24. Switching Cages

24. Switching Cages

Marilynn

I can still taste theflavor of Niles’s tongue.

But the yearning relaxing deep in my bones is quickly replaced with concern as a small whimper escapes Skylenna’s mouth. Dessin watches her with anger brewing in his deep brown eyes. He’s hurting, too, but it seems that seeing the wounds on Skylenna’s back hurts more than his own.

“What can I do?” Dessin asks.

Skylenna thinks on this. “Got any juicy gossip to distract me?”

“I can’t say I do.”

“Wait!” Ruth cries, rushing to stand in front of her cage door. “We do need girl time.”

Dessin looks slightly disgusted. “Why?”

“To discuss the small girth of your penises!” Ruth shoots back. “And we’ll clean Skylenna’s back and take care of her.”

Skylenna chuckles, then winces, and I can’t help but grin at the way Warrose narrows his eyes at her.

“Small?” Niles gasps with a hand on his chest.

“Yeah, so we need time to ourselves to chat,” Ruth adds with a shrug.

“She really said small,” Warrose comments to Dessin in disbelief.

“Beat it!” Ruth waves her hands so they can pick the cages furthest away from mine. “And no eavesdropping!”

The boys saunter over to the last three cages as we hear Niles mutter, “I have a huge penis, just so you both know.”

Ruth waves us into my cage. “Hurry!”

We take a seat with enough room for Skylenna to lie on her stomach, giving us access to the lash marks. Long welts fill with fluid, blisters peel open and leak small trails of blood. Overall, it looks like a bear clawed at her soft, tan skin. I peer between the bars to see Dessin swat away Niles trying to tend to his back. I noticed the rectangular scars on his back the first day in prison. I doubt he’s in as much pain as Skylenna, considering those kinds of scars usually damage the nerves.

“How’s the pain?” I ask Skylenna.

She gives me a feeble thumbs up, face pressed uncomfortably to the rough floor. We dab at her wounds with a bowl of soap and water. After the number of injuries, we’ve decided it’s best to keep supplies ready in case of emergencies.

“I thought some gossip might distract you from the pain,” Ruth sighs with mischievous eyebrows.

“I’m guessing there’s gossip to share after the ecstasy dance…” Skylenna mumbles.

A flutter tickles the inner lining of my stomach. I’ve never had girlfriends. Never gossiped. Always kept secrets. It’s how we were raised. But this feels…exciting.

“Yeah…” Ruth tucks a loose curl behind her ear. “But I’m feeling shy. Someone else go!”

“I was with Greyst—”

“Alright, fine, I’ll tell you!” Ruth whisper-yells. Skylenna laughs, and I pinch my lips together, doing my best to suppress my smile. “Okay, lately there’s been some tension with Warrose.”

“Oh?” Skylenna tries to hide a shudder as we clean the dirt from a rather deep wound.

“Yeah, okay, I know he’s big, gruff, and stupid…but we just have this banter, this chemistry.”

“He’s not stupid,” Skylenna snickers.

I apply ointment in delicate strokes, smearing it evenly. Skylenna’s quiet, closing her eyes against my touch. She has so much strength for someone so young. Her life has consisted of suffering, heartache, and loss. I would love to tell her about her future. About the many secrets I know that could put her mind at ease.

“No, he is an oversized imbecile. But also, he has really pretty hazel eyes, right? And his muscles are sort of massive,” Ruth says as she blushes.

“He is attractive,” I agree.

“We did some inappropriate things tonight.” Ruth purses her lips in embarrassment.

“We know,” Skylenna and I respond at the same time.

“You do?!”

“You almost sucked his dick at that dinner! And there were no sexually enhancing drugs in that food!” Skylenna lifts her head to grin at her best friend.

“You’re wounded and delirious.” Ruth guides Skylenna’s face back down to the floor.

“So, what happened?” I ask.

Silence.

“You had sex!” Skylenna gasps.

“Ew! No!”

Skylenna raises an eyebrow.

“He, well, he kissed me.”

“That’s sweet,” I say, shivering at the memory of Niles breathing against my mouth, kissing my cheek, my jaw.

“Not on my lips.”

Skylenna laughs, then groans at the sting of her lower back. “Go on…”

“It happened between my legs.”

“Oh!”

“Not those lips either,” Ruth clarifies, twisting her features in hesitation.

“But you said between your legs?” I narrow my eyes on her.

“More specifically, between my…cheeks.”

My mouth falls open.

