Vanished Read Online Free PDF

challenges – filed in. Their white garb disembodied them, leaving them as floating faces with no detectable limbs or bodies.
    Despite the crisp , frost-white room, she couldn’t help the darkness filling her thoughts. When the twelve stood before her, they held a collective silence that increased her trepidation by miles. Despite the confusion pressing in on her, her mind tried to comprehend what had transpired. Unable to place the events, she instead assigned blame. Each of the men before her was guilty.
    The door slammed shut, and she jumped, terror coursing through her. She backed away, before tamping down the fear and replacing it with a lifted chin and defiance. Though shock still numbed her body, she narrowed her eyes at the council. Each face focused on some point behind her, all refusing to actually look at her. The snub angered her further. Were they treating her without respect because she was a woman, or because they’d seen her trials?
    The silence dragged on. S he wondered if they were all at a loss as well, wishing she could see into their minds, hear their thoughts. Finally, one of the men spoke up.
    “Papria, you have finished the trial.” He paused. She wondered why they were here. Why converge on her like this?
    Another man spoke. “How would you describe your experience?”
    The bittersweet taste of blood and bile filled her mouth, and she swallowed. “Oh, it was quite wonderful. Thank you for allowing me to experience a forced mating.” Hatred seared over her flesh before receding. Zoltan’s words resounded in her mind. “Never fight angry, you’ll lose.” She wouldn’t fight angry. She’d assassinate from afar, peering through a scope as was her way. A plan began to form, whispering in her thoughts.
    The man didn’t blink , his expression frozen in perpetual distaste. “The trials are not real. Here you are, without a scratch. You failed the trial, and are hereby requested never to return to the grounds.”
    The fury amplified. She stepped forward, fists balling at her sides. “I finished the trial. What do you mean I failed ?”
    “You murdered two of your team.” The man stared through her, as if she wasn’t even worth his full attention.
    “Three, actually.” Her murmur earned her sharp gasps, and she glared at the men in disgust.
    The man angled his chin, still refusing to look at her. “The first was a mercy killing, the intent pure. The other two were less pure. Nothing gave you the right to be their judge, jury and executioner. That isn’t how things are done here.”
    “My intent was to protect myself.” Her fists ached, clenched so tightly she wondered if her fingers might break. “The techs had my team turn on me, drug me and rape me! Should I have let them do so with a smile? Or did you expect me to kill myself? I had no options!” The words sank in. “I had no options.”
    The man didn’t respond and realization arced through her. The depths of their depravity shocked her to the core. How was it even possible? 
    “I couldn’t have won. You rigged the trial.” The hollow words slammed into her gut with the force of a sucker punch and stars exploded through her field of vision. The door opened, and the men filed out. Their refusal to acknowledge her accusations left her struggling to catch her next breath in a mixture of hatred and fury.
    In their wake, Papria staggered, her body sagging. She folded, her stomach wrenching. A pain low in her core ached, a faint shadow of agony she didn’t understand. Pressing the heel of her hand into the slight indent just under her navel, she cursed the alien twinge.
    The door opened and she lifted her gaze to the strange woman. Tears shone in the stranger’s eyes and an apology broke into the air between them.
    Her hands fluttered with her words. “I’m so sorry! I made sure it wouldn’t hurt. I wish there’d been some other way-“
    “You did this?” A jolt of shock followed by anger stabbed through Papria and she