Shattered (4 page)

Even from a distance I could see the perspiration on their brows. I wanted to weep for them. Jocelyn seemed on the verge of panic as her eyes darted from one end of the room to the other, looking for a way out, an escape route. Melanie huddled close to the couple while Matthew remained calm, his arms around both women as he tried to soothe them.

Whatever horrors the Coliseum held, it was the unanimous choice of the Committee Members as one by one they cheered their vote.

Their fates sealed, the trio was quickly surrounded by huge Magical Ones who’d just entered and prepared to escort them out.

“No, please,” Jocelyn cal ed out. “It’s barbaric.

It’s inhuman. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You violated our laws and mocked our system of Life's Plan. You were exiled.” Dr. Sanz looked pointedly at Melanie. “To rebuff the Life's Plan you received is insult enough. We, the Committee, put great time and effort into every single Life's Plan we prepare. Your qualities are assessed, your faults tabulated. We investigate your past and verify your true future potential. We put together a Life's Plan that is both beneficial to you, the recipient, and Arcadia.”

Melanie looked at him, defiance touching her eyes for the first time. “You didn’t take into account the love that we had for one another. Our lives revolved around one another and you completely, if not deliberately, dismissed that. We’re not the first couple to be torn apart by your Life's Plan. And strangely enough, it always seems to happen to those of us who reside anywhere other than the Diamond District. You may have found us positions and Life's Plan that helped Arcadia, but they did nothing for us.”

“Only because you didn’t trust us enough to know better. We looked at the young woman you are, the woman you real y are, Melanie and the man you chose for a mate. The numbers didn’t add up.

You're not as good a match for one another as you believed yourselves to be. Think, if you did not defy us, you would be happily married and living near your parents. Look at you now…al skin and bones. Now you must pay for your insolence.”

“We’re young,” Jocelyn threw in. “We’re al so young, barely out of high school. We make mistakes. We’ve made mistakes. It’s only normal.

It’s only human. Al teens, al young adults make mistakes. You can’t condemn us for that. You can’t.”

“Oh,” Dr. Sans cooed. “But we can… and we wil .” Dr. Sanz left the governor’s chair and walked to them, his hands clasped pensively behind his back, his eyes hard and uncompromising. “If nothing else, you’l serve as an example for al the youths of Arcadia. Every sil y crush wil be better examined when young couples realize the true consequences of their inane decisions.” He stood before them and, with disdain, spat at their feet. “Get these human filth out of my Committee Conference Room,” he cried.

The Magical Ones grabbed Melanie and Jocelyn, b F./f cooed. ut Matthew succeeded in outsmarting his captors.

I rushed to Melanie and Jocelyn, hoping I could help them. If anyone understood the desire to ignore an unpleasant Life's Plan, it was me. Deep in my heart, I knew they did not deserve to be treated so cruel y.

Jocelyn looked at me with hope.

Concentrating my efforts until I thought every Concentrating my efforts until I thought every blood vessel in my brain would explode, I did my best to conjure up any helpful power that would get them freed. However, despite my best attempts, al I managed was a feeble tickling of the guards who held Jocelyn.

Though it wasn’t much, Jocelyn managed to struggle out of their hold. Breathless, she rushed to my side. “You have to help us, Kama. We saw what they do to people at the Coliseum. It’s worse than the grimmest nightmare you can imagine. You can’t let them take us away.”

My heart broke for her, for the fear she had.

“The Coliseum…it’s where they… Dr. Sanz and whatever they are keep people to be fed to animals for their amusement. Whoever Dr. Sanz is, what the Committee is…they are not humans.

People, innocent people like Matthew, Melanie and me are literal y torn apart by rabid animals. They’re kept caged like animals. And after the fighting is over, they’re discarded, dead or alive, worse than animals; piled one on top of the other, moaning, groaning and begging for mercy. It’s al so horrible, Kama.”

I glanced over her shoulder. Matthew had gotten away from one of the Magical Ones who tried to nab him while Melanie had col apsed, keeping Dr.

Sanz’s attention focused on her.

Jocelyn fol owed my gaze and looked back.

