Meet Amber, a teenage girl struggling with the death of her father, an overstressed mother- and lycanthropy. All she wants is for her life to go back to normal, but a magical corporation has lost a valuable test subject and they believe Amber will b...
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Chapter Eight
Though it may sound strange, the first thing that passed through my mind when I regained consciousness was that I was not naked. I opened my eyes, but immediately had to shut them again when the light blinded me. I waited a few seconds and then opened them again, blinking until they adjusted, and sat up.
I was in a small, sparsely decorated room. The walls were painted hospital-white, and were completely bare. In fact, apart from my bed, the only other thing in the room with me was the door.
Where was I?
Like a flood of terror and confusion, the memory of what had happened began to return to me. My mother gone, the Octopus in her place, Hendricks threatening her, Edgar, Victor, and Dex all showing up out of nowhere... My heart began to beat faster as I remembered the bright yellow flash just before I'd passed out. Had Dex actually done it? He'd promised to take me with him, but until now I'd never believed he'd actually do it. The fact remained, though, that I still had no idea where he'd taken me.
"Good afternoon," a voice said behind me, and I spun around in surprise, toppling backwards off the bed in the process. There was a man standing there now, dressed in a brown robe, like monks wear. The hood was lowered, but bandages were wrapped around his face, covering his eyes. I'm 99.9% sure he hadn't been standing there before.
"Who are you?" I demanded, scrambling back to my feet, keeping the bed between us.
"Mordecai," he answered bluntly, nodding his head slightly in greeting.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"Here," Mordecai answered, gesturing around the room with on hand. I waited for him to elaborate on where "here" was, but he made no effort to do so.
"Can you be a little more specific?" I pressed him, my nerves already beginning to fray. After this morning's events, I was in no mood to deal with a smart aleck like him.
"No," he said, shaking his head.
I glared at him, wondering if he could even see it through those bandages.
"Then why are you here?" I asked.
"For security purposes. We couldn't just leave you here alone."
I narrowed my eyes at him, "My security, or yours?"
Mordecai's mouth stretched into a tight line, "I doubt either answer will make you feel any better, so I'll let you decide for yourself."
I was about to spit back a retort when the door on the other side of the room opened, and Dex stepped through it.
"Thank you, Morty," he said briskly. "That will be all."
Mordecai gave him an irritated glance, or as much of one as he could with his eyes covered up. I got the feeling that he wanted to tell Dex not to call him Morty- probably for the thousandth time. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and marched haughtily out of the room, closing the door behind him.
