It gave the men a new appreciation of the stones they used. Christof sat on the end of my bed as he


    considered the matter.


    “This is where you slept?” he asked passing his hand over the rough fadedforter.


    “Yes,”


    “It isn’tfortable,” he said and moved around making the old springs squeak, “and it is very noisy.”


    I shrugged. It wasn’t that bad if I didn’t toss around at night.


    Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    “Where did you get the money?” Kein asked as he walked around the room.


    I exined the concept of a paycheck to them. Mr. Pensky paid me less because I lived here. The


    money in the toilet tank was whatever I didn’t spend on bus fare, food, and clothes.”


    The men followed me back outside to look at the dingy swimming pool on the property.


    “I see why you Liked the ce you took us first,” Damien said looking into the still, murky water.


    “This ce is unpleasant,” Christof said looking around. “You felt fear here constantly. There was no


    pleasure in your life.”


    Evan hugged me from behind, pulling my back flush to his front. “We gave you better than this. Come


    back with us,” he stated.


    I melted into Evan and left willingly. They took me to the mountains, to the untouched beauty of Pateria.


    With them, in this world, I felt peace.


    It was all good and rxed. No more nightmares gued the dreams the rest of the night. We were


    together and we were happy.


    “Wake up, ve,” my fake Master said loudly.


    A N G E L A ‘s L I B R A R Y


    Groggily, I remembered hearing him yelling at me. I’d been in such a wonderful, peaceful sleep. It took


    me Longer to wake than usual.


    The menmented on my slow progress and pulled me to the table to eat. They fed me all they


    usually did, but what I really wanted was some of those worms.


    “Why don’t I ever have worms, Masters?” I asked.


    The men stared at me with fury on their faces.


    “They are expensive, ve. We do not see the need for you to have them. You will sleep in the box


    again tonight for your impudence,” one of the men growled.


    I stayed silent and looked at the floor. Beforest night, I was sure I hated the worms, now I was asking


    for them. It didn’t make any sense.


    The Keepers was like it always was, we yed inside in the morning.


    Strange catches of feelings assaulted me throughout the day. Boredom while I yed the drums, for


    instance, and that didn’t make any sense.


    I concentrated on the weird sensation and Looked at Fuji. She shouldn’t eat the worms and she was


    obsessed with her skin. These were things I already knew and Learning more about this ve did not


    interest me. dara,” Rose called in a singing voice, “what are you doing?” hinking,” I answered trying to


    act normally.