The Penny Drops (Sea the Depths Book 1) Karmon Kuhn (life changing books TXT) 📖

there was movement in my peripheral vision and a scent. It was a male musk. Threatening and territorial, but not in the same way as my captor’s.

“Who are you?”

There was no answer, nothing verbal nor otherwise. Just the wall of aggression. A warning that floated through the air. I waited to be struck for speaking out, but nothing happened.

My tongue flick in and out of my mouth and obtained no new information. Frustrated, I peppered the guard with questions. I needed answers and was entitled. Prisoners were not kept without trial in this day and age!

“Where am I?”

Silence.

“Why am I here?”

Silence.

“Who brought me here?”

Silence.

“What’s going to happen to me? Why am I being held captive? Where’s Penny? Why don’t you answer me?!”

Still silence. I could detect slight annoyance as my guard bathed the room with involuntary pheromone excretions.

“Why are you here? It’s not as if I can free myself!”

Nothing made sense. There was no justice here. No reason to believe that my captors had even thought this out. They couldn’t get away with keeping me without a peace officer. We lived in a free society, and there were people who would look for me eventually. Land trials didn’t last forever, and at some point, I’d be missed.

“Someone will come looking for me, you know!” I shouted, struggling to free myself.

“No one will look, and no one would find you if they did,” the guard answered, speaking for the first time.

The cold surety of his voice made my skin prickle and tingle. There was nothing in me that could muster a believable rally. I simply closed my eyes. What else could I do?

Chapter 18

E

xhaustion overtook me until I was startled awake by a strong scent. It was familiar and menacing. My captor. He entered the room in a cloud of aggression. The stench of hate nearly activated my gag reflex.

Then he spoke, “Human lover, wake up!”

Before I could respond, his open hand swung toward my face. The slap connected with my cheek, and a scream rattled from my raspy throat. The chain around my head dug in on the left side from the force of the slap, and warm blood trickled from my forehead and the side of my mouth.

Before I had time to recover fully, he began with his questions, “Who sent you?”

“Who sent me?” I asked, genuinely confused. He lifted his hand, and I winced. “You brought me here! I don’t understand what you mean!”

“Do not act as if I am a fool! Who sent you here to investigate the research center?”

“No one. I . . .”

I was interrupted then by another sharp slap across the other side of my face and could feel more blood leaking from my pierced and bruised skin.

“Do not lie to me! Who sent you here during your land trials?”

I rushed to answer, “I came on my own! I thought that another trialist was delivering bad news about me, and I wanted to defend myself!”

He didn’t hit me again immediately. Instead, he asked, “And what did you learn?”

“Nothing. I . . .” He lifted his hand and I rushed again to say, “I didn’t meet with my instructor. Once in the lab, I saw a trapped human woman who was trying to escape. She was badly hurt and then was tranquilized and dragged away!”

He stopped to consider this and then stared at me coolly. “What else do you know?”

“Nothing. I just saw the woman and hid in the library until I could run.”

“You mean to tell me that for the hours that you were in the human studies department, you learned nothing?”

In measured response, I said, “I understand that it sounds suspicious, but I didn’t disturb any work. I simply moved around materials while I waited in order to look busy. I was frightened, and I just wanted to leave.”

“I believe that you are that cowardly, zùṣùyoẓø,” he responded.

“Zùṣùyoẓø?” Why did he address me as ‘classmate’? I’d never met him before.

“You are not very observant. We shared classes from the early years. I am Zhozshi, but you once knew me as Aszuih.”

“Aszuih? Who was a first wave settler at this tsez̈ø?”

“Yes. It is lucky too. Had I not arrived early to notice your arrival, no one would have been wise of your antics.”

“What antics have I partook in?”

“Even young, you were too interested in the work of the humans. I provided warning to ensure that you would be watched, and just as I expected, your ignorance betrayed us. Appreciate what is coming to you as you deserve much worse.”

“What is coming to me?” I asked, and he ignored me.

He stood with his back to me for a moment.

So I asked him again, “What is going to happen to me?”

Silence.

“Whatever it is that’s happening here, I won’t tell anyone! I only want to take Penny and leave! That is what we were trying to do! I never planned to expose anything or threaten . . .”

He primed the back of his hand to strike, but before he could act, a new voice ordered, “Stop!”

He retreated and another face hovered over me. Someone I recognized.

“Zhoṣuṣùssss?”

“Yes, Essehi,” she responded.

“Thank oceans! Thank you, Zhoṣuṣùssss, for coming to me. I knew that I wouldn’t be kept here like this,” I answered.

“Essehi, your stay here is . . . undesirable but necessary.”

“But . . . Zhoṣuṣùssss . . .?”

She stood up straighter to silence me. “I placed my faith in you, Essehi. I was warned that sending you was a risk, but I believed in you. I went as far as to send you support in Darius. And still, you failed me.”

“I . . .” again, she interrupted.

“Despite your failures, you are still useful. If that changes, we will have no reason to keep you here any longer. Do you understand?”

***

I laid there in a stunned silence for a long time after their visit. Each time the door vented or opened, I waited to be questioned and struck, but Zhozshi