Rage and Ruin | 2

5 | 5

G I G I

      I was in the asylum again.

      It had been some time since someone had come into my cell to feed me. I hadn't seen the light of day since they'd put me here with a bag over my head. I wasn't supposed to be here. It was a horrible mistake. I didn't mean to kill the boy. It was an accident.

      I'd been sitting, chained on the ground for ages. Days, weeks, years, it was all the same now. It was impossible to know how long. And they weren't going to let me out any time soon. Though they should. I wanted out so badly I might just burn the entire place down.

Julia.

It was my mother again. My only companion in this cold darkness in which they imprisoned me.

Do not lose hope. Your time will come.

I was happy to hear her but skeptical of her words. "I've done what you asked but nothing has changed. I'll be in here until I die."

You will not die. You have not fulfilled your mission yet. My murderer still lives.

"I can only kill Delphinium when I'm out of here. I promised Benny that I'd get him out of here, but I can't. My promise was empty."

There are other forces at work. You will see the light of day again.

"Soon?"

Soon. Simply wait. Once you're out, the Shires boy will obey you. He's seen your power. It's no match for his own.

"Then I'll make her pay, mother. They'll all pay."

Good girl. Honor me. Kill her in my name.

"I've already promised I would. I've thought of nothing else."

You'll be on the other side soon.

What did that mean? She didn't understand; there was no way for me to escape. I'd tried many times. Hunt had ensured that I'd be here for a long while.

I couldn't fail her. I refused to. I had to honor her memory and if that was through killing the assassin, then I'd gladly do it. I'd do anything. Anything. Anything. It was the same thing I'd said to Benny.

But waiting? I didn't know how much longer I could sit here in chains, day in and day out, with only my dark thoughts for company. My mother came and went. I wasn't sure where she returned back to when she was finished speaking with me.

      I jumped and scrambled backward the best I could when there was a small booming noise toward where the locked door was. It almost sounded like...an explosion? I could smell a sharp burning scent.

      Someone came in with swift footsteps. Hunt? The ONNT soldiers?

      The bag on my head was ripped off and I finally breathed the cool air again. The overhead lights were blinding compared to the darkness I'd been living in recently, so bright that my eyes hurt when I tried to recognize my rescuer.

      "Mother?" I asked, squinting at the person's chestnut skin and tall form as they worked the locks binding me to the ground. She had told me that other forces were at work here...

      "Do I look like your mother?" The girl turned to look me in the face after she uttered the sharp words. She did not; she looked only a few years older than me and had dark clothing on—the suits that ONNT soldiers wore, I noticed.

      I watched her unlock the chains on my wrists. "When you're free, you must follow me," she said. "We don't have much time; I only stalled the soldiers for a few minutes, at best." I could feel her pounding heartbeat. It was beneath my booted foot. I could crush it. But I didn't. Not yet.