Page 12 of My Eternal Light

“What do you mean be food?” Brie looked down at the boy frowning.

“The bad men come when they are looking tired and sick. They take five of us and when they come back later, they look better. That’s why we think they eat us.”

A tiny girl sitting next to one of the cages began to cry. “I don wanna get ate.”

Brie scooped her up and held her on her hip. “Don’t you worry about that anymore. Your Auntie Brie has a gun and will shoot any of those sick fucks if they come for you.”

Kincaid had to turn his head, so that his rough and tumble sister didn’t see his smile.

“Brie, babes, maybe not the best thing to say,” Ari started.

“Kill allll da sick fucks!” the little girl announced in a piping voice.

Brie beamed. “You got that right.”

Gage covered his face with his hand.

The older girl in the cage giggled. “I wanna be like you when I grow up.” She froze, looking scared. “I get to grow up now, don’t I?” She wrapped her arms around herself and began to shake.

Brie turned to Aiden. “We really need to get in these cages, Boss.”

“Working on it,” Aiden said, eyeing his gun.

“You can’t shoot the lock!” she yelled.

“You have a better idea?” he asked.

“Yeah, I do. Call your mate. She’ll know how to handle a locked cage.”

Aiden’s mouth snapped shut. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea.” He reached for his phone and put it on speaker.

“Yello!”

“Hey baby. How would you get into a locked cage?”

“Biometric?”

“No, looks mechanical to me.”

“Any magic?”

Aiden shook his head. “I don’t think so. There wasn’t a reaction when Darian pulled the bars apart.”

“He did what?”

“Totally epic moment!” Brie called out.

“I never get to see any of the cool stuff.”

“Babe, the cage?”

“Right, so I’m guessing no keys.”

Aiden stared down at the phone.

“No need to get snarly at me.”

“I’m not snarly,” Aiden refuted.