Paper Castles (Paper Castles Trilogy Book 1) by Ellie Ember

Author:Ellie Ember [Ember, Ellie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Juniperus Press
Published: 2024-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

Her head smacked against something hard as she jolted awake.

She found herself facing a wall of concrete, her shoulder pressed into a bare mattress. It creaked when she rolled over, old springs bouncing beneath her.

Not dead, she thought, but where am I?

The mattress was on the side of an expansive room, completely empty save for it, and now, her. A rusted metal railing rose from the ground in the middle of the space.

Pins and needles stabbed at her limbs as she stumbled off the mattress and onto her feet. Cold bit her skin, a drafty wind rustling through the shattered windows on the other end of the room. After checking her waist for her weapons and finding them gone, she crossed her arms over her chest.

The woman had kept her alive. For what reason, Alexandria could not guess. She hoped that James would be okay. Killing did not seem to be the woman’s modus operandi, something Alexandria was grateful for at the moment.

She did not let herself ponder it for too long. As she leaned over the railing, she found that she was on the second story of a building. Below her was another empty space which seemed to expand even further than the one she was in.

A warehouse. She was in a warehouse.

Hult did not produce much, but she recalled seeing a few factories driving into the town as a child. This one could have been abandoned after the Draft began.

If she was even still in Hult at all.

The last remaining daze of the tranquilizer dissipated. In its place rose the violent pounding of her heart.

There was an opening with a ladder on the other side of the railing. She raced toward it. It was connected to the platform by only one screw. The rest had been disintegrated by rust and time.

When she set her foot on the first rung, a sound like a shutter rolling open echoed below.

She jumped back onto the platform as the woman’s shadow appeared below. Eyes scanning the room, Alexandria found nothing that would help her defend herself.

She ran soundlessly to the mattress, dropping down onto it and closing her eyes. The ladder clanged as the woman climbed it. Alexandria forced her breathing to still.

“Alexandria,” the woman said, the sound coming from right next to her, “I know you’re awake.”

Alexandria opened her eyes and pressed her back against the wall in a quick movement. “Who are you?” she asked. “How do you keeping finding me?”

“My name is Leianna. I’m your Protector.”

Her heart stopped. “I’ve heard that one before,” she snapped, even as her trust in Carter disintegrated further. “Try again.”

Leianna crossed her arms. “You’re much more trouble than you’re worth. It was an honor to be assigned this mission, but I’m starting to think it’s a punishment.”

“Show me proof.”

Leianna’s stilted laughter startled her. “Show you proof? What proof could I possibly give to convince you that Carter has been lying to you? Besides not killing you, of course.”

“He had a contract,” Alexandria muttered.

“A contract? To not kill you?”

“It had Mendoza’s signature, as well as my mother’s.

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