Scales

Chapter 7: Torture

Shaking her head slightly, Catalin lifted her neck up and looked around. She was lying on a hard bed with her hands fastened to the headboard with duct tape. The room was small and had no other furnishings other than the bed. There were no windows and only one door. Catalin strained against the tape binding her hands. The strip over her mouth had begun slipping slightly. Rubbing her mouth on her shoulder, Catalin pulled the tape off completely. She scooted up towards the top of the bed and began biting through the tape until it fell loose on one wrist. Ripping the tape off her other arm, she leapt lightly off the bed and pulled off her one shoe. Quietly, Catalin crossed to the door and touched the handle. As she began to turn the knob, the door swung open knocking her backwards on the carpet. A group of seven people were standing in the hallway outside the room.

"Who are you?" one of the women asked. "Are you one of them?"

Catalin rose to her feet and shook her head. Moving into the hallway, she looked at the group of people. There were three women and four men of different ages and appearances. Suddenly, Catalin tackled one of the men and pinned him to the floor.

"What did you do to Syrenthia?" she demanded. "Eamon or whoever you are, what have you done to her?"

The other men dragged Catalin off Eamon and threw her against the wall. Getting back up, Eamon clapped his hand over Catalin's mouth and pushed her backwards. The small girl struggled against the muscular man, but he pressed his weight against her body trapping her against the wall.

"Listen Catalin," Eamon whispered, "I don't know what happened to you. Whoever you saw earlier was not me though. I'm going to explain everything, but I need you to promise to keep quiet. Okay?"

Slowly, Catalin nodded her head. Eamon removed his hand and stepped back.

"What is going on?" Catalin asked.

"All of us were kidnapped from our homes. The kidnappers were people that we thought we knew who blinded us with some kind of spray from their hands and brought us here. But we found out when we got here that the kidnappers weren't who we thought they were."

"What do you mean?" Catalin interrupted. "Who were they?"

Eamon glanced around before answering in a hushed tone. "I don't know exactly. It's just...they are...they're not..."

"They're not what?"

"They're not human," one of the girls blurted out.

"What do you mean?"

"They're some sort of creatures," Eamon took up the explanation. "They can shapeshift into any human, but their natural shape is some type of reptile like creature that walks on two legs. A few of them even have wings."

"But that's impossible," Catalin gasped.

"That's what we thought," Eamon answered. "But it's not. More exists than we considered possible."

Catalin stepped back and leaned against the wall. Her mind was reeling from all she had been told.

"If what you are saying is true," she whispered, "then how do I know that you are the actual Eamon? How do I know that you're not one of the shapeshifters pretending to be Eamon?"

"If I were one of them, why would I have told you any of this?"

"Good point." Catalin looked around. "So why are you guys all standing around here? Why haven't you tried to escape yet?"