Calling Carter.

I pulled a disgusted face at him. “You’re sick,” I spat.

He gave a small smile and shook his head. “Oh, Silah, you just don’t understand.” He sounded like he was trying to give me Stockholm syndrome. Ew.

For some weird reason I remembered the first time I saw Carter, here on this hill. He had irritated me from the first, but now I was literally willing to die for the sake of him and his sister. Didn’t know I had it in me. Heroic, huh?

Stupid.

“Of course I don’t understand. One, you’re a boy, so you think like a peabrain anyway, two, you’re a sick twisted little psychopath, and three, I’M BLOODY WELL SANE!” I yelled impatiently. He just smiled. If this had been a movie someone would either come in and rescue me, or I’d do something brave and daring like knock Caidan out and run off to safety, and then everyone would be okay. But this was no movie, and I knew no-one was coming back for me.

Oh god, I hoped Kala was safe. And mum. Which brought me back to a question I had been meaning to ask…

“What did you do to my mum?” I demanded, voice a little unsteady.

“Your …? Oh, her. I threw her off the roof,” he answered simply.

“Why?!” I shrieked, horrified. No wonder she was in a fucking coma now! A roof?! People aren’t made to be thrown off roofs!

He actually had the nerve to look a little puzzled before smirking at my outrage and shock. I was about to start yelling at him when suddenly he clamped his hand over my mouth and leaned over me, eyes looking very dark all of a sudden. “Shut up!” He hissed angrily, “I’ve had enough of your chatter.”

It was terrifying to have my mouth covered so quickly. It made it much harder to breathe, so I had to concentrate on not freaking out or I’d faint. And I didn’t wanna know what would happen to me if I fainted while alone with Caidan.

“Better,” he crooned, when he saw I had stopped trying to talk. “Much better.” His other hand held my wrist, thumb stroking the inside of my forearm. I wanted him to stop touching me. Shaking my hand out of his grip, again I struggled to make him let me go. I scratched and kicked, and suddenly his hand was gone. I scrambled to my feet and stumbled blindly away from him.

But I didn’t know where I was going, and Caidan was faster than me.

Crack.

He backhanded me viciously across the face, and the force of it sent me to my knees. I was left gasping with the pain of it, eyes immediately watering. Before I could do anything else I was hauled to my feet and shaken roughly.

“Don’t you ever do that again!” Caidan yelled. The bright green of his eyes were lost in his pupils, and his jock good looks were twisted out of recognition. He shook me again, clearly about to say something else, then just shoved me to the ground with a look of disgust. “You think you can fight me,” he sneered, “you have no idea what I am capable of.”

I started shaking. Partly fear, partly shock. I wanted to curl up into a little ball and hide under something. Or have a nice person come along with a fucking great big gun and shoot his brains out. That would be good. I ignored the blood running down my arm, cause it had been bleeding on and off all day now.

My face was aching already, and I knew it would bruise. I’ve never been hit that hard in my life, and I’ve been in a fair amount of fights. I wondered if it was payback for when I suckerpunched him at school. God, he was scary when he had you alone.

Alone. I didn’t like that word at the moment. Looking around, I realised that the sun had gone down a considerable amount. The shadows were higher and it was colder, too.

I didn’t notice that Caidan had been talking to me. “…And then we’ll…” He stopped talking abruptly, and slapped me. “Listen when I speak to you!” He ordered harshly.

I must be mental. “Or what?” I muttered defiantly. “You’ll beat me up? What a man.” I said dryly. I was so messed up in the head right now, it wasn’t right. I didn’t know why I was doing this. Maybe it was to stall? But I had already stalled, so Carter could get Kala out.

Oh, I missed him already. That hurt more than any of my physical injuries combined. After this they would all move away again, somewhere safe, and I would… I would never get away from Caidan.

I don’t know why I was zoning in and out, but the next thing I knew, harsh ropes were binding my wrists way above my head. My toes barely touched the ground and my shoulders felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets. Kala’s were worse, I told myself. Kala’s were so much worse.