Athena's Jewel (Aya Harris Collection 2)

“She wouldn’t have been able to do much for us,” I said, patting Tala’s knee. “Heck, she’s probably more frightened than we are.”

She collapsed in a heap of disappointment, pulling at her long dark hair without thought. I watched the spark of

madness in her eyes snuff out, until she wore the same expression she had last night when we met.

“You’re right.” She shifted and crossed her arms across her chest. “No point in fighting. It’s hopeless.”

Again, my fingers itched to grab Athena’s Jewel hidden under my blouse. If only this worked as a communication device, I could end her suffering now. It probably wouldn’t take long for the harpies to swoop in. But that wasn’t how the jewel worked and that wasn’t what I was here for. The most I could pray for is that when I found my mother, the HQ would shut down Bobby’s operation and save the rest of the girls.

“How do these collars work?” I asked.

Tala gave me a weary look. “The first night I was here, some chick tried taking her collar off. Her name was Lindsey. She had a nail file in her boot and was able to break it apart.”

She sat up and pulled her hair behind her head, knotting it into a low bun. The silver collar shined in the low glow of the lights, its thin metal still perfectly curved even after Tala’s fit. It ran all the way around her neck, attached by a silver locking mechanism that secured both ends.

“At first, we thought she’d be able to get out and save us,” Tala continued. “She was a vampire, and as soon as the collar popped off, her fangs and strength came back. They were working on Becca’s collar when it happened…”

Tala’s face turned green and she laid back down. Suddenly, I realized that the rest of the room had gone silent. The rest of the girls were watching us, listening to Tala’s story. Becca was standing in a corner, leaning against the drywall with her arms crossed.

“It killed her?” I asked Becca.

She nodded. “Scrambled her brains only a minute later. One minute she was telling me about her boyfriend and how he was looking for her, the next, she was lying on the floor with blood dripping out of her eyes. Killed her instantly.”

A collective gasp went through the room. Many of the girls threw their hands up to the collars and paled.

“They let her body just lay there for at least a day,” Tala said from her back, staring up at the ceiling. “By the time they dragged her out, she was cold and stiff. Bobby told his guys to dump her in the nearest landfill. Her boyfriend will never find her, now.”

I shuddered and resisted the urge to yank my own collar off. Bobby Caro and his thugs were even worse than I thought. They collared women like dogs and threw them in a dirty room, only to dispose of them like trash. I was sure Ruth didn’t know anything about this. If she had, there was no way she would’ve sent me in here blind and untrained. As soon as I found my mother, she’d send the whole operation on this place and extinguish them like the vermin they were.

At that moment, the metal door swung open and in marched Bobby Caro and his two thugs. They towered over the women in the room, skulking at us as we lined up on the opposite row. Bobby walked slowly past everyone. He paused when he got to me, reaching out his hand to turn my chin and inspect the bruise he’d left yesterday. It took everything inside of me to keep from spitting in his face. The way the rough pad of his thumb scraped along my jawline made me want to snarl and bite it off. But I held still, urging the bile in my stomach to stay put long enough for Bobby to finish his examinations and continue.

“Show me your teeth.” Bobby pulled at my bottom lip. “Come on, open up.”

I did my best imitation of an open-mouthed snarl and revealed my chompers. He wouldn’t find anything wrong with them – I was obsessive about oral hygiene. That didn’t make me feel any better, though.

“This one’s got potential,” Bobby said to Timur over his shoulder. “Livy might like her. She tends to go for blondes. Bag her and her too,” he said, pointing at Tala.

Timur clamped his big sweaty hand around my forearm and yanked me from my place in line. He didn’t have to force me. I was ready to get out of this cramped room which smelled like urine and desperation. This was the only way I’d find my mother. I was happy to go.

But the looks I got from the girls I left behind left streaks of worry in the pit of my gut. They all looked so weak and helpless. Even Tala’s eyes flashed a brief moment of desperation as she watched me go. What happened outside the room was a mystery. No one ever came back. To them, I was marching off to my death.

Chapter Twelve

They pulled Tala and three other girls from the room before sealing up the remaining seven behind the metal door. Beyond our cramped sleeping quarters was a giant warehouse. Cement floor and metal walls lined the entire space. Shipping containers lay on the far side, stacked high to the ceiling. On my right sat a few offices lit up by warm yellow lights, with glass windows that revealed computers and stacks of paper inside. And on my left, was a metal staircase that led to an upper story.

“Where are we?” I asked no one in particular.

It was amazing to think that a huge building like this could change locations every few hours. Whoever or whatever allowed that to happen would require a huge amount of magic. As far as I could see, Robert Caro was nothing but a dirty lowlife human. His giant buddy didn’t have magic. Jack was about as creepy as they came, but he didn’t look like a magician.

“The less questions you ask, the longer you’ll stay alive,” Jack whispered beside me.

The sound of his voice nearly fried my heart. He moved so quietly, I didn’t even know he was standing right behind me.

Despite his sinister warning, I swallowed my nerves and turned to him. “Where are you taking us?”

Jack grinned and displayed an overlap of his front two teeth. Blue veins pulsed on his temples through his translucent skin. “So many questions. Maybe I should carve out a piece of your flesh for every question. Would that shut you up?”

I pressed my lips together and swallowed. Obviously, he wasn’t the man to ask, especially if I wanted to come out of this mission with all my limbs intact.