Read Online Pahnyakin Rising by Elisha Forrester - Free Book Online

was two inches up.
    “I can barely hear you,” he smirked.  “You know what I bet would help that?  A drink.  Are you thirsty?”
    Dresden nodded and her right ear scraped against the floor as the man stood and placed the knife back in his pocket.  He walked to a crumbling wooden curio cabinet along the far right of the room.  She could not see what was in it, but she eyed a set of metal stairs that were bordered by a brick wall on either side. 
    The man in his late twenties turned to her once again.  “I didn’t hear you.”
    “Yes,” she whispered with a squeak. 
    He opened the cabinet and reached inside.  The curio cabinet closed with a slam and he walked to the iron bars with a four-ounce bottle of water in his hand. 
    “This would make it all better, huh?”
    She nodded.  “Please.”
    “You can have it if you come get it.”
    Dresden could barely shake her head. 
    “I can’t.”
    “You can’t?” he asked, raising his brows.  “You mean, after every little thing you’ve been through, you can’t crawl over here to get a drink?”  The thin man scoffed and scratched the tip of his long, sharp nose.
    He smiled and pointed as if he just came up with an idea.  
    “You know,” he started, “first you get punched in the face and knocked out cold.  And now, you won’t even try to survive.  You, of all people.”  His voice became sing-songy and high pitched.  “Something isn’t right with this.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she murmured.
    “Sure you do.  Come on over here.  Let me have a piece of you for what you did to Lynette.”
    “Lynette?”
    “You don’t get to say her name,” the man shouted.  His words bounced off the walls and rang in her ears.  “And you sure don’t get to act like you don’t know who she is.  You killed my wife.”
    “No,” she cried hoarsely.  Tears streamed down her dirty cheeks.
    “You’re crying?” he asked incredulously.  “What did they do to you?”
    Dresden heard the snap of a bolt latch at the top of the stairs and the screech of a heavy metal door opening.
    “I knew her better than anyone,” she heard Dodge shout.  “If you want answers, you send me down.  I can ask her things you don’t know about, to see how far back they went.”
    “Dodge,” she tried to scream.  It came out little more than a scratchy yelp.  “Dodge, help.”
    “You have no role in the direction of this community anymore,” replied a second male’s voice.  Dresden knew it sounded familiar, but she could not place a name to the voice.  “You may have been a hot shot under her rule, but you’re nothing under mine.”
    “If you want answers to your questions, you’re going to have to directly involve me in this and you know it,” Dodge retorted. 
    “That is not Dresden.  She’s not the girl you knew.  Even if you could see how much they wiped from her memory, she’s not going to tell you why she’s here, not without a push.”
    “You can’t do this.  I’m telling you, there’s a better way.  And what if she’s telling the truth?  You know what, Shepherd?  I think you’re just pissed off because she could be back, and if that’s true, she’s going to boot you out of her spot.  You’re scared that if she’s telling the truth, you’re going to be the one that means nothing around here.”
    “If you really thought she was back, you wouldn’t have knocked her out.  And I don’t have anything to fear.  I’ve worked hard to win these people over and I’m not going to let anything-or anyone-get in my way.  Get out of here before I have my people toss you to the Rising.”
    The door’s slam echoed and shook the floor on which Dresden was still collapsed.  She was too dehydrated and disoriented to have many thoughts about what was going on around her.  Heavy stomps rattled the black metal stairs as someone descended.  Dresden lifted her glance to see dull brown toes of a pair of leather boots