Caged by Damnation (Caged #2)(37)

"Are you okay?" Ash's voice should have been soothing, but I had a sudden urge to find a broom and sweep him out the door like a dust bunny.

"Yeah, nothing wrong here. Why don't you guys take a break? I’ll watch Iz."

What I really meant to say was Get out of the damn cell before you ruin the headway I’ve had made with Izzy.

Ash spoke quietly with bitterness. "No offense, but none of us are leaving you alone with her until she remembers the difference between loving someone and attempting to kill them." Griffin backed his statement up with a loud grunt and Isis sighed in disappointment.

I began to explain that Izzy wasn't trying to kill me. Then I remembered the moment in the clearing when she had tried to maim me with her claws.

"She's okay now. Honest, she was just hugging me. Besides, she saved my life. I doubt she wants me dead or she would have let that thing finish me off."

Griffin stepped forward, placing his hand on Ash's shoulder in support. "Ash is right, for all we know she might be bipolar. She could go from hugging to carving your flesh in a heartbeat. Plus, she may have been trying to save her own skin and you just got lucky."

"If she had been trying to save her own skin, she would have allowed the creature to make Savannah its midnight snack," Isis sneered, letting out a petite snort. "Then again, as soon as it got a good taste of her, it probably would have turned its attention onto Izzy anyhow."

The old Isis was back. Great, just when I was beginning to get used to the kinder version, she whips out the snide remarks that have always made me itch to smack her. With all of the stress I had been under, I briefly wondered if I would be able to get away with a few good shots. After all, if I had the stress card, I might as well play it, right?

"I think Death, or at the very least, the Hellhounds, would have warned us if there were a chance that Izzy might turn cannibal." The irritation was rampant in my voice, serving as a hint that I was approaching the limits of my patience. Shaking my head, I reminded myself that Isis had the emotional development of a toddler. She would act out if she thought it would make her the center of attention.

"That's just it. Technically, it wouldn't be cannibalism, since she isn't really human any longer. For all we know, her kind prey on humans. I don't know about the rest of you, but I prefer to remain at the top of the food chain...."

I was anxious to maneuver the subject away from anything that gave me homicidal thoughts towards Isis. Before I could open my mouth to speak, Izzy began to sing. Following that, I was tossed into a daydream.

This wasn't like any dream I’d ever had before. It held a hint of familiarity to my vision at Josephine's. It felt as if someone were clamping down on my skull, forcing it beneath icy waters and immersing me in a series of images. I was enslaved to the emotions and pictures winding their way through my mind and couldn't shake the slideshow that held me within.

When it was over, sliding away with a hiccup, I nearly fell over from a dizzy spell that swept through me. Using the wall as support, I caught myself, trying to make sense of what had happened.

"Oh!"

"Holy hell!"

"Damn, that was weird!"

All shouted in unison from Isis, Ash, and Griffin.

A voice from the hallway wormed its way towards coherent thought, causing me to look up to find Rafe staring at us. "What happened to all of you? See a ghost or something?" His eyes flickered through the room, as if scanning for possible threats.

We all began to speak as one and it became clear that we were describing the same vision, the same hallways I had walked through to get to Izzy's cell. The twisting of the path had been nauseating until I’d seen the entrance to a room. Its forbidden nature incinerated the rest of the images.

We all admitted to remembering that there was more to the vision, but we couldn't access the rest of the memory. It seemed to be locked away. Again, Izzy let sound escape her and the image of the room implanted itself with a much stronger hold.

"Ouch." Rafe scrubbed his head, seemingly hesitant to voice what he was thinking. "Dang, that hurt. Does she do that a lot?"

The rest of us exchanged dumbfounded looks before crucifying Rafe with a venomous stare, a group effort.

"I take it that's a no. Your phoenix friend is talking to you in the only way she can right now. She's projecting her thoughts."

Maloc came up behind Rafe with an accusing stare, but when Rafe said he was answering questions, the elderly guard walked away.

"Does she want us to go to that room?" I asked, afraid of the answer. Truthfully, all I wanted was to go back to my hospital bed and sleep.

"I can't tell you what she wants. All I can say is that it seems like she is giving you directions." Rafe smiled, his incisors causing Isis to back away and hide behind Griffin.

Ash’s questions were for Rafe alone. "Are her directions correct? Does that room exist? Why can't we remember the rest of the vision?"

"As I told you, I can't say. Though I will say this, the only way to find something that's hidden is to search for it – though, I couldn't tell you if there happened to be something hidden."

Leaving us to ponder his words, the Draconian walked away crisply.

"Well, that wasn't cryptic at all," Griffin snickered sarcastically.

Ash smiled at me. "If I know you, and I do, I'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess that you want to follow Izzy's thoughts? You want to see if the room is really there, don't you?"