Page 32 of Ramshackle
“They’re not her.”
“So, you’re just going to leave them here?” he pushes.
I glance over my shoulder at him. He’s still stopped in front of the first room down the hallway.
Aiden speaks up while I continue checking through the rooms. “You told me you have a limitation with how many people you can transport over large distances, Reid. The mission was about getting Raegan out safely. We’ll have to come back another time for the rest.”
I don’t check again to see if Reid’s decided to keep following me or not. A pile of blonde hair in one room stops me in my tracks. Everything else about the person is covered, and the room is bare of any clues about who’s inside.
Little one.
I buffer the surrounding air to keep sound inside, then stab my knife into the wall. It’s not glass, or it would have broken within a couple of strikes, but it slowly begins to crack with the force of the wind strengthening my swing. Again. And again.
My arm tires from the motion, but a hole finally appears among the cracks and I’m able to break it large enough for me to squeeze through.
Bending over the sleeping figure, I stroke the blonde hair from the girl’s face.
It’s not her.
Chapter ten
Raegan
Most of the building’sinhabitants retire to their rooms around ten o’clock, but I wait until midnight before moving from my bed. I slip the knife I stole from dinner out from under my pillow and change into the black GE uniform to blend in more easily if anyone is still up and about. I don’t bother with shoes. I trust my feet to be softer on the floor than the heavy boots I wear for training.
When I open the door from my room, I’m careful to keep the latch from making a sound. My door hasn’t been locked since the first day. Gordon was testing my resolve in the bargain I made at first, and now he’s cocky in his control over me.
I can’t really argue that, considering I’ve been doing everything he’s asked without hesitation for the last…I’m not sure how long. A week? Two?
Time stopped meaning anything to me a long time ago. I couldn’t even guess how long I’ve been here. It feels like a year, but again, I can’t trust my sense of time anymore.
I cast a quick glance back into my room through the glass wall, checking that the clothes under my bedspread look like a body is in there. Satisfied, I hurry quietly down the hall to the stairwell.
I could take the elevator, but I don’t like the unknown of the doors opening and finding someone on the other side. Or how it could alert staff that another person is awake and wait to see who it is.
So the stairs it is.
Which, if I’m being honest, is a terrible idea.
I’ve only been to Gordon’s room twice to bring him something when he was too lazy to get it for himself, and it’s on the twentieth floor.
I’m on the thirteenth.
That sucks already. But with my shattered and poorly healed knee? I’ll be lucky if I can drag myself to his room once I make it there.
Deep breath. One step at a time.
I’m finally getting rid of the man who has tormented me for most of my life.
I’m taking back my freedom.
I’m going to see them again.
Aiden. Kellan. Jackson. Dane.
I grip the railing and begin. Even though my heart is racing and adrenaline is pushing me to get this done and over with, I pace myself. I don’t actually want to be crawling to his room by the end of this, so it does me no good to wear myself out too early.
Half-way up, I take a break.