Biting her lip, she looked at Melanie’s pale face and limp body.” Melanie’s barely alive. She hasn’t eaten in days, and she’s carrying my brother’s baby.

Please, Kama.”

“Help me get this off.” I held out my banded wrist. “This leather band…it’s a shackle that keeps me under control.”

“Can’t you just pul it off?”

“No. I can’t. It’s bound by some kind of Catcher magic. Listen, Jocelyn. No time to explain, but I’m not quite al human. I’m a little like them, but not like them.”

Jocelyn stepped back a bit from me as her eyes widen in fear.

“I’m a djin, Jocelyn, a genie, as you wil . But my mother is human. I’m nothing like those bloodthirsty djins you saw at the Coliseum. They want to see al humans gone.” My eyes caught a quick movement of one of Dr. Sanz’s djins headed towards us. “Quick, get this off so I can help!” She fumbled in Fftfn. her jean pockets.

“Here,” she said as she pul ed out a smal nail clipper. “This should work.” She snipped and clipped until the band held by barely a thread. With a final clip, she cut through the thread, but clipped a chunk of my skin with it. The band fel to the ground, as a drop of blood trickled down from my wrist.

I let out a smal and surprised cry.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Jocelyn whispered.

“A smal price to pay for freedom,” I said. I sucked away the few drops of blood on my wrist.

“Now, we’ve got to get out of here.” I waved my hand in the air, concentrating on using the air to push back the djin that was now a few feet away from Jocelyn and me. He stopped in mid-stride and was suddenly pushed back hard enough where he stumbled and fel backwards. I turned to Jocelyn. “Get Melanie.

Hurry!”

She ran to Melanie, giving Dr. Sanz a swift knee in the ribs that left him sprawled on the floor.

Matthew hurried to Jocelyn’s side and helped Melanie to her feet. With a firm arm around her waist, he held her up.

“Hurry,” I shouted.

They al ran towards the door, but Matthew and Jocelyn were quickly caught by Magical Ones, leaving Melanie to sway in semi-consciousness. She final y found stability, became acutely aware of the urgency of the moment and sprinted on to the door.

I ran after her. The open doorway so close within reach to freedom. I lunged forward trying to cross the threshold of the door. I jumped as far as I could, but smashed hard into something invisible.

Blood trickled down from my nose where I had smashed into the invisible barrier. I crumpled to the ground just in time to see Melanie cross the doorway.

Beyond the barrier Melanie’s strength came back by sheer adrenaline she bolted for the main entrance. Through frustrated by the missed opportunity, I was happy she’d at least escaped…

for now.

My joy was short-lived. Matthew and Jocelyn were slapped and pushed, the Magical Ones holding them, taking out their anger on them. With a harsh hold on both of them, they pushed and shoved the pair around.

pair around.

Looking defeated they were brought back to the center of the Conference Room, the big Magical One at their side grinning like an idiot.

“Think you're smart, don’t you? Smarter than the genies around you.” Dr. Sanz glanced over their shoulder and Melanie. “Don’t worry. We’l catch up to your sister in law. As weak as she is, she won’t get too far. If we’re lucky, she’l probably col apse before she reached the street.”

“Of course she’l col apse. You’re deliberately starving her.”

“She starved herself wh F>

“She’s barely eaten more than a piece of fruit in two days.”

Dr. Sanz grinned. “And who gave her that piece of fruit, dear? We did. We’re not the evil monsters you seem so intent on portraying us as.” Jocelyn growled her anger and frustration.

“Take them away. I’m tired of their insolent manners and stranger odor. They’ve been tainted by those who have been outside of Arcadia. They reek of it.” He sniffed arrogantly at the air around Jocelyn and Matthew.

Stil struggling to get out of the Magical Ones’

grasp, Jocelyn and Matthew kicked and fought as much as they could to escape having to go to the Coliseum. It was futile, the two large djins holding them easily subdued them until the couple was exhausted, their energy spent. The Magical Ones laughed, a little amused that the couple would even think about trying to escape. It was a good show for them, but the Magical Ones anticipated seeing a better show later on at the Coliseum. “Come on,” the largest of the Magical Ones’ Enforcers said next to Matthew. “Let’s go.” He easily lifted Matthew and Jocelyn from the ground, and the pair was escorted out, no doubt hauled directly off to the Coliseum.

