Chapter 24

Selah lay on the bed not moving. She was awake but didn't want to let whoever was in the room with her know it. She heard the familiar beeping of the machines that had been hooked up to her. The last thing Selah remembered was that monster feeding off her. She had resigned herself to the fact that she was nothing more than food now. It was the fate her master had given her and she deserved nothing better. Not after causing the death of his friend. Whatever feelings she had about the matter she buried deep, hoping to hide them from the monster, but she knew that sooner or later he would find them. For now she could at least pretend they didn't exist.

She heard movement behind her. Someone drew closer and then moved away. She sensed it wasn't Fisher. Her heart sank and she groaned inwardly. Fisher must have brought that big brute back to dislocate her shoulder again or something equally painful. At least they were letting her sleep. She took a little comfort in that.

Dr. Lauren walked over to the head of the bed and looked at Selah. Her breathing had changed. Lauren could tell she was pretending to be asleep. This puzzled her and she decided to enter it into Selah's medical file. As Lauren turned around to grab it off a nearby table she accidently knocked it onto the floor, scattering the papers.

"Crap!" She exclaimed as she bent down to retrieve them.

Selah heard the file hit the floor and Lauren speak. Realizing this was a new voice she tried to move her arms and discovered she was no longer restrained. Quickly, but silently, she rolled off the bed and crouched on the other side as Lauren stood up. Lauren turned around ready to make an entry in the file but Selah was gone.

Surprised, Lauren started to look around the room for her. She watched as Selah slowly stood up on the other side of the bed. Her eyes glowed and mist swirled around her hand as she tried to form a sword.

Fearing for her life, Lauren took a step back and called out, "Dyson!"

The door was wrenched open as Dyson flew into the room. Seeing Selah about to attack Lauren, he commanded, "Selah! Stop!"

Selah looked at him and blinked. The glow in her eyes and the mist vanished in an instant. She looked at him in surprise. As she recognized him, she quickly dropped to one knee. "Master!" she addressed him. "Forgive me. I didn't know this one was with you." She explained, referring to Lauren.

Dyson took a step toward her. This made Selah jump to her feet and involuntarily take a step back. Selah's reaction confused Dyson. This was not the same person that had willingly taken on ten men by herself. The woman before him reminded him of a frightened animal, always in constant fight or flight mode, always on edge.

Selah stopped herself. Every fiber of her being was telling her to run but there was nowhere to go. No escape. She dug deep in her mind and tried to remember her training. This was not how she had been trained to react. She had been trained to hold her ground no matter the consequence. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard before making herself go back to her original spot. She stood at attention as she opened her eyes and kept them firmly trained on a spot on the floor just in front of Dyson's feet.

Dyson noticed the change in her. She was trying to play the good soldier willing to do anything commanded of her, attempting to be the cold, soulless assassin again. She was trying to hide her emotions or hide from them, he wasn't sure which yet, but she was failing miserably. He didn't know why she had reverted back to this, but if she needed him to play commander to her soldier, he was willing to play along even if he didn't like it.

Taking a tone of authority, he demanded, "Why were you going to attack Lauren?"

"I'm sorry Master. I didn't…" She began.

"I didn't ask for an apology." He reprimanded her. "I want an explanation!"

She rigidly stood straighter. "She's not the doctor you assigned to discipline me." She glanced at his face. Realizing he didn't understand, she looked back at the floor and tried again. "I didn't realize she was with you and had your permission. If you wish, I will apologize to her for my behavior."

Her response confused him. "What? I didn't assign a doc…" He started to say and then he remembered Dr. Fisher. Dyson decided to switch tactics. "What do you mean discipline you?" He asked.

"You told Dr. Fisher to teach me what happens to disobedient slaves." She said trying to show no emotion at all as she recounted what she thought happened at the Dal. She looked away from the spot on the floor as she added in a low voice. "And I have learned."

Now he understood. Somehow Fisher had convinced her that he wanted her tortured. Fisher had convinced her that he felt she deserved it. Dyson shook his head as he tried to explain. "Selah! I never told Fisher to do anything to you. I never even met him until we found you in that room."

Fury welled up inside Selah as she looked directly at him. There was that familiar red glow. "I was there when you gave me to him. I heard every word." Her voice dripped with venom. Gone was the woman trying to be the good soldier. Here was the lethal killing machine. "You blamed me for Hale's death. You wanted me to pay."

This surprised him. How had Fisher managed to convince her Hale was dead? Dyson put a hand out in front of him, trying to calm Selah down. "Selah! Hale's not dead!" He told her.

She could hear the sincerity in his words. In all her long life Selah had never met anyone she felt she could trust, until Dyson. She was confused. How could she believe him? He was the one who told her Hale was dead. If that was a lie then he had her tortured for nothing. Her suffering was meaningless. But if it were true, then he was lying to her now and she still couldn't trust him. Then she remembered, she didn't have to trust him. She only had to obey. She hated him for that.

"Dead or alive, whichever master wishes." She said with animosity. "Give me a command, I will obey." Selah lowered her eyes again and blinked. The glow was gone. Dyson could see she was back to playing the good soldier.

Dyson didn't understand what happened to Selah or why she believed he wanted her to suffer. He looked to Lauren for some kind of explanation. "What do you think?" He asked.

"Well," she thoughtfully replied. "If he used the machine in the room where you found her, the one you described to me, it could explain her confusion about what really happened." Lauren turned her attention to Selah. "Did Dr. Fisher use the machine with the wires on you?" She asked.

