Nerves of Steel: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Misfits of Magic Book 1) by Lee Hayton

Author:Lee Hayton [Hayton, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, thriller
Publisher: Lee Hayton
Published: 2017-12-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

My mind whirred with so many questions that it came close to bursting open. Since an explosion of Asha over the cell walls would do no one any good, I pulled myself together by ignoring the strange woman.

Cat or insane asylum escapee—we could debate that when I’d gotten the hell out of this prison. I ripped the cuffs off my wrists and tore the shackles from my ankles.

A way out. That was where my focus needed to be, and so that was where I directed my attention. The walk through to the cells hadn’t been long. An exit door would be within easy reach.

Except that boots were stamping in unison down the corridor in the direction we needed to go.

“Did the guard have anything else useful on him?” I asked. “A weapon, a map, a fob to release the exit door?”

“Her not him,” Miss Tiddles responded, then shook her head. “Nothing apart from a set of silver handcuffs and I don’t think they’ll be useful.”

I nodded, then changed my mind, skipping out of the cell and crossing to the desk to pull them out of the dead woman’s belt. I tried not to look at what the cat had done to her. The blood sprayed everywhere actually helped to cover much of the carnage.

“Remind me not to get on the wrong side of you,” I said with a low whistle. “Which way?”

Miss Tiddles pointed in the direction away from the clip of boot heels striking concrete. It occurred to me after we’d run fifty yards down the hall, that she probably didn’t know the way any better than I did.

“How did you get in here?” I asked, looking over my shoulder.

“It’s easy,” she answered. “There are plenty of entryways. But first, you need to be a shape-shifting cat.”

The answer was ludicrous, so again, I ignored it. A set of double doors, locked from the opposite side, took up my concentration. I looked at the walls, searching for an electronic connection—something I could manipulate to break us out of this place.

Damn the empire. For some reason, they’d constructed the building with old-fashioned turnkeys and locks rather than wiring it into a mainframe.

On second thought, perhaps I knew the reason. They’d known about creatures like me—had created me from roadkill—so it stood to reason they’d protect themselves against the new threat.

“Do you have a gun or a knife?” I asked, my baby doll voice rising with my increasing desperation. The woman shook her head, looking over her shoulder as the boots marched with more clarity.

Damn it. Brute strength then. It was the only answer.

Adding two days idle in a cell—no food, no water—to my already weakened state, didn’t bode well for my plan. However, the renewed fear of the mobility imprisonment gave added impetus to my actions.

I braced one leg against the concrete walls and put my shoulder to the locked bar, pushing back with all my weight. At the same time, I gripped the metal juncture above the lock and twisted with all my strength.

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