The Gauntlet (The Cage 3)

“You must be grateful to her, then,” Nok said carefully, gauging Keena’s reaction.

Keena paused at the flap to a tent, giving Nok a hard look. “Do I look like I enjoy throwing nice girls like you to men like those?” She gestured to the boisterous sounds of male deputies coming from the nearest tents. “The mine guards are the worst. Brutes—and I don’t just mean the male ones. They’re as rotten as the fumes they smell all day.”

“I told you,” Nok said, “I can take care of myself.”

Keena’s look softened. Her eyes fell to Nok’s stomach, disguised by the robe’s tie. “I hope that’s true—for you and your baby.”

Nok sucked in a worried breath. “You can tell?”

“You’ve done a good job hiding it, but I was a nurse in an obstetrician’s office back home. I knew the moment I saw you.”

A hesitant flicker of hope fluttered to life in Nok’s chest. An obstetrician’s nurse—especially one who could keep a secret—could be exactly what she needed.

Keena pressed something into Nok’s hand. “Vitamins,” she whispered. “Hide them in your robe pocket. They aren’t easy to get—Ellis hoards any that come in on the supply drops. But you’ll need them for that baby to be healthy. It isn’t a problem we’ve ever had to deal with before. The Kindred sterilize everyone else as part of processing before sending them here.”

Nok slipped the bottle into her robe, touched by the risk the woman had taken for her. Maybe giving birth on Armstrong wouldn’t be the worst possibility, if there were women like Keena here. She nodded her thanks.

Keena opened the tent flap.

Four men sat on low benches in the small canvas room. It was just as faintly lit as the rest of the tents, candles flickering on a low table laden with strong-smelling alcohol. Nok stepped in, and the men’s conversation died. Four sets of eyes leered at her bare legs.

Keena started coughing again behind her, then let out a long sigh.

But Nok didn’t need anyone’s pity. Keena didn’t know what Nok had been through. Keena didn’t know about Miss Delphine, her modeling agent back in London, who had trained her in exactly how to manipulate men like these.

Nok rested her hands on her hips.

“All right. Listen.” Her commanding tone seemed to surprise both the men and Keena. “I know why you’re here, but I have another proposal.”

She paused for dramatic effect, pacing slowly around the table as though she were a sheriff herself, not a slave. “I’ve just come from Earth. Where I watched Wimbledon, the World Series, college basketball. I know it all.” She raised an eyebrow tantalizingly. “Pour me a drink and I’ll tell you everything you’ve missed at home.”

As much as Nok had hated Miss Delphine, the talent manager had possessed one redeeming trait: she’d bet heavily on sports, which had the best return in the business. And she’d sent Nok to place every single bet.

The men stared at her, slack-jawed.

“Come on,” Nok urged. “How long has it been since you were taken? Five years? Ten? Don’t you want to know who won the World Cup?”

The deputies glanced among themselves, stupefied.

“What are you doing?” Keena whispered, but Nok just tossed her a reassuring look. The men kept shifting, uncertain, but then one stood abruptly. He reached down nervously, poured a glass of the alcohol, and held it out to Nok.

“Screw it,” he said. “I don’t care about sports. But if you tell me what’s happened on the last three seasons of Vampires of Brooklyn, I’ll do anything you want.”

Keena coughed in surprise.

Nok grinned.

She strode into the room, motioning for the men to part ways so she could have the best seat with the fluffiest cushions. She kicked her legs on the table and waved away the offered glass.

“Last I saw,” she started, “Tara had just dumped Franklin. Now hand me some of those grapes.”

Keena hovered by the tent entrance. When their eyes met, Nok saw a flicker of emotion on the old guard’s face that hadn’t been there before.

Nok recognized it at once.

Hope.

7

Cora

FOR THE NEXT TWO days, back in the marron root mines, Cora tried to get Willa to talk to her. She whispered to her while they were working and begged for information on the Gauntlet, but Willa always ignored her.

At least she didn’t throw any more dirt clods.

“Is it because of what you heard Dane say?” Cora whispered at last. “About the Kindred that I . . . I had a relationship with?”

Willa tossed her an exasperated look, flicking her fingers as though she couldn’t care less about the romantic entanglements of Kindred and humans.

“Then what?” Cora asked. “Why won’t you help?”

But she got no answer.

That night, Cora tried to find Willa in the slave barracks tent, but the chimp had a habit of sleeping high in the rafters, out of reach. When Cora called her name, trying to get her attention, Willa just yawned dramatically.

At last, Cora let out a resigned breath. “Okay, I get it. You’re not going to talk to me. I’ll leave you alone.” She paused. “I never meant to bring up any bad memories. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to go through the Gauntlet.” She looked down at her fingers, cut and bruised from digging in the tough soil. “I know how the puzzles can mess with you,” she said more quietly. “I was in an enclosure filled with them, and they drove my group apart. We turned against each other. We’re only now piecing back together our trust.” She glanced over her shoulder at Rolf. “It took time to remember we were on the same side. All humans are.”

Willa, high in the shadows of the rafters, said nothing. But her head was turned slightly, as though deep in thought.

A sore on Cora’s middle finger was oozing, and she took out a jar of ointment from her pocket. Getting it hadn’t been easy—the day before, she’d traded another slave two rations for it. She started to unscrew the lid but then thought about Willa’s hands, which were even more damaged than her own.

She set the jar of ointment on the ground beneath the rafter. “Here. You need this more than me. I’ve seen the scrapes on your fingers. If they get infected, you won’t be able to work and you’ll end up in the sludge with the other bodies.”

Willa made no move to get the ointment, though she rubbed her damaged hands together, hairy fingers running over the scars.

Cora glanced at the other slaves. Though most were fast asleep, a few eyes were watching her in the darkness. If she left the salve there, someone might steal it before Willa came down. Better to give it to the chimp directly. She drew a deep, centering breath and concentrated on the jar. It was heavier than the pebble, but her weeks of practice had paid off, and she was able to telekinetically lift it clear up to the ceiling and balance it on the rafter next to Willa.

The chimp immediately sat straighter, incredulous gaze moving from the jar to Cora.

Cora met her eyes. “I wasn’t lying. It isn’t a game to me. Humans are evolving and I have to do everything I can to keep us safe. Even if it means facing the Gauntlet.”

The chimp paused, still looking shocked at Cora’s display of telekinesis, then picked up the jar. She held it up in a silent, hesitant gesture of thanks.

Cora nodded.

She made her way back to the corner of the tent and sat next to Rolf, shaking her head. “Whoever experimented on her, they must have been cruel. She won’t say a word.”

She and Rolf shared a bowl of marron root broth and curled up to try to sleep. She tossed and turned, images flashing behind her eyes. She was back in the menagerie’s safari hunting grounds. Only this time, she was the hunter. She clutched a rifle with both hands, following tracks in the sand to the water hole, big tracks that could only belong to a Kindred. She cocked the rifle and then spun around a boulder, catching sight of a uniformed Kindred.

She let out a volley of bullets that pierced his arms and neck.

&n

bsp; The man fell.

She ran up and gasped. It was Cassian in the water. Drowned. Dead.

She’d killed him.

A crumpled piece of paper fell on her face, waking her.

She jerked upright, feeling disoriented. A wave of heat assaulted her, and she coughed a few times, remembering that she was on Armstrong. There was no watering hole, no cadaver pockmarked with bullets.