Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [77]
After Brid came out, I took my turn in the bathroom. Surprisingly, the guy let Brid come in after a few minutes to help me wash up. She ran a small washcloth under warm water before using it to wipe all the dried blood off me from yesterday’s new cuts. “You’re starting to look a bit battered,” she said.
I looked past her into the mirror. The bruises on my face had yellowed, and the scabs on my scratches were coming off. I had a few small fresh cuts on my forehead, arms, and chest. I couldn’t see my back, but I’m sure it was yellow and scabby too. The man let Brid put a little Neosporin she found in the medicine cabinet onto the claw marks and some of the bigger scratches. I guess they were happy to kick the crap out of me, but they were worried I’d get infected.
After that, we were escorted back into the cage. The big guy brought me a paper plate with a few slices of cheese, some brown bread, and a chunk of ham. Brid got a hot bowl of what looked like stew. It was a pretty big bowl. We each got a plastic cup filled with water. Glass, apparently, was too dangerous.
After he left, I started to eat, putting the cheese on the bread and ignoring the ham. “I’m kind of surprised they aren’t starving us.”
Brid swallowed a large spoonful of the stew. I don’t think she even chewed.
“They want you healthy enough to endure Douglas’s lessons, or to at least not die until he wants you to. And I guess they don’t want me to eat you.”
I looked at her. “I’m kidding,” she said. “Well, kind of. I don’t normally eat people.”
I ate slowly, watching Brid devour her stew. “Not that I want your food, but what gives?” My plate was tiny compared with what they gave Brid.
“Faster metabolism,” she said. “I need more food and much higher levels of protein. Besides, it’s easier to hide drugs in stew.”
I paused midchew. “You know they’re drugging you, and you’re still going to eat it?”
Brid shrugged. “They aren’t trying to kill me. It’s a sedative. Keeps me docile. And I don’t have much of a choice. If I don’t eat, I grow weak and then I die. I’d rather be drugged and strong.”
I tossed my ham onto her stew. “Are you sure?”
“I don’t eat meat,” I said.
She snatched the ham and gobbled it up in three bites. The girl was a machine. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “They locked me in here with a vegetarian.”
“I know,” I said, finishing off my cheese. “A lamb among wolves.”
Brid snorted and kept eating.
After a while, the big guy came and took our plates, surprisingly without incident. I waited until he left to talk.
“What’s the deal with Happy, there?”
“Happy’s name is Michael Jacobs,” she said.
“And I take it Mr. Jacobs has nothing to do with your pack.”
“He is dead to us.” Her tone was flat. No love lost there.
“Charming,” I said. “And what, exactly, does that mean?”
“It means that he is rogue. We no longer acknowledge him as one of our own. If he needs help or protection, we don’t give it. If he asks to join another pack, we don’t recommend him. In our eyes, he is dead.”
“His choice or yours?”
“Both.”
“He was the one who did my back.”
She grunted. “Figures.” Brid glanced up at the top of the stairs. “Remember the coup I told you about?” I nodded.
“Michael was in on it.” She looked like she might say something else, but then she decided against it.
Brid didn’t seem too keen on talking about it, so I let it be. I still felt tired, so I grabbed the blanket and leaned against the bars to rest. After a few minutes, I felt the blanket lift and Brid slide in next to me. Without opening my eyes, I held my arm up so she could get comfortable, and then crooked it around her shoulders. She felt hot against my side. It was nice, like having a heater under the blanket with me.