Caged

Chapter 10

Ethan dropped two trays near them and nudged them closer with the toe of his shoe. "There's your food, now eat up."

Cage felt zero enthusiasm about eating what was on the tray. It was the blandest food he'd ever had and he was certain Ethan wanted it that way. He didn't want them to enjoy anything because he hated them. Despite his urge to throw that tray in his stepfather's face, he reached out and dragged the trays closer and handed Sadi hers. They needed to keep up their strength in case a chance for escape presented itself. It came naturally to now now that his memories had returned to think of her as Sadi instead of Shade.

"If your whole plan was to kill us then why offer us the opportunity to find a way out of here?" he asked as he ate.

Ethan chuckled. "Why end it so quickly? Your mother needed hope. She needed to hope that you would return to her. That hope needed to build until I could snatch it away." He grinned. "Once it's gone then she'll need me to lean on. I will support her through her grief and it will cement our relationship. She'll know that I'll be by her side no matter what happens."

Cage scowled. "You're a very sick man."

Ethan shrugged. "Think what you will of me, boy, what you believe doesn't matter to me." He swiveled his chair around to face the monitors.

Cage stared at his back a moment before he returned to the food on the tray. Beside him, Sadi ate slowly, her eyes on Ethan. He saw her fear but there was little he could do to alleviate it. He ate the last bite and tossed the tray onto the floor. The loud, metallic clang echoed around the room for a moment but Ethan didn't even twitch. "There, all gone. Do I get a cookie for dessert now?" he asked in the snidest tone he could manage.

When Ethan spun his chair around he was smiling. "You think you're so very funny, don't you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know and I don't care."

Sadi set her tray on the floor near her feet and released a huge yawn. It wasn't until she showed signs of being tired that he realized he was extraordinarily tired as well and yawned. Ethan had woken them up when he arrived with the trays of food, they shouldn't be so tired.

He struggled to keep his thoughts coherent. "You put something in the food, didn't you?"

Ethan folded his arms over his chest with a grin. "Yes, just a little something to help you sleep. We wouldn't want you to make things difficult for me, now would we? I need you to be compliant."

He struggled against the pull of sleep, going so far as to attempt to rise from the floor. The effort was wasted. Whatever Ethan had put in the food acted quickly and it was strong. Darkness crept in around the edges of his vision and his body felt heavy and out of his control.

He blinked and tried to focus on Ethan. "You can't win, you bastard! You won't! They'll figure it out somehow! You won't get away with this!" The words sounded distant and muffled even to his ears and he couldn't be certain if he had spoken them out loud or if they had simply floated around inside his head.

***

"Cage, are you awake?" Sadi whispered urgently from somewhere nearby.

He let out a small groan. "Yeah, give me a minute my stomach isn't happy."

She remained silent for a moment. "It's dark and I don't know where he's taken us," she said frantically.

He peeled his eyes open and felt panic set in when he realized she was right. It was dark and he feared Ethan had thrown them back into their cage in the tower. His head tipped and he frowned. They were moving. He listened for a moment. "We're in a car, he's taking us somewhere and it's probably not a good thing." He felt around. "I think we're in the trunk." He shifted and tried to kick to get the trunk to pop open. He tried but it didn't budge. He felt around and cursed. "This car must be old, there's no safety trunk release."