sophie.

Chapter 10

The travel came to an end slowly, and I could feel the different sections of my body reattach, as if I were a puzzle being put back together. My breathing started to normalize once again, and I felt the physical weight of my body, as well as the rope and the chair and the burlap, come back into existence. The music was lost in the ether, and replacing it was the sound of many cicadas chirping away and into the night. As I felt myself becoming whole, I scuffed my feet against the floor and learned that it was not of concrete, like the warehouse I was previously in, but of wood paneling. The continuous sound of dripping that I remember in the warehouse was gone, and I distinctly got the sense that we were in a smaller space, as determined by the sounds I heard from the others. Daemon spoke up shortly.

"Get that sack off her head," he ordered, and as it was pulled off, I saw that we were in a dark house somewhat reminiscent of a cabin, with a fireplace pulsing in another room. I found myself in the study, with a large desk next to me, and I was greeted by one of the girls, whose expression was worrisome and unsure. Daemon was already walking out, to the room that held the fire, and looked back for a moment before walking off. "And get her untied, P."

This made me question their previously-obvious motives of using me as some sort of bait. Why, after all, would they ever think of untying me? Did they trust that I wasn't going to run away? I could've, after all. The window that was behind me, the one letting in the cicada noises, was easily big enough for me to throw myself out of, and if Daemon's nonchalance was echoed through his conspirators, I could've done it at any moment. The girl, P., or whatever her real name was, walked behind me and started undoing the complicated knot. 

"If you're thinking of jeopardizing our plan, think again," she said quietly, and I took a moment to consider what sort of advantage or disadvantage I had with this girl. Positives were that she was intimidated by me, or at least at the thought of me jeopardizing Daemon's plan. The negative was the she had absolutely no trust in me, and at any given moment, I don't know, she'd hit me over the head or something if I talked back. But she couldn't have been that much older than me, and I wasn't exactly coming to terms with the possible implications and outcomes of the word 'hostage,' so I allowed myself to speak, disregarding how she could've reacted.

"Considering I don't know what your plan is in the first place, I don't think I can jeopardize it," I said in the same quiet tone in which she spoke. Almost on cue, she pulled one end of the rope, and the knot around my wrists became momentarily tighter.

"Shut up," was all she had to say back. She continued to untie the knot; whoever made it must've been some sort of boy scout. There was a beat of silence.

"What's your name?" I asked. Given that Daemon's name was spoken freely back at the warehouse, I figured they weren't explicitly trying to keep it quiet.

"Peony. Shouldn't you be freaking out about what you just went through?" she shot.

"I've had my suspicions," I threw back. "Else I wouldn't have gone to the warehouse in the first place. How'd you know I'd be there?" I figured it was pointless to ask about Adrien; not to Peony, or Daemon, or any of the others. What was to ask? Daemon just managed to get there first. I simply wanted to know how he'd figured it out. The knot came undone, and after the rope fell from my wrists, I pulled my arms forward, examining the red marks it had left behind.

"That's none of your business," she answered, and I could distinctly hear the grim smile in her words, and she left the room, sparing me a look over her shoulder as Daemon did.  The sound of the crackling fire in the next room made me anxious about whether I should get up and go in there, or stay where I was and mind my own business, or whether I should attempt sneaking out the window. But it was when I considered two factors that I knew I had to stay: One, I had no idea what time period I was in. Worst case scenario, I was in ancient egypt or the middle ages, and the cabin was some real life anachronism, and Two, I had Sawyer to worry about. The worst thing about it was that I didn't even know if they had brought him along. If not, he was just lying there, unconscious at the warehouse, without anyone to aid him. The only hope in that situation was that Adrien, or some other random passerby, would find him.