done to her, and always did, to the best of her ability, without being cruel.
And, like anything else of worth, such a decision required work. It was hard to be truthful when she knew a lie would temporarily save her. It was hard to walk in love when anger demanded she run in hate. It was hard work to be nice when she was hurting, and even harder to hang on to hope when she was feeling abandoned by, well, everyone. But really, at the end of the day, when she rested her head on her pillow, she knew she’d chosen the better road. They had to wade through the mud. She remained clean.
“Now,” she said, “if you’ll excuse me, I’d like a little alone time to replay this conversation through my mind and laugh at you. Actually, even if you won’t, I’d like a little alone time. Enjoy your day. Or not. Mostly not.” Okay, so she wasn’t ever nice to Matas. But then, even nice girls weren’t to play with evil.
She opened the door and waited.
He slowly unfolded from the couch and stuffed the diamond necklace he’d been fondling into his pocket.
She almost protested. Almost.
She might despise what the jewelry represented, but every piece was going to a great cause. In a year, she would have enough money in trinkets and charms to buy a new identity and a home hidden high in the mountains of New Colorado. A place she’d dreamed of owning for the last four years. A place no one would be able to take away from her.
Without the identity, Jecis would be able to find her. Without the home, she would have to get a job to pay rent, which would put her under someone else’s control, as well as on the grid.
Plus, the time gave her a chance to look for the key to the cuffs the otherworlders wore. Cuffs that had to be removed, or the captives could be tracked to the ends of the earth—and maybe even other planets.
“If Jecis catches you with that,” she said as if she was happy at the prospect, “you’ll be in trouble.”
“He won’t catch me. It’ll be gone within the hour.” Matas swept out of the trailer, making sure to brush against her.
Shuddering as the bugs once again seemed to jump on her, she slammed the door.
Ten
No weapon formed against you will prevail.
—ISAIAH 54:17
VIKA HAD TOSSED HIM a bag of food. The knowledge held Solo immobile. She’d tossed him a bag of food, and she’d done it even with fear in her eyes.
Why fear?
What—or who—was she afraid of?
Just as before, when the two otherworlders had harmed her, Solo experienced an almost overwhelming urge to chew through the bars of his cage. Not that such an action would work, he now knew. But just then, the urge had nothing to do with earning his freedom and everything to do with slaying whatever dragons plagued her.
Desperate to avenge your keeper?
Maybe. He’d done the vengeance thing countless times before and had never felt better afterward, only worse. He wondered if he would feel different on behalf of a female. His female.
No, not his.
“Jecis is gonna beat her but good for running through the zoo,” the tobacco-spitting male from yesterday said gleefully from the distance. “He’s on his way right now. Do you know how badly I want to watch?”
Solo’s ears twitched.
The other male from yesterday chortled. “As badly as me, I’m betting.”
“It’ll be a shame, though, seeing that pretty face all busted up.”
“It’s always busted up.”
“True.”
A pause. “Okay, here’s a question for you. There’s a gun to your head and you have to do Vika or the bearded lady. But if you pick Vika, Jecis gets to do your wife. Who do you pick?”
“Jecis can have my wife, the little witch. I’ll take Vika for sure.”
Vika. They were discussing Vika. Jecis was going to beat his own daughter? His “heart?” Surely not. Surely the man would spank her, and nothing more. But the males had mentioned a busted face, hadn’t they.
Little black dots flickered through Solo’s vision.
He didn’t know the girl, and he didn’t trust her. Why should he? He shouldn’t want to help her. And yet . . .
She had thrown him the bag of food. He didn’t have to look to know that was what was inside the burlap. He could smell the milk and flour in the bread, as well as the sweetness of the honey and the tang of the meat.