Jàden clutched the small, sharp pin between her fingers and scratched another line in the floor. There were too many to count now, and it was the only thing no one ever cleaned up. Maybe part of her torture was for her to know exactly how long she’d been in the cage.

Nearly two years.

Probably longer, as she hadn’t felt the need to count at first. Every time she woke to a clean cage, she made a small scratch. It was the only change in the seamless sea of nothing. White walls and floor basked in bright fluorescent light.

The hidden speaker in the far corner tinged the constant, irritating drip drip of water on stone into the deep, empty silence. She missed the small things—Lucie’s barking, her grandmother’s laughter, and Kale’s soft breath as he slept beside her.

Sounds she’d never hear again.

A door swished open. They were coming; her captors.

Frank strolled into her line of sight, a trolley hovering alongside him with three hypersleep capsules loaded on it. The ones on each end held occupants: a man and a woman with emaciated limbs. Their bodies slept in the green serum, preserved in their torture.

“What did you do to them?” Jàden whispered.

Frank grinned and slapped the middle container. “You’re getting a pretty new cage today. No more wiping up your shit. No more of you whining and moaning for a man who don’t care one whit about you.”

“Shut up, Frank.”

He loved to torment her with his ridiculous nonsense. Kale loved her, but two years alone made her heart ache. What took him so long to find her?

“You’re gonna have a nice little nap while that power of yours grows.” The hover trolley stopped right next to her cage, the two occupants with their faces next to the barrier glass.

Jàden scooted to the other side, tears on her cheeks at what these two must have endured. Were they Flame-wielders too, or did they have some other purpose? Her heart ached to save them, but she couldn’t even protect herself.

As Frank tinkered with the back panels, the glow from within the two occupied pods dimmed to black glass. Soft green light traced the air, creating an illusion of each captive, their waists tapering to a misty green cloud. Almost as if the image dissolved to pixels below their belt lines.

The third pod was still lit.

Frank stepped around the hover trolley and rubbed his close-cropped mohawk. “Saw my son last night. He was out getting drunk with his new woman.”

He crouched beside the barrier until they were eye level. “Pretty little thing, too. I hear she’s quite the howler in bed.”

She hated Frank more than any other person alive.

Jàden pressed her hand against the dividing glass, cool and smooth against her skin, to block his face. Two long years had taken their toll, her pale skin stretched thin over bony fingers. She was just as emaciated as the others.

“Kale’s coming,” she whispered, but she no longer believed it. She wanted Frank to believe she wasn’t broken. That his son would win no matter how much they tortured her.

Except Jàden had lost hope. She didn’t know what to think anymore. Thousands of Enforcers inhabited Hàlon and had orders to kill her, yet not one of them ever showed. She should have let them kill her.

No, she should never have left the mining facility. She’d done nothing right since that day. Jàden covered her head, aching for a hole in the universe to swallow her.

A blast screen cleared to transparency. Vitals flashed next to her image as Frank shuffled around the consoles. Violet lines spread out from her brain like a thick web. “You gettin’ this, Doc?”

She was nothing more than a series of numbers in their never-ending parade of data.

The next section faded to neural pathways of her brain with both physical and theric energy readings. Frank let out a dramatic sigh, as if he didn’t like what the images showed him. “She’s still holding on, Doc. Damn thing’s stronger than I—”

A boom rumbled through the walls.

The building rocked.

Jàden covered her ears, waiting for the ripple to pass. Tingles zipped up her arm.

Anger edged Frank’s tone as he pounded the console. The lights flickered. White walls faded to gray blast shields, red light flashing from the corners. “Bradshaw, what the fuck is going on? Nothing’s responding.”

She uncurled and lifted her head. Darkness. Gray. Something different than endless white with a green glow casting a pool of light on her cage.

The Flame crashed into her, white fire crackling through her veins. Jàden gasped, her lungs opening as if she could finally breathe again.

“I can feel it.” Her power. Two years she’d been cut off from the Flame. She scratched her arm, the old tic coming back to rip her power out of her body. Except this time no pain followed, no stinging. Just a silky smooth light whispering through her body.

“What am I doing?” She glanced toward Frank, who slammed his fist on the console.

Her movements slow, she dragged herself across the cage and pressed her hand to the glass. Energy rushed through her arm and the barrier shattered. A surge of emotion brought moisture to her eyes. “Kale.”

It had to be him.

She gripped the jagged shards, barely aware of the pain as glass sliced her skin. Jàden pulled herself through and crashed to the floor. Blood dripped from dozens of small cuts on her palms.

“Shit.” Frank grabbed the gun on his hip.

“Stay away, you bastard.” Jàden slapped her hand to the ground. The metallic floor rippled violently upward, throwing Frank across the room. Glass shattered on the hypersleep pods and she breathed in the beautiful light as it burned through her body.

“Must. Find. Kale.” Her voice stretched thin, barely a whisper, her throat raw and scratchy. She stumbled to her feet, atrophied muscle and weakness pulling her back down. Jàden reached the wall, using it for support. She dragged her bare feet across the frigid metal and clutched the entry.

