House of Bone

Chapter 6

Three people come out of the door,

"Come." one says, "Tia, Shade, you know the drill."

I shudder, these people don't seem as nice as the other mentors here. Tia and Shade go into the door but turn separate ways.

"You must be Kyra." the second one says "Come on in."

I reluctantly follow them inside and one of them gestures for me to sit down on a chair. I sit down, not wanting to disobey them, not wanting to find out what they could do the hard way.

"You're new here so we're going to have to do some tests. Next week is when the real fun will start." He smiles at me, and it's not a kind smile.

I shudder. I'm starting to dislike this place more and more.

"All set and ready to go." Someone says from somewhere behind me, I hear clanking noises as I'm strapped down to the chair.

"Wait!" I call out, but no one hears me as I'm now under the floor in a mysterious chamber. I struggle but my bindings hold me down.

"Be still, girl." I hear someone say as a syringe with a green liquid held up on a mechanical arm moves closer to me.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." I say over and over, not wanting whatever that was in my body.

The arm comes closer and the liquid is injected into me. I disappear into the dark space of my mind.

The pain, the fury. All building up inside me.

"If her magic doesn't show up soon, then we're going to have to lock it away until we unlock it. Or she needs it."

"No! To do that to a child. It would be preposterous! You are the lady of this House but to do such a thing?! It's awful to do that to a child but to your daughter?"

"It's for the best. If she gets to her then there's no one to stop her. We'll wait another week, if it doesn't show up, then we'll start the process."

The man sighs "Yes, my Lady."

I come out of my hiding space.

"Mama..."

"Change of plans. We do it now."

"But-"

"Now."

"Yes, my Lady."

"Mama? What's happening to me?"

"Kyra, just listen to him."

"Mama! I don't want to do this!"

"It's for your safety."

The anger overtakes my emotions

She looks away

"MAMA!?" Tears falling down my face

"Mama?"

I'm brought back into reality, looking around to find out where I am, I can feel tears on my face. I go to wipe them off but my hands are bound to the chair. Right, I'm at testing.

"What do you want?" I call out, still teary

"We just want you to answer some questions, Kyra. If you don't comply..."

The mechanical arm comes out again.

"No.." I say my voice hoarse "I don't want to live through that again."

"That's what I thought, now, where are the survivors?"

"Survivors?" I ask confused

"Oh right," He sighs "I have to be specific for it to work. Where are the Heart survivors?"

Images flash through my mind, of gunshots, people's screams, people killing us all. I remember someone saying to me, or my parents.
Stay hidden. Don't let anyone see your magic.

I don't want to speak, I don't want to tell them where these people are. I may not know who they are, but I do know that if I tell them then they would be destroyed, obliterated. Gone. But the words come out of me without me wanting them to, they spill out without any control.

"I don't know."

"Tell us, girl."

"Somewhere you'll never find them."

"I. Said. Tell. Us." he grips my jaw "Now."

"I‐ I don't know." I stammer.

I genuinely don't know where they are or who they're talking about. But if I had to guess...

"Hey! Miss! I asked you a question!"

"Sorry," I squeeze out, petrified, hoping that I wouldn't be punished

"Let me ask you one more time, who is leading the rebellion?"

"No clue," I say proudly, if there is a rebellion I would gladly join up. What? What am I thinking? Why would I ever think these things? I scowl, that liquid must be some sort of truth serum, to make me tell them the truth, or not hold back.

"Ok, that's enough questioning for today, and probably forever unless new info comes up. Kimron takes 'er to the measurements."

I shudder, not wanting to find out what these measurements are for. The chair I'm strapped in shudders and lowers down some more.

"Welcome!" a man says "I'm sorry, my workmates aren't quite as nice as normal men should be."

It was meant to be an apology, but anyone smart enough could easily tell that he was lying.

"I would like you to change into these." He holds up a thin white dress, something that only slaves would wear. Do they want to humiliate me? Or are they just that lowly funded?

"We don't want your current fancies to interfere with the measurements, or the measurements to interfere with them." he chuckles at his joke.

I gasp, as I mentioned before, touching bare skin by anyone not well known is unheard of. And a thin dress with nothing under it is close enough.

"B-but." I stammer

"We have permission." says the man "Now would you like us to force the clothes off you or would you prefer to do it yourself?"

"Myself," I reply almost immediately

"Ok," the man says "Kimron, get the shock collar."

The man who lowered the chair down to this level, Kimron, grumbles and grabs a metal collar with lots of wires surrounding it.

"Here you go boss," grumbles Kimron as he gives the collar to the man and he walks back to his station.

"Now, I'll unshackle you, but first I'll put on this shock collar so you don't go running anywhere, and if you take longer than 5 minutes we'll shock you. The collar is capable of killing, but we'll only go as far as knocking you out for an hour or two. Got it?"

I shiver, thinking how twisted these people were, why do it? And what for? What was their motive to do all this? Money? Fame? Fear? Or worse. For the fun of torturing the young and helpless? I nod my head in agreement, but only because I didn't want some random guy stripping my clothes off. Especially if I was tied to a chair, that would make things even more awkward.

"Good." The man smiles a chilly smile then walks up to me to click the collar around my neck and untie my shackles. "Go on then, your 5 minutes start now."

I rush for the small room off to the side and quickly close the door. It turns out to be a small closet. I curse at the man and start changing into the cursed thing. I walk out ashamed to be reduced to this thing.

"Good, good." says the man "Kimron, you know what we need. Let's start measuring."