Fathom [On Hold]

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two: Fall

Part of me wants to break down into tears. Part of me wants to jump up and rip Mye to pieces. Part of me has no idea what to do. In the end I just force myself not to react. There is no time for reactions now. I'll deal later, if possible. 

I bring myself to my feet, Jaycen doing the same next to me. 

"So what happens now? The curiosity is killing me," Jaycen says. 

"We're going on a little field trip. Follow me," she says, and holds open the door for us. Thaddeus falls into stride directly behind, extinguishing any chances of escape. Jaycen and I exchange a quick look as we walk. We don't travel long. Mye leads us into a big circular room with many more strange objects in it. Thaddeus grips our upper arms roughly and holds us still on either side of him. 

Mye takes a few steps away from us, and then turns around. 

"You knew you couldn't run forever," she says, now looking to Jaycen. To say the look he gives her is scathing is like saying a viper's bite is slightly poisonous. 

"I didn't run. In case you've forgotten, I was right under your nose the entire time," he spits at her. I swear to God I see flames flicker in her eyes. 

 "Anyways, let's just cut to the chase. If you two were to die, it would be a...detriment to us, to say the least. I won't go into the how's and why's of it now, because frankly, you're not worth my time." Just that sentence, that one last sentence makes me want to gouge her eyes out with a rusty spoon. I clench my fists hard and concentrate on not lashing out, on not making this any worse than it has to be.  

"First things first, Thaddeus will take your bags. Can't have you in possession of any weapons now, can we?" I grind my teeth as my backpack is slid from my shoulders. Little does she know I have my knife tucked into my pants and concealed under my shirt. 

Jaycen, however, is not as lucky. 

"And Jaycen, I saw your knife earlier. Hand it over," she says, holding out her outstretched palm. "And don't even think of trying anything. You so much as nick me and I'll make it a hell of a lot worse for you." Grudgingly he presses the handle of the knife into her hand. 

I hold my breath, waiting to see if she will ask for mine. She doesn't. Time will tell if it proves to be her last mistake. 

Mye turns her back on us, and walks over to the far wall. She presses a few buttons and flicks some switches, and right before my eyes part of the wall slides to the left and leaves in its wake a gaping entrance too dark for me to see what lies inside. Mye enters and Thaddeus tugs us along, and when she touches another switch on the wall a light up ahead illuminates the room. My stomach drops when I take in the stone chamber, and my heart plummets right along with it when I see the set of chains hanging from the far wall. 

This time I cannot keep quiet. 

"What the actual hell is this?" I say lowly. "Honestly, just get over yourself and kill us already, coward." 

Mye's face quickly turns the color of ripened tomatoes. Before I know what's happening, she has rushed over to me and is violently dragging me to the chains. I am slammed into the wall, my head making a sickening sound as it smacks the cold stone. I close my eyes against the rapidly spinning world, and feel myself sink to the floor. Soon I register my left wrist being encircled in cold metal, and the same thing happening to the ankle of my same side. I swallow a groan of pain, and squeeze my eyes tightly in reaction to the blinding ache in my head. 

"If I were you, I'd think before I shoot off my mouth. Death will seem like the greatest gift you've ever received by the time I'm done with you," she whispers menacingly into my ear, quietly enough that I'm pretty sure I am the only one who heard her.