Wrath Games Read Online Free PDF Page B

out.”
    “I’m going to ask you some questions,” the commander cautioned, his voice dispassionate. “What were you using pyforial energy to do?”
    “I only have one arm. The energy helps me do everything someone with two arms can do.”
    Jaymes looked to the warden for confirmation of her missing limb. He nodded.
    “How did you lose your arm?”
    “It’s not lost. I never had it. Lost!” She laughed, then abruptly fell silent. “I want to get out of here.”
    “What can you do with pyforial energy?”
    “I’ve never hurt anyone with it.” She paused. “I’ve never hurt anyone without it. People have hurt me, though. Many people. My life has been sad.” She started to cry. “I’m so sad.” She sucked in a breath. “But I would be happy to be free. I don’t understand why I need to be in here. I wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
    “We would need you to hurt people, even kill them.”
    Silence.
    “Don’t leave, I’m thinking.”
    “We won’t,” the commander reassured her.
    Her voice was glum as she answered. “Who would I be hurting?”
    “Enemies of the North—soldiers who burn the houses of civilians and fight against us. Have you heard about the war?”
    “Guards have told me what they know. I would be killing Southerners?”
    “Yes.”
    “I can do that.”
    “Can you? How strong are you with the energy.”
    “With nothing to do in here but use it, I’ve become powerful. I never planned to hurt anyone with it, though. I don’t know how to answer your question. I’m sorry.”
    “You’re answering it fine.”
    “Am I doing well?”
    “You are.”
    “I want to leave. I’ve wanted to leave for so…” Crying interrupted her for the span of a breath. “So, so long! If you let me leave, I could be happy again. Please let me leave.”
    The commander didn’t speak as he thought.
    “Are you still there?”
    The commander held up his hand, indicating we shouldn’t speak.
    “Hello? Hello!” Her voice rose. “Please! Please!” It pained me not to say anything. “No!” She screamed like a madwoman, shrill and painful. “No! No! No! Please! What did I say!” I never felt so compelled to speak, her desperation impossible to endure, but Jaymes kept his hand lifted. A tear fell down Shara’s cheek.
    Laney stuck her face into the hole again, weeping as she lifted her mop of hair out of her eyes. “You didn’t leave! Don’t go without me. Please. Please!”
    All of us were too stunned to speak. I’d never met someone who didn’t have any dignity left. It physically hurt to watch her plead, as if her life was in our hands. I supposed it was to some extent. Freedom was everything to her.
    “Please let her out,” Shara whispered, her eyes glistening.
    The commander stared at Laney, somehow emotionless.
    “I almost killed myself when the other group left without me,” she said, crying. “I’m going to kill myself this time.”
    Jaymes whipped his finger at her. “Don’t say that.”
    “It’s the truth. I’m going to kill myself!”
    “If you’re going to join my army, you will not threaten your superiors, especially not with taking your own life.”
    Although Laney continued to cry, a smile cracked open her mouth. “I swear, never again.”
    “Move away from the door.”
    She gasped and disappeared. Jaymes ordered the warden to bring us neck protectors.
    “You didn’t leave, did you?” Laney asked.
    “Not without you.”
    She squealed as the floor thumped from the sound of her jumping up and down. Crying followed, heavy sobs of joy. The warden returned with solid metal necklaces discolored from rust, not unlike the door to Laney’s cell.
    I couldn’t help but feel nervous. As happy as I was for Laney, I wasn’t sure how comfortable I could be with her near Shara.
    We each followed the commander’s lead and put on the wide metal neck braces. It was a snug fit between my collar and my chin, making it impossible to tilt my head down.
    Three separate keys were needed to