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.If there were a vent in the center of the room, she couldn't reach it; it was useless to her.And thus, she collapsed.Sat.Mulled.Waited.Her stomach growled.She thought of her brother.She thought of Noah, lying motionless on the floor.She couldn't bear the thought, and lifted her hands to her face.Noah.It was her fault.He deserved none of this.What did her parents think? Did they assume she was dead, too?Surely her father would send someone to look for her, despite his busy schedule.She had no idea what her mother would do, if she would simply lose herself to the bottle, or—It frightened her to think no one would come for her.Being left to starve and rot slowly in this cold, confining, black little cell, sequestered away from all traces of sunlight, from society.The door clicked open, and blinding light filled the cell, filtering around the silhouette of a stocky, broad-shouldered man wearing a mask.Ninkasi squinted, lifting the crook of her elbow to her face.Panic struck her: the glimmer of illumined hallway behind the door drove home how insane she felt, trapped inside this horrifying closet.This suffocating coffin.She charged toward the door."Let me out of here!"The man deflected her with the swoop of a large arm."Not so fast, sweetie." He spoke with a Rutian accent, emanating the overpowering stench of cinnamon and myrrh."I have to get out of here!" She wriggled in his grasp, clawing and kicking, fighting to swim through him, to dash through the doorway and escape."I'll show you to your suite." He gripped something in his other hand, a bracelet, a collar."But first, you have to understand—""There's nothing to understand!" Ninkasi edged her body between him and the door frame.“I can’t be in here anymore!”Thick fingers latched around her arm.“Let’s get one thing straight!” The man ripped her away from the wall, shoving her into the cell."I call the shots around here!"Ninkasi powered forward, smashing into him, fighting to break through the door."You test my patience." Digging his fingers into her arm, he threw her into the room, raising the harness in his other hand."If you'd stay still for one minute—"Ninkasi stumbled backward.She shook her head, taking a deep breath, and barreled toward him again.Diving onto the floor, she battled, wormed, wriggled for an exit beneath him, trying to crawl away.The man yanked her by the hair.Ninkasi stood on her tiptoes, trembling before him.He lifted the collar to her face."If you'd cooperate—"She bit his arm.The man screamed, dropping the collar.Opening a palm, he belted her across the face."Insolent bitch!"Ninkasi yelped."Just for that!" He wagged a finger in her face."You’ll rot here!"The door slammed.The cell was dark.Her face stung.Her wrist throbbed.Her stomach was still empty.❧　❧　❧“Mother, please, I can’t do it again so soon.” The girl wiped tears from her face, the billowing sleeves of her saffron chemise slipping away to reveal fragile wrists.“Please don’t make me do it.I don’t want to go.”“It won’t hurt.” Snatching her arm, the blonde woman tugged her toward the operating table.The girl sniffled, her words a whisper.“It hurt last time—”The woman tapped her foot.“That was a mistake.It won’t hurt this time.” She crossed her arms.“I promise.”“I’m afraid.” She sealed her lips.“You forget the good you’ll do the world.” The woman placed a finger over her lips.“There are people all over the world, just like your mother, who need your help to—”“I caught him.” Andrealphus, the giant, barreled into the laboratory, a young boy of fifteen slung easily over his massive shoulder.“Recalcitrant brat.”The woman nodded, and pointed at a narrow, cylindrical tank spanning from floor to ceiling in the corner of the room.“Make the preparations.”The boy beat his fists against the giant’s back and kicked his feet into his chest.“Let her go! Put me down!”Andrealphus narrowed his kohl-smudged eyes and reached around his back with an enormous hand, clamping it over the boy’s mouth.The boy bit his hand.Face twisting with sour indignation, Andrealphus seized the boy’s throat.“Don’t hurt him.” The woman glanced over her shoulder.“Too much.” She forced the trembling girl onto the operating table, securing her wrists and ankles with strong leather bonds.Andrealphus strode to the back of the lab, opening a hatch on the side of the cylinder.Scowling, he threw the boy inside and locked the chamber.The boy crashed into the cylinder, smacking his head against a thick pane of glass.He sliced his foot against a fierce propeller blade at the base of the tank and winced.Growling, he climbed to his feet, pounding fists against the glass.“Hey! Let me out of here! You can’t do this! Hey!”The blonde woman inserted an IV into the girl’s arm.The girl’s head rolled to the side, a cascade of black, silky hair shimmering against the sanitized white of the operating table.“Stop what you’re doing!” He pounded the inside of the chamber with his knuckles.“Hey!” His words echoed inside the glass tube, muffled.Andrealphus peered into the tube and rapped his fingernails against the glass, smiling wickedly at the boy.With his powdered face, rosy cheeks, and pink-stained lips, he resembled a terrifying clown.Glowering, the boy smashed a foot into the glass and recoiled with pain.The blonde woman stroked the girl’s head.Unbuttoning the top of her chemise, she applied electrodes to her chest, and nodded at Andrealphus.“Submerge him.”The giant opened a panel at the top of the cylinder, pushing a series of buttons.The woman returned her attention to the girl.“We’ll connect him after he sleeps.”A valve opened in the bottom of the chamber, hissing.A gurgling amber liquid flowed from wide tubes in the bottom of the tank and pooled around the propeller blades.The boy’s face wrinkled with disgust.“What are you doing?” He smashed his palms against the glass.“You’ll drown me!”The cold, burbling jelly reeked of blood and splashed over his feet, rapidly filling the tank.Andrealphus moved to the woman’s side, towering over the operating table.He whispered something in her ear, and leaned forward, reaching for the young girl.He rested one hand over her ribs, his large thumb stroking her breast.The gel rose above the boy’s knees.He punched the glass, screaming tirelessly.He shivered, feeling the gel reach his thighs.He didn’t want to drown.It made him frantic: he had to stop them.He couldn’t bear to watch them experiment on her.He knew how it tortured her; when they were alone, it was the boy who held her when she sat and cried.The cool slime climbed over his waist: his clothes were heavy, soggy.Panicked, he pushed his hands against the sides of the cylinder and strained to hoist himself above the liquid [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]