Bright light reflected on pristine floors. The stark fluorescents glared against wire ducts and blast shields. Featureless walls stretched into the distance, broken up by closed silver doors, each topped by the infinite circle wrapped around a single flame.

“Bradshaw! The damn bitch is loose. Get security in here.” Frank fired several shots, each one burning a hole in the wall near her head.

He had the aim of a sniper, so he must have missed on purpose. Frank didn’t want her alive, he needed her alive. And she hated him for it.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

She’d be damned before they’d put her in a cage again.

Jàden stumbled through the entry and pressed her hands against the wall. Energy surged through her arms and cracked a spider web pattern along the metal and stone passage. Beams ruptured; pipes burst. A loud groan echoed through the corridor and the walls crashed inward.

“Damn.” She turned over her palms, her power stronger than she remembered. Jàden could almost feel herself glowing from the inside as the Flame burned bright in her veins.

She stumbled toward the nearest door and leaned her cheek against the cool metal. Maybe it was the way out of this place. The small square of frosted plexiglass beside the jamb glowed white. She pressed her palm flat to the surface. The light pad vibrated against her fingertips and the glow shifted from white to red.

“No.” Jàden tried again. Red. She pounded on the door, then glanced both ways down the corridor.

What did Kale always tell her? She scratched her head. Something important, but she couldn’t seem to grasp it.

She had to escape.

Then it came like a spark. “Make friends with the engineers.”

Of course. Get to the bowels of the ship, a place most citizens wouldn’t go. One hand on the undamaged wall, Jàden used it to steady her as she moved slowly in search of an access panel. As soon as she spotted one, she dropped to her knees and pressed her hand against the shallow indent in the top-right corner.

The panel swung open, revealing several rows of bright-colored wires in front of thick piping. She slid her hand inside, a gap above the pipes barely wide enough to fit if she lay down.

Jàden pushed her head through in search of another access door when a stronger voice called her name above the screams. She shook her head and slipped further inside until her waist cleared the entry.

“Jàden,” a gentle, masculine voice said through the corridor. “Almost there, baby.”

“Kale?” Her heart clenched tight, and she squirmed backward into the hall. She’d know his voice anywhere. The lights flickered, and she glanced both ways to empty passages. “Where are you?”

Blast shields along the corridor shifted to transparency, an illusion of windows and stone pillars overlooking a rocky bluff. Azure skies arced from one horizon to the next, four suns blazing alight over barren terrain.

Jàden touched the window-like screen. “I’m on Sandaris.”

She was still somewhere on the moon. A black Raith fighter thundered by, obsidian steel wings illuminated with thin lines of red light. Three more raced after it. Jàden’s heart leapt into her throat. “Kale!”

Frank slammed her into the wall. “Where do you think you’re goin’?”

Pain shot through her cheek. Jàden reached for the Flame, its energy sizzling along her veins. “I’m not going back.”

Her power surged, crackling through the shield screens.

Frank slapped a stone cuff on her wrist and shoved his gun against her head. “You fucking pain in the ass. You do what I order you to do.”

The Flame disappeared from her senses, trapped behind a faint, resonating buzz.

“No!” Jàden clawed the circlet and tugged it against her curled hand. “Get this thing off me.”

Frank grabbed her arm. A thick leather glove covered his hand. He never touched her. No one did anymore. He shoved her down the corridor. “Let’s go.”

Jàden stumbled to her knees, tattered clothing limp on her frame. The torn and soiled edges scraped her legs.

Walking hurt, but Frank’s gloved fingers digging into her frail arm was far more painful. She bit down against the sting. Crying out would only encourage him to mock her misery.

Jàden yanked the cuff until it wrapped tight around the sides of her hand. She tugged harder, almost wishing her bones would break and let it slide off. All she had to do was pull harder.

“Tank the experiments, Doc. We’ve got Enforcers up our asses.”

“You command the fucking Enforcers,” Jàden blurted out. At least he had two years ago. What had happened while she was behind glass? Was Frank still part of Guild Command?

Bradshaw’s voice blared through Frank’s earpiece. “Docking bay four. There’s a ship waiting.”

“Make sure it’s got an open pod. The others are toast.” Frank grabbed her arm and hauled Jàden to her feet. He dragged her down the long hall, muttering under his breath. “That fucking kid of mine; I taught him too well.”

Jàden tried to resist, still tugging on her cuff with her deteriorated strength.

“Guardians, what did they do to you?” Kale’s voice bled through the walls so clearly he could almost be standing beside her. One of the shields flickered; the transparency faded to a hollow-faced man with blonde stubble on his head. Dark bruises circled hazel eyes filled with pain and bitterness.

She kicked Frank in the side of his knee and stumbled away when he loosened his grip. The cracked shield lit up with Kale’s face, and she pressed her hand to his cheek as if she could touch his skin. “I knew you’d come.”

Frank pressed cold steel to her head, but his words weren’t directed toward her. “You climb out of that cockpit, Boy, and I’ll splatter this woman’s brains across the corridor.”