Selah wasn't sure which machine Lauren meant. "He used them all on me." Selah flatly stated.

"That would explain the confusion and the mark on her foot." Lauren said pointing out the mark to Dyson. He hadn't noticed the scorch on her foot before. She tried to put Selah at ease by smiling as she asked her, "May I examine you?"

Selah glanced at Dyson, silently asking if this is what he wanted. Dyson nodded and motioned for Lauren to do the examination. Almost imperceptibly Selah's shoulders sagged. Memories of Fisher's examination rushed through her head.

Lauren pulled a pen light out of her pocket and shone it in Selah's eyes, testing them to make sure they were working properly. She put the pen back in her pocket. As she was reaching to check Selah's neck she asked, "Do you hurt anywhere?"

Selah didn't respond. There wasn't a spot on her that didn't hurt but she wasn't going to make it that easy for this doctor. Her master was standing there, watching. She feared Fisher had told the truth. Her master was helping Zahir make more Foundlings and he would be the one to train them. If this was true, she knew he would use her as an example, one way or the other. Her time with Fisher had taught her that doctors will find and use any injury, any weakness against her. She knew her master would not tolerate any sign of weakness.

Lauren's hands were soft and gentle as they moved down Selah's neck to her shoulders. Noticing the large ugly bruise on her shoulder, Lauren applied pressure to the shoulder joint and felt the muscles on Selah's right shoulder involuntarily tense.

Dyson had one arm crossed over his chest as he rested his chin in the other hand. Thoughtfully he watched Lauren examined Selah. He knew she would do her best not to show she was in pain so he watched her closely. He noticed a slight narrowing of Selah's eyes as Lauren applied pressure to her right shoulder. Other than that she gave no of any discomfort. He noticed the same thing as Lauren examined her ribs.

As she finished, Lauren turned to Dyson. "She has several large bruises, a couple broken ribs and it looks like her shoulder was dislocated at one time but its back in place." Lauren shook her head. "Not to mention the black eye, swollen lip and bruised cheek. It looks like she was beaten pretty badly. I would like her to wear a sling for a few days at least to give the muscles in her shoulder a chance to recover." Frustrated, Lauren turned back to Selah. "Are you in pain? Because I would like to give you something for it if you are."

Selah could see the frustration on Lauren's face at not being able to tell. She took satisfaction in that as she lied, "No."

"Yes." Dyson corrected her.

Selah trembled with anger and frustration. She inwardly cursed as she furiously wracked her brain trying to figure out how she had given it away.

"Go ahead and write the prescription." Dyson told Lauren as her phone rang. Lauren excused herself and left the room to take the call.

Selah hung her head in defeat. She used to be so much better at this. She knew she had failed his little test, though she didn't know how. She tried to get a sense of what he was feeling. With her mind, she reached out to touch that part that had always given her some idea of her master's emotional state. Was he angry? Disappointed? If she could tell she would have a better idea of what to expect and could act accordingly. But try as she might, she felt nothing from him. Why couldn't she feel him?

Dyson turned his attention back to her.

"Why did you come back for me?" Selah asked him in a quiet voice. "You didn't want me. Why didn't you leave me with Fisher?"

Dyson was surprised by the question. It never occurred to him not to go back for her. Did she really believe she was worth so little? Even after what she did for Hale?

He took a step toward her. She didn't jump or take a step back this time. He hoped that was a good sign as he walked over to her.

Placing his hands lightly on her shoulders, he sighed deeply. "Selah. Look at me." He told her.

Selah raised her eyes to look at his chest. She was afraid to look up any further, afraid of what she would see.

Gently he cupped her chin in his hand and pushed her head up, making her look in his eyes.

"I don't know why you think Hale is dead or why you think I wanted Fisher to hurt you, but Hale is alive. What you did bought us the time we needed to get him to Lauren so she could heal him." He explained. "Do you remember when we were all in the lobby of the hospital?"

Selah timidly nodded her head.

"You decided to stay and fight, to give us time to get Hale out." He reminded her. "You didn't sacrifice yourself for nothing." He reassured her.

Selah wanted desperately to believe him, but she didn't know what to believe any more. He was telling her that what she remembered never happened. If she couldn't trust her own memories…

Before Selah could sort it all out in her head, Lauren came back in and closed the door in a hurry.

Flustered, she told them, "That was Hale. The Ash is on his way. He knows about Selah."

Dyson looked at her with surprise and concern. "What? How?" He asked.

Selah knew that her very existence was against Fae law. If the Ash knew about her… As Selah thought about it, something didn't feel right. She began to suspect Dyson was testing her again. Was he trying to see if she had learned to obey no matter what? Maybe he had decided she wasn't worth the effort and was going to give her to the Ash so he could destroy her. Every time she started to think she could trust him, something happened to destroy that trust. Either way, she had no control over it and trust didn't matter.

"He had to tell the Ash something." She explained. "It's not every day a psychiatrist gets arrested over an illegal arms deal." She slipped something into Dyson's hand. "Here. You're gonna need this." Lauren opened the door and walked out, leaving it open so Dyson and Selah could follow her.

Dyson looked in his palm and pocketed the object. He turned to Selah.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

Selah refused to look at him. "Does it matter?" She replied.

Dyson scowled at her. He wanted her to trust him again but there was no time to try to convince her. "Follow my lead." He ordered.

Selah nodded and followed him out the door.

7