Chapter 36

• I awoke to a voice cutting through the oppressive stillness of the night.
• “Hey, come here, you fool!” the voice barked, harsh and venomous, as though it had been summoned from a nightmare.
• My head throbbed as I peeled my body from the cold stone floor. The remnants of a restless night—mosquito bites that stung my skin and the scurrying of rats too bold to fear me —left my feeling more like a prisoner than ever. I rubbed at my sore wrists, staring through the metal bars of her cage to make sense of the commotion.