Half of Ruby

Chapter 16

A cry escaped Ember's lips as her chains slammed onto the ground, their clanking echoing off the walls. 

Behind her, the door slammed shut. 

Ember shuffled her way over to the wall and flopped onto her side. The cold staleness of the prison washed over her, numb and terrible, as she closed her eyes. 

She rolled over to her side, the chains burning into her petite wrists and ankles. Though iron itself couldn't burn a magical being, it could when fused with silver.   

I wish I could die right now. 

She had failed Ash. She had failed Flame. She'd given the humans one more reason to persecute the witches of Salem. 

She had failed herself. 

How could I have trusted Gus? 

Could he have been pretending to betray her? She didn't think so—the coldness in his eyes spoke otherwise. Cold emptiness extinguished the glow of confidence she'd sheltered just hours previously as she rolled onto her back, surrendering herself to the echoes of dripping water.

Why had she attacked Arnold? How in the world had she gotten so angry? The answer, she was sure, laid in the blinding flood of red she'd felt moments before lashing out at him. 

But what had caused that? 

Sighing, Ember let her eyes skim over her surroundings, as though her answer laid in the never-ending splashes of water and the hisses of shadowed rats echoing around the dark walls. 

How long am I going to stay here? 

She was going to die. Either in this cell, or by hanging. 

I would kill myself first, but....

She sighed. If I escape, where could I go? 

Her Coven would've begun fled by now. She could only survive as a lone witch if she managed to escape. 

A scream from above ravaged the silence. Ember squeezed her eyes shut as she rolled over, facing the wall. Her knuckles curled around her chains as though the pain of the burn would stop the pain. 

Her fingers blistered as they tightened around the thick metal links, raw red skin cracking into welts. Sweat oozed down her forehead as the screeches above hurtled into an anguished crescendo, as though amplified a million times into her skull. 

Please, please, please. Someone just stop the screaming!

With a cannon blast of a bang, the door burst open. 

A stream of light punctured the veil of darkness, jagged white lightning blinding her. Ember gasped as a guard strode into the room, a ring of keys clutched in one colossal hand and a cloth sack in the other.

"I'm taking you to get changed," he growled. 

Ember nodded. "Yes, sir." 

The guard dropped the cloth sack on the ground, selected one key from his pocket, and walked over to Ember. He knelt down and pried the chains from Ember's blistering fingers, then unlatched her hands and feet. 

A gasp of relief fluttered from Ember's lips as the burning vanished with the weight of those cursed chains. 

"Come on," said the man, then exited the room. 

They strode down the hall, the guard jangling his keys in one hand and swinging the sack in the other, Ember staggering behind as she curled and uncurled her raw fingers.