In The Darkness (Project Artemis #1)(18)

Persephone’s head throbbed, although she couldn’t remember why it would hurt so much. Had they beat her at some point after they moved her here? She tried to remember the details of how she’d gotten there, but her mind drew a blank.

She remembered the two men throwing her into a vehicle and then nothing. At least nothing until that moment when she opened her eyes.

The urge to cry out came over her, so even though the gag still made it impossible for her to actually say anything clearly, she screamed the best she could and hoped Nick could hear her. Then a thought crossed her mind that terrified her even more than being trapped in that unfamiliar room in that unknown place.

What if Nick wasn’t there anymore?

She didn’t know why the thought suddenly popped into her head. She barely knew him, and even though she wanted to believe he would help her escape, she couldn’t honestly say she could trust him. He’d given her hope, though, and for that, she prayed to God he was still with the militia group.

Her throat hurt, but she screamed until no more sound would come out. Still, no one came. Persephone wondered if the others had found out that Nick had been nice to her. Had they uncovered who he really was? Her mind raced with terrifying ideas of what they’d done to him and what they’d do to her now.

Her only hope to escape gone.

As she thought of him no longer there and then thought of him no longer alive, her emotions spiraled out of control. For two weeks, she’d existed in that chair as an object of hate for those men, threatened and demeaned by every one of them except for Nick. She hadn’t believed he could get her away from them so much as wanted to believe he could, but now that meant nothing.

Now she was truly alone again with little hope of ever finding a way out.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried not to think of what would happen next, but it was no use. Her mind raced with scenarios of what they’d do to her. Sobbing, she begged God for deliverance and bargained anything she owned for just one more chance to feel the warmth of the sun on her face again. One more chance to hug her parents and sisters and tell them she loved them.

One more chance to live her life.

She cried until she had nothing left inside anymore. After two weeks of being held hostage, nothing they’d said or done to her had broken her spirit. What broke her was the realization that there was finally no hope left for her to get away.

That hopelessness settled into her heart and mind and took over every inch of her until nothing but sadness filled her. She didn’t know why they hadn’t killed her yet, but she knew it didn’t matter much anymore. They would soon, and when the time came, she’d be alone in whatever room they held her in, nobody there by her side to comfort her as she took her last breath.

Behind her, she heard the twist of the doorknob, but as the bedroom door opened, there was no squeaking noise like before. The person closed the door until it quietly clicked shut, and then she felt footsteps fall on the carpeted floor beneath her. Holding her breath, she waited for the sound of the person’s voice to let her know what to expect next.

“Persephone? Are you awake?” a man asked, sounding genuinely interested in her and if she’d awakened yet.

The familiar voice registered in her brain, and she looked up to see Nick staring down at her with concern in his eyes. They hadn’t killed him for being kind to her. He was alive!

He hurriedly pulled the rag from her mouth, and even though she didn’t know why since she barely knew this person, she couldn’t stop herself from crying tears of joy. Nick crouched down in front of her and softly touched his fingertips to her cheeks to dry them.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be here when you woke up. I checked over and over, but you stayed out for a long time. How do you feel?” he asked as he used his sleeve to dry the last of her tears.

How did she feel? She didn’t know how to express that. He wouldn’t understand how much it meant to her to see his face in that moment when she was sure all hope had vanished.

“My head hurts. I think that’s from when they threw me into the truck or the van or whatever they used to get me here.”

He lifted himself up and gently ran his hand over the back of her head. “I don’t feel any lump, but I guess that’s not surprising. You’ve been out for a long time.”

Confused, she wondered what he meant. “How long? I know I don’t remember being brought here.”

Nick stood up and walked over to the window to pull back the black covering to look outside. “Three days. They moved you to that house in Winchester that night after we talked, and I thought I could get you out then, but that Clayton guy, the leader, showed up and all hell broke loose. He was pissed that they knocked you out and told them to get you somewhere that didn’t look like a crack house. So they moved you here. You’ve been in this house for two days. I’m guessing they drugged you to keep you out for that long. They had me on security watching the back door, so I could only sneak in every so often to check on you.”

She tried to remember anything from all that time, but she drew a blank. Three days of her life gone, in addition to the two weeks they’d taken from her before that.

Covering the window up again, Nick came back to stand in front of her. His face serious, he said, “I need you to remember what I told you, okay? I need you to just trust me. I’ve got something planned, so when it goes down, you’ll have to do as I say for the two of us to get out of here alive.”