Fallen—Noa knew it was them. They were coming to save her. She felt it in the marrow in her bones.
Auguste turned and noticed the smile remaining on her bloodied and split-skinned face. “You won’t be smiling for long, witch.”
“They … are … here,” Noa whispered, voice almost ruined. “For me …”
Auguste’s brown eyes flamed with disgust, with pure unadulterated hatred. He reached for the back of the garrote. Noa stilled, closing her eyes, waiting for her neck to snap, waiting for the end to arrive. But then …
“Fuck!”
Noa opened her eyes, chest aching from tension. She could feel Auguste trying to turn the lever of the garrote tighter, to crush the bones in her neck. But nothing happened; the lever seemed to be stuck. It was stuck…
Auguste was breathing fast. Then, on a final furious curse, he released her from the garrote and dragged her numbed, weak body across the room to the iron maiden. Noa tried to fight, tried to push Auguste away from the fucked-up device staring her in the face, but her strength was too depleted. He opened the door to the iron maiden to reveal the mass of metal spikes.
Auguste pushed Noa in. She cried out in agony as the spikes instantly pierced holes all over her body. “We’ll meet again, witch,” he said, repeatedly checking over his shoulder. “Unless you die in here first, which, God willing, you will. You can die while you watch them search for you.”
With that, he slammed the door to the iron maiden shut. Noa screamed through her bruised throat as the spikes pierced the flesh on the front of her body. She tried to keep her breathing steady, keep herself totally still so the spikes wouldn’t run her through completely. But she was weak, and her legs threatened to buckle any second.
An explosion rattled the foundations of the cave. Noa stared through the slit of the iron maiden’s face and watched with grainy vision as Auguste fled, following the narrow path of the stream. “No,” she tried to protest, not wanting him to get away again. Then she saw the twins by the door. They opened it and rushed out, readying to kill whoever came down the stairs.
Dinah … Naomi, Jo, Candace, Beth … Diel … Diel …
Noa cried out in frustration as she fought to remain unmoving. She knew it was only a matter of time before she could no longer keep upright. And a part of her cried at the thought of her sisters, Diel, finding her in the iron maiden, too late.
She heard a commotion up ahead as another explosion sounded above ground. Noa began to drift in and out of consciousness. She heard guns and fighting, but she’d lost sight of any sign of the twins and where they might now be.
Then something seemed to be happening in the cave. She heard fighting close by but couldn’t see clearly enough to make out who and what. She tried to breathe steadily. She saw a flash of movement, but her vision was too blurred.
“Noa!” The frantic call of her name was a shot of caffeine to her exhausted body. She jerked, but then screamed in pain as the spikes dug into her further, the agony unbearable. “NOA!” the voice called louder, and tears filled Noa’s eyes when she realized who that voice belonged to.
“Diel!” she tried to shout out, but her voice was nonexistent. She couldn’t tap on any part of the iron maiden as a signal, as she couldn’t move or be impaled—as was its purpose.
“Noa!” Diel screamed again. She could hear him tearing apart the room, desperation in every frantic footstep. When he flashed before her, Noa whimpered, fearing he wouldn’t find her in time. But then Diel froze, and he turned to the iron maiden, his gaze immediately finding hers through the tiny slit in its face.
He raced toward her and tried to wrench the door open. “The lock. The fucking lock!” he spat, then disappeared from Noa’s limited view. She felt the door move again and heard a loud crunch echo around the cave. He was trying to break it open. Her jaw clenched as Diel’s effort made the spikes dig further into her flesh. But she held her legs firm.
Diel was here.
Diel was actually here.
Noa bit her lip to quell a cry of pain as the door pushed into her stomach and breasts. But then she heard the lock break, and Diel slowly opened the door. She fought to open her