“Holy shit! Warrose ate ass tonight!” Niles explodes on the other side of the cages, face pressed between two bars so he can hear us better.

“I said no eavesdropping!” Ruth hisses.

“Christ, you have a big fucking mouth, Ruth,” Warrose barks.

Skylenna and I fall into silent hysterics, trying to calm Ruth down but too amused to successfully stop her from throwing a small pebble at Niles’s head. And… I’m laughing. I’m laughing. I promised myself I’d keep my distance. Not to bond. Not to get attached. I know too much. I’ve resented the prophecy since day one. Stop laughing!

“Well, how was it?” Skylenna settles back down, nestling her head on top of her folded arms.

“I had an orgasm.”

“That’s always a good sign,” I say, reeling my smile in.

“Okay, it was crazy! Amazing!” she whispers into her hands. “But what does it mean? Were we just messed up by that gas? Or did he really want to do that?”

I have the same questions for Niles.

“Did you ask him that?”

She shakes her head at my question. I don’t blame her. What would I even say to Niles? Do you want to be with me? Was our kissing a fluke? A side effect of our circumstances?

Skylenna sighs, reaching out her hand to grasp Ruth’s fingers. “Do you care about him?”

“No.”

“Ruth,” Skylenna scolds. “Sisters don’t lie to each other. How do you feel about him?”

Ruth looks down at her friend for a long moment, letting the question burrow into her thoughts. She wipes her hands on her uniform, then combs through Skylenna’s hair with her fingers, caressing her like a loving mother.

“I don’t know the answer to that.”

Skylenna closes her eyes and smiles. “Yes, you do.”

“We annoy each other constantly,” Ruth mutters stubbornly.

“And?”

“And argue a lot.”

Skylenna and I encourage her to keep going with our silence.

“He thinks I’m high maintenance. He doesn’t understand the standards from the Chandelier City that I grew up with. He’s dirty and rude.” Her sharp features soften slightly, gazing off into the dark hallway. “But he has a big heart. He loves animals, believes women are as strong and important as men, and is a very loyal friend.”

There it is. I hadn’t paid much attention to Warrose and Ruth since meeting them, but I suppose I should have. Knowing everything I know. I really should have.

Skylenna smiles with closed eyes. “Was that so hard?”

“Yes. I’m physically ill.”

We laugh, readjusting in our spots to get comfortable. I guess we’re sleeping together. Like a girl’s night. A sleepover. An empty feeling stabs through my sternum, giving me the urge to cry.

“What’s your face doing?” Ruth asks me.

I shrug. “This is my first sleepover.”

“Really?” Skylenna opens her eyes.

I nod.

Skylenna glances at Ruth with a knowing smile. “If it’s going to be a true sleepover…you have to tell us your boy gossip. How did it go with Niles?”

“Unless it’s super sexual and graphic.” Ruth holds up her hands. “He’s like our brother. So you may want to leave those details out.”

“He is our brother,” Skylenna corrects.

A giddy feeling swarms my stomach. “We kissed.”

“On the mouth? Or between the cheeks like Ruth?” Skylenna raises her eyebrows, and we all laugh.

“On the mouth. It was really… special.”

“You’re blushing.” Ruth points to my face. “Do you like Niles?”

I didn’t realize it before, but my cheeks are warm to the touch as if I’ve fallen asleep by a roaring fireplace. My mouth opens, then closes.

“You don’t have to tell us,” Skylenna offers sleepily.

“The hell you don’t! Marilynn, in order for this to be a successful girl’s night, you must give us the naked truth.” Ruth scoots closer, burning holes in my eyes with the intensity of her stare.

“Uh—promise you won’t tell him?” I suddenly feel bare, exposed, nervous beyond reason.

They both nod.

“I get really nervous around him.” And that’s a fraction of the truth.

“Oh my god,” Ruth gasps into her hand. “She has a crush on Niles!”

“I heard my name!” Niles whips his head to us.

My eyes bulge out of my face.

“No, you didn’t!” Ruth fires back.

Skylenna snickers. “Warrose is right, Ruth. You do have a big fucking mouth.”

“Has Niles said anything to you two about me?” I ask in a whisper. Do I even want to know? Will it make a difference? It shouldn’t. It shouldn’t. It shouldn’t.

“We haven’t had much time for girl talk with Niles,” Skylenna explains quietly.

“But we can ask him! He has a big fucking mouth, too. I guarantee he’ll spill his guts about the whole thing!” Ruth claps to herself, grinning ear to ear.

