The Tens, Vanessa Jones [i like reading books .TXT] 📗

face the consequences on her own. 'Okay, you're right. I'll look after you. I promise. But how are we going to get out of here? What about one of the others? Surely there is someone willing to help you?'

'Honestly, the only people out of the whole group that have ever shown me kindness are you and Alex. The others will turn on me for their own gain without a second's hesitation. They will not even notice that I am missing.'

The room fell silent with impossibility. A space where all hope had whooshed out of the air and far away. Sophie slumped her shoulders with the weight.

'I have an idea,' Abigail said desperately. 'Magic works with emotion, right? And you are supposedly the alchemy cross mark. What if... hear me out... we just channelled a whole bunch of emotion and blasted the shed wall off?'

'That's absurd,' Sophie laughed.

'More absurd than being locked in a shed in the middle of nowhere and having your arm thrust into a fire and then healed the next day?' Abigail flung her words at Sophie.

'No, I suppose you're right. What should I do then?'

'Okay, muster up some memories and strong feelings. Be angry that you are locked here, away from home. Really dive into the betrayal that Alex had deceived you all these years about who he really was and then left you on your own. Summon the deception of Carla, getting her to reveal your innermost turmoil, telling you about the nightmares, all under the guise of help but really it was to manipulate you and report back to us.'

Sophie nodded; all these scenarios were effortless to conjure.

'And finally, really feel the intensity of the loneliness that you feel. That you have always felt. That you believe you will always feel.'

Abigail's astuteness punched her in the guts and she wailed with an emotional pain she had been holding onto since her parents had died.

Abigail's soft voice floated around her head. 'That's it, use those feelings as a source of power. Now direct your feelings towards blowing open the door. You can do this!'

After each upsurge of sobs, Sophie felt more exhausted than she had ever felt in her life. Even after being drugged. Until eventually, she slowed down to a few small sniffles, her arms so heavy they could only lay on the ground.

'I'm sorry,' she whispered to Abigail.

'It was worth a try,' Abigail said quietly.

Violet half-moons had formed under Abigail’s eyes and she tapped her fingernails together. The two leant into one another, slumped over, arms around each other.

'How about we just rest and get some sleep? Who knows what could happen later? Maybe Carla will free us tomorrow?' Sophie croaked with false optimism, wanting to buoy Abigail's spirits up and protect the young starling.

Sophie patted her lap and Abigail snuggled her head into it. The warmth seeped through to Sophie's thighs and it stirred more than protection, more than fear. It woke a love and care that she had only ever reserved for Alex. And she was convinced that she felt it back. Abigail was someone to care about, that cared for her in return.

She wasn't sure if Abigail was asleep but they both acted as if, their only chance at calm. Perhaps before the storm. Or perhaps a restorative tonic. She reached for the book that had been discarded by her legs. The writing, the symbols, the textured cover had started to become familiar, although the incredulity that people would take it for more than someone's ridiculous diary and made her shudder.

There were no answers in the book but there were clues on how Carla and Clive thought. Their whole philosophy was contained in the pages and if Sophie studied them enough to understand how their psychology played out, maybe she could work out how to appeal to their worshipping sensibilities. And persuade them to let her go back to her life.

Sophie winced when she landed on the fire ritual page: 'A holy divinity and preparation enchantment to ensure those who pledge themselves and follow the ways of The Tens will be ready for the day when Venus and earth meld. Only those who can either withstand or heal rapidly from Venus' insufferable heat will survive and be able to exist in The New Way, The Venus Way. Anyone who does not heal overnight from this trial will certainly fare no well when the great almighty Venus latches back to earth. The sulphur will burn through the lungs and the flesh will be heat stripped from the bones. You must waste no time performing this ritual, for Venus is coming sooner than you think. There is no age too young to conduct this powerful ceremony.'

Sophie thought of the baby that Carla wanted Abigail to burn and she wondered where it was. There was no way it was safe from harm, even if they never put it through this inhumane ritual. Growing up in a cult, The Tens as they seemed to call themselves, would leave one unfit; a brittle caged bird. Like Abigail. Sophie pictured Abigail in the outside world and knew that she would not be able to protect her, even there. In her mind, she saw her crying from the overwhelm and being left alone for more than a few hours or crumbling apart at the horror that the daily news spouted. This world was not created for someone like Abigail and she hated Clive and Carla even more for bringing Abigail up this way and belonging nowhere.

Hastily, she flipped the page away from the unease of the fire ritual. And what greeted her next made her stare in wonderment. A double-page spread of beautiful flying blackbirds dotted around the border, standing strong against the creaminess of the pages. Some mid-flight, some standing on their forked legs and some carrying debris in their beaks, on their way back to their nest. Over the birds, she traced her finger around