We spent a week in the cage.
Six days, to be exact, but it might as well have been a year. The moments seemed to drag on and there wasn’t just a whole lot to do.
Rix was always awake and had turned the cage into her personal jungle gym. After one day of watching her, Oz had joined in on the workout and pulled Ren into it, I’d joined too and Oz seemed that she was going to try to prove that she could do anything I could. Jord was refusing to interact with us and barely left his corner, while Justia didn’t look like she was handling the captivity well.
Oz was still not letting me near her, so I hadn’t been able to talk to her. I didn’t think she’d appreciate me asking her in front of everyone how she was dealing with the possibility of having to watch another PK happen in front of her, or that she might have to be the one to do it since there was a good chance that she’d be overlooked since she was a Healer.
I had thought about pulling Oz aside and telling her about Justia’s recent trauma, but it didn’t feel like it was something I should bring someone else in on unless I talked to Justia first.
So we worked out or slept to pass the time. And we had a lot of time.
After six days we saw Sipher again for the first time since he’d locked us up. He eyed the still unconscious Gesia and looked at me, but didn’t say anything about it.
“Have you contacted Trent?” I wasn’t sure why he was there, but that was something I needed to know.
“I talked to him.” The brown-haired Bandit opened the door to our cage.
“What did he say?”
“That we’re still negotiating how much you’re worth.” The Bandit leader swung the door open. "Thought you might like to stretch your legs.”
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
Rix shoulder-checked him as she walked through the door. He grinned when she couldn’t budge him. Given the difference in their levels, it probably felt like shoulder-checking a brick wall.
I followed after her, but none of the others seemed interested in walking past him.
“What about their families?” I nodded at everyone still in the cage.
“What do you care?” He thumped me on the shoulder. "Are you their spokesperson?”
I looked at Oz, then back at him. "Yes. If you’re still negotiating how much I’m worth, then what about them? Have you talked to their families?”
He started laughing. "You’re a funny one.” He looked over at Rix, who was walking around the perimeter of the building. "See that’s the thing.” He turned back towards the cage. "It seems my employer wasn’t happy with how I did the job, so they’re refusing to pay.” He began stalking his way around the bars. "Normally when that happens, I dump the product and move on, but this time…” He turned around and pointed at me. "I hit gold that they didn’t even know about.” The smile he gave me made me feel like I was some object being readied for the auction.
He shrugged. "For some reason, your old man is willing to pay the bounties on everyone, including the disrespectful one in there.” He walked over to me and leaned in close so he could whisper. "Probably best that you didn’t give her the potion, since her family is the one who paid me to nab those two.” He pointed at Justia and Oz with his thumb. "I imagine she’s going to be pretty mad when she finds out her uncle broke our deal and decided to leave her with me.”
“What…” I wasn't sure what to say or what to ask for clarification. For a moment, I thought he might be joking, but the look in his eye was genuine. He was enjoying being able to drop a truth bomb on me. I shook my head to try to find a train of questioning to follow.
“Why aren’t they free then? Surely my father has enough All that he could pay you their bounties right now.”
“Oh, see the price went up.” I didn’t like the look he had. “Why should I just take a few All, when I can have the master teach me how to farm?” He spread out his arms. "It’s taken me sixty years to get to level fifty-four, and I need twice as much experience as I’ve gained in my life to hit sixty.” He started laughing. "And I was never going to go anywhere if I was always power-leveling new cronies who get killed by little girls.” He nodded at Rix, who was still patrolling the edge of the warehouse.
I had a bad idea about his price. "What are you saying?”
“In exchange for all of you.” He motioned at the entire warehouse. "Your father promised to power-level me and my crew to level sixty.”