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“I…listen…look…,” ?Ace’s voice continued. ~“Recognize…”~
I assumed he was asking if there was anything I recognized.
That he wanted to focus on where I was seemed to me to be proof that it really could be him. I could only imagine how worried Ace was about me.
Wherever he was in the world, he must have known I was missing. And if he could talk to me, he would definitely try to find out where I was so he could get me back.
I looked around the room, searching for anything that might be useful.
“Mitchell!” ?I shouted in my head. ~“Mitchell gave me up to the kidnappers! And Mr.
Callahan. He gave me to this man named Robert—”~
“Slow.” ?Ace’s voice cut me off.~ “Repeat.”~
Right. He was probably only hearing bits and pieces of what I was saying, just like I was only hearing some of his words.
I sucked in a deep breath and focused all my energy on forming slow, clear words in my mind. “Mitchell. Mr. Callahan. Robert. Elias.”
“Again…,” ?Ace said, ~“concentrate…slow…”~
It was shocking how much effort it took to communicate in such a way. My whole body shook from the exertion, and I felt sweat dripping down the back of my neck.
“Mitchell…Mr. Callahan…Robert…Elias…,” ?I said as slowly and clearly as I could.
It was hard to know if I was doing it right. It was possible Ace wasn’t hearing a single syllable.
Hell, it was possible I was making it all up and needed to be institutionalized.
I repeated the same list twice more.
By the time I was done, I was panting, and my skull pounded with painful pressure.
I sagged against the wall behind me, so exhausted that my eyes drifted shut on their own accord.
“A-again?” ?I asked Ace.
There was a long pause, and I started to panic that I had lost him. I didn’t care how much pain or fatigue this strange connection caused me. I wasn’t ready to be alone again.
“Ace?” ?I tried again. ~“Don’t go. Please. I need you.”~
My limbs felt numb, and my head fell against the wooden beam next to me, too heavy to hold up anymore.
I sensed my connection to Ace dwindling. I was too tired. That short conversation—
if you could even call it that—had used the little energy I had left.
Trying to keep our connection open had given me the sensation I had violent lacerations across my scalp, making it nearly impossible to think.
I could feel myself starting to drift off, the edges of my vision caving in. I had no control over it. It was as if I’d been drugged, then I wondered if that’s what had caused the hallucinations.
Right before completely losing consciousness, during a moment when my mind was otherwise completely blank, I heard Ace’s barely audible voice speak one last time.
“I’m here. You can rest now, baby.” ?His deep timbre was like ice upon my throbbing skull. ~“I’m coming for you. I’m coming.”~
“I don’t know! I swear I don’t know!” I sobbed.
Mr. Callahan pressed the tip of the knife deeper into my neck, making me scream in agony. I didn’t even know this level of pain existed.
He was cutting into the bump near my throat—the one he referred to as my
“mating gland”—pushing in deeper and deeper, drawing blood, each jab causing a horrible, burning fire to race down my body.
Getting cut by a knife was supposed to hurt, but there was something about being cut in this specific spot that felt more like he was pressing a hot branding iron into my skin.
After nodding off earlier that day, I was awoken a few hours later by Robert and Mr. Callahan descending the stairs of the basement with unnerving expressions on their faces.
They told me it was my last opportunity to tell them the truth and started firing questions at me, each one more confusing than the last.
So far, I had learned that they were looking for a place called “Zaweth” which, according to them, was some sort of supernatural kingdom full of mythical creatures just like werewolves.
The entrance to this place was hidden by magic, and Robert wanted to know how to get inside.
I told them that I had never heard of Zaweth, but they said that was impossible because Ace had been there the day they kidnapped me.
“Then where the hell did Ace tell you he was going?” Robert demanded, crouched down in front of me.
“Croatia! He said he was going to Croatia!” I cried out.
I tried to pull away from Mr. Callahan, but he grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back.
The knife went deeper. A blood-curdling scream left my mouth. The room spun around me, darkness threatening to consume me if the pain didn’t stop soon.
“Stop it! Let her go!” Mitchell bellowed. “What the fuck are you doing to her?”
My birth father had awoken around the same time Robert and Callahan came back downstairs, so he had been forced to watch me being tortured for the last forty-five minutes.
With his hands still tied to the wooden post behind him, there was nothing he could do to help me.
He sure did do a lot of yelling though.
I wished he would be quiet. I was relieved when he woke up, especially after thinking he was dead, but Mr. Callahan’s face was starting to sour with every word that came out of Mitchell’s mouth.
He was going to get himself knocked out again if he wasn’t careful.
“Croatia?” Robert sounded skeptical.
I couldn’t blame him for doubting me—Croatia was such a random place to just blurt out. I would think I was making it up too.
I would’ve nodded if I had any control over my neck. “There was a family emergency. S-something to do with his cousin and father, but I don’t know for sure.
But it was definitely Croatia.”
With his hand still wrapped around my hair and his knife still pushed up against my throat, Mr. Callahan forced me to tilt my head back. “What do you know about his cousin?”
“H-his name is G-Grayson Stoll,” I said.
I could tell I was on to something when Robert and Mr. Callahan exchanged looks. I racked my brain for any other information.
“Ace said that his father tried to, um, k-kill Grayson but didn’t explain why, only that it was for power. That was why he had to go to Croatia.
“I know this all sounds ridiculous but I swear that’s all he told me. I had never even heard of Grayson before that.”
Was I giving away Ace’s personal information? Yes. Did I care? No. I had bigger fish to fry.
Mr. Callahan finally released me. Relief washed over me, and I scrambled back until my back was against the wall, putting a good several feet between me and my tormentors.
I cupped my pulsating neck, wincing when even that simple touch felt like someone was pouring boiling water over me.