Gifted Ones

Chapter 20 Amber

I am moved into a cell block just three days after I awake from the surgery. I stayed in the same hospital bed for all three days, the same endless ceiling, the same thin mattress, the same counting. A lot of the time I spent mourning the scarring of my flawless tan skin I was always so proud of. They had taken off the bandages at some point to change them, and I finally saw the awful burns that they had patched over. Some of the injuries were on my left arm and leg, and a little on my torso, but the worst of it was my shoulder. The burnt area wrapped around from my collarbone to my shoulder blade, and the whole thing had to have skin added in the surgery. Where previously the skin had been smooth and unbroken it was now torn, uneven, and just scarred looking. I was disgusted with myself. I couldn't even look at it.

My whole body just stings and burns, but they moved me to the cell anyway. I'm sure I needed more time in the hospital (boring as it was, the morphine kept my pain to a minimum, and now I'm only on pain pills) but I'm just so afraid of the wolf-men and what they can do to me I do whatever they say. So when the doctor came in and told me to walk, I did, my arm in a sling and my leg screaming in pain every time I bent it.

My cell is shaped like a regular room for the most part, but one wall is made of bars. There is a thin cot in one corner and nothing else. That is all I have. I can't even tell where in the building I am, because although I know we never stepped outside, they blindfolded me on the way here. From what I can tell, either the hospital has a jail, the jail has a hospital, or I'm in some kind of commune that has both a jail and a hospital. Maybe this is the base of whatever odd, supernatural organization that kidnapped me. Or perhaps the wolves were the byproduct of some sort of genetic experiment? I don't know, and I don't care. I'm never going to get out of here anyway. Unless my parents realize I'm missing and call the police or something. If they care enough.

Anyway, most of my thoughts circle around self-pity and depression until I hear a metal clanging sound and the door to the prison block opens. I hear the shuffle of feet and a female-sounding laugh. Someone's here.

With some difficulty I sit up in my cot and swing my legs over the edge, looking out the barred wall. I wince and let out a muffled groan as the fabric scrapes against the site of my injuries.

"So, sister, welcome to your new home," a woman says. "You'll be staying here for just a little while, only until your interrogation. Gabriel requested to supervise it himself, you know? It really is a privilege."

Through the bars I see two woman progress down the hallway, one blindfolded and handcuffed, the other following cheerfully behind her like a guard. But I don't see any weapons. I recognize her as one of the people I saw at Haven's house, right before the blast. She was the leader, I think. . .

The lady in chains is as dark skinned as the woman behind, her back as straight as an arrow, a calm, serious expression on her face. She doesn't seem to be worried or afraid, despite her current situation. I wonder what she did to these people. Was she just an innocent bystander? Or did she do something to tick them off?

"You know," the guard whispers. "It would be so much easier for you if you gave up, told us what we wanted to know, and joined Gabriel in his quest for revenge. You could have everything you've ever wanted: money, power, fame. You could be a queen in the new world my Lord is going to create. We are the new age, Margot. Born from the ashes of a past one. I'm going to be a queen, you know." She smiles like a happy child. "A queen over my own country. No, my own continent. I wouldn't have to be a low-life, the second choice of a man whom was first in my heart. I'm going to be free, finally. No more hiding, no more undercover jobs. And all I have to do is what Gabriel says. It's as simple as that."

The other woman, Margot, stays impassive, not responding to her words.

"You could have it all, too, you know? And all you'd have to do is join us. Join us, and we can rule together." She pushes Margot into the cell across from mine, closing the door and reaching through the bars to remove the handcuffs and blindfold.