hands atop hers and gently squeezed. “You just can’t trust them.”
A tear swept her cheek. She pressed her head to the metal and tried to blow stray strands of hair from her eyes, but the wisps tangled into her lashes and caused her to blink repeatedly.
He reached in and brushed the wisps away.
She pressed against his touch and tried to ignore the feel of the bars. They didn’t cause her pain, just drained her strength — strength she was about to need.
Vessler quivered and Nikki was sure he had to fight the urge to reach into the cage and soothe her.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she tried her best to look innocent and lost. “You prefer my hair down, don’t you?” she whispered softly, wanting, needing to draw him even closer.
“Yes.” Beads of sweat broke out across his brow.
She could actually hear his heart hammering. He was breathing hard now, and his palms had gone sweaty against her skin. Slowly, she reached behind her head to tug her hair free. The palm of each hand landed around the two pencils. With a smile that could liquefy glass, her body stiffened. Her hands lunged forward and she planted the pencils deep into his chest.
Chapter 23
Vessler screamed and reeled back, gasping for air. One pencil protruded from his chest cavity, the other had snapped off and rolled, bloody, across the floor.
The commotion caused the group of lab employees to converge on Vessler at once, yelling for help. Scientists in white and men in black sprang into action, hurrying through the wide door. A gurney was rushed in while Vessler screamed orders and tried to keep pressure on the wound.
Nikki sat down on the concrete floor, careful not to touch the bars. She watched the uproar she’d generated by trying to kill Vessler with her pencils. She’d failed, but she’d certainly left her mark. Once Vessler was wheeled out, one of his men stopped at the cage door. He pulled a short wooden baseball bat from behind him.
Nikki swallowed hard.
“For you,” he mouthed, and smiled sadistically. He tapped the bat against the bar. “Soon.”
Nikki turned her back to him, refusing to let him see her fear. She moved across the floor and settled in next to Zero.
“Nice move on Vessler,” he muttered. “But I think you missed his heart.”
“Too small a target,” she said.
Zero’s shirt was ripped and his necklace was gone, but his fingers kept going to his throat as if searching for it.
His gaze fell on something outside the bars. Nikki turned to see. The cord was all that remained of his necklace.
“Zero, I’m so sorry.” She started to touch him, but was afraid of causing more injury. There was nowhere to place her hands — every inch of Zero was already swollen or bleeding. “What can I do?” But her words were as hopeless as her question. Nothing. There was nothing she could do for him.
“Did you bring any juice boxes?”
A tiny laugh escaped her throat.
Then, Zero did something unexpected. He reached for her. Nikki responded by sitting on the floor and drawing him closer, and even gently placed his head on her lap. When one tear fell from her cheek to his face, she brushed it away. “You look terrible,” she said, pushing his white-blond hair away from his silvery eyes. Clumps of blood caused some to stick, but she worked them free and smoothed the strands.
“Difficult to kill a Halfling.” His breaths were heavy, labored. She listened to him inhale, exhale. There was a gurgling sound with each intake of air. “Have you read about the death and resurrection? Will gave you a Bible, right?”
She frowned. She didn’t want to hear Zero talk about death.
His lips cracked and bled as he continued. “It says that the Son gave up the ghost. The essence of heaven had kept him alive beyond what any normal man could endure. I think he finally asked death to take him. I never understood it. Until now.” Zero’s eyes closed. “It was a beautiful sacrifice, wasn’t it?”
She nodded, though with his eyes closed, he couldn’t see. But Nikki didn’t trust her voice to speak. Zero would hear her uncertainty. She needed to stay strong for him, and a broken voice wasn’t an act of strength.
He pulled a few more breaths. “Hey, I liked your hair with the Jinsu pencils.”
“I learned that from Raven.”
“I’ve never known Raven to wear pencils in his hair.”
Nikki grasped the edge of his T-shirt and gently tugged the material away