"You"ve been so entertaining. But now let me entertain you. Tell me, how do you feel about torture scenes?"
He shoves a cup up to my mouth and pours its contents down my throat.
"Screw you," I yell as I spit the green liquid out of my mouth and onto the floor.
He strikes me harder than the last time. I feel blood on the inside of my mouth.
"Do the other Akons know you punch like a five-year-old girl?"
He hits me again. The prisoner gasps as my face hits the floor. I spit a mouthful of blood.
"Drink."
I can"t get up. He picks my face off the floor and shoves the liquid fire down my throat again.
The prisoner was right: this dose is stronger. It"s the difference between frying in a pan and roasting in open flames. I scream until my voice gives out.
I cry until the tears all dry up. There was nothing to be done. I pray death would want me and come quickly. I bang myself against the floor begging for pain I could understand.
"Emmy, stop. You are going to knock yourself unconscious."
I keep doing it. Hurting myself is the only way to escape the torture of the oil. I need human pain.
"If you lose consciousness, you"ll die. The dose is too strong to risk giving into it. If you close your eyes, you might not wake up."
I got a flash of my mom"s face just then. I stop trying to hurt myself.
"That"s it. Breathe, Emmy, breathe."
I keep my eyes open and focus on the buildings outside, outside where people are having dinner and watching TV. Outside where normal girls are on the phone with their friends and planning dates with their boyfriends.
I have a sudden flash of him....
Marcus, if I die today, I"ll pray to become a Seller so I can keep dying until I come back into arms that are yours.
The door opens again. My heart races. The blood drains out of my face.
"I thought I"d bring my friends to meet the human," Rage says casually as he enters with the rest of the Akons.
"Go to h.e.l.l," I snap.
"You"re right. She"s got a kick to her," the tallest one says.
"You see that? Frenzy likes you," Rage announces.
"I find you electrifying," Frenzy says as he raises his hands. A small stream of electric currents bounces back and forth between his hands. The Akon standing next to Frenzy has bright red hair and freckles. It"s hard to see him as a bad guy-that is, until he speaks.
"Hey, let me take a stab at getting to know you inside out." Without warning, he points his hand toward me and three of the sharpest daggers I have ever seen come straight for me. I duck, but not in time. One of the daggers goes right through my shoulder. I cry out more from shock than pain.
"Hey, man, we need her alive and awake. Don"t make me tell you again," Rage barks.
"Mayhem was just making sure she felt welcomed," Frenzy says in defense of his friend.
"If you want to play, play with the other one. He has yet to give up his soul," Rage orders.
Two Akons had yet to speak. One of them looks very much like Agony but is slightly taller. "How come everyone got to introduce themselves but me?" he asks.
"Oh, this is Chaos," Rage says.
"You killed my brother, Agony. You remember?" he asks me.
"Dark hair, tall, pathetic loser? Yeah, I remember."
Chaos sets me on fire. Literally right then and there, my skin starts to melt. Not like the oil. It didn"t feel like it was burning. But it was. I had been set on fire. I jump up and go crazy.
"Fire! Fire!"
They laugh. Rage says something to Chaos and suddenly the fire stops. There were no flames or even smoke.
"How?" I say, completely confused. Rage explains.
"Chaos and Agony are the body and mind of our group. Agony controls the body and Chaos controls your mind."
"You have Marcus" power?" I ask.
"Please, like that no-talent hack could come close to me. All he can do is reflect a fear that you have. Me, I get in there, baby," he says, crudely pointing to his temple.
"Marcus has a million more skills than you and when he comes to get me, I"ll have him give you a demonstration."
"Why don"t I give you one instead," the last Akon says. He has blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. He holds out both hands and takes aim at the wall next to me. I move and stay low to the ground. He shots out some type of spray.
"That"s all you do, shoot out water? What"s the worst you can do, make my hair frizzy?" I snap.
Then I look again at where he had just sprayed. The liquid had eaten right through the wall.
"Acid?"
"Maybe you won"t think it"s so harmless when I aim it into your freaky eyeb.a.l.l.s."
