Revealed (Unbound, Book 5)

Chapter Forty-Eight

The clang of the door woke me. I twitched, feeling startled, and then remembered where I was and managed to keep myself from opening my eyes.

That was a mistake.

Without any forewarning, I felt a job in my arm and heard Trevor's cruel laugh. "I guess I misjudged your abilities after all, Nora. Don't worry. You may have been able to heal most of your wounds, but I won't neglect you again. Astrid has a friend with deep pockets, and he wants something from you too."

I opened my eyes, fighting against the drugs. "Who?"

"Ah, well..." Trevor backed towards the door and shrugged. "Don't get used to your abilities, Nora. Astrid's friend has been searching for someone like you for a long time, and I'm going to give him what he wants."

Searching....

No.

"You..." I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. "No."

"Oh, yes!" Trevor laughed again. "I'll have enough money from this to never have to deal with Astrid again, and you will never have to worry about being anything but normal."

The door slammed shut.

Fear coursed through me. I fought against the drug, managing to twist my body, overwhelmed with the effort to complete such a simple task before my muscles gave up and I fell into darkness.

*****

Somewhere in the distance, a doorbell rang.

I opened my eyes to darkness and, for the first time since meeting Trevor at Pederson, could think. My wrists and ankles hurt, like fire ants were crawling around and nibbling at my skin. Otherwise, if I didn't move, I felt no nausea. My ribs were tender but not unmanageable, and my cheek stung like I'd gotten burnt from the sun.

Not great, but better than before.

My mouth was still too dry and my head throbbed.

The doorbell rang again and I held my breath, my eyes darting around the darkness. If I could hear that, could someone hear me? I exhaled and sucked in a new breath to scream.

Music began to blare into the room and I flinched in surprise. The binds at my wrists and ankles pinched my already raw skin. As reflex, using my stomach muscles, I rolled from my side to my back.

I breathed in and out, over and over.

Within the music, I thought I heard a dog barking, but then it stopped. It is just noise. I breathed, unmoving, until my heart slowed down.

I moved, I realized.

Sucking in a breath, I knew that would result in another dose of Trevor's drug. Squeezing my eyes shut, I began to try to roll back onto my side. After a couple false starts, I managed to rock my body. Each time, I fell onto my back.

Three attempts.

Halfway there.

Five attempts.

On the eighth attempt, I made it back onto my side and mentally debated going into physical rehabilitation as a career. Then, when a patient wanted to give up, I could give them a pep talk about the time I was kidnapped by a psycho and forced my body to overcome the effects of Trevor's drugs to roll over. If the medicine wore off enough, I could add kicking his ass to my story, and it would be even better once I could access magic again.

Then I could leave.

Recover.

When my breath settled into an even pace, I began wiggling my wrists. With my arms so numb from being tied behind my back, it was hard to tell if I was making any progress. The only indication was the pinch of my skin, which came less frequently. I couldn't tell if that meant it was working or if I wasn't even moving.