A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(18)

The woman glanced to the side, and Layla followed her gaze, spotting Star crouched on the floor, her eyes wide with terror. Behind her a man seemed to be hanging from the wall. When Layla looked closer, she realized that one of the metal office panels had punctured through the man’s body, leaving him hanging several feet in the air, like a horrific piece of art. Layla wanted to be sick, she wanted to cry, she wanted to do something, anything that would take her out of this nightmare.

“My name is Dara,” the woman said, bringing Layla’s attention back to her. “That in there is Brako. He’s an ogre.”

As if on cue Brako tore through the side of the depot shed, the large ax dripping with fresh blood. “That was fun,” he said.

“You’re not done yet,” Dara said. “What was with the ax-throwing? We wanted her alive, remember?”

“Ax wouldn’t have hit her,” Brako said, sounding somewhat offended that Dara might have thought otherwise.

“What do you want?” Layla asked.

“You’re going to come with us. Quietly, or more of your friends will die, and we’ll just knock you out. Pick. Now.” She reached over and grabbed Star, dragging her toward her and placing a glistening blade at her throat.

Layla wondered how many had been killed by these two evil creatures since they’d arrived. She wanted to fight. She wanted to wipe the smug grin off this woman’s face. She took a step forward, then stopped herself; she couldn’t risk having more people killed on her account. “I’ll come with you. Just don’t hurt anyone else, please. What do you want me for?”

“Our boss wants to talk to you. That’s it. Then you can go.”

Layla didn’t believe a word of it, but going with them willingly would allow her time to try to escape, and hopefully save the lives of more people.

“Okay,” Layla said, wanting to be away from Brako as quickly as possible. The smell of blood mixed with his own natural musk hung over him and the resulting combination was repugnant.

Dara removed a pair of handcuffs and tossed them over to Layla. “Put them on and come with me.”

Layla did as she was told, following Dara to a white Range Rover in the car park. Dara opened the door and motioned for Layla to get inside.

A young man sat in the driver’s seat and he turned to Layla. “Nice to meet you.” He had several days’ worth of stubble, bright blue eyes, and long dark hair tied back in a ponytail. From his accent, Layla thought he might be from the southern states of America, but she couldn’t be more exact.

“The name is Shane. Nice to meet you.”

“You’re kidnapping me,” Layla pointed out. “And you’ve murdered innocent people. I’m not feeling all that happy right now.”

Shane nodded. “That’s understandable. Unfortunately, Brako gets a little overenthusiastic on missions.” He turned to Dara. “You coming with us?”

She shook her head. “Just got one last thing to do. We’ll take the van. Brako!”

“What?” the large ogre asked.

“No witnesses.”

The ogre smiled and ran off toward the depot shed.

“No,” Layla said. “You said they’d be okay.”

“You’re right, I did.” Dara closed the door, a smirk on her face.

Layla reached for the door handle, but it was locked. She threw herself onto her back and began kicking at the window in an effort to break it. Shane placed his hand on her leg and her entire body calmed. It was as if nothing in her life mattered.

“There, isn’t that better?” he asked.

Layla nodded enthusiastically.

Shane switched on the radio.

“They should have taken me with them,” Shane said as he pulled away. “I could have gone in, done my thing, and left with you. No death, no blood. Well, maybe a little. I’d have wanted to have some fun, after all.”





7

Layla didn’t lose consciousness throughout the entire journey, but if anyone had asked her where she’d been, or if she could have named a single thing she’d seen, she wouldn’t have been able to answer accurately. Everything was a swirl of fog and happy thoughts. She’d never been so relaxed. She wasn’t sleepy and didn’t feel like she’d been drugged either; it was just a complete and utter lack of caring about anything outside of the backseat of the car. She would have lived there forever if they’d let her.

Instead, the car eventually stopped and Shane climbed out. He’d spent the journey in silence, occasionally changing the radio station or muttering how much he wanted to kill one singer or another. Somewhere deep inside her, Layla knew she was in serious danger. She just didn’t care.

“Hey there,” Shane said after opening the rear passenger door and looking at Layla. “You ready to leave?”

Layla shook her head. “I really want to eat some chocolate, though. Do you have any chocolate?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he told her, and helped her out of the Range Rover, offering her a steady arm to hold onto while they walked into a large man-made hole in the side of a cliff.

“The stars sure are pretty,” Layla said wistfully, before they vanished from view completely as she was led to a lift and then taken several hundred feet below, into the heart of the land around her. She tried to focus on where they were going, but the tunnels and caverns that she was led through were a maze, and she soon stopped trying.