Lady Midnight

Chapter 21

Emma had woken up with a hangover before. When she was younger, she would sneak out to a club and have a fake ID in her back pocket.

The pain in her head was way worse than that.

Emma was positive that there were sledgehammers beating every single part of her body. She knew she was dehydrated too. Her mouth felt like sand paper. It took forever for her to even open her eyes.

It looked like it was around noon by the light peaking through the window on the other side of the room. She was back in her cell.

With a lot of effort, she managed to prop herself up against the wall behind her. Her head felt even worse than yesterday, if that was even possible. She suddenly remembered what happened just before she blacked out.

Gwyn, demonic stele, runes.

Emma was shaking with anger. She would murder Gwyn in the most torturous way possible. There was a shuffle of chains to her left. Taylor started shifting into a sitting position. She slumped against the wall. Her hair was matted with sweat and dirt. Emma was sure her hair looked the same way.

Taylor turned to look at her. Once her shoulder rested on the wall, she sucked a breath in through her clenched teeth. "What's wrong?" croaked Emma. Her voice was  raw and scratchy from screaming.

Taylor slid her shoulder out from her shirt a little bit. A sickly gray rune stood out against her skin. Emma could tell by the strange swirls and lines that the rune shouldn't exist. It resembled the runes that she had examined for 5 years straight. The ones that marked her parents bodies.

 Emma moved the shackles from her wrists to her forearm. She looked down at her own wrists. Sure enough, the gray runes stood out on her skin. She poked it and searing pain flashed through her wrist. It felt like needles were burrowing into her flesh.

"Taylor, do you remember anything before you passed out?" asked Emma. "Yeah, there was a faerie named Gwyn who said he was the leader of the Wild Hunt. He went on a rant about his demonic stele and everything," replied Taylor. 

At least Emma didn't have to fill her in on the details. Sh didn't think she had the energy to.

There was a scraping sound that reverberated through the room. Gwyn's henchmen came in with 3 trays of food. At least that's what Emma thought was what the shape of it resembled. Her tray contained 2 slices of stale bread, an  apple that looked like it was on the verge of being compost, and a cup of water.

Emma licked her dry, cracked lips at the sight of the water. When the men left, she hesitantly took a sip of the water. She knew Gwyn wouldn't try to poison her yet because  she was still one of his little lab rats. 

The water tasted so strongly of metal that she had to fight the urge not to puke. She had to nibble at the bread to make a few crumbs come off at a time.

When she looked over at Taylor, she saw that there was only one slice of bread on her plate. She looked at Livvy's and there was only one slice too. Maybe that was Gwyn's reward to her for being the strongest. 

As hungry as Emma was, she managed to break her second piece of bread into 3 pieces. She tossed one piece through the bars towards Taylor and it landed on her tray.

Taylor picked it up and looked at her," no you need to eat just as much as I do." Emma said," I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I kept getting more than you guys." Taylor smiled," thank you."

Emma shuffled over to the other side of her cell and tossed another piece on Livvy's tray. Livvy still hadn't woken up. Emma was scared for a minute. What if she was dead? That worry was diminished when she looked closely and saw that Livvy's chest was rising and falling. She was alive.

"Emma, do you think we're going to die here?"asked Taylor. Emma turned to her," no. I know that everyone at the Institute is probably looking for us as we speak. They will find us.  I'm sure of that." 

Taylor seemed to be calmed by Emma's words. Emma felt like she was trying to reassure herself more than Taylor. 

She rested her head on the cold, hard stone behind her. How was Jules? He was undoubtedly freaking out about the disappearance of the 3 of them. Emma wondered if he was back at the institute.

Emma's thoughts were interrupted by a loud groan. In the cell to her right, Livvy was slumped in an armadillo position. Seeing a girl who was practically a sister to her so vulnerable hurt Emma's heart. She whispered to her," Livvy? Are you okay?"

"If feeling like I've jumped off of the Empire State building, run over by a truck once I hit the ground, and have somebody remove my bones with a red hot sword is okay, then yeah," Livvy grunted. Emma said," at least you're well enough to make sarcastic remarks."

Livvy slumped into the same position as the other two girls. Emma nodded her head at the tray by Livvy's legs,"you should eat something. Just a warning, the water tastes like metal."

 Livvy painfully shrugged,"I guess it has to be better than nothing." She sipped the water and quickly put a hand to her mouth. Emma said," I told you so." Livvy grabbed the bread and started trying to chew on it. She frowned," I feel like I'm trying to chew a wood block."

The door opened. Gwyn and his men swaggered in. His smile was unnerving. Emma wished she could slap that look off his face.

He walked into Emma's cell. He stood just outside of her reach," did you like the little gift of food I gave you. I am quite a generous person." Emma scoffed at that. She gathered all of the saliva that she had in her mouth and spat it at Gwyn. The wad of spit landed on his leg.

That put a smirk on Emma's face. She would have laughed, but had the wind knocked out of her. Gwyn's boot dug deep into her stomach. Emma hunched over for a second, but straightened her back again after a second. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her in physical pain.

Gwyn backed away. He snapped his fingers towards his followers and pointed at Emma. They walked over to her and unchained her. They gripped her painfully under her arms and dragged her into a standing position. She was too sore to fight.

 Gwyn stood in front of her. He thought for a moment with a hand on his chin and then smiled. He reached out and pressed his fingers onto one of the runes on her arm. Emma hissed in pain. He started walking towards the door. His men dragged Emma like a rag doll behind him.

Emma knew where they were headed.

Back to being a tortured lab rat.

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You should check out Booklover190048 and IAmStolt's Dark Artifices fanfictions. They are fantastic!