Chapter 17 The Price Of Rebellion

• Cleo's POV
• I stirred awake, my head throbbing like a drumbeat, the dull ache radiating through my skull. I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t respond. I blinked, my vision hazy and blurred as I struggled to make sense of my surroundings. My breath hitched when I finally took on where I was, a dark grimy room, the air thick with smoke that rose lazily from a fire burning inside a rusty old drum.
• The heat from the fire flickered across the walls, casting long, ominous shadows that seemed to dance mockingly around me. I strained against the ropes biting into my skin, my heart racing as the reality of my situation settled in. I wasn’t free. I hadn’t escaped. I had been caught.