Ice Cold

Chapter Twenty-One

          Hayden talked to Connor after that and agreed to find out what the meeting after school really was. I went to my last two classes after lunch but I wasn't listening during them. I was thinking about what someone, or a rogue, would be doing posing as my aunt to try to get to me. I came up with a million different possibilities.

          After school Hayden and Connor met me at the front doors by the school. We made a plan that I would go into the parking lot, looking for my 'aunt', so Hayden and Connor could see who was trying to get to me. If something should go wrong, then they would be there in seconds to get me out of there. Hayden handed me my dagger before I turned around and started walking.

          I walked through the parking lot and started looking left and right. I walked past my car and then past Connor's. I was almost to the end of the parking lot. I let out a small scream before someone put a hand over my mouth, taping it shut.

          I started thrashing as someone put a cover over my nose and mouth. I felt myself starting to get sleepy. My movements started slowing and weakening. I could feel my heartbeat beating so hard it threatened to burst free from my chest before I faded into sleep.

***

          I woke up to darkness. I was gagged and my hands and feet were tied together. I found out that there was a cement floor under me as I ran my fingers over it. The cold from the wall behind me was biting into my skin.

          I was wondering where Hayden and Connor were. They would never let me get taken. Had something happened? I was no longer fearing for just my own life. I was now fearing for Hayden and Connor's lives.

          I heard a door open and I pressed myself closer to the wall. I relaxed a bit then as I acted like I was still asleep. Light flooded the room then and I tried not to flinch at the brightness. I heard footsteps coming down steps and then stopping in front of me.

         They nudged me with their foot, "I know you're not asleep, your heartbeat is going too fast and I can practically smell your fear," a deep voice said.

          I opened my eyes to look at a black figure in front of me, light illuminating the room behind him in a blinding white light. When my eyes adjusted I could make out some things in the room. I knew now that I was in an underground basement. There were no windows and nothing else in the room except for a table and a few chairs stacked up against a wall.

          There were stairs about ten feet away from me that led to a door. There was no way out of here except for that door. I looked back up at what I now realized was a rogue. He looked amused as he watched me take in my surroundings.

          "You know there's no way out of here so don't even try to escape," the rogue said in that same deep, scratchy voice.

          This rogue was clean and had on clean clothes. I knew some rogues lived in the woods but most of them lived in houses or in houses with other rogues. I was guessing that I was in one of those houses where other rogues stayed as well. I could hear two men arguing about something in the room outside the door to the basement.

          "We won't kill you, not yet, but I wouldn't count myself as lucky if I were you," he said and then knelt down in front of me, "the only reason you're not dead yet is because we're waiting to see if Hayden and Prince Connor accept our deal in exchange for you," the rogue said and stood up.

          I started to ask him what had happened to Hayden and Connor but with my mouth gagged I could only make sounds. The rogue turned around and laughed at me. I glared at him as he receded up the stairs. When he shut the door I was back in the darkness and now, without a distraction, I felt the cold again.

***

           A few hours later I realized I'd fallen asleep as the sound of the door opening again woke me up. Heavy thuds echoed through the basement, hurting my ears, as a man came to meet me. I glared up at him, waiting for my eyes to get used to the brightness. When they finally did I saw that this man was different than the other rogue, but he still seemed just as young.

          "You have a couple more hours until the time in the deal runs out. If they don't meet us by then, we're going to kill you," he said and turned around.

          Just as he was about to go back through the door he stopped and turned his head back to look at me, "I'll also inform the headmaster that you have been marked by Hayden Wolfe, that will be most definitely helpful, I'm surprised the other man that came to see you first didn't notice," he said and then left.

          I sat there in shock. Now Hayden and Connor were in more danger because of me. I was hoping they wouldn't come for me. I didn't want them risking their lives for me once again.

          I started looking around for anything that could help me. I moved my body and bound hands around, looking for some sort of sharp object. I felt a nail in the wall and I immediately started trying to pull it out. I worked on this for about an hour until I heard footsteps coming.

          I repositioned myself in front of the nail and put my hands back down in my lap. When the door opened I reached my hands up to block the light. I looked over my hands to see a dark silhouette in the light, staring at me. After a few more seconds he moved forwards to stand in front of me.

          "David wasn't lying, you do bare the mark of Hayden Wolfe," he said, sounding older than he looked.

          I didn't know what to do. I knew they weren't planning anything good. I needed to get out of here and fast. I looked back up at the man who was watching my every movement.

          "Don't worry, our deal is still the same, we just weren't expecting to have something so precious to him as the one who he has marked," he said and then turned around and walked out the room.

          I immediately started working on the nail. I tugged and pulled at it. With one final pull it pulled free. I stayed there in shock for a second before I started working at the ties that bound my wrists.