Chapter 179

Ella

“It’s all right, Ella” The first priest says, approaching me as one might a skittish horse with slow, measured movements and hands exposed to show he holds no weapon. “We only want to protect you.”

“Protect me from what?” I question shakily, my back flush against the locked door.

“You have a very powerful magic inside you, and if it’s allowed to come out you’ll be exposed. We can’t let that happen.” He explains, using a tone much too gentle to be trustworthy. It’s as though he’s trying to trick me, to convince me he’s kind when he truly intends malice.

“I don’t have any magic.” I insist, wishing that I did.

Maybe if I was magic I might be able to put a stop to the things happening here – to protect the others without bringing harm to myself. I was so preoccupied with this statement thatI almost missed the second piece of information. “Exposed to what?”

“You do, it just hasn’t shown itself yet.” The second priest sighs, keeping his distance but watching me with sharp eyes. “At least not in ways you understand. Tell me, have you never noticed how much stronger you are than your peers? That you can hear and smell things from much greater distances? That you can run faster, jump higher,- suffer greater injuries with less pain?” He inquires, his hawkish gaze searing into me, “do they not follow you? Gravitate to your side and obey you as a leader?”

My head spins, making me dizzy with the possibilities. He guesses correctly, but that can’t be because I have some sort of special power. It’s just the way things are. isn’t it?

adds. “It must happen when the time is right- but that time is a

a sense of pure

this must happen, it will not be pleasant, but it is

in my young mind I know what men do to little girls under the guise of necessity, the pretense of helping or

I know exactly how unpleasant things can get. My bl00d runs cold, and my pulse races, triggering a strange new energy deep in my bones. It pulses through me like a bolt of electricity, a wild thing writhes just beneath my skin, feral and rabid – begging to be free. “No, go away!” I hiss,

other with grim determination. “Her timing

priest professes gravely, closing the distance between us. “We would not do this if there was another

senses. My instincts are screaming at me to

I am bearing down on me. I try to scream, but the second priest clamps

in my already sour stomach. My gorge rises, and I’m gagging, fighting for air and struggling to focus on my escape. I don’t know what to do or how to fight them – I’m

air, sounding very far away. The cries are deeper than my own, thick with grief and pain more complex

with concern, joins

A second voice, floating above me,

have no idea where these sounds are coming from, and the priests don’t seem to hear them at all. They continue with their task with single- minded focus, and i’m nothing more than a pawn in their game –

priest restrains my wrists while the other sits on my kicking legs, pulling his tool

soft and airy, but when they begin wrapping it around my body, it tightens around me with the unyielding force of

alive. Just before the silk falls over my mouth, the priest finally removes

life – my mind is awake but I’m trapped in my own body, unable to move or speak. I can only lie there motionless, my brain screaming at my nerve endings and muscles to move, to do something – anything! But nothing happens because this isn’t a dream from which I can wake, this is

unc0rking? FoI all the fabric’s strength, it does not stop me from feeling or smelling. My nose is filled with

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