Stark's Winged Daughter (S.P.N.D. Book 3)

Chapter 2: Senator Stern

***

I open my eyes to bright fluorescent lights, making me blink a few times before my eyes adjust.

I recognize my surroundings, the same cave where my dad was held. A dream I've had more times than I could count.

Once again the smell of gunpowder, fire, and metal take over my senses, a far cry from the waking world. I can feel the air, hot and dry on my bare arms, making me feel like I can barely breathe. Walls of rough stone make up the cave and a thick metal door with a slot not far above my head sits a few feet in front of me.

By now I know what to do, so I step right through the door, like a ghost. Just as I do every time I have one of these dreams. I stop on the other side of the metal door. There are fluorescent lights and lanterns illuminating the room. The walls are the same rough stone and there is a work table in the middle of the room, just as always. There is a man standing over a cot.

I walk to the cot, knowing that I have no choice but to go over. Even now, after so many nights of this, the sight makes me want to scream and cry.

My dad lays there, unconscious with a breathing tube up his nose, and a bandage on his chest, right where his arc reactor is now. I look over at the man, who is calm. He walks over to a small mirror that shows me his face. Every time he goes through the same motions, never a difference in them.

"Dad," I whisper, though I know he can't hear me. "You'll make it out of here."

My hand goes through his when I try to grab it. I knew that it would, but part of me wanted to try regardless.

Tears spring to my eyes, a single one falling down my cheek. Though I know he'll be okay, it still hurts to see.

The man lifts a glass bottle, holding it up to the fluorescent light above him.

I wipe my tears, ignoring the dim glow that coats them.

"You'll be okay," I tell him quietly. I need him to be okay. He is now, but I don't know for how much longer. That fact scares me.

"For how much longer, Lillith?" A tall shadow comes from the corner of the room.

"How many times are we going to do this, Pitch?" I ask, tired of it.

He moves closer to me, the room seeming to darken around him. His gold eyes meet mine, amplifying my fear just as always.

"Are you going to answer me?" The faint black and purple aura comes back to my fingertips, and I see him flinch.

"Would any answer I give you be worth it?" His accent is strong and it only makes me more uneasy. "May it be the truth or a lie, would any answer ease you?"

"I don't want to hear your riddles. I want to hear the truth."

Pitch moves closer. "That answer will have to wait."

With that, my vision turns black as I find myself in a room of complete darkness.

"Help!" I spread my wings in an attempt to find out how big the room is, but they never reach anything. "Someone please help me." My voice trails off, a sob coming out as I sink to my knees.

Once again I feel weak. Pitch is ruining my life and I can never do anything about it. My dad always told me not to be a victim but this is too much, too overpowering. Pitch's grip on me is permeating me and making me question almost everything. Even when he's nowhere to be seen I can feel him both watching and listening everyday, waiting for a chance to make me feel like this.

"Why me? And why this?"

Pitch's voice fills the darkness, breaking the strange silence that surrounds me. "You have a lot to learn for your journey. I'm simply giving you the needed lessons."