Page 90 of Desecrated Saints
“Brooke?” I gasp.
“Afraid not. Just little ole me.”
While I’m gulping down air, someone carefully pulls my eyes open and shines a phone’s flashlight in them. I flinch back, every single inch of me throbbing with agony. When the light is done burning my retinas, I find the same guard staring down at me.
“Get off me.”
“Relax, Nix. It’s me.”
Glancing around the room that has emptied out, the guard pulls the cap from their head. Beneath that, a short, brown wig is tossed aside, freeing a shock of bright-pink hair. The man becomes a woman right before my eyes, peeling off fake facial hair last.
“A-Alyssa?”
“It’s still Sadie to you. Can you sit up?”
Guided upright, I blink and stare at her. Clothed in Incendia’s signature black garb, her feminine features have been carefully disguised, but I see it now. She’s been here all along, hiding in plain sight.
“Did you get a kick out of watching them beat me up?”
Sadie scoffs. “Hardly. I have an appearance to maintain. As soon as I found you, I alerted the team.”
“Brooke? Is she here?”
“They’re all coming.”
“What about Bancroft?”
“Momentarily distracted. Theo leaked the video Hudson took in Blackwood’s Z Wing to the media last night. There are huge protests outside the gates of here and Hazelthorn.”
Coughing up more black water that sears my throat, Sadie hammers me on the back. Once the fit is over, I shove dank, wet hair out of my eyes. We’re still alone. Bancroft and his cronies have vanished.
“You really went for the nuclear option.”
Sadie shrugs. “It won’t last long. Incendia will have the video deleted from existence soon enough. But we’ve caught them off guard. It buys us some time.”
Grabbing my bad arm, Sadie tries to pull me to my feet. I hiss and yank it away from her, cradling my aching joint. When she spots the blood leaking from my inflamed, swollen right hand, her eyes widen.
“Uh, Nix?”
“I don’t know where my fingers are,” I answer for her. “You didn’t see that bit, huh?”
She shakes her head. “I’m so sorry.”
Taking my other arm instead, Sadie finally gets me on my feet. Everything goes a little wonky, forcing me to lean my entire weight into her. She guides me down the metal platform, my body trembling as filthy water clings to my bloodied clothes.
“Hold on. I’m gonna get you out of here.”
Hold on.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Her voice blurs and becomes one with Brooklyn’s in my mind. She’s walking here with me, pouring her strength into my broken body. Despite popping my shoulder back in, it still throbs, but not as badly as my hand. My feet carry me on instinct while I float on a lake of fire.
“Here, put this on.”
Sadie helps to strip the sodden t-shirt from my body and offers me a clean black one. I don’t miss the way her eyes linger on my multi-coloured torso. My cracked ribs are black and blue. Stepping out of the boxers that Bancroft permitted me to leave on, she helps me into cargo trousers next.