here and hiding up on my own private island for the next eighty years with some hot cabana boys.”
“Good plan, but you’re sure you can deal with the alpha?”
Another wry look comes my way. “I’m sure. Besides, it’ll be these dumbasses who have to deal with his wrath, not me. He must be getting desperate to be putting out an open bounty for idiots like this to come and collect you. And besides, if shit hits the fan somehow, I can calm anyone down enough to slip away,” she tells me, tapping on her tattoo.
“Handy power.”
“Yep,” she says, taking a step back. “Don’t worry about me. It’s you he wants to deal with.”
I wrinkle my nose. “You make it sound dirty.”
She grins. “Take care of the squad while I’m gone. And don’t take anyone’s shit.”
“I won’t,” I tell her.
“Take care of yourself, Sinclair.”
I give her a little wave before she turns and crouches through the dormer doorway, all three sigbins following after her. “Hey,” I call to Three. He stops and looks over at me. “Tell Alpha Bowen that Sinclair is really enjoying the thread count of those sheets,” I say, knowing that the taunting words will fuck with him once he realizes his cronies broke out the wrong prisoner.
“Huh?” the dumb sigbin says.
I sigh. “Never mind.”
His head is so full of holes and calm power that he can’t even deliver an immature taunt for me. It’s a wonder they managed to break into the prison at all, but that has to be due solely to their excellent tracking skills and their ability to see in the dark.
Once they disappear through the entrance that leads who the fuck knows where, I shove the opening shut by bracing my feet on the roof and pushing with all my strength, heaving my shoulder and arm into it until I manage to slide it into place.
I shake my head at Joe, giving him my best I’m disappointed in your behavior look. When he wakes up, he and I are going to have a major discussion about not trying to break out your fellow squad member from prison unless they ask you to. It’s just basic manners.
I leave him to sleep on the roof as I walk back to the door. Knowing Zen’s amount of power, it’ll be hours before he wakes up, and I’m not about to stick around here and give the guards a reason to tase me.
I slip through the exit and make my way back down the steps and into the maze that awaits below. Meeting the bottom of the stairs, I look around with a sigh. I turn in a circle, dread pooling in my stomach at the snarl of dark passageways that I don’t recognize in the slightest. I have no idea which one leads me back to my cell.
Fuck.
13
Yeah, I’m lost.
I’ve been wandering for hours.
The hallways and doors just never fucking end, and I see some really fucked up things down here in this labyrinth of doom.
I know for sure I’m not in the part of Nightmare Penitentiary where I belong with the other minor criminals who are just here for a slap on a wrist and a short sentence. That fact becomes abundantly clear as I pass by some of the corridors.
I see a passageway guarded by hellhounds. I see a barred, pure silver door with someone inside banging so hard it feels like the whole place is gonna collapse around it. I back away from blades swinging from ceilings and spiked floors blocking red-glowing doorways. I spot a weird fucking ghoul-ghost thing haunting a vent, and blood pooling beneath a windowsill.
Nope. Definitely not in my nice, above-level, minor criminal part of the prison.
After wandering around, I try to backtrack and go back to the roof, deciding it’s worth the threat of being tased to just wait until Joe wakes up so he can lead me to my cell. Except...I can’t fucking find that either. I should’ve dropped proverbial breadcrumbs to lead my way home like a good little Hansel and Gretel, instead of just blindly walking and hoping for the best.
I start to get worried when my mouth grows dry and my stomach clamps down with hunger. My feet are fucking dead, and my thighs still hurt from those damn stairs. I must’ve walked for half a day now.
How fucking big is this prison?
I pass an arched entryway that leads to what looks like yet another empty corridor, but just when I walk past, a