My heart sank. Jocelyn tossed a frighten look at me, her face ful of fear. I could feel her trembling al the way across from where I was struggling to get up. I knew I had to get them out, but also knew my thoughts were being closely monitored. I silently thanked Torrid for training me to block my thoughts. If the Committee got wind of my intentions, I’d never be able to help Jocelyn and Matthew.

Dr. Sanz wandered nonchalantly over to me.

“Tsk, tsk.” He shook his head and gazed at the band on the floor. “To waste a perfectly good leather band. I should have you punished just for that, but…

I’ve got other things to tend to. The magic of the Magical Ones in this room is enough to subdue you without the band for now. And if that doesn’t work, there is something else.”

For a fleeting moment, I al owed an optimistic thought to run through my mind. With no leather band, I’d have more freedom of movement. I realized my mistake the moment I heard Dr. Sanz raucous laughter.

“How sweet. How positively naïve.”

Rubbing my wrist, I looked at him. “You can’t put up invisible barriers everywhere,” I chal enged.

“There’s no need to.”

I knew he had a card up his sleeve and waited with bated breath. What threat would he come up with now? What punishment would he hold over my head?

“The Fsed r be leather band was cute and, I admit, watching you run into that invisible barrier was slightly amusing, but…” He nodded and at a guard who stood by the door. “I think this wil keep you in line.”

The guard entered with Liam.

I gasped at the sight of him. His hands were bound behind his back and his ankles shackled. He was gagged, leaving only his eyes with the means of expressing his fear and anger.

His gaze took me in, loving and caring, but fil ed with sadness.

Tears wel ed in my eyes, tears of frustration, of fatigue, of anger. Watching Jocelyn and Matthew had been difficult and draining. Taking in Melanie’s condition, so weak, so thin, so frail, had been heart wrenching, but this… to see Liam so helpless…

My lips involuntarily rose to a snarl.

“Don’t think me so bad, dear Kama,” Dr.

Sanz said with a hearty laugh.”

Fearing an invisible barrier, I cautiously edge my way to Liam’s side. Surprise and relieve to succeed, I brushed my hands al over him, looking for traces of torture or painful wounds. He seemed healthy and strong, just as when I’d last seen him.

Without asking Dr. Sanz, I quickly freed Liam’s mouth and planted a reassuring kiss on his lips.

“You're okay. I’m so happy to see you're

“You're okay. I’m so happy to see you're okay. I’d hope you’d gotten away. I’m so sorry to see they’ve brought you back here.”

“It’s worth it just to be with you.”

Dr. Sanz let out a soft, almost gentle chuckle.

“I’m not al that bad, you know. I’l admit I’ve lived too long in the company of humans, and I can’t deny a certain degree of resentment that I have for them.

It’s grown over the years, festered and rotted.

Humans have the capacity to be exceedingly cruel.

They manifest an ingenious way of manipulating one another, taking advantage of each other; even profiting from others; other’s suffering. And I can't even begin to tel you of what humans have shown themselves capable of when it comes to genies…

the horror stories I could tel you. You think I’m cruel…you should know what Catchers do to genies.”

He turned to point to Liam. “I’ve known Liam… wel since I can remember… a young boy, smart, curious, engaging and always eager to help.

Despite the Governor’s Manor and the power of his father, power he could easily have profited from, he remained decent, caring and humble.”

I was surprised by the praise and prouder of Liam than I’d ever been.

“I may have an unfavorable view of humans,” Dr. Sanz went on, his eyes almost Ffontow what Casoftening with affection as he gazed at Liam. “I’ve witnessed too much to think otherwise, but I’ve always had a soft spot for you. I’ve always like you, respected you. You treated everyone including djins with respect and decency. That’s why I’ve al owed you two to be together. The Life's Plan… wel , for a while I thought it was a good idea… after al , so much thought and effort went into them, but…”