"War doesn"t take kindly to remarks about his powers. He"s very sensitive," Rage says.
"What do you want? I"m not drinking any more oil so you can kiss my-"
"She has a mouth on her," Frenzy says.
"I could fix her right up," Chaos offers. Apparently he is still bitter about the slaying of his brother. He is out for blood, more so than the others.
"We don"t need you to drink anymore. We got what we needed from the oil."
"You"re lying," I shout.
"No, we got exactly what we needed. It"s a memory of you and your mother sitting at the kitchen table a few years ago. She told you something and it changed your life. It made your tears reflect red in the cup. That"s not a girly kind of cry. Whatever she said changed your life forever. What did your mother tell you?"
"None of your d.a.m.n business"
"I see why Marcus likes her. He"s always had a thing for hard-headed girls. Look at Ameana. That little kitten has claws," Mayhem says without the use of a dagger this time.
"What did your mother tell you?" Rage asks again.
"Not to talk to strangers."
He turns to Frenzy and says, "Fry her."
I flinched and say, "Okay, Okay. My mom told me my grandparents died."
"Nice try but the thing with your grandparents happened before that. Don"t lie to me again."
"C"mon, let me just make her think she"s drowning or something. That is much faster. She"ll talk. Trust me," Chaos offers.
"Shut up," Rage shouts as he walks up to me.
"You know what I like about you?"
"My smile?"
"No-guts, you have lots of guts. Maybe I should have Mayhem shoot six daggers into you so I can see just how much guts you have."
"C"mon, guys, just leave the kid alone," the prisoner shouts from the corner.
Rage looks at him and thinks for a second. A cold smile spreads across his face.
"He was very nice to stand up for you. I hope you do the same for him." Rage goes over and picks up the prisoner by the collar.
"I"m gonna squeeze him like an orange until juice comes out. When I"m done, I"ll leave him alive enough to let the boys have fun."
"Let him go, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
"What did your mother tell you that changed your life?" He presses down on the man"s windpipe until his eyes bulge out of their sockets.
"You"re killing him. Stop it. Stop it!" Flashbacks of Sara swirl in my head. Oh no, please. I can"t take it again.
The prisoner was turning blue. He was dying as his feet dangled in the air.
"Okay, okay. I"ll tell you, just let him go."
"Talk first."
"She told me that my dad raped her. And that"s how she got pregnant with me. Now please let him go."
He drops the man carelessly to the floor.
"Your dad was a rapist?"
"Yes," I say, unable to look him in the eye. He looks at the other Akons.
"That"s it. That"s the clue. It"s her dad. We have to find him."
"He"s not moving, Rage. You killed him," I accuse.
They all laugh as if I had just told the funniest joke. Then Rage turns to the body on the floor and speaks to him.
"Hey, are you dead?"
"Nope, I"m good," the prisoner says as he jumps up, unties himself and walks over to the Akons.
I"m more stunned than I"ve ever been in my life.
"I told you: self-sacrificing humans are all alike. Strong as steel but threaten to hurt someone and they become play dough," Rage boasts.
I look at the man who had cared for me while I was being tortured.
"Oh, you guys have not met," Rage says. He motions to the man and says, "Introduce yourself to the human."
The man takes a step forward, extends his hand and says, "Hi, I"m Tony-Tone. Nice to meet you."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: RAh.e.l.l.
Marcus had told me about Sellers. He had mentioned Tony in particular. He had told me that Tony was not to be trusted, but I had never met him until now.
For some reason Tony can"t bring himself to look at me. He was looking every other direction. That might be because of the sheer hatred I"m beaming towards him.
"Now would be the ideal time to kill you, but we"re gonna double check to see if our suspicion is right. If it turns out that clue is with your father, we won"t need you anymore. Then we can come back and let Chaos get the first crack at you," Rage says.
"Thanks, boss. Looking forward to it," Chaos says with a sneer.
"The Guardians are coming to get me. And when they do, I"m gonna make sure you get the express to h.e.l.l," I say to all of them. They just laugh and head out the door.