Eddie couldn't hear or see anything. The men that had brought him into the room had covered his ears with what felt like cotton and secured them by tying some kind of cloth over his eyes and around his head. Besides the occasional loud sounds of people yelling together, he couldn't really hear anything and he sure as hell couldn't make out any words.
Eddie had been there for what felt like two hours when he felt a cold draft blow across his face, signaling someone had opened the door. He started to panic again, not knowing what would happen to him.
Hands gripped near his head and pulled off his blindfold, the cotton in his ears also falling away. Before him stood three people, and Eddie could see the spade tattoo on one of their arms.
They all shared a look, clearly disgusted and annoyed. The one who had removed the blindfold had curly blond hair, and beside him was a girl with short red hair. Behind both of them, leaning against a door frame, was a boy with dark hair. He seemed disgusted but also slightly nervous.
"Don't make this hard for us, Lucantian. We don't want to have to torture you, but we will," the girl said, her jaw set.
Eddie shook his head. "Wh-what do you want?" he asked in a small voice, too terrified to try to talk his way out of the current predicament.
"Where're you from?" the curly haired boy asked, sitting down in front of Eddie, crossing his legs. There was a note pad in his left hand, a pencil in his right.
The boy behind him scoffed. "Take a wild guess, Stan," he said, snickering at his own joke.
"Fuck off, Richie!" Stan snapped, making Richie raise his hands in surrender, still smiling.
"Bev's laughing!"
"What's your name?" the girl, Bev, asked, obviously trying not to laugh at Richie's joke.
"Eddie."
"Is that your real name?" Richie asked, sitting next to Stan and focusing on Eddie.
"Well, it's short for Edward," Eddie mumbled, not knowing why that was necessary.
"How old are you?" Stan asked, scribbling down something.
"Eighteen."
"Yeah, okay," Richie said with another laugh, obviously not taking the situation seriously. "You look like a ten year old."
"I'm eighteen, asshole!" Eddie snapped, before realizing what he had said. He watched Richie raise and eyebrow but not do anything else.
"What's your status in Luceat?" Bev asked, scratching her arm, right where her tattoo was.
"I'm, uh, a, uh... low. It's low."
"He's lying," Stan pointed out, even though he hadn't made eye contact with Eddie.
Bev scoffed and pulled out a tattered looking bag. She opened it and took out a knife, making Eddie's heart drop.
It was obviously some kind of hunting knife, the blade shining in the dim light of the room. It looked sharp enough to cut through bone and Eddie felt his heart race in fear.
"Last chance, Lucantian," Bev said.
"It's low! I told you," Eddie said weakly, hating the shake in his voice.
He knew that he'd be safer to just tell them the truth, yet he knew he couldn't tell them he was the son of council members. If he did, they'd hold him hostage or do something worse. It was no secret that the Tenebrians despised the council.
Stan shook his head and Bev handed him the knife. She pulled Eddie's hands out of the ropes tied around him and retied them in front of his body. Then, she slid up his sleeve, revealing the arrow tattoo.
