Yay! I think this chapter could be quite interesting.
"Oh stars," she whispered. Cinder felt her nails dig bloody half-moons into her palms, the familiar rage rising up to choke her. Reece trapped her flailing legs with his body, practically on top of her. He was so close, she could feel his warm breath on her neck. She swallowed. Cinder tried to jerk away, but Reece held her fast. "How could you?" Cinder snarled through clenched teeth. "Ginger is merely a child!" She glanced at the girl. Ginger was staring blankly ahead, eyes vacant and stiff like a doll. Reece laughed quietly, easily.
"Ginger is collateral, darling. I need her here to help you behave. You won't try to escape, will you, my queen? You will be a good little girl? Ginger, here, knows that you need to behave, don't you Ginger?" Reece smiled at her goddaughter. "Show Aunty here the consequences." Ginger clumsily lifted her dress. Her calves were littered with lashes and bruises. Cinder pressed her lips together, hard, and saw red and white.
Her voice was a low growl when she said, "I am going to kill you, Reece. I really am. I don't think I'll be able to stop myself." Reece only laughed.
"You can definitely try," he said smirking, "I doubt it would work though. Death and I are closely acquainted, I'm afraid. He might not accept me as an offering." From his pocket, he produced a key. Reece dangled it front of her as Cinder trembled with rage. "I'm going to unlock you now. I want my little birdie to be comfortable, but," he tilted his head, gold eyes shining in the bright florescent lights, "If you do not behave..." Reece looked at Ginger, a smile playing around his mouth. "I'll have some fun with her."
"You wouldn't dare," said Cinder.
Reece raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? I won't? Don't tempt me, Cinder. I dare do a lot of things." He shook his head. "Now all I have to do it invite your other friends to join us. With Madame Scarlet and Commander Thorne down," Reece dimpled, "Three to go. I'm sure you can guess who." The chains clinked as they fell from her arms. Cinder hugged her wrist to her chest. They were red, raw and bleeding. Ginger made a soft sound. "The bathroom is to your left," he said. When Reece garnered no response, he turned and left, locking the door behind him.
She could already feel the walls closing in on her. Cinder let out a faint gasp. Not again. The familiar green text scrolled across her vision. INCREASING LEVELS OF NERVOUSNESS AND APPREHENSION DETECTED. COOLING PROCEDURES IMMOBILIZED. SYSTEMS OVERHEATING. BREATHING EXCERCISES RECOMEMMENDED. ONE...TWO...THREE... Sweat slid down her face as she struggled to control herself and the body that repeatedly betrayed her.
Cinder let out a yell and slammed her fist onto the bed. The mattress was too soft to sate her appetite for violence, though, and she turned to the wall, punching it over and over. Once she made a satisfying dent in the plaster, Cinder let up and flopped back on the bed, breathing hard. She swiped at the hair that was hanging over her face and blew out a sigh. There was a soft whimpering sound and Cinder turned toward Ginger. She had almost forgotten she was in the room.
"Dear girl," she murmured and opened her arms. Ginger ran forward and hugged her awkwardly on the bed. Cinder lifted her onto the mattress, taking extra care not to brush her injured legs on the bedside, but Ginger would not let go. She clung to Cinder, her arms wrapped around her ribs, squeezing hard. Cinder absently smoothed Ginger's hair. "It's going to be okay, Ginger. I'm sorry about Reece-" Ginger started to sob and Cinder hugged her to her chest rocking gently. "Stay strong, baby girl. Your daddy is coming for you soon. Don't cry. I promise we'll be out of here soon."
Ginger sniffled. "You didn't keep your word last time. You promised you would come and get me after the fire. You didn't. You almost died." Cinder softened.
"I'm sorry." Ginger looked away.
"How are we going to get out of here, Aunty?" she asked plainly. Cinder set Ginger down in front of her. Ginger's vivid green eyes, so much like her parents, blinked at her seriously.
"I don't know," Cinder replied truthfully. "I don't even know where we are right now. Are we..." she hesitated, "still in the palace?"
Ginger shook her head, her braids bouncing. "Reece stole a spaceliner cruise ship. I think we are in orbit." Cinder swallowed. Well, that might be a bit of a problem.
