Desperation in Death (In Death #55)(73)

“She better straighten up or I got more.”

“I’ve got it. Keep calm for Number Two.”

Eve went back, sat again. “Tell me.”

“I felt sick and dizzy, and I was in this room. Like a hospital room or something. And—God—Sebastian. Can you, please?”

“She told me when she came to, she was naked, strapped down, and there was a man—he was the doctor they used—examining her. Verifying virginity, taking blood.”

“I fought, and I screamed, but they gave me something else and I passed out again. Then I was in another room, and I had on some kind of nightgown, but I was strapped down again, and she was there.”

“Who?”

“Auntie. That’s what we had to call her. She was in charge of the Academy.”

“The Academy.”

“They kept us there. You couldn’t see outside, you couldn’t go outside. You got locked in at night. She said I belonged to the Academy now, and if I was good, if I obeyed the rules and improved myself—shit like that?—I’d be treated really well. I’d have good food, good clothes, I’d learn manners, learn to be well-groomed. I’d eventually get my own pretty room, my own private bathroom. I’d be educated.

“I told her to fuck off and let me go. She jabbed me with a shock stick. I yelled at her, and she shocked me again, and again, until I stopped. It hurts so bad.”

“I know.”

“She didn’t let me out for—I don’t know how long. They had needles in me—for nutrition, she said. When I learned to behave, I’d get real food. So I said I would be, I pretended, and I got a uniform. You had to wear it during the day unless you were in the studio or had the sex classes.”

She knuckled her eyes. “They made you take off your clothes, or wear underwear and stuff so they could take pictures and vids. I tried to get away, but you couldn’t, and you’d get the stick, or they’d put you back in a room, the Meditation Box, in the dark, alone, locked in until whenever. They made you get into bed with another girl and sometimes a man and do things. I didn’t want to.”

“How many girls, Dorian? Can you tell me?”

“I don’t know, but a lot. They’d bring in new ones, and younger ones. Just little kids, and they were so scared. Or they walked around like droids, you know? We had to learn how to take care of our bodies, our hair, our skin—their way. If we screwed up, the stick. Even if you didn’t, sometimes one of them jabbed you anyway. They liked to.”

“How many of them?”

“I don’t know. We were on the Pretty Ones floor, and there were day matrons and night matrons. Usually one at night. And instructors. And the doctor, and some men—like guards. You had classrooms, I guess, and some of the girls from other floors got brought in for some of it, but they didn’t sleep on our level.”

She hitched in a breath, let it shudder out. “Can I have another fizzy? It makes my throat burn to talk about it. I’m sorry about before. I’m sorry.”

“Sure.” Mavis rose. “I’ve got it, honey bear,” she told Leonardo, then crouched down in front of Dorian. “I’m so sorry about what happened to you. They’re evil. They’re not even people, they’re just made of evil. You leave it to Dallas and Peabody. They’ll make them pay for all of it.”

“Do you need a minute?” Eve asked Dorian.

“No. I want to get it out. I want it over. I couldn’t get away. There wasn’t any way to get out, and I just mostly stopped fighting. They told us how we’d get rich masters and live in beautiful places. How lucky we were.”

She hitched in breaths as Mavis brought her another fizzy. Drank deep, breathed out.

“I’m not stupid, I knew what all that meant. I thought maybe when it happened, I’d kill myself if I couldn’t get away. Then Mina … I—I never had a friend like her before, not like Mina. She helped me, she talked to me, and it all felt better. She said we’d find a way out, and how her parents would help me. She has a little brother, and a family, and…”

She gripped the fizzy in both hands and rocked.

“Do you want me to finish it for you?” Sebastian asked her.

“No, no, I’m going to say it. Honor her, like you told me to.” Dorian swiped at her cheeks, drank again. “She figured out a plan. It was scary, but she figured it out. I had to steal the elevator pass from the night matron—that was my part, because I’m good at that. And she faked being sick so they’d take her down to the infirmary. I had to sneak out, go down in the elevator. If they caught us … But it was a good plan. She puked on the night nurse and put gum on the lock of the sickroom. And we met up at the elevators and went all the way down to the tunnels.”

“Tunnels?” Eve repeated.

“They brought girls in that way, and took out— Some of the girls died. Killed themselves, or they hurt them too much, and they took them out that way. We didn’t know where to go in them. We didn’t even know where we were, okay? We didn’t know we were in New York or, you know, freaking Alaska.

“We got down there and walked and walked, then we heard them coming, and we ran. There was a ladder on the wall, and we started up. But I fell. I fell and ruined everything.”