Whispers (Book 3 of Wielder series)

Chapter 28 - Punishment

Alie woke groggily from the commander's thrawl. Her head ached. The sound of her chains dragging across the cell floor seemed muffled, as if her ears had been stuffed with cotton. For a moment, she wondered if she had truly woken up, for when she opened her eyes, she saw complete and absolute darkness.

She had definitely been returned to her cell. She recognized the feel of the groves in the stones beneath her. The lumpy mattress, which she'd pounded into submission, fit the contours of her body. Even the too-warm air smelled familiar.

But someone had stolen her light.

She didn't think it was Sole. As furious as he had to be with her, he couldn't torture her, and the lack of light was absolutely a form of torture. Stiffening, she sat up, searching the darkness for anything out of place.

A pair of haunting red eyes stared back at her from the opposite wall.

She sucked in a startled breath.

The Phantom blinked at her, but said nothing and didn't move.

Alie stared at the eyes warily. "Which one are you?"

"If you value your life," he snarled viciously, "then you won't dare say another word."

Alie's heart raced. Sole wasn't the only one who hated her right now, then. At least she recognized that the voice didn't belong to Ilex. From the absolute hatred that had burned in his eyes, she doubted he'd be satisfied with sitting in the corner just staring at her.

That was all this Phantom planned to do, right?

As the moments passed on in silence, Alie struggled to keep her breathing even. She couldn't trust that she was safe, anymore. Not when her privacy had been stripped from her. Not when someone capable of killing her in the span of half a second if she so much as sneezed wrong sat only a few feet away from her.

She wondered if the Phantom had been given orders not to touch her. He must have. It was the only explanation for why he didn't seek revenge for Jea's bond being broken.

Hours passed. Alie fidgeted as little as possible. She made eye contact with the Phantom as little as possible. But still, she could not get her thundering heartbeat to calm down.

A knock sounded at the door, startling her. The Phantom didn't so much as blink. "What?"

"You want a break?"

"Sure." The Phantom - or his eyes, at least, because that was the only part of him she could see - rose.

The cell door unlocked, one bolt at a time. It swung inward, and a wisp of smoke with glowing red eyes entered. A deep male voice drifted out of the cloud. "Kilera's got a plate ready for you in the mess hall. You can give the keys to her; she's got the next shift." Something jingling tossed up from the smoke, and stuck in the other cloud.

"Thanks, Dev," the Phantom said. Then he left, shutting and locking the door behind him.

Alie stared at the eyes of the new Phantom, Dev. She didn't dare say a word.

A few minutes of silence passed between them. Alie willed her tense muscles to relax. Nothing was going to happen to her. The Phantoms just took posts from inside her cell, instead of outside. She could get used to that. Couldn't she?

Just as she started to convince herself it was going to be alright, the Phantom began to emit an ominous red glow.

It started small, illuminating only his smoky disguise. Then it grew brighter, spreading across the stone floor closer and closer. Alie held her breath as it reached for her. She pulled back her feet, afraid of what would happen when it finally touched her.