Whisper (Whisper #1)(59)

Because I’m looking at me.

An exact copy of myself stands right where I was before I stumbled.

Alarmed, I raise my hand to gain the attention of the others and point out the Twilight Zone scene in front of me, but I gasp in horror when I can’t see my own arm. A glance down is all I need to discover that from head to toe, I’m entirely invisible.

Panicking now, I open my mouth, certain Ward would call this “absolutely necessary.” But before I can utter a single word, an invisible hand clamps over my lips, muffling any cry, while a strong arm wraps around my midsection from behind. Shocked, it takes me a moment to get my wits about me enough to struggle, but all the self-defense moves I’ve learned from Enzo fly from my mind as I’m dragged backward by my captor’s unyielding grip.

We scuffle invisibly past the giraffe exhibit, and we’re nearly down past the empty cafeteria, when I find the first opening to thrust my heel down on my assailant’s foot. At the same time, I sink my teeth into the fleshy palm covering my mouth. I hear a satisfying grunt of pain, but then the arm around my waist tightens enough to force the breath out of me.

“Stop fighting me,” a male voice demands. “I just want to talk.”

His words offer me little comfort. But I also know that despite my many hours of sparring practice, I can’t fight him, not with the hold he has on me. So I force myself to relax; my feet cease kicking, and my arms stop trying to gain an advantage over him.

My sudden passivity allows him to wrestle me onward again. I know better than to continue resisting, since I need to save my strength for the right moment. But when I see that he’s dragging me past the sun bears and toward the tiger exhibit, I begin struggling anew, until I’m pulled off the main path and brought to a halt beside the rock wall enclosing the big cats. The arm around my waist disappears for a second, and I try to twist away, but I’m not fast enough before he latches on to me again, squeezing the breath out of me.

“Don’t even think about it, princess,” he hisses into my ear. Then, louder, “Jet, can you —”

“I’ve got it,” replies a second voice, belonging to a young girl.

My body stills, and I wonder just how many other people are invisible to my eyes. But then my attention is snared when part of the rock wall slides open, revealing a secret doorway. It leads into an old elevator, the kind found in decrepit mine shafts. The kind that calls to mind images of trapped miners and deaths from asphyxiation.

I make a fearful noise in the back of my throat, but there is no savior nearby to hear my muted cry, nor anyone to stop me from being shoved forward and into the elevator.

I am alone with my kidnappers … and completely at their mercy.





CHAPTER NINETEEN


The elevator lowers us down, down, down, creaking and groaning the whole way, shaking almost as much I am. It comes to a jarring halt at the bottom, the clunking boom echoing in my ears. The rusty grate is lifted to reveal that we are in some kind of long, flame-lit tunnel.

Panic awakens every cell in my body, and I start thrashing again. I claw at my captor’s arms, I push against his grip, I struggle with all my might to get away.

“Stop it,” he hisses at me, giving a firm shake. “Just stop.”

I don’t stop. I fight even harder, desperate not to find out where this tunnel leads. But his grip on me tightens, squeezing the air from my lungs. I have to stop, if only to breathe.

“If you’re going to fight me every step until we reach the catacombs, I’ll knock you out and haul you over my shoulder,” he threatens. “It’s your call.”

Catacombs? Beneath the zoo? Despite my overwhelming fear, some small part of me is intrigued. Another part is curious why he didn’t just knock me out to begin with. There’s a strange tone in his voice, almost like he doesn’t want to hurt me. He’s giving me the choice.

All I know is, if I’m unconscious, I won’t be able to escape. So I do the only thing I can: I stop resisting and force my body to be still.

“Good decision.”

I grit my teeth but remain compliant in his arms.

“Jet, you can stop hiding us now.”

Two things happen at once.

First, I become visible again, as does the hand covering my mouth.

Second, a girl appears in front of me. She’s young, maybe thirteen, with owlish eyes and freckles covering almost every inch of her skin. She looks at me with undisguised curiosity.

“She sure doesn’t seem to want to be here,” the girl — Jet — says.

Everything about her is innocent. I can’t fathom what she is doing in the company of my captor.

“She’ll be fine once she understands,” he replies shortly.

What could they possibly want me to understand? And why did they go to such extreme measures to get my attention?

The hand over my mouth disappears — not because it’s invisible again but because it releases me. The one at my waist remains in place, but I can now open my mouth. Not waiting another second, I do exactly that, infusing my words with as much power as I can, heedless of control.

“Let me go!” I demand.

Nothing — absolutely nothing — happens.

“Sorry, princess, not until I’m certain you won’t do anything stupid.”

I tug against his grip, pull in a deep breath and assert very clearly, “Release me.”