*****
Amber stood over Anita, whose hands and feet were cuffed together and tightly attached to the uncomfortable wooded chair on which she sat. They’d given her no food or anything to drink since they’d tied her up, and after twelve hours of sitting in the same position, her muscles were cramping and her mouth was dry.
‘You’re quite the trouble maker,’ Amber said slowly, threateningly, circling the chair like a shark would its prey. Amber was looking forward to drawing this out, so she took her time as she walked, her high heels clipping menacingly on the slabs of stone with each step. ‘And let’s not forget that you’re quite the manipulator from what we’ve seen so far. It would seem you’ve caught the attention of not only Marcus, but Alexander as well, if our reports from Kingdom are anything to go by. How do you think Marcus will feel when he sees pictures of you and Alexander holding hands in such a public location?’
Anita didn’t say anything. What could she say? Deny she was manipulative? Justify the photos? Anita knew Amber would say anything to try and elicit a reaction. Amber’s powers of manipulation surpassed anything Anita could display, but the important thing now was to stay calm. And even if Marcus saw the photos, she was pretty sure holding hands was a minor offence in comparison to what Amber and Austin were doing to her now. She was sure such innocent pictures wouldn’t change his mind about her; he’d said he loved her, so it would take more than that to turn him against her.
‘Not answering are we?’ Amber said, pausing directly behind Anita and bending over to whisper ominously in her ear. ‘Don’t worry, I wouldn’t want you to, not yet anyway. That would be too easy. So, tell me Anita, why were you trying to steal one of Austin’s memories?’ Anita kept silent, looking obstinately forwards as Amber circled round into her peripheral vision. Out of nowhere, Amber raised her hand and swiped it as hard as she could across Anita’s face, making a slapping noise that seemed to reverberate coldly around the hollow room. Anita’s head whipped to one side, her face immediately throbbing from the impact. ‘I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that for,’ Amber purred, continuing to circle, ‘and I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear it was everything I’d hoped it would be.’
‘So, let’s try a different question. What do you hope to achieve through your relationship with Marcus? Was it just about getting access to the vault, or do you have something else planned? Maybe you’re working with someone else? A group of academics? The Institution maybe?’ Anita kept looking forwards, so didn’t see that Amber had picked up a whip from the back of the room and was advancing darkly towards her. ‘I’ll give you one more chance to say something,’ she said, ‘and if you do, I promise to go easy on you. It will ruin my fun, but I like to reward good behaviour.’
Anita said nothing. She knew there was nothing she could say that would really help her. Amber paused for a couple more seconds before raising the whip high into the air and cracking it down onto Anita’s unsuspecting legs. It too made a sickening noise on impact that bounced around the empty, grey, windowless room and Anita let out an involuntary gasp of pain as Amber struck again, this time on her stomach, then a third time across her upper arms. Apart from her cries of pain, Anita uttered not a single sound, nor did she start to sob. She felt empty, detached from her skin that was now singing from the impact of the whip. She felt like she was floating above her tied-up form, neither connected to what was happening, nor fully detached, her energy the lowest it had ever been, feeling powerless, like there was nothing she could do to influence her fate.
The questioning and torture went on for hours, Austin joining Amber for the later stages to see if Anita would break; he was pretty sure she would. By the end, Amber was furious that she’d managed to extract not a single word from Anita, indeed, the only signs she was still alive were the whimpers of pain she now uttered at every new injury inflicted. Anita’s body was covered with wounds; the whip had cut her flesh, she had several broken ribs, a black eye was starting to form, but still, she wouldn’t talk.
‘I think you’re losing your magic touch Amber,’ Austin taunted. ‘I wouldn’t have thought this one would be a hard nut to crack.’
Austin’s ridicule drove Amber over the edge and she rained a number of blows down on Anita with such ferocity, that by the time she’d finished, Anita had been knocked unconscious. ‘Stupid bitch,’ spat Amber, regaining her composure, turning towards Austin and smoothing down her pencil skirt. ‘Can’t we just kill her?’ she pouted.
Anita stirred but kept her head down, listening to Amber and Austin talk. ‘Alas, no,’ replied Austin, sternly, holding Amber’s chin and kissing her dangerously on the lips. ‘Marcus being in love with her complicates matters somewhat, as you well know. And it would seem Alexander has somehow got wind of the fact we have her. He requested that we release Anita into his custody, as she’s a pupil of his. Killing her, I am afraid, is off the cards.’
‘By the Gods, she gets around a bit. We should’ve tried to recruit her when we had the chance; manipulation skills like hers are really quite rare, especially for someone with such profound Body abilities. We missed a trick.’
‘Indeed, but that doesn’t solve the problem of what we should do with her, given that killing her isn’t an option.’
‘Say she confessed to stealing on behalf of some group or other and lock her up for a few years. Marcus and Alexander will soon move on.’
‘A nice idea, but I’m not sure that’s going to fly. Marcus has never been truly interested in any other girl and I can’t recall Alexander ever having a girlfriend for very long. I don’t think this is just going to blow over as we might like. Locking her up seems pretty likely to lead, if anything, to more profound problems.’
‘Then what? Let her go?’
‘Maybe. But I think we should get Marcus to question her first.’ Amber and Austin turned and left the room, closing the heavy grey door behind them, Anita hearing the key turn in the lock and the bolt clunk home. No escape through there, she thought, and no escape anywhere else either. There were no windows and only tiny ventilation holes in the wall to let air in. Even if she could get out of her cuffs, there was no way to escape.