Page 23 of Shadow Prophet (Scythe Grove Academy 2)

"Yes, Leader," she responds. "I thought that might be the case and have already readied a room for that purpose."

I wince. That doesn't sound good. Knowing Ms Margery, it'll be a locked room with nothing but a thin blanket and dry bread to eat. I suppose things could be worse. I must have some power or they wouldn't be so intent on keeping me.

"All right, Syxe, come on," she says, gesturing to the door.

"Thank you for your offer of hospitality," I say through gritted teeth. "But I really must be going..."

She reaches out and grabs hold of my arm, pressing her fingers into the soft flesh a little more forcefully than I think is necessary.

It takes everything I have not to wince in pain. I don't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she's hurting me, she takes too much pleasure in it.

There's nothing I can do when she drags me from the room. She's stronger than me and has a lot of practice with getting other people to do what she wants.

This isn't going to be a chance for me to escape.

12

I wish I had a clock. Or some other way of working out how long I've been in this room. I know it can't be too long, probably less than a day. Though it feels like longer.

The lights are always on. I've had two meals of bread and water. It's ridiculously cold and the predictable thin blanket doesn't do much to help keep me warm.

Ms Margery knows how to make someone's life miserable.

I guess the Leader can't deny I'm a prisoner now. I'm just not sure what to do with that information now I'm in a locked room with absolutely no chance of escaping.

And no way of contacting the outside. I'm not sure exactly when they took my phone away, but I don't have it now.

All of the things I wish I'd done differently run through my head. If I'd gone straight to talk to Mathias after his brother encouraged me to, then I would have questioned why he'd sent me the email more and asked him about it. If I'd done that, I wouldn't be here. I'd be with my friends drinking coffee and talking about the new reaping technique we learned.

I take a deep breath. I shouldn't dwell on that. It'll only drive me crazy if I do.

What if no one has noticed I'm missing?

No. I'm not going to think like that either. Of course they'll have noticed I'm busy. Maybe not as quickly as if Mathias and I were on good terms, but when I didn't show up for class and wasn't in my room, they'd have worked it out.

And it's only a small leap from there to the Shadow Association being responsible. Especially as Tobias knows about the summons I got, even if the other two don't.

I take a deep breath and count to ten. It's going to be okay.

As much as I don't want to have to be rescued, I have to accept that this time I might need to be. And it's just fine by me. Anything that gets me out of here is good by me.

A scuffing sound outside the door catches my attention. I perk up, hoping it's someone coming for me so at least I have something to do.

No such luck. The person carries on their business with no clue that I'm dying of boredom behind a door. Though dying may be a bit melodramatic of me. I have everything I need to survive, and they'll let me out of here eventually if they think I've finally accepted the craziness that is the Shadow Association.

Why they think locking me in a room and denying me my freedom is going to convince me to join them, I'm not sure. I don't think I understand the motivations of the people in charge to work that one out.

A yawn creeps up on me unexpectedly. I've been awake for a long time, and a lot has happened, no wonder I'm tired.

A small patch of darkness peeks out from under the rickety bed. I crawl over and tuck myself into a ball beneath it. This isn't the first time I've slept like this, and if I stay here, it won't be the last either.

Sleep takes me surprisingly quickly given the circumstances and the fact I'm used to my comfortable bed back at Scythe Grove Academy. And I let it. If I want any chance of a successful escape attempt, then I need to be in my best form, and sleep is the way to do that.

I'm woken by the scrape of the key in the lock.

I scramble to my feet, still blinking the sleep out of my eyes. I don't want to be cowering on the floor when Ms Margery comes in, she'll think I've been broken and will lord it over me.

The door swings open, revealing two women on the other side. Ms Margery isn't a surprise, but the familiar woman in a smart suit standing next to her is.