End of a Beginning (Book 4)

Chapter Fifteen - Meeting with the Devil

I couldn't sleep the entire night. Nora finds me already sitting up in bed, just waiting for her to collect me. But when she asks me to stand, I physically can't. My body feels like it's made of heavy rocks. Nora doesn't care for this. She ignores my moans and eventually pulls me to my feet. She dresses me in new clothing and when I'm chained once again, she walks me down so many hallways that I become dizzy. But finally we arrive to a room that is heavily guarded. This is it. Hell.

When we enter, I have to divert my eyes right away. Lucian stands in the middle of the room with his son. I didn't expect to see Derek all of a sudden and seeing him for the first time in two months is startling. My heart aches as I feel his eyes on me but I can only stare at the ground – otherwise, they would easily see my tears. Other men and women stand on the edges of the room and I quickly catch that my mother is not one of them. She couldn't even have the decency of seeing her daughter mentally tortured?

When we reach the center, everything in the room stops. Conversations stop. Lucian orders Nora to lock me in the chair to the right of us and all the while I fight the urge to run away. Once Nora has locked me in tightly, Lucian Clarke crouches in front of me. His blue eyes scan over me slowly as if noticing every flaw in my face. Not missing a beat, I take the bile in my mouth and spit it directly in his eye. Even though he should be disgusted, he laughs and calmly wipes it from his face. "I see you still have grit," he says as he stands again. He turns and motions for Derek to sit across from me. I quickly divert my eyes, but I find that Derek is the one to divert his eyes. It gives me a moment to realize that he doesn't wear any chains.

"I see I'm the only prisoner here," I mutter. Derek closes his eyes in response. I hate that I know what he's thinking about right now. He may not be in chains but he's a prisoner in his own right.

Lucian Clarke smiles down at us and then laughs. "We have a precarious situation here, Miss Mahan," he says as he drags a chair to in between us. He snaps for one of the men on the edge to bring him a notebook. Once he has the thing in his hands, he sits down and finishes his thought. "After years and years of practicing experiments, this is most definitely the most interesting test group."

I try to make myself hold onto his gaze but I can't do it. Everything in my body is telling for me to get out of this room. "Do you always use unwilling participants or is it just us?"

Lucian tilts his head to the side. "What makes you think that my boy here was unwilling?" I try to hide my shock. I whip my head towards Derek but he still has his eyes shut. After all this time, I just assumed his father forced him to be his servant. "And my dear, your mother gave you up fair and square."

I scoff. "Yes, my mother. Isn't she just peachy?"

Lucian grins at me. "So," he says as he crosses his legs. "I assume Evangeline has told you the basics of the experiment by now."

God, he used her first name. How disgusting. "Briefly," I spit out.

"You two are the first stages of what the end goal I have in mind is. I perform a ritual of sorts that binds two souls together and in a traumatic experience like the games, these two souls should – in theory – help one another. The end goal is for the two individual people to communicate with one another even when they are not near each other."

"So mind-reading?"

"Yes... in theory of course." I try not to laugh at the absurdity. But I stop myself. I live in a world where portals exist. "Now we have yet to figure the science of human speech between subjects but the bond part, we have seen healthy responses to it." He motions to Derek and I. "And now here we are." I feel my heart in my throat. I feel like someone has stripped me naked. I feel so open right now but yet everything is closed off to me still. Lucian stands and heads over to me. "Miss Mahan, I just need you to fill in some gaps."