Phoenix's Lies

You Underestimate Me

River

The second we're all pulled out of the room I'm trying my hardest to break free from where Talon still grips my arms hard enough to bruise. Pulling and pulling he just laughs at my attempts to get free. As if this is all a joke. An elaborate game we get to play and one he thinks I'm losing, that all of the people who came here with me are.

Yanking me after him like a dog I'm forced down a few more corridors before Talon drops me roughly and moves away after tying something around my wrists so I'm trapped. All that remains are his eyes shining out of the darkness, barely visible given how I'd hit my head hard when I'd been dropped. Seething with rage I sit up and have to blink as the world spins dizzily. Hunching my shoulders I try to manoeuvre one of the daggers out of my outfit and finally manage to get it. Only it spins out of reach and I groan. Reaching forward I hope I have my angle right and lock my teeth around the handle, feeling it settle in my mouth. Sitting back, I turn my head and throw it behind myself so my cold fingers can curl around the handle in my mouth.

Turning it a fraction I started to cut through the rope, hoping that whoever was watching couldn't see. Moving faster and faster once I have a rhythm working the minutes tick by painfully slowly. The claps and peals of thunder echo as the building shakes under the storm. Rain batters the windows as I keep cutting through the rope. Managing to make it the rope halves fall away and I sit up fully. Touching the tender spot on the back of my head my fingers return stained with blood and I sigh, knowing that this will impact how long I can keep fighting before it's too late.

Standing as steadily as possible I run toward the door to see it being slammed in my face, jamming my fingers painfully between the door and the door frame until I feel a few break, a hair-raising scream tearing out of me. The pressure gets worse for a few seconds before the person on the other side must have moved away. The pressure released and let me use my hand to pull the door away. Taking a look I could see my ring and pinkie finger was broken and bent at an odd angle that makes my stomach churn. But I have to keep going.

Slipping out of the room I search through the rest of the rooms I come past. Most are empty but some are locked. Showing that someone or something was inside. I don't dare knock on any of them, fearful of what was on the other side. Of what would happen given that Ivar's smile when we'd all been pulled apart showed that the deal, the message that had brought us here, was no longer valid. I didn't know if I'd ever get Nix back. Not sure if there were any rules left to keep us safe.

Keeping moving I make sure I still have the dagger I'd used to get free tucked up my sleeve and keep moving, finally seeing someone I recognise in the next room. Noticing where Mads was stuck as I'd been just minutes before. Catching his eye he nods and pulls again but I just check both ways. He tries to get me to go on but I shake my head and slip into the room, making sure to jam it so it won't slam shut.

"You should keep moving. I can't see the others," He whispers as low as possible for me to still hear him over the storm raging outside. "I don't know where the others are. Did you see?"

"No," I shake my head as I finish cutting through the ropes tying his hands behind his back and he stands with me. Noticing the blood on my fingers he raises a brow but I shrug it off. "Don't worry about it. I'm ok." He gives me a disbelieving look but says nothing. Instead, we both keep moving once we've checked it's all clear. "I got pulled away last, I didn't see where the others went. I think they wanted us separated thinking it would break morale, get us to change our minds and give up."

Mads laughs once at that before silence comes back and we keep moving. I keep my eyes trained for Ivar or anyone else on that side of this but no one seems to be around. Several times I think I see a shadow of someone but it's always gone before I can make out features, disappearing into walls and around corners. Until we come past a room where the door is ajar and I see inside the same situation as before. The same person I'm trying to save is being beaten again and again by my sadistic ex. The difference is this time I can't watch. Can't bear to see it.