her hair while she laughed at something Sonny was saying and her whole face lit up.
"Why is that something I need to watch out for?" I muttered, sounding uninterested, but my eyes were still latched onto her. He was right. She did look pretty today. She always did anyway, but there was a glow about her this morning and I wondered if it had to do with hope. We were starting the library job today and that meant we were closing in on the day we'd get out of here. I couldn't wait to see the sun beyond that damn Order Yard dome, I needed to feel it while I was free and stretched out in my Lion form, taking a nap on some faraway beach. But more than that, I dreamed of seeing the sun light up Rosa's skin, watching her smile somewhere miles from here and knowing that she would never be caged again.
"Because you luuuurve her," Claud mocked and I shoved him, nearly knocking him out of his seat with the force I used.
He continued to laugh as he righted himself, purring as he nuzzled against my arm. Damn house cat.
Claud may have been a Lion, but he wasn't cut from the Alpha cloth. It was unusual for male Lions to fulfil what were typically Lioness roles, but he was a people pleaser and him becoming my second had just felt natural in here. He led the Shades superbly and I wouldn't have survived my time in here without him.
"No, no, no, NO!" a girl screaming caught my attention and I twisted around, spotting her in the queue for breakfast. I recognised her as Bullseye, with her small frame and bright pink hair. She was grabbing handfuls of oatmeal and throwing it on the floor, seeming possessed as she dug through it. "It's not here! It's gone. Where are my diamonds? I left them right here!" She whirled on the guy behind her, snatching a handful of his jumpsuit in her fist. "You took them! You took them from Lady Jasinta, didn't you? Didn't you?" she growled and Officer Rind ran over, pulling her away from him.
"Get off of me, Colonel Mustard!" she wailed. "Oh now I see! You did it, didn't you? You killed her in the library with the candlestick and took her diamonds!"
"Stop fighting," Rind snarled, trying to stop her thrashing.
The other meathead guard, Nichols, ran over to help him and the two of them locked her cuffs behind her back as they escorted her toward the exit. Her voice carried back to us they dragged her through the door and her wild, crazed eyes seemed to lock on me for a moment. "Help me Professor Plum!"
She disappeared with them and my throat constricted, my eyes moving across the hall to lock with Rosa's, a frown pulling at her brow. Now I knew what Rosa had seen down in Psych, I was more afraid of going crazy in this place than anything else. It was fucked up. And no one deserved that fate, not even a bunch of psychotic criminals.
Chatter broke out in the Mess Hall again and I sighed as I turned my attention back to my food. There was nothing we could do for the girl. It was just shit luck. Or maybe...
I looked over to Rosa again, jerking my head to get her attention and she frowned as she got up and walked over to sit opposite me.
"I'll see you in a bit, Claud," I told him and he nodded, getting the hint and hurrying off to sit with some of the Shades.
"What's up?" she asked, her eyes glittering a little and I reached out on instinct and gripped her hand. I squeezed gently and her mask slid hard into place before she took her hand back and I withdrew my own. She would never admit that seeing Bullseye taken away had upset her, not in front of so many watchful eyes anyway. If you showed weakness in here, the vultures would circle.
"I just had a thought..." I murmured, casting a look over at Cain, but he was busy breaking up a scuffle between two Harpies so I knew I could talk in private. "If they're taking people to Psych for some sort of experiment, then they must be orchestrating it."
"You think they're picking who goes crazy?" she breathed in horror and I nodded.
"Makes sense, don't you think?"
"But how?" she whispered.
"I don't know." I looked down at my food, thoroughly put