Corrupt

Chapter 11

"Rise and shine, princess."

I groggily open my eyes to see Daeva standing over me: somehow impeccably dressed, despite the earliness, but smelling slightly of smoke.

"What time is it?" I croak.

"Time to get up. We've got work to do. How did you sleep?"

"I've never slept worse." As I stir, my bones creak and crack like rusty machinery.

"Wonderful. Welcome to the club. Now get yourself up, and I'll give you a grand tour."

"Of what?" I say mockingly.

"Maybe wait a little longer before you make jokes, sunshine - you're still my hostage." They smile, a calm warning in their eyes.

"Alright," I sigh, defeated.

With that, they turn sharply on their heel and leave. I wonder how they slept last night - how can you sleep in a place like this? A place where everybody wants you dead, and nowhere is safe?

Now I stumble to my feet in an unfamiliar world, so different to my home, so different to everything I've seen before. I don't know where I am. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what's happened, what will happen. All I can do is trust I'll be safe.

I'm combing my hair with my fingers when I hear footsteps.

What if it's not Daeva?

Stooping to the ground, I grab a shard of glass: my best line of defence. I'm not sure how much damage it'll do against an intruder. I might as well go for a hug.

"You going to stab me with that?" Daeva raises a thin eyebrow.

"Oh. No. I just... Got spooked, I guess."

"Right. Come on then, let me show you around. Follow me."

Ducking under the beams - they must be nearly a foot taller than me - they lead me through a sheet of musty fabric.

"En suite," they introduce sarcastically, waving a hand at the clean trickle of water pooling from a crack in the stone walls.

"Is there... A toilet?"

"Didn't I just show you?" They grin and gesture towards a corner. I stifle a gag. "Next up..." A pause. "Actually, that's pretty much it. You've seen the storeroom-"

"Where I slept?" They nod.

"Other than that, there's just the lounge. Ready to meet the gang?"

I glance down at my torn, dust-encrusted dress and run a hand over my knotted hair. I'm bound to have storm clouds under my eyes and bruises on my skin. I've probably never looked worse.

"You look fine, princess," Daeva sniffs dismissively.

"I'm not a princess," I reply.

"Whatever. Come on, then."

We walk down another alley and turn sharply through another curtain. It's darker in here. I make out the shapes of sheets across the ground, the occasional pillow. The air stinks of musty alcohol. When my eyes adjust, there are twelve other pairs staring back at me.

"Right. Meet Lynette. She's our hostage."

"We're finally getting hostages? Great! When does the torture start?" jokes a scraggly girl with jet-black hair. At least, I think she's joking. A few of the people around her chuckle humourlessly.

"Hold off on the torture for a bit, Nyx," Daeva says.

"Is this the one that killed Jesper and Mav?" shouts a voice from the back of the room. The shouter has the same eyes as the man from yesterday - Jesper - and I wonder vaguely if they were related.

"What's she doing here?"

"Fucking posh castle maid-"

"-Send her back to the palace!"

"Rich little princesses don't belong here!"

I shrink backwards, unprepared for the torrent of abuse flung at me. A short boy hurls a rock from the ground. Daeva steps in front of me sharply and catches it, dropping it to the ground.

"Shut your fucking mouths!" they shout, eyes glinting dangerously. Silence. "Lynette is our hostage. She will be held for the next few days at least, until Nikolas realises and loses his head. I know we're still mourning Jesper and Mav. I miss them too. But we will treat Lynette as we would treat each other."

"But, Daeva..." A calm voice sounds from the centre of the room. Everyone turns towards a stern-looking woman with a dark afro. "In all fairness, she could be a spy. We can't have her here. She might kill more of us. She could be working for him." There are murmurs of agreement.

"She's not his spy. She will be our spy," Daeva responds coolly. "A spy in Carcaseau." That catches their attention.

"Well, actually, I haven't actually agreed to that yet," I whisper. They don't reply.

"We must teach her to fight. We must teach her to survive. She is a kitten in a pack of tigers." An unfair comparison. "But we need her to be the strongest of all. She can take him down from the inside. Okay? So, Quinn?"

The stern woman steps forwards and nods.

"Right. Nyx, you're going to teach her to fight. Okay? The rest of you, normal. No getting out of jobs." There are a few groans. "Get to it, then."

Grumbling, the group disperses. A handsome boy with grey eyes sidles towards me.

"Hey, pretty girl," he smirks. "I could show you what we do around here, if you need."

"I- I think Daeva's already shown me," I mumble, avoiding his gaze.

"Have they now?" He chuckles to himself. I'm not sure I understand his joke. "Damn. Well, gorgeous, my offer still stands." Leering, he raises a hand towards my face, as if to brush my hair from my eyes, but recoils as the black-haired girl smacks it away.

"Back off, Jakob, leave the new girl alone," she says, rolling her eyes. "Look, Annette-"

"Lynette."

"Look, Lynette, do you want to make out with him in the storeroom?"

"Um, no," I blink.

"See? So leave her alone, Jakob."

The boy grins and struts away.

"Ugh, ignore him," the girl continues, with a roll of her dark eyes. "I'm Nyx. Do you know the basics?"

"The basics?"

"Of fighting. Punching? Kicking?"

I shake my head. She sighs.

"Alright then. Meet me in the storeroom in five minutes. We'll start there."

And with that, she vanishes after the receding figures of her gangmates.