Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 228

Chapter 228 Lisa: Rescue?

An odd scraping has me waking in the middle of the night, when even the faint light from the high-up window has disappeared.

The sounds are irregular, not at all patterned, which I've come to learn means that there's either a person or animal behind it.

I hope it isn't a rat.

Sitting up, I strain my ears, past the thudding of my heart against my ribs. More odd sounds echo around me. A soft scuffle comes from outside the wall where Marisol usually appears with my meager meals. My breath catches in my throat.

That mysterious note comes to mind.

Could it be? After all this time, has someone finally come for me?

Hope surges through my veins, making me dizzy. I press a hand to my chest, trying to calm my racing heart. Slow, deep breaths that expand my ribs and reduce my pulse rate to a level that doesn't have me woozy with the rush of blood.

My muscles are weak, despite the squat and other stretches I work on daily, trying to keep myself as in shape as I can.

How long have I been in this hellhole? Days? Weeks? It's impossible to tell without windows or any sense of time passing. I'm not even sure my meals arrive daily; sometimes, I think it's two or three times a day. Other times, it's as though a day or two passes between them.

The cycle of night and day here seems different, too. Which is an odd thing to think, but time just doesn't seem right.

The scraping sound comes again, closer this time. I take a tentative step forward, then another. My legs shake beneath me, threatening to give out at any moment, and it's only three steps before the manacles yank against my wrists and ankles, keeping me where I am.

I know these stones intimately, the boundaries of what little movement I have.

"Hello?" I whisper, my voice hoarse from disuse. "Is someone there?"

hold my breath, straining to hear any response. Nothing. Maybe I imagined it all, my mind playing cruel

makes me jump. It's definitely coming from beyond the wall. My heart races even faster, hope and fear warring within me. What if it's not a rescue? What if it's

away. I haven't seen him since he

about that now. I have to focus on the

if someone's trying to pry something open. Could they be working on the mechanism that

out, a

Still, nothing.

getting louder makes me cringe. What if

to be

To wait and see.

God or whoever might be on the other side. "Please let

eyes fixed on the wall in front of me as I sink to my knees. The cold seeps through my thin clothing, but I barely notice. I'm always cold, anyway. It's nothing

attention is focused on that sound, willing it to

I'm imagining them. I dig my nails into

I scramble to my feet, heart in my throat. The wall moves, sliding open just as it does when Marisol brings my meals. But it's not Marisol on the

in the doorway, backlit by dim light from the hallway beyond. I can't make out

voice whispers.

figure steps closer, his height shrinks dramatically. A trick of the light, perhaps? But by the time he's standing in front of me, dwarfed in a dark robe, he's perhaps as tall

"Who are you?"

Lisa Randall?" His words

"Yes."

order for extraction. You coming, or

my hands, I rattle the chains holding me to the ground. "I can't.

his robe back, I'm shocked to see a weathered face and short, spikey white

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