“No!” I half explode. “I don’t want him to think I sent you two.”

“He won’t. Niles used to see himself as Cupid when I met him in the asylum. He loves conversations about love and relationships. We won’t give anything away,” Skylenna promises.

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Can you imagine? Our little Niles getting a girl?” Ruth swoons, grabbing my hand and doing a little happy dance.

I can’t stop grinning. “I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Marilynn? Can I ask you a question?” Skylenna asks through a long, pained wince.

“Sure.”

“What do you know about the void? About what I can do?”

I scratch the back of my head, remembering the way my mother used to describe it.

“Uh…I can only tell you about what you can do now. Not about what you will do.”

Her eyebrows shoot to the top of her head. “You mean I’ll be able to do more?”

I nod. “The way I was told is your brain reaches higher levels of frequency through new trauma. With more heartbreak, you break through a glass ceiling, resembling your purest form as a spirit. Right now, you’ve broken through the dimension we can see, astral projecting into unseen worlds only traveled to by ethereal beings. And with this ability, you’re able to travel to the places of memories and psychological locations in any person’s mind.”

Skylenna hums to herself, processing my explanation. “And the hypothermia?”

“Your body can’t exactly compete with the strength of your soul. Though your spirit is immortal and radiating with endless power, your body depletes when you perform something that extraordinary. Like being a judge, jury, and executioner on someone’s mind and actions.”

“I’ll admit, there is a part of me that enjoys controlling the fate of my enemies,” Skylenna says thoughtfully.

“So do I.” A familiar voice blasts through the shadows of this wing of the prison.

Our cages go silent as we all look up to see Kaspias stepping out of the darkness, into the dim light of the flickering circus bulbs.

“How are our little heroes after their sad performance? Have we switched from human experiments to desperate martyrs?”

Skylenna lies her head back down as if his presence doesn’t deserve her attention. Dessin, on the other hand, is on his feet, gripping the bars of his cage.

“Jealous?” Dessin asks with a knowing smile.

Kaspias glances in his direction and laughs to himself.

“Am I? After watching your precious Skylenna with her legs spread and mouth open, I’d say—”

Dessin roars, slamming his hands against his bars hard enough to bruise his palms.

“She wasn’t the only one you were watching,” Warrose growls between gritted teeth.

Kaspias lifts an eyebrow innocently. “You mean Ruth? Yes, I do take a liking to the way she comes to climax.”

Warrose spits on the floor in front of Kaspias’s feet, shouting a list of profanities. His veins bulge from his arms and neck as he paces Dessin’s cage like a hungry lion.

Ruth goes still, gawking at Kaspias as he winks at her.

“Did you need something, Kaspias?” Skylenna murmurs in a careless tone, still not bothering to look up.

Kaspias is unreadable. The only sign of annoyance is from the twitch his hands make, as if they desire to close into tight fists.

“I’m here to warn my dear brother,” he finally replies with a smile that doesn’t touch his eyes.

“You don’t have a brother,” Dessin says coldly.

“Keep the rebel act up, and I’ll be forced to break your hearts.”

Skylenna releases a cruel laugh.

“You don’t think I will?” His black eyes shoot down to her careless position.

At this, Skylenna finally turns to face him, making an effort not to wince in pain. She shows her dazzling teeth in a menacing grin.

“I don’t think you have the balls.”

His jaw tics. “No? Then I suppose I’ll leave you with this little nugget to chew on. How well do you trust the members of your sweet little family?”

We pause in silence, processing his intent.

“You never wondered how we knew you’d be on the ship that day? How we captured you so effortlessly?” Now Kaspias is smiling. “It never crossed your mind that we might have been tipped off?”

Heat simmers in my stomach, boiling bile up my throat. I can feel the wheels spinning in their minds. They all know each other well. I’m the odd man out.

“Something to think about. Hope you don’t lose any sleep over it,” Kaspias purrs smugly, making his exit.

My mouth goes dry as I watch their eyes turn to me.

“He’s trying to break our trust,” Niles says, clearing his throat. “We trust everyone here.”

Ruth nods in agreement, but Skylenna and Dessin don’t take their eyes off me. They aren’t so convinced.

“I swear you can trust me,” I state with a whisper of panic in my voice.

Skylenna takes in a deep breath, lying back down. “When my back is healed, I’m going into the void. I’m going to find out for myself if we can really trust you.”

My skin prickles with anxiety, but I nod. She can’t see the secrets of the prophecy that are in my head, but maybe if I can convince her to be selective…