Compulsion by Perrin Briar

Author:Perrin Briar [Briar, Perrin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-02-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Seven

SIREN awoke with a thudding headache on the stone floor of her cell. The walls were damp, green, dripping with some kind of liquid she couldn’t even begin to recognize.

She pushed herself up with all her strength, arms shaking. She got to her feet and leaned against the wall. The whole world tilted to one side. She stumbled but steadied herself. The world tilted again, this time in the opposite direction. She decided to play it safe and crouch down. It was better to fall from a few inches than a few feet.

The world began to still. She made her way toward the large rectangle of light she assumed to be the door. It might have been a window for all she knew, but she would get to it, push it open, and get some fresh air.

She pulled at the door, but it wouldn’t open. She couldn’t find a door handle and began beating on it. She had small hands that really weren’t made for pummelling anything. She gave up, panting for air, her throat sore and rasping with the fetid stench of the prison cell. She slid down the wall to the floor.

What was happening to her? She could still see the expression on the faces of the Raiders she had commanded to lay down their arms… and for a split second she had thought she had influenced their decisions…

She shook her head. She was being ridiculous. Of course that wasn’t what had happened. It couldn’t have been. Those kinds of things only happened in the movies. Then what exactly had scared the Raiders? The Raiders were used to fear. It was in their blood. Perhaps it was the shock of the moment, of seeing a teenage girl screaming at her… But Siren didn’t believe that. Raiders were used to hearing screams. It was their oxygen.

Then she sensed something. Someone was coming. His footsteps came down the corridor leading to the cell. Siren couldn’t figure out which part of the community she was located in. She hadn’t seen this part of the town before, didn’t even know it existed.

A key entered the lock and turned. The door opened, spilling light over the room. Siren could have made a mad dash for the man who had entered, but she doubted she would have gotten far. He wouldn’t have come here alone to pick her up… would he?

“The council are having a meeting about what to do with you,” Quinn said.

“What to do with me?” Siren said. “What do you mean? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Quinn looked at his hands and shook his head, like he had something he didn’t want to say.

“Greer is saying you murdered Mitt,” he said.

“What?” Siren said. “I didn’t do that! Why would he lie?”

“They’re going to banish you, with no food, water or weapons,” Quinn said. “It’s a cover for what they’re really going to do with you—hand you over to the Merchant.”

“No…” Siren said. “They can’t do that. They wouldn’t…”

“I can assure you they would,” Quinn said.

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