It couldn’t be permitted to continue.

Shutting everything down, locking her out of my goddamn heart and head, I dug my fingers into her wrist and dragged her down the corridor.

“Wait.” She once again tried to free herself. “Stop! Let’s talk about this—”

I barely even noticed.

I was done with this.

I wanted to be alone.

Her pleas, threats, and curses made no difference as I relocated her from splendor to squalor. Down the stairs and into the dank darkness.

“Sleep well.” I gave her a shove, tossing her inside the cell before slamming the door in her face.

* * * * *

That night, I didn’t sleepwalk.

I dreamed.

I fell into the pits of my desolated and demented mind, coating myself in filth I could never be free of, drowning in memories that I refused to recall.

And I died a little more.

I’d been dying ever since I’d arrived in this putrid house.

“You all good?”

I raised my bruised head and forced my eyes to focus on Zanik. It took effort to see again. To summon the will to pay attention instead of wishing on a minutely basis to be blind.

Zanik stood as straight as his last beating would allow him. His bronze skin a shade lighter with agony. His black eyes and midnight hair were as feral as the rest of us.

He said his father was Jamaican and his mother Irish. They’d been good parents. Until they weren’t.

I grunted a non-answer and pushed off from the door where I’d been swaying with the sudden urge to vomit. Climbing the stairs had pushed me to my limit.

I swallowed bile, ignored my wounds, and shuffled to my assigned dormitory bed. I didn’t bother stripping or washing or even pissing in the bucket. My body was done. I had nothing left. I fell face-first onto the uncomfortable mattress and groaned in pain.

Feet whispered their way toward me. The presence of a boy trapped in hell just like me hovered by my arm. His closeness set off the chain reaction inside me. I couldn’t have someone close to me right now. Not after what they’d done tonight.

But Zanik was like me.

He cared even while they broke him. He wouldn’t let me suffer alone even though that was all I wanted.

When his hand stroked my back, the pain of his kindness almost tore me in two.

A heavy sob clawed up my throat, but I choked it back down.

No one cried here anymore.

No one.

“You’re okay, Kas. We’ll protect you for the rest of the night. Won’t we, guys?”

My ears pricked as the other unfortunates in this prison all spoke as one. A mumble of misery with our messed-up brotherhood sisterhood.

“We’ll watch over you, Kassen.”

Female blended with male.

There were no separate bedrooms for different sexes. No screens for privacy when we changed or had to go to the bathroom. We were as intimately linked as any person—family or friends could be.

Forcing strength I didn’t have into my body, I sat up. I flopped onto my ass and gritted my teeth against the pain resonating from my asshole to the base of my skull.

They’d been extra ‘attentive’ tonight. Rough and ruthless. Not sparing me an inch.

A girl with blond hair, a gap in her teeth, and pretty hazel eyes slid off her squeaky bed and came to me. We stared at each other for a moment. Her pity for me was obvious. My pity for her was equally visible. We all stank of pity for one another.

Wordlessly, she opened her arms and crawled into bed with me.

I flinched against her contact.

I didn’t want to be touched and had long lost the privilege of touching another, but she didn’t give me space to become rotten with what they’d done. They could take away so much from us, but here, in this tiny dormitory, we all did our best to patch each other up, glue up our holes, sticky-tape our breaks, and not shatter completely.

Her small body fitted against me, and Zanik joined our awkward hug. He sat on my other side, wrapping his arms around me and Quell.

And we just sat there.

We sat there for so long, exhaustion found me, and I started to slip into sleep.

I was only vaguely aware as more of my family joined us on my bed.

Nyx and Jareth, Maliki and Sarez.

My heart tried to heal but, instead, tore itself to pieces, knowing that our fractured unit wasn’t complete. Elise, Neo, and Wes were still serving.

I’d been the first to finish. I wished I’d been the last so the others could be here. Safe in the arms of each other. Protected from more pain.

Tomorrow, I would try all over again to figure out how to save them. I would do my chores and get on my knees, all while seeking out the weaknesses of this place.

But until then, I would sleep. I would heal. I would grow stronger and smarter so I could keep the promise we’d all made.

The promise that had been bound in blood almost two years ago.

It’d been Nyx’s idea.

The shy little redhead who was the youngest of us all. She’d tried to climb out the window. She’d been caught. Whipped. Brought back bleeding. But instead of crying like so many of us did in our first year here, she’d merely smeared the blood over her fingers and approached us one by one.

“We’ll survive another day.”

I’d been the third one she’d marked, but I’d been the first to grab the large splinter from the decaying window frame and prick my finger. I’d run crimson over her in return, repeating what she’d said. “We’ll survive another day.”

The rest of them followed until we all had dried blood and healing puncture wounds scarring us with our oath.

We’ll survive another day.

And we had.

Another and another and another.

Until finally, there was no more to endure.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

DAWN CAME AND WENT, according to the slivers of light through the crumbling mortar. Stomach rumbles demanded food, then gave up and went silent. The urge to pee grew from annoying to unavoidable. The shame of using a bucket once again shoved me closer to my limit.

How could he throw me back down here?

Why, when he had an untold number of unused rooms above, did he keep me locked in filth? Surely, it would be to the molester’s advantage to have me clean and hygienic? Surely, I had rights as a prisoner to basic facilities and care?

Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I stewed in the dark.

I need a weapon.

Next time he comes for me, I’ll stab him instead of blow him.

I’d been too accommodating, too weak.

If I didn’t fight, this would be my life now. Abused and discarded. Pulled from the darkness to perform a sexual act, then shoved back in the moment I’d pleasured him.

My hands curled into fists.

I’m done.

I need a new plan.

As my mind whirled with concepts of freedom, I listened to the faint twittering of birds outside. While they sang, I picked up the tiny shattered pieces of glass from my broken cell phone, looking for a shard that could be used as a blade.

He’d taken the two devices last night.

What had he done with them? Would the signal still work even in pieces? Were people still coming to find me?

Josh will be looking. I know my brother. He’ll be furious I haven’t checked in.

My teeth sank deeper into my cheek in worry.

Wait.

Didn’t I tell him to wait five days before raising hell?