are you?” she asked the young man. He looked vaguely familiar.
He stood in the doorway with his cap on backwards. His dark eyes twitched nervously down the hallway and back. “What do you want?”
“Where’s Nick?” she asked, forgetting her plan.
“Not here,” he said with annoyance. “What do you want?” A loud bang echoed down the dark hallway and the guy shook his head. “Obviously, you’re okay.”
He started to close the door and Ari came to her senses. “I know where I’ve seen you before,” she said, taking a step closer. “You were there the night of the shooting. You were with Antonio.”
This information surprised him and he dropped his hand from the door knob. Ari took her chance, rushing him while pulling the knife from behind her back. Mustering up every bit of anger and rage she’d been holding back, she lunged. The kid reacted quickly to Ari’s attack, but the knife threw him off.
“Holy shit!” he yelled, throwing his arms up over his face.
Ari went for the only part of his body she could hit, his thigh, stabbing him hard with the blade. She yanked it back out.
He howled with pain, clutching the wound. Dark red blood started dripping down his leg. “You stabbed me? Psycho bitch!”
“I’m sorry,” she said on instinct, pushing past him, and ran into the dark hallway. For the second time since she’d been kidnapped, Ari had escaped outside of her room. Unfortunately, that was as far as she’d planned.
She moved forward, barely able to see in the dark, but toward the middle of the hall she found a shaft of light. The light came from the stairwell, leading to the upper floor. Taking a deep breath, Ari began to climb the stairs but paused when she heard a voice from the hall. A girl’s voice.
She stood still, trying to hear over her pounding heart, convinced she’d made it up. Ari couldn’t wait long. She hadn’t injured the kid that badly, just enough to slow him down.