Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [42]
10
Waiting, For a Girl Like You
Brid knew she’d been out of the cage. They’d cleaned her up, but she could smell blood on her skin. Her blood. And when she was napping she had hazy aconite-fuzzy flashes of things. A steady pull on her shoulders. Sharp pains. The cool feel of concrete on her cheek. Since there wasn’t any in the cage, she could only assume she’d been out. And she’d healed, which wouldn’t have happened in here. Or at least she’d healed on the outside. The uncomfortable feeling on the inside hadn’t gone away. She didn’t like not knowing what they’d done. Or losing time. She wasn’t even sure what day it was now.
Her nostrils flared as she breathed in. She closed her eyes. Meditation had never been easy for Brid. It was hard for someone like her, sitting so still for so long. Which of course was exactly the reason her father had trained them all to do it. Being able to sit still, to control yourself, he said, was just as important as being able to run. Brid didn’t like it, but she could see his point.
She sat cross-legged, hands resting palms down on her thighs. She never felt comfortable doing that weird finger-circle meditation thing.
She slowed her breathing, willing her heart rate to follow suit. Her pulse wasn’t complying. It kept chug-chug-chugging along. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the cage, but she could feel the restlessness growing. Her jog had been cut short by the abduction, and the cage just wasn’t big enough for any real exercise. Sit-ups weren’t cutting it, and there wasn’t enough room to sprint.
And she couldn’t change.
The only thing she could do was bully her pulse into slowing down, force her body to give her more time. She couldn’t do it forever. But she didn’t need forever. She just needed until she got out or was rescued. And if neither of those things happened, then her captors would probably solve her restlessness permanently.
Brid ignored that possibility and concentrated on her heart. Breathing through her nose, she pictured it slowing, moving to a lazy beat. After an unknown amount of time, her mind emptied, and all she knew was that measured rhythm.
Then footsteps.
She kept her eyes closed and listened.
“Success?” That was Douglas.
“There wasn’t much I could do, but I think I bought us some time.” Brid frowned, not recognizing the other voice.
“If it keeps Brannoc off my doorstep, I’m grateful.”
The other person scoffed. “If you’d let me handle it in the first place, instead of involving that idiot—”
“James.” Douglas’s voice held a hint of warning.
The person called James sighed. “I know.”
“Which form did you use?”
“Dragon. They shouldn’t be able to pick up that scent, and if they do, I doubt they’ll recognize it.”
“And you made it look like she went away?”
Brid shifted uneasily. She didn’t like where the conversation was going.
“Yes.”
“Where did you leave her things?”
There was a pause. “The less you know, I think, the better.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Is there anything else you need?”
“No,” Douglas said. “I will see what I can do to strengthen the trail, make them think she went off somewhere on her own.”
Another pause. Brid leaned back on her hands.
“Do you think it will work?”
Brid almost didn’t hear it, James asked so softly.
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
She heard some clanging noises, which made her think that Douglas and his accomplice were in the kitchen. Until now, it had just been Douglas and Michael. With the new voice, the tally was up to three. She didn’t have any use for the information right now, but she made note of it.
Brid uncrossed her legs and stretched them straight in front of her. She leaned down and grabbed her toes, resting her forehead against her knees. Stretching felt good.
She usually checked in with her family before she went anywhere. Usually. But if they didn’t know when she’d disappeared, they might think she’d just stayed the night at a friend’s. Although it was normal for pack members to go days without seeing one another, they generally checked in with the Alpha,