Call of Water (Madame Tan's Freakshow #1) - Marina Simcoe Page 0,34
came to a stop, the light filtering through the cracks in the car’s walls had dimmed. Evening must have descended on the world outside of my prison.
My hand still pressed against the glass of the water tank, I lay on my side, my head on my shoulder. No one had brought me any food or water or checked if I even was still alive.
Amira stirred when we stopped, and I quickly withdrew my arm back into the cage. Now that I knew why Madame had kept people from touching the glass, I didn’t want anyone to discover that the tank was within my reach, lest they move my cage further away, depriving me of the only comfort I had managed to find in this place.
Dropping the edge of the rug back in place, I sat in the darkness once again. I heard Amira move, then the sound of more people joining her in the car.
I assumed they were Madame’s tattooed men, moving around silently. No one said a word. The noises of doors being opened and objects being moved along the floor filtered through the rug covering my cage, putting me on alert. If we had reached a station and were being unloaded, could I signal for help somehow?
Crawling around the floor of the cage, I anxiously tried to peek under the rug to assess the situation. Then, the rug was unexpectedly lifted, bringing me face to face with Amira who was holding a bowl with steaming porridge in her hands.
The deep and narrow bowl fit between the bars, and Amira placed it on the floor of the cage in front of me. She then put a bottle of water next to it.
I darted my gaze behind her. At least half a dozen men from Madame’s staff were unloading the car. The wide sliding door on the side was open, but a truck stood flush with the railcar. The men carried the crates, rolls, and containers from the rail car into the truck with no one else from the outside world visible.
My hope of getting help was crushed once again. Even if I managed to get out of this cage somehow and ran, the men would catch me pretty much immediately. Carrying an enormous crate on his shoulder, Radax glanced my way as if to drive that point deeper into my mind.
“I need to use a bathroom,” I said to Amira. This wasn’t a lie. Despite, having had nothing to drink or eat all this time, it’d been too long since I last used the bathroom.
The expression in her eyes turned from gloomy to fearful as I spoke, and she cowered as if I had physically struck her with my words.
“Sorry, but unless you want me to pee on the floor...” I mumbled, confused by her reaction.
She threw a tentative glance at Radax. He was coming back after having loaded the crate into the truck.
“Bathroom.” Amira’s whisper was barely there. Even this close to her, I wouldn’t have understood what she’d said if I couldn’t read her lips.
Fishing a key out of his pocket, Radax unlocked the door of the cage.
I climbed out, and he gestured for me to follow him, maneuvering between the working men. One separated from the group, following us out of the car as we squeezed through the side gap between the railcar and the truck’s trailer.
It was evening already with the edge of the setting sun barely showing over the horizon.
“Where are we?” I turned around, noting a low, flat-roof building—possibly a station or a train depot—but no signs of a town or any people around. Even the driver’s seat in the truck cab was empty.
“Silence,” Radax snarled.
All of Madame’s men seemed to be a carbon copy of each other—bald, massive, with identical tattoos. All were clean-shaven, except for Radax, who sported a full beard.
The second man shoved me toward the blue booth of a portable toilet that stood by the rail tracks.
I used it promptly, not wanting to aggravate Radax’s temper if I lingered. When I got outside, the two men were standing on each side of the toilet door like sentinels to some magical portal. The thought made me snort out a laugh despite my mood being far from merry.
Radax stared at me, a weird expression on his face.
“Can I get some clothes?” I wrapped my arms around myself, shielding my lacy bra from his stare.
Without saying a word, he took his black t-shirt off and handed it to me.