Ginger raised an eyebrow. "Does that surprise you? Surely you didn't actually think we would stay in a place where Aunty Cress and the others could easily get to us, did you?"
"Of course not," Cinder said. She smiled and tugged on Ginger's braid, changing the subject. "Who braided it for you?"
Ginger shrugged and tossed her head. "One of the nursery nannies. She's very nice. She even did a French braid." Ginger stroked it. "It's real pretty, isn't it?"
"Yeah..." Cinder said,
trailing off. She narrowed her eyes, detecting a glimmer, reflecting the lights and plucked a bobby pin out.
"Ow!" Ginger complained when Cinder accidentally yanked on a few stray strands. She let it sit on her palm, a new hope filling her. She got up and paced. There has to be an emergency life craft. This was a luxury spaceliner after all. They could pick the lock and run away. Far from here. Back to Kai. To Cress, Scarlet, Thorne and the others... But Reece still had the Rio. How Reece knew it existed, she could not be sure. Perhaps he did listen to her talk in her sleep as he said. Cinder shuddered. How creepy is that? She had no idea why she never suspected when the others all sensed something about him that was strange.
Winter had asked her to create something that could suppress her gift entirely, unlike the bioelectricity disruptors. Cinder had experimented for a while, basing the design on the one she had on her spine, but the end result was not what she had expected. Instead of releasing the bioelectricity the wearer would accumulate in a secure way, the energy built up to a point where bioelectricity could be manipulated long distances. Like the way Reece was able to glamour the Selkirk family to kill themselves even from so far away. It was the worst kind of power possible. All the most important intergalactic treaties were negotiated over the Plannet, a server used by the international governments to communicate with Luna. It was tested to completely safe and obviously 'unhackable' as Cress would say. The Rio would have completely undone her six years work of peace between the two races. Fear would once again run amok. She should have destroyed it, but she had worked so hard on it that she couldn't bear just taking it apart. Now she knew she should have just brought a mallet to it. Who knew a bug sized device could hold so much power? Cinder had just made a psychotic thaumaturge the most powerful man in the galaxy.
Cinder stared down at the small hairpin, a frown marring her expression. This shouldn't be so easy though. Reece never made mistakes, even when he was working for her. But she ignored the warning and paused, turning to face Ginger.
She made herself grin wickedly. "Who's up for escaping this blasted spacecraft?"
Ginger smiled.
They crept down the corridor, Cinder hastily downloading the blueprint for an Eastern Commonwealth Frisee spaceliner, passing garnish rooms of red and gold. Cinder grimaced at the gaudy grandeur. The colour scheme reminded of Medora's lipstick, a bright, flashy fuchsia. They came to a dead end and Cinder cursed, quickly scanning the blueprint again. Where were they? The soft carpet silenced their hurried footsteps, an advantage and a disadvantage. Reece might not hear them coming, but that meant they would not be able to hear him either. "Darling," she whispered finally. Cinder pointed to the far hall where a hatch awaited. "Wait for me there. I need to find something real quick and then I'll come back okay?" Cinder pushed Ginger in the direction of the lifecraft and left without waiting for an answer.
She needed to find the Rio. Cinder couldn't leave such a powerful weapon in Reece's hands. Not when he could potentially destroy the entire world with it. If Reece could glamour the Selkirk family from the Commonwealth, he could glamour the Earthen leaders. Everything would be gone. Even Kai.
Kai. Cinder's heart stopped. Reece could kill him with one thought. "Stars above," Cinder breathed. How was she going to get out of this mess?
Her eyes hardened. Kai would not die. She would not let him die. Reece would not kill him either. Because if Kai really did die... she didn't think she would be able to bear it. All those people Reece had killed. The Selkirk family, Thorne, Scarlet, Tandoori... who knew how many more? She was to blame for the loss of all those lives.
Cinder reached the cockpit. The door was ajar. She stopped, a funny shivering mass of dread dropping into the pit of her stomach. Something was terribly wrong. Cinder peeked in and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. There was no one there. She slipped in and looked around. Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. Cinder's gaze fell on a silver microchip on the dashboard and cocked her head. Why would Reece just leave it there? Her unease grew as she stepped toward it and caught sight of a small screen. Cinder squinted. Wasn't that...? The medbay. The place she was locked up. Her head spun. Reece had installed a surveillance camera in the room. She covered her mouth. Ginger.
