A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(84)

“I know. Take me to her.”

“You wish to be a prisoner so much?”

“Don’t taunt her,” Grayson snapped.

Elias walked over to the doctor and punched him in the stomach. Grayson dropped to his knees.

“Humans should know their place. Yours is to be silent until allowed to speak.”

“Leave him alone,” Layla shouted, drawing Elias’s attention.

“I was merely showing him his place. Get in the car. Now.”

Grayson looked up at Layla and nodded that he was okay.

“He’s lucky I’m not going to kill him, the worthless bag of flesh that he is.”

Layla walked with Elias and Masako back to the Range Rover and got into the front passenger seat, as Masako slid into the one behind her.

Elias climbed into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and said, “Try anything and Chloe will die.”

Grayson finally got back on his feet and steadied himself against the BMW, while Layla wondered how hard it had been for him to not fight back. She hoped he was okay.

The Range Rover pulled away and drove out of the building site, down winding roads for about a mile, until they came to a layby, where Elias pulled over and switched off the engine. “Get out.”

Confused and concerned, Layla did as she was asked. It was either that or risk Chloe, and she wouldn’t do that. Instead, she exited the car and stood beside the door, as Elias walked around.

“Arms in the air. I’m going to search you for bugs.”

Again, Layla complied, and Elias performed a professional search, never lingering or taking liberties. When he was done, he stepped back. “Do you have any electronic devices on you?”

“No, I left my phone with Tommy.”

“Shoes off too.”

Layla sighed and removed her trainers, passing them to Elias, who searched each one before giving them back. “You can’t be too careful,” he told her once the search was completed, and he motioned for her to return to the car.

“You should have let me do that,” Masako told Elias when he was back behind the wheel.

“No offense, but when I do something myself, I know it’ll be done right.”

Masako laughed, the sound almost like a lullaby. “Control freak.”

Elias said nothing more as he maneuvered the car back onto the road. For the next hour, they drove through villages and along dual carriageways, across tiny dirt roads, and through a stream. Clearly Elias didn’t want anyone following.

Layla sat in silence, watching the scenery fly by as she tried to figure out where they might be heading. It was obvious to her that Elias didn’t care if she knew where she was; otherwise she’d have a bag over her head. Eventually, they arrived at a large farm in the middle of nowhere, and after parking the car outside of the main house, Layla was ordered to get out.

She did as she was told, waiting by the car while Elias came to her. “We’re going through the house. If you behave, you get to see Chloe once you’re in your cage. If you don’t, you get to hear Chloe scream instead. Are we clear?”

Layla held Elias’s stare and nodded. She wasn’t going to be intimidated by him or his people, and she certainly wasn’t about to show him any of the fear she felt.

Satisfied with the answer, Elias led Layla around the farmhouse to a small wooden cabin behind it. It was really just a large room, but as she stood before it, she saw the heavy-duty plastic door lock that would ensure she stayed inside.

Elias removed the thick wooden pin from the lock and pulled back on the handle, drawing the lock out of the door frame. He opened it and motioned for Layla to step inside.

The cabin consisted of a small bed with a table to one side made of a light wood. A window overlooking the fields behind the property gave the room a meager amount of light. A sink sat under the window and there was a small bathroom in an enclosed space that reminded Layla of being in a caravan.

A camera sat against the ceiling in one corner of the room, watching everything she did.

“There are speakers in the ceiling. They’re hidden, so don’t try to search for them. If at any point we see you messing around with either the camera or the speakers, we kill Chloe.”

“I do anything to piss you off, and you kill Chloe. I get it. I assume you want me to contact my dad now?”

“Later. First we’re going to make sure we weren’t followed. This evening, I’ll bring you a phone, and you’ll use it to contact your father’s prison.”

“An Avalon-controlled prison. That’s why you can’t do it yourself, isn’t it? You don’t know who is on your side and who isn’t.”

“Smart girl. Now stay smart and don’t give us a reason to hurt anyone else.”

“Don’t call me a smart girl. My name is Layla. I’m not a puppy.”

Elias grinned. “Okay. I’ll leave you to become accustomed to your new surroundings. Food and fresh water will be brought to you in an hour. I wouldn’t drink from the water in the sink; I can’t vouch for its drinkability. If you pull the same trick you did back at the cell, I’ll pull all your fingernails out . . . You don’t need those to help us.”

Layla looked over at the sink and remembered the last time she’d been Elias’s prisoner and what she’d done to the blood elf to escape.