My fingers searched along the wall for a light switch. There weren’t any windows in this room because not a shred of light pierced the suffocating pitch black. I found the switch and flooded the room with blazing, bright light.
I gasped in shock, shrinking against the wall when I realized what this room was — a fucking morgue.
Stainless steel cabinets lined the wall and three metal autopsy tables gleamed in the harsh light, one of which had a covered figure, a white sheet blanketing the form.
I didn’t want to look.
Please, don’t be under that fucking sheet.
But I had to know.
I approached the shrouded figure, dragging my feet, my mind shrieking that I was alone with a corpse.
I reached for the sheet with shaking fingers. The sturdy linen slipped from my numb hands and I had to reach again. This time I managed to slowly pull back the sheet to see who was beneath that sea of white linen.
Time stopped along with my breath.
Nooooooooo!
No! No! No!
Tana, with her bright ruby curls and pale as milk skin, eyes closed, lay on that gurney, silenced forever.
I bit my lip to stop from screaming. Mottled bruises marred most of her skin, telling a story of a brutal and painful death. Even her private parts were abused. I glanced away, nearly crumpling in on myself at the knowledge that this sweet girl had been tortured before her end.
What penalty or fine had her buyer given to Madame Moirai for this crime? No amount of money would forgive what’d been done to Tana.
I’d hardly known her but seeing her on that slab, knowing how she’d suffered, knowing how we’d all been duped, made me see red. I wanted blood. I wanted justice. I wanted…fuck, I wanted to grab Tana and drag her lifeless body out of this hell-hole and make sure she was given a proper burial so that she could be mourned like she deserved.
She’d been a good kid — not like the rest of us.
She hadn’t been a throwaway. Somewhere she had a grandmother who would never understand why her beloved Tana would never come home.
Even if that poor woman’s brain was being destroyed by a horrible disease, she’d sense that something wasn’t right.
And it wasn’t.
Holy fuck, nothing would ever be right again.
Goddamn it! Everything was wrong with the world when people like Madame Moirai could callously collect broken kids and sell them like they were less than nothing.
I smoothed Tana’s curls, tears streaming down my face. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”
There was nothing more I could say. I gently replaced the sheet over her face, wiping at my nose and willing the tears to stop.
I’d found Tana and she was never leaving this place.
But we would have to if we didn’t want to end up on the slabs next to Tana.
However, as I took one final look at Tana’s shrouded body, I made a vow:
I was going to destroy everyone associated with the auction.
I didn’t know how…but I knew I wouldn’t rest until someone paid with blood for Tana — and every other girl who’d landed on this slab for the crime of hoping for a better life.
Fuck you, Madame Moirai. I’m coming for you.
19
As I left the makeshift morgue, I went back into the rooms to find anything I could use as a weapon but as I was searching, I realized I had exactly what I needed to create the kind of distraction that would enable us to get out.
I returned to the morgue, my gaze avoiding Tana’s body, and found more sheets in the steel cabinet. Balling them up, I stuffed them into corners of the room and saturated them with embalming fluid.
Thank you, Freshman Chemistry 101.
Then, I did the same thing to the auction room until each corner had a potential fire hazard just waiting for a match to go crazy.
When I found a lighter tucked away in a desk drawer — God bless fucking smokers — I took one final look around, mouthed a silent goodbye to Tana, and then covering my mouth and nose went about lighting each and every one of those balls of retribution with grim satisfaction as they immediately went up in flames.
I hustled out of the subfloor, pausing only long enough to make sure that the guards were still playing cards, then bounded up the stairs to slip into Dylan’s room.
This place was probably equipped with a fire alarm, which I was counting on, but even if it didn’t, the fire downstairs would soon enough make itself known with billowing smoke.
Dylan looked to me, ready to run, just as I told her to be.
I held my fingers up to my lips as I listened.
Suddenly, a loud alarm pealed through the house, seconds before a loud explosion jarred the floor beneath our feet. We steadied ourselves as the house rattled. Holy shit, I might’ve used too much embalming fluid because the mini-explosions popping off downstairs were growing in intensity as the heat climbed.
“Was that you?” She pointed at me and I nodded.
“Fucking savage,” Dylan said with blood-thirsty approval. “Let’s get the hell out of here before the whole house goes up in a ball of fire.”
“You took the words right out of my mouth,” I quipped, waiting to hear the guards rushing from their card game to run downstairs. The thunder of feet and panicked shouting signaled it was time to make our move. I motioned for Dylan to follow as I opened the door.
I heard fire extinguishers going off as they tried to battle the blaze before it overtook the house. They were too busy to worry about us. The last thing Madame Moirai wanted was the cops and fire department to show up so they had to handle things on their own. Good luck with that. I hoped they burned.
I opened Jilly’s door and she quickly joined us.
“Where’s Tana?” Jilly asked but I couldn’t tell her right now. If I tried, I would break down and I couldn’t afford to do that. Not yet. I shook my head and gestured for them to follow.
Jilly and Dylan fell in behind me and we made our way down the stairs, staying to the shadows, listening for footsteps coming our way. We burst from the back door and hit the ground running. My frantic heartbeat was deafening as our feet ate up the dirt, mindless of the rocks and sticks grinding into our skin. Nothing mattered but getting free. We’d all gladly suffer torn up feet if it meant escaping Madame Moirai.
We didn’t look back. We didn’t stop. My lungs were ready to explode but I kept pushing. There wasn’t nearly enough distance between us and them to stop yet.
I ran with single-minded focus. I couldn’t worry if the girls fell behind. I envisioned the road and kept running in the direction that I saw from my window. Bracken brambles tore at my skin and darkened trees pressed against the starry sky as hidden roots caught my toe and ripped my toenail free.
I didn’t have time to scream. I barely felt the pain.
Finally, what seemed like forever, we crashed out of the woods to land on a desolate highway. I stumbled to my knees, ripping the flimsy pajama bottoms and skinning the flesh raw and bloody but I didn’t care.
Dylan and Jilly were seconds behind me. The sound of our harsh breathing as we gasped for air filled the night. It was then, I realized Jilly was sobbing.
“Where’s Tana?” she cried. “Where is she?”
I couldn’t form words yet. My tongue was furred and my throat aching. I just shook my head, tears welling in my eyes.