“Gentleman, that’s enough,” Vale said from where he was standing. A handkerchief in his hand as he wiped the blood from his face.
They stepped back and lifted me off the floor. I was in worse shape now than I had been a few moments ago after my stall brawl.
Vale walked back up to me, an air of confidence about him I didn’t quite understand. “You’re going to regret that. I promise you.” He smiled before walking past me as if we’d never had an altercation in the first place. I followed him with my gaze until Roth and Lou, dragged me bruised and bloody back to the room with Angel.
Angel’s pale face popped up from the book bed as the door opened, and Lou pushed me in, “Jeez, Inkpop, you gotta do better.” The little girl smiled up at me and gingerly put an arm around my waist. She was almost ten years old now, and even though she was still a skinny little thing, she was tall. I slowly put my arm around her shoulder; she was right. I needed to do better.
***
We settled back into the groove, and at first, I worried about Vale’s threat, I feared someone would come in the middle of the night or that they would set up a stall brawl I was sure to lose, but after a week and nothing happened, I just went back to living life the best I could. One day at a time.
“When in the world would I ever use exponents? Who uses them? I think its something you just made up.” Angel complained as she looked at the numbers I had drawn on the floor as her homework assignment. I tried my hardest to make sure that her mind stayed sharp, but I was running out of material I knew well enough to teach her.
“I promise you, they are not made up, why in the world would I make something like this up. I’m not that cruel.” I chuckled as I laid back, relaxing on the pallet mattress in the room.
“Seven with the little two is forty-nine?”
“Yes, seven to the second power is forty-nine. Now, what about seven to the third power?” I knew the math I was trying to teach her was a bit advanced for someone her age, but she always seemed to be eager for more information, she took to reading very well, even what little science I knew she was into, but the math, she would rather eat dirt than do math.
The lock to the door to our room turned, and I sat up immediately, Angel came and sat next to me on the bed.
Lou and Roth walked in, and I looked between the both of them. The only time they both came was when we were going to be let outside. We’d already had our time outside this week, so it wasn’t that, or because Ruby was calling for me. Yet something about this encounter already felt wrong, and neither one of them had said anything to me yet. Lou was smiling at me with an almost unbearable excitement while Roth didn’t even look up to my face.
“Let’s go,” Lou said. I walked over to him slowly and turned around so he could put the cuffs on me. They turned me around, and Lou began pulling me out the door.
“Come on, Angel, you too,” Roth said behind me.
I stopped in my tracks, and it seemed like I couldn’t catch my breath. Did he just call Angel too? My palms were slick from the sweat as I turned around to look at Roth. “Where are we going?”
“Ruby wants both of you,” Roth said as he turned Angel around and cuffed her hands behind her back.
“What? Why? I didn’t do anything?” Angel spoke, her voice trembling with fear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t do anything.” Big tears began rolling down her face.
“No, why does she want her? Just leave her here. She wants me. I’ll fucking cooperate. Please. Please!” I begged, my eyes shifting rapidly between Roth’s downhearted face and Lou’s evil one.
“Let’s go.”
I sighed a huge breath, I had no idea what was about to happen, but I could only think the worst. In the three-plus years, we’d been carted all around the globe with the Giles family, never once had Ruby called for Angel. Angel had been kept around merely as a way to keep me in my place. They knew I would do anything for her, so if I ever fought against them too hard, all they had to do was threaten to harm her, and I fell right in line.
“Angel?” I called for her, and she broke out of Roth’s grip and ran to my side. Her big blue eyes were looking up at me for some type of answer.
“What did I do? Why do I need to see Mrs. Ruby?”
I shook my head in disbelief, and my feet felt like they were made of lead, each step toward our destination that much harder. “I don’t know, baby, but I’m right here, Okay. I am right here with you. Just do what she says and be polite when you answer.”
“Okay.” She moved as close to me as she could with her hands tied behind her back, her head coming up to my bicep. She leaned on me, trying to get some comfort from my arms, all while not stopping, “Inkpop, I’m scared.” She whispered.
I swallowed down the frog in my throat, “I know, baby, I know.”
I turned slightly to look behind Angel at Roth; he was wiping his eyes. The telltale wetness and redness were all I needed to confirm whatever was about to happen when we entered those doors was bad.
I turned back to Angel, trying harder to grab her hand or touch her in some way, “You have to be strong okay. Just be strong for me.”
I would offer my own life if it meant they would leave her
