"It's Ahnah, isn't it?"
Ahnah Mantova froze. She knew that voice. She would know that voice anywhere, even though she and its owner had never officially met. It was a sneering drawl of a voice. She had never heard anything more menacing. She willed herself not to run, and slowly turned round to face the speaker.
Drake Merwin. The person who frightened her most in the world. And not just the small, twenty mile diameter bubble world they had found themselves in. he scared her more than anyone she had ever met or heard of. It took her a minute to find her voice and then she whispered, "Yes." What did he want? In the couple of years Ahnah had attended Coates Academy, Drake had never ever looked twice at her, let alone spoken. She supposed with the freaks gone we had lost some of his supply of people to make suffer.
His sneer reached new heights as he mocked her. "Yeth?" he lisped, a poor imitation of her whisper. Ahnah didn't have a lisp, but she wasn't going to point that out for him. She locked her knees, so that she couldn't run screaming in the opposite direction. She thought of Drake like one of those species of animal that would only get excited if she ran. Running meant a chase, and Drake loved a chase. No, she should just stay stock still like you should do if you ever came across a snake. Hopefully he would lose interest if she didn't make herself a target, just stood as still as she could… "Caine wants you see you."
She couldn't help it; she lost her still-as-a-statue calm and trembled. Could this day get any worse? Drake lost his patience. Which always seemed in short supply nowadays. Ever since… Ahnah tried not to look, but her eyes seemed magnetically drawn to the blood-red monstrosity that used to be his right arm.
Drake surged forward, ready to grab her and drag her to Caine and Ahnah's instinct kicked in, forcing her back a step. But her knees where still locked and somehow her right foot tripped over her left foot and she went sprawling backwards, burning her elbows on the coarse carpet and falling onto her back.
Drake was still advancing. She forgot about her snake analogy and scrambled back a few feet on her sore elbows before he reached her and dragged her up with his whip hand. She was momentarily paralyzed by revulsion. It was touching her, that horrible snake-like extension on his arm. She could see his expression was furious before he turned around and marched off when she was barely on her feet, still dragging her behind him with his whip-hand.
"I have better things to do that fetch and ferry around stupid kids." He snarled back at her as she stumbled behind him. Yeah, thought Ahnah, like watching sick movies and torturing peopel. But she didn't say it. After Drake had gone through all the horror films he could find like Saw and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (both versions), he had gone in search of others and had found a whole bunch of gruesome films that their Geography professor had stashed away in his room. She could hear him play them on occasion, even though the place she slept was on the other side of the school to where Drake stayed. They were all screams and horrible noises that travelled down the corridors. Ahnah wasn't even sure if they were just from the films. It was a common occurrence to see kids with whip marks on their skin.
Drake walked quickly, almost too quickly for Ahnah to keep up with him and stop herself from tripping over at the same time. He was walking and she was having to jog, stumbling, to keep up. If she fell over, she had the suspicion he's just continue on, dragging her by his whip. At last they reached the dining hall and he released her, almost dropping her onto the stone floor. She managed to keep upright.
Caine sat at one of the tables with Diana and Computer Jack. He smiled his broad, charismatic smile when he saw her and motioned the chair in front of him. Feeling like she was walking into a trap, but not quite sure how to get out of it, she walked jerkily towards him and perched on the chair he indicated. She relaxed slightly when she realised that Drake had not followed her, but was lounging on the closed door that then had come through. As much power as Caine had, he could never be as menacing as Drake. Even if he concreted freak's hand and threw people into walls. He nodded a thanks to Drake for bringing her. Ahnah heard Drake snort.
The smile was still there on his face. It was an easy, friendly smile, but Ahnah knew better. If she said or did the wrong thing, it would most likely be her that was colliding with a wall. Or having her hands cemented. Diana had checked her after the FAYZ wall had come up and had found not an ounce of the power. If she decided to check again though…
Ahnah suddenly felt very nervous.
Caine must have seen it in her face because he cranked the reassuring, fake smile up a notch. "Nothing to be afraid of." He said in his smooth voice, turning up the charm. Ahnah saw Diana pull a face to Computer Jack behind Caine's head. "Just a routine check." It sounded like something someone would say if they didn't want her to panic. And her brain was just beginning to overload on fear, the panic seizing control of her. Routine check for what?
Caine nodded to Computer Jack, who pulled out his PDA and tapped at the screen with the stylus. He turned it so that Caine could see the screen. Probably information on her. It was rumoured he had information about everyone in Coates and even some people from Perdido Beach. She itched to know what was written about her on there. And also wished that she had had the foresight to remove her documents from the office before Caine and his posse could get their hands on them. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Drake languidly flick his whip-hand around.
"You're thirteen, correct?" asked Caine. She licked her lips, then nodded, then said "Yes." But louder than she had spoken to Drake. No-one could scare her like he could. And then she rattled off her Birthday, too. It would make her seen more co-operative. She wasn't going to give him any reason to have any suspicion about her. "And you came to Coates when you were ten?"
The questioned seemed pointless. Really- who cared? But she said "Yes" dutifully again and squirmed in her chair. What if he got Diana to check her? Then they would know…She squashed the panic down so that she could control it and waited for the next question. Caine took his time. He had a flair for the dramatic – everyone who knew him could see that.
"Why were you sent to Coates?" The question took a couple of moments to sink in. Then she felt sick. Really, really sick.
"Why do you need to know?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. She wished she could cover her mouth, like people did in books and movies when they said something they shouldn't, but she didn't dare more her arms. Surely he knew why she had been sent here because he had her file; he was just playing with her. The pleasant smile fell off his handsome face like someone had flicked a switch. Caine was the snake now. She had to be as still as she could be.
"Don't question me." He all but spat at her. Diana narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything. She was used to Caine's moods and his temper.
Ahnah hesitated. Caine, Diana and Computer Jack all knew why she had been sent to Coates. Did Drake? If he didn't, she didn't want him to overhear. But she didn't exactly have a choice.
"My foster parents sent me here. They said that I had made false accusations about their son and that they were sick of me." She hoped they would leave it there. Thankfully, it was old news to them and Caine moved on. His smile was back it place, but now it looked just a tiny bit dangerous.
"Would you give Diana your hand, please?" he asked. It wasn't really a question. It was more a choice. Give Diana your hand or Drake over there will whip you raw. Comprende? Something in the back of Ahnah's head went over the possible ways she could try and get out of it, even though she knew it was hopeless. She came up blank. She looked down at her hands, imagining them and their future, which would probably be buried up to their wrist in concrete.
"That's right." Caine said encouragingly. "You know the drill."
She looked up at Diana, who watched her with narrowed eyes, jutted her jaw and thrust a hand out to her. She wanted to squeeze her eyes closed and never open then again, but that would be weak and she hated being weak. She watched as Diana took her proffered hand and held it for a few moments, staring into Ahnah's eyes. She released her.
"Nothing." She said abruptly. "Zero bar." She broke eye contact and settled once more into the bored look she adopted most of the time.
"Well then." Said Caine. "I guess you can go." He motioned to the door. It didn't sink in a first. She was free. When he saw she hadn't moved, he made a flapping motion with her hand that shocked her so that she tumbled out of her seat and almost half-ran to the door.
She gave Drake a wide birth, trying not to look at him as she skirted round him and opened the door, feeling weak with relief. But she also felt confused. She couldn't ignore the signs that she'd seen in the last couple of days. There was not really any mistaking them.
Diana Ladris had lied.