Kale’s jaw tightened as he slammed his hand against the console. His fighter banked in the distance, and one of the trailing craft exploded. “Jàden, listen to me.”

He glanced at his readouts. “I don’t have a lot of time, baby, but I need you to forgive me.”

A sob clutched her throat. “Take me home, Kale.”

“Shit!” Klaxons blared in the cockpit, flames pouring out of the consoles. His fighter disappeared behind a low hill, a trail of smoke in its wake.

“Bradshaw, cut the camera feeds.” Frank dragged her away from the viewer.

“No.” Jàden dug her heels into the floor. She reached for Kale, but her weakened body folded under Frank’s strong grip.

The sirens faded, but Kale’s voice broke through the overheads again. “I need you to be strong, Jàden.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Frank fired at the viewer. Black burns scarred Kale’s chin where the blast hit. He turned the gun toward the cameras and fired shots into the lenses.

Jàden covered her ears. “Kale. It hurts so much.”

“I love you, Jàden. I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you.” Tears slid down his cheeks as his fighter roared, the engines nearly drowning out his voice. An orange glow flickered across his features as the flames rose higher in the cockpit.

“When you wake up, go back to the beginning. I’ll find you there.”

Thunder ripped open the corridor, earth and steel bursting into the air.

Fire exploded down the hall and Jàden flew backward against the floor. Pain sizzled through her shoulder, but she curled into a tight ball as heat blasted overhead.

The ground trembled as the two remaining Raith fighters screamed by.

She uncurled her arm and glanced up, Kale’s fighter a pile of twisted metal and flickering red light in the distance.

“Kale!” She stumbled to her feet.

“Should have killed that kid years ago.” Frank grabbed her waist and pulled her back, gun aimed at the ripped opening as if he expected Kale to crawl out of that mess. Wires and pipes sprouted from the walls, blowing smoke or sparking fires.

“KALE!” The viewers shut off and the walls returned to featureless stone. Jàden screamed as pain ripped through her heart. She grabbed Frank’s wrist and bit down until she tasted blood.

“Fuck!” Frank slammed the gun against her head.

Lightning exploded across her temple. Her vision blurred as she stumbled toward the crashed ship. “Kale!”

The truth hit her like a hammer: Kale was dead.

Frank grabbed her arms, dragging her further away. Through heat and cold and steel pipe.

“Take me with you!” She screamed for her own death and pulled Frank’s gun against her forehead. Jàden fumbled for the trigger, but he ripped it away.

“I ain’t got time for this shit.” He threw her over his shoulder and trotted through an entry. The silver door slid shut.

“No!” Jàden kneed Frank in the gut, grabbed a handful of his mohawk and yanked. “Kill me.”

Engines whined from a small, silver craft settled in the large docking bay.

“Bradshaw, you in here?” Frank raced up the ramp.

Doctor Dàren Bradshaw’s dry, clinical voice spoke through the narrow aisle speakers. “Get her to med bay.”

Jàden shoved against Frank’s hand and screamed her anguish in his ear.

He stormed down the narrow aisle into the medical bay and dropped her onto a metal table.

“Damn pain in the ass.” He clutched her throat and pinned her down.

“Someone leaked our location.” Bradshaw stepped into her line of sight as she clawed Frank’s arm. He shoved a needle in her arm, and glowing green liquid from the attached tube rushed into her veins.

Hypersleep serum. She didn’t want to sleep; she wanted to die. Jàden stopped fighting Frank’s grip and tried to grasp his gun. Another sting as the Doc pressed a second needle in. Then a third. Jàden pushed Doc’s hand away. “Kill me, please.”

Bradshaw shoved a needle into her neck and tapped the monitor. The face of a mean-looking old man illuminated the screen alongside hers. “Syncing now.”

The craft shuddered as an explosion rocked the bay. But Kale was dead. Were there others coming to help?

Frank holstered his gun and pressed his earpiece. “Get this damn ship in the air.”

Jàden tried again to reach for the Flame, then for Frank’s gun, fighting against the heavy fatigue pulling at her senses. The table whirred. “I don’t want to sleep.”

Steel walls rose on the edges, the table sinking into a hypersleep chamber. She grasped the sides and tried to crawl out.

“By the way.” Frank forced Jàden onto her back and leaned close. A grin spread across his features. “We’re going back to the core. Just the three of us, like a happy little family.”

Glass slid over the top, and Jàden screamed her rage. She pressed her hands against the transparency. Her chest heaved with heart-wrenching sobs.

“I hate you! You fucking, fucking...” She could barely get the words out as her chest heaved with sobs. Green light filled her vision as hypersleep serum poured into the pod. Jàden reached for her tubes. Her fingers slipped across the synthetic rubber.

Warmth surrounded her shoulders and chest, filling the chamber until she could no longer hold her breath.

She slapped the glass and gasped for air, silently begging the Guardians to let her drown. Oxygen-rich bacterium solution filled her lungs.

Her muscles deadened against the table, then lost all sensation. She tried to press the glass, but her fingers no longer moved.

Jàden peered through the green mist as the glow faded to darkness. I’m coming for you, Kale. I won’t let him win.