I sat there for several minutes, breathing deep and waiting for everything to settle down. Eventually it did, and I took stock of what I actually had on me. Although they’d taken my shoes, they’d left both my keys and my phone in my pockets. I swept my hands across the surrounding concrete but failed to find my jacket—although given its somewhat tattered state, it wasn’t a huge loss. The boots, however, had been new.
I reached
into my pocket and drew out my phone. Not surprisingly, there was no reception, but it did at least give me some usable light.
I flipped it open and discovered I was in a cell. The floor might have been concrete, but the walls had been hewn out of the earth and were full of rocks and old tree roots. To the left was a rusting metal door, and while it didn’t appear to have much in the way of locks, I resisted the urge to jump up and attempt an escape. I very much doubted it would be as easy as it looked. After all, they’d dragged me here for a reason, and it was unlikely they’d be so careless in making sure I was secure.
I shifted my legs and slowly stood up. The dizziness threatened to drop me again, but my stomach remained steady. I continued to breathe deep and, after a moment, felt a little steadier. In the cell phone’s light, I saw the reason for the lack of boots and socks.
I was standing in a sea of broken glass.
My little square of concrete was about three feet wide. The rest—and there was a good eight feet between me and the walls—had the jagged remains of bottles and glasses cemented into it.
Any wolf—even us half-breeds—could jump eight feet without a decent run-up, and it showed both arrogance and overconfidence to make this the only barrier. But then, they didn’t actually think like the rest of us.
Unless, of course, there was something else here and I just couldn’t see it.
I frowned, my gaze sweeping the darkness again before coming back to the door. It might be unlocked, but it was sturdily built. If I didn’t hit it with enough force to crash it open, I’d risk dropping down onto the glass.
But I didn’t actually have to use my flesh form. I had another option.
I reached for the Aedh, but the minute I did, there was a sudden buzzing and the air above the glass shimmered briefly—a rainbow of color that was oddly threatening. Then the pain hit—pain so deep and dark it felt as if the jagged edge of a heated blade had been shoved into my flesh, spearing my soul and burning her alive.
I dropped to my knees, doubled over in agony, sweat breaking out over my body as I struggled to breathe. The buzzing continued, burning into my brain, intensifying the pain and rendering me all but helpless.
Then it stopped. Suddenly and without reason, leaving me shaking in shock and agony.
For several minutes I couldn’t do anything more than sit there, my arms crossed over my stomach as I rocked back and forth. Sweat dripped from my nose, staining the concrete beneath me and oddly resembling blood. I hoped like hell it wasn’t an omen.
Gradually, the pain ebbed enough to allow me to take a deep, shuddering breath. As I did so, an oddly dark surge of electricity ran my skin, making the little hairs at the back of my neck stand on end and my soul shiver away in fear.
There was another Aedh near.
“Why don’t you show yourself,” I said, “or are all Aedh cowards?”
“I have no desire and no need to show myself,” the disembodied voice whispered out of the darkness from near the door. “And I do not understand this term cowards.”
I shifted the phone, pointing it toward the corner where the voice seemed to be coming from, but its light failed to pick up anything in the shadows.
“It means you’re spineless.” Which was pretty much a given when I was talking to a being who was little more than energy. “Afraid.”
“It is not I who needs to be afraid,” he said.
As if to prove the point, the sense of him briefly amplified, burning my skin and making my head hurt again. My breath hissed between clenched teeth, but I resisted the urge to curl up into a defensive ball. I had a vague feeling that any sign of weakness would just make the situation worse. That these people—these beings—would respect courage more than fear.
Whether that would actually save me remained to be seen.
“Why have you dragged me here?” I hesitated, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice and not entirely succeeding as I added, “Or is that a stupid question?”
“You are here because you need to answer questions. Whether you do that willingly or unwillingly is your choice.”
He obviously hadn’t caught the sarcasm. No surprise there, given Azriel apparently didn’t, either, and they were basically two sides of the same coin.
I blinked. Azriel. Maybe he could get me out of this hellhole. I closed my eyes and ran his name through my mind. He’d stated he would hear me, anywhere, anytime, and although he apparently couldn’t follow me while I was Aedh, I wasn’t wearing that form now.
But there was magic here, and a powerful Aedh. I didn’t know if he could—or would—get through, either.
“Look, as I keep telling everyone else who is hunting down my father, I have no fucking idea where the bastard is.”