Change of Darkness (The Change Series Book 3) by Jacinta Jade (best new books to read txt) 📕

She couldn’t see much of anything in the dark, but she felt warm bodies to either side of her, her brief flare of panic beginning to subside as Siray took in the familiar scents and sounds of her sleeping friends. Yet as she lay there blinking up at the ceiling, Siray realised she had been woken by something. A noise, she thought. One of the curled shapes beside her moved.

‘What was that?’ Baindan’s voice, alert, sharp.

There was more shifting on Siray’s other side.

‘I heard a thump,’ came Genlie’s sleepy voice.

Siray heard the soft sounds of more bodies sitting up.

The events of the last few days have turned us all into light sleepers, Siray realised.

‘I think it was the door,’ came Zale’s deeper voice.

Siray heard quiet footsteps, then the slightest groan of the door swinging partway open. A dim silhouette against the greyness in the room confirmed her guess. It was morning, and the cell doors had been unlocked.

That was when the drumbeat started. Boom, boom, boom. The slow and steady beats pulsed through Siray, the deepness of the drum an ominous sound. She stood carefully, not wanting to tread on anyone with the light still so dim. ‘Guess our day of rest is over.’ She saw a vague form beside her stand.

‘We’ll need to watch everything carefully.’

Apparently, Baindan was already planning out his next move.

‘Count the guards you see, note their movements, note entrances and exits,’ he continued in a low voice. ‘Anything that might help us escape.’

Genlie’s quiet voice came from somewhere behind them. ‘But if we’re caught trying to escape … ’

‘We won’t get caught,’ Baindan said firmly. ‘It’s either possible, or it isn’t. And if it’s too risky, then we won’t try it. But we need to know if it is possible first.’

A commanding shout from outside halted any further discussion.

‘Outside now! Line up in your units!’

‘That’s our cue,’ Zale said quietly from by the door.

Siray watched his dark shape push the door further open and hold it there for the rest of them as they all rapidly filed out of the cell. They joined the rest of the captives making their way down to the yard, some of them moving faster than others.

Once they were all at ground level, Baindan led them quickly over to join the rows of captives forming up in order of unit, where they found themselves once again lined up next to Wexner, Loce, Tamot, Kinna, and another captive Siray didn’t know.

They all faced forwards, silent, waiting. They didn’t have to wait long.

‘Unit three! Where is your fifth member?’

A moment of silence. Then a high-pitched, stammering answer.

‘She … she wouldn’t come out.’

A silent, barely noticeable collective intake of breath from all the captives.

‘What?’ The guard’s voice was quiet, but the stillness across the group meant that the dangerously questioning tone was clearly heard by all.

Siray kept her eyes straight ahead.

‘The fifth … member of our unit,’ the female trainee began again, with a swallow, ‘refused to line up.’

‘Oh! Well, then. Can’t have that, now,’ came the drawn-out and overly sympathetic response from the guard. ‘Let’s see if there is some way we can accommodate your friend.’

His jocular tone didn’t fool Siray in the slightest, and the tension amongst the anxiously waiting captives grew thicker as the guard spun around and nodded to someone else off to the side. Then he paced out a couple of steps until he was standing such that his gaze could easily sweep across the rows.

‘If you disobey a direct order, there is no second chance. Punishment will be swift.’

As he spoke, a female scream came from somewhere behind and above Siray. She stiffened, bracing her feet and tightening her hands into fists so she wouldn’t turn.

In front of her, she could see Genlie’s fists also squeezed tightly together, and knew that her tall friend was also fighting the same impulse to react.

More screaming and crying from the rebellious female captive wore on Siray’s nerves as the female was dragged closer.

‘The strong obey, and the strong survive,’ intoned the head guard as he watched them all.

Now Siray could see a second guard, dragging a thin female forwards by a fistful of her short blonde hair, her legs and feet kicking at the sand as she struggled to fight against the guard’s grip.

Surprisingly, the male holding her didn’t stop dragging her when he reached the soldier in charge, but continued on towards a small fenced-off section on the other side of the sandy area.

Siray’s gaze tracked his progression, a grim curiosity growing inside her.

‘Allow me, now, to introduce the pit.’

Siray glanced at the head guard briefly before the struggling female’s hysterical screams drew her attention back to the other end of the yard. Wide-eyed, Siray watched as the guard other shoved the female over a low wooden fence and into a small, rectangular enclosure. Then he gave the female a final push that catapulted her forwards and … she disappeared.

Siray blinked. One moment the female had been there, the next gone.

But then sobs drifted up to the watching group of anxious captives, and Siray felt her breath whoosh out of her. The female was obviously alive. But where had she gone? What had the guard called it? The pit?

Siray turned her gaze back to the head guard and almost flinched. He was grinning widely at them all. Enjoying their shock.

‘The pit,’ the male continued with a diabolic smile, ‘is where you will be placed if you disobey our commands. Not to be confused, of course, with attempts to rebel or escape.’ The guard shrugged. ‘For those infractions, we kill you and anyone else we think might be involved.’ His steely gaze swept them all once again before he twirled a hand in an almost theatrical manner. ‘But where was I? Ah! Yes!’ He grinned once more. ‘The pit,’ he said, pivoting slightly to make another sweeping gesture at the fenced-off area, ‘will hold anyone who displeases us. You will not be fed. You will not