Becoming Calder (A Sign of Love Novel)(117)

Suddenly there were keys in the door. As it was opening, I jumped back and then rushed forward as it sprang open. I pulled up short when I saw Clive Richter standing there with a gun on me. Could I survive a gunshot? Could I rush him before he got a shot off? I had no idea how guns worked. I had no idea what to do when faced with one. Adrenaline surged through me, but I'd be no good to Eden if I were dead.
I backed up slightly, raising my hands to let him know I wouldn't fight—not yet, anyway. He sneered at me. "Turn around and put your hands behind your back."
I turned slowly, doing as he said. My mind was working a million miles a minute. I just needed to get out of here, get out in a place where I could get to Eden. I could fight, as long as it was fair. I could even fight as long as it wasn't fair, assuming the men I was fighting didn't have the same stakes against them. But, of course, the men here were fighting to be gods. What bigger stake was there than that?
I walked out of the small cell with Clive leading me. When we climbed the stairs and walked outside, I expected the sun to blind me for a minute, but the world was dark. I looked up and immediately saw why. My blood pumped furiously through my veins and I fisted my hands in the cuffs, testing their resistance. The sun was moving in front of the moon. It was an eclipse. Holy gods, it was an eclipse.
I didn't know what to think, what to feel, what to do.
The two council members, Garrett Shipley and Ken Wahl, who had held me back during Xander's whipping, joined us, walking beside Clive and me. Garrett's nose had a small splint on it and both eyes were a greenish yellow where his bruises were fading. They both glanced at me nervously. They should be nervous. If I had the chance, I'd kill them with my bare hands. I'd relish it.
They looked up at the sky as it dimmed further. "Hector says he was off on the foretelling. The gods didn't say two months, six days. They said two days, six hours. One of those unfortunate misunderstandings." And then they started laughing like hyenas about a joke I wasn't sure I understood.
As we walked past the end of my irrigation system, I glanced backward, toward the river and squinted. Someone, probably one of the workers, had fixed the areas that Hector had kicked over.
The sight of that irrigation system suddenly filled me with boiling hot rage. It coursed through my body, making me feel crazed, animalistic. I kicked out with my leg and brought a section of it down, yelling out with everything in me. That system was the symbol of all my stupid, ridiculous, na?ve hopes and dreams. That system had been built when there was still a fire in my heart for what life could be for me. I wanted to fall on my knees and weep for that idiotic kid who knew nothing, realized nothing, and was blind. I wanted to knock him senseless, beat him, kill him, and render him unrecognizable. I hated everything about him. And I missed him with my whole damn heart.
When I came back to myself, I had destroyed a huge section of it and Clive, Garrett, and Ken were standing back, laughing at me. I stood there, breathing hard, every part of my body hurting, from my face to my feet.
"Come on," Clive said. "Hector's going to let you go."
I stopped walking, narrowing my eyes at him. "He's letting me leave?" I asked, my heart lurching in my chest. "Why?"
"I don't give a f*ck why," he said.
"Why am I handcuffed then?"
"Because you're acting like the f*cking animal you are, that's why."
"I won't. I won't, I promise," I begged. "Just let me go and I'll go get Eden and leave."
Clive smirked. "You don't get Eden, you fool. Eden belongs to Hector. You get nothing except your freedom. And you're damn lucky for that."
If I could at least get that, I could come back for Eden. I could come up with a plan. I could get help . . . something. If I was free, there was hope. "Let me go, then. I'll walk out of here."
Clive laughed. "Hector wants to say goodbye to you first," he sneered. We came to one of the large, wooden poles that held a speaker at the top. Clive instructed Garrett to unlock my cuffs and put them back on once my back was against the pole and my arms were wrapped around it backwards. Panic surged through me. Oh no. I wasn't going to be restrained to a pole. No. Something bad was happening. I didn't know what, but it wasn't going to be good. I brought my head forward and slammed it into Garrett's face, his nose crunching again and blood spurting out as he screamed a high-pitched, shrill sound of agony. I brought my knee up and caught him square in the groin. He made another sound that resembled a squealing pig and doubled over.
I heard a gunshot ring out somewhere, but I had no idea where.