a nasal voice huffed. “Just think of it as a test. She makes it through the night, then she’s a survivor. She doesn’t? Oh, well.”
The sounds of the noisy prison echoed around me, but the first guy kept silent.
“Such a fuckin’ bleeding heart, Zander,” the second man snarled. “We had to hide for centuries because of humans. They deserve everything they get. Come on, help me drag her in.”
I was in so much pain it all blended together as they dragged me in.
“Fuck. They took her blanket too.” Zander’s voice drifted over me softly.
“Not been a good day for the human. Tomorrow is not lookin’ any better.” Nasal laughter drifted from my cell, but every sound and feeling started to slip through my fingers, my body letting go, wrapping darkness around me. Right as I drifted off, I thought I felt a hand smooth across my temple, words drifting over me like a wisp of wind: “Fight. You need to survive.”
“Dammit, Bitzy. Stop sticking your fingers up her nose.” A yelled whisper fizzed in my ear, dragging me quickly to consciousness.
And agony.
The pain swept in instantly, forcing a groan from my lips before my eyelids even opened. Vomit pooled in my stomach, and I had to suck in slowly to keep it from coming up. I felt no central point of pain. It drenched every cell, every muscle, every nerve. My head pounded, sharp daggers piercing my brain every time my pulse thumped.
A chirp echoed in the cell, and I willed myself to open my eyes.
“Don’t bitch at me. You’re the one who woke her up.”
Opie. My brain clasped on to awareness at the same time it wanted to shut back down and hibernate for months.
I licked my lips. All moisture had been sucked from my mouth, which tasted like I drank battery acid while something died in there. Forcing my lids open, the face of a brownie and an imp’s two huge eyes took up my entire field of vision. I yelped.
“It’s a-live!” Opie raised his arms, laughing crazily as if he was acting something out.
Don’t vomit. Don’t vomit. Cringing, I rolled onto my back, a loud whimper puffing from my lungs.
A chirp came from the imp.
“You enjoyed the movie too. Don’t act like you don’t.” Opie sighed, waving his arms at her.
Chirp.
“Please, you could not do better,” he replied.
Chirp.
“Okay, then go for it. I want to see you do it as well.”
Chirp.
“Oh…well…that was pretty good.”
There was so much talking—so much noise. I curled back into a ball.
“Clearly not a fan.”
One eye peeked open at them. Bitzy glowered at me. Raising her hand, she flipped me off.
“Really, Bitz. Is that necessary? Don’t be sore because she liked my performance better.” He shook his head. “I mean, I am the true artist here.”
Chirp.
“I am not a wannabe.”
“Please,” I grunted, the effort to speak zapping at my strength. “Stop talking.”
“You really did the first day with gusto, didn’t you, little fish?” Opie stepped back up to me, touching my face with a cloth he held in his hand. Gently, he wiped away the dried blood around my mouth and nose. The whiff of rubbing alcohol bled into my nostrils. “I mean, if you’re going to do something, do it with flair. Am I right?”
My notice dropped down to the outfit he was wearing. He made a bikini top with steel pot scrubbers and cut leg holes in a pink scouring pad that he wore as briefs.
“What the hell are you wearing?” I croaked, trying to lift my head, my fingers pressing into my forehead as slowly I sat up.
“It’s pool day.” His smile lit up his grumpy face.
Chirp.
“Okay, fine. It’s my day to scrub dishes in the sink.” He touched his homemade outfit like Bitzy had burst his pretend bubble. “I enjoy having a little fun with it.”
A grin inched up my face, but I flinched in pain.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t smile, blink, move, or even breathe deeply for a bit.” Opie motioned to all of me. “You are a mess, fishy. Looks like you got the advanced new fish orientation. What happened?”
“Bitches happened.”
“You just described everyone here. Narrow it down.”
“Three human bitches.” I rolled my fingers into my temples. “Trying to show me my place in the hierarchy here.”
“Ahh. Mio, Dee, and Tess.” He nodded. “They love to think of themselves as the leaders of the humans, put anyone new in their place right away.”
Chirp.
“I’m sure she fought hard.”
“What did it say?” I glared at the imp who appeared to be