BORROWED [Watty Awards Finalist/NEWLY EDITED!]

Chapter Twenty-Nine

|Trapped|

Evelyn wipes away the tears from her cheeks. The way she looks now brings back a memory, the day she had told me Chase was killed. Her tears seemed real then, painstakingly real. But they weren't. Those tears and emotion then, it was all a lie.

This moment, it's real.

I gravitate toward her, wrapping my arm around her neck. Nestling my chin on her shoulder, I allow her to hug me tightly. "Hey," I say. "Thank you."

"I would die for you, sweetie."

The door behind me glides open, and a male's voice says, "Should we see if you would truly die for our beautiful prototype?"

Pulling away from Evelyn, I notice her shock expression. The voice behind me isn't just any voice, it's Sylas's.

His hand touches my shoulder. I flinch. I don't want to turn around. I can't face him, yet.

"Irissa, I think it's time for you to come with me," he says calmly.

I turn around, letting Evelyn's face dissipate from my view, only to have Sylas's gaping at me sternly.

"Give up," I snap. Sylas takes a step back and smirks.

"That isn't ever going to happen, lovely Irissa." He looks over his shoulder, "Seize the boy and Evelyn!"

I turn to Finn. "Run!"

He grabs Evelyn's hand, pulling her along, but four Borrowers rush from behind Sylas, catching them further down the hallway.

Evelyn cries out as two Borrowers push her against the wall, her cheek pressed against the hard surface, and her right arm secured behind her back. Finn tries to fight the other two off from him, but one of the Borrowers knee him in the stomach, making him fall to the ground.

"Finn!" I cry out, and try to run after him, but Sylas wraps his fingers tightly around my wrist.

"Don't you dare move," he says through gritted teeth. "You're coming with me."

His fingers grip harder, pressing into my skin. He pulls me into the laboratory, escorted by more Borrowers. The Seraphim seem disrupted, flinching inside their liquid chambers out of agitation. Sylas continues to drag me along toward the lab workers, and thrusts me forward. The lab workers perk up from their slouched positions, probably after hours of hovering over the microscopes. A pale figure in the distance catches my eye. I don't look, because I'm scared of what it might be.

No longer able to ignore it, I notice her, a Seraph, singled out and lying in the open on a metal table. Her wrists are strapped down, as well as her ankles. She looks left and then right, moaning horrible sounds, unable to communicate properly because she hasn't been taught.

She must be scared, I think, feeling empathy for this Seraph.

A white sheet drapes over her naked body, revealing only the light pigment of her exposed arms, legs, and face. Blue veins trail beneath the delicate, smooth surface of her skin. She's shaking, now that she is exposed, her body has to adapt to a new environment.

I look at Sylas, furrowing my brows. "Why is that Seraph pulled so soon?"

He winces, slouching forward. "I'd be worried about what's to become of you, Iris." Sylas walks a few steps, resting his hands on a table for support.

"Painful, isn't it?" I say with a hint of satisfaction. Sylas reaches around to his lower back, pressing a palm against it.

"I should take the time to say thank you," he says smiling. "But I've only taken what I created. What's yours is rightfully mine." Sylas frowns; he seems lost in a thought as he stares down at his hands.