Cinder took the chip and whirled around. Reece lounged on the wall, smiling. "I knew you would try this," he said entertained. "So I installed a camera in the medbay just to see how you would react. Didn't I warn you not to do this?" He shook his head, snorting. "Of course you wouldn't listen. Just like the rest of them."
Reece moved across the cockpit so fast, he was a blur. He slammed her onto the wall, his arm at her throat and pinning her arms up above her head. Pain radiated up her spine and exploded in her head, the rush of glamour making her breathless and weak. As soon as it came, the energy left her in a surge as Reece forcefully peeled open her clenched fist and took the Rio. His glamour infused voice was as sweet as honey as he asked, "Where is Ginger, little birdie? Sing for me?" He increased the pressure on her throat. Cinder whimpered and Reece lightened his touch slightly. She knew she shouldn't say anything but only listened in growing horror as the answer tumbled out of her throat without her consent.
"Lifecraft," she choked out haltingly. Cinder bit down on her lip hard and attempted to push out the conniving snake in her mind, but it slithered beyond her reach. Glamour drained out of her into Reece as he forced her to stay still. He let go of her slowly, as if afraid she would retaliate, but Cinder couldn't even move. In her mind, she wrenched against his reach, but Cinder was bound by barbed wire, and the move she struggled, the more her head hurt.
"Stop fighting me," Reece snapped. He clutched his head. "I'm not hurting you yet. You're punishing both of us when you do this. Do yourself a favor and stop." Cinder's nose started to bleed. She let it drip.
"I will never stop fighting you," she whispered. "You will not get away with this." Reece merely talked her back into the infirmary. Every step felt like she was walking through quicksand. Cinder was slowly losing strength and Reece knew it. He smiled at her triumphantly and coaxed her to pause before the door. Cinder stood mobile, unable to run, unable to do anything as Reece opened the door. He gripped her arm and dragged Cinder in, back into her bright white prison.
"Sit," he commanded, and shoved her toward the bed. Cinder fell onto the mattress and straightened, staring up at the blinking red light with dread. The camera. She opened her mouth to scream, to do anything, but Reece waved a hand and Cinder's tongue stuck itself to the roof of her mouth.
"Mhnnn," she mumbled. This was as effective as gagging her.
"I'm sorry, my queen, but I am rather sick of your orders. There will be none of that," Reece said coolly. "You will stay still and quiet till I find your precious goddaughter." Cinder bared her teeth at him, the only way she could show her resistance. Reece chuckled and smoothed back a strand of hair that had fallen down her cheek. Cinder tried to bite his hand, but only succeeded in having Reece's mental grip tighten on her mind. Blood from her nose dripped down to stain her white shift, flowery crimson spreading across the sheer fabric. Cinder inwardly cringed at her immodesty, but there was no time to think about such trivial things in the face of such danger.
Reece dragged Ginger in a couple minutes later. She hissed and clawed at him like a cougar, making Reece curse each time she hit her mark. Finally he gave up on controlling her and pushed her roughly toward the machines that took up the far corner. Cinder hid a small smug grin. The Rio didn't work with shells. A short victory. Reece's face was frosty, and he brought out a small black tube. He flicked it and the tube shot forward turning into a stick. Cinder went cold.
"Behave yourself," Reece growled at a snarling Ginger. Her hair spiralled in all directions like a ruffled cat. She stood firm, unafraid. Ginger didn't know the danger. He snapped the baton toward the girl.
"No!" Cinder screamed, but it was too late and the baton came down the moment she barreled into Ginger. The stick lashed across her back with the force of a maglev train and the spark of 600 volts. She jerked, seeing white stars splash across her vision. Distantly, she heard Ginger screaming her name. Then the pain smashed through all her defences, overriding her nervous system, firing through her veins. Her lips parted, but could only emit a soft breath as the voltage overwhelmed her wiring. Yellow and red warnings darted across her vision went ignored as Cinder's mind became fuzzy. She collapsed onto her side. His blurred face stared down at her without mercy. "Reece," she breathed, her last words as her brain shut down and the darkness dragged her under.
See what I did there with the Frisee spaceliner? Hee. Search it up if you don't get it. Til the next chapter!
Toodles!
-Silverleaf