Part XXXIX

The sunlight filtered through the lace curtains in Artemis’s bedroom, blinding her as she rolled over, pulling the sheets with her. She slowly opened her eyes to see Seneca lying next to her, still sleeping. He was curled up on top of the blankets, her hand clasped in his. Careful not to wake him, she pried his fingers from around her wrist and slipped out of his hold and out of the sheets.

Just as her feet touched the cold wood floor, her phone started ringing and she started digging through the sheets desperately to find it before it woke Seneca up.

She found it and swiped the green phone button, answering it. “MJ, what’s wrong?”

“We have Maddox,” he said. “We’re waiting for you in the Condemning Chamber.”

She was quiet for a moment as she looked over at Seneca who was beginning to wake up. “I’m on my way.”

Ending the call, she grabbed a change of clothes off the back of her chair and headed for the bathroom. When she was done changing, she headed back to her room and found Seneca awake.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. His hair was still messy and although he ran his hands through it in an attempt to fix it, it only made it worse.

“MJ has Maddox in the Condemning Chamber,” she explained, tucking her phone in her back pocket. “I’m heading to the Great Library and if you want to come you can. I think you should.”

“Okay.” He climbed off the bed. “Let’s go.”

She stopped him by grabbing his wrist. “Whatever happens, don’t stop me, Seneca.”

He frowned, worry lines appearing on his forehead.

“Please.”

****

Artemis had only been to the Condemning Chamber once and that was when she and Seneca had first been captured by the Great Library. The thing about the Chamber is that it had only two uses—giving sentences and giving out punishments. When someone was forced out of the Library, they would go to that room and be punished.

As the elevator shot up, Artemis could hear her heartbeat pounding in her head. She took a deep breath and looked over at Seneca who gave her a small smile.

“Should I do this?” she questioned. “Will doing this make me worse than him?”

He shrugged slightly. “I really can’t tell you whether you should do this or not, Artemis. This is something you’ll have to decide for yourself.”

Before she could say anything, the doors slid open revealing the all-too-familiar glass room. Stepping out was like taking a leap of faith. It was impossible to tell whether you were going to fall into the clouds below or walk on the air.

MJ stood with his arms folded over his chest, eyes glued on Maddox who sat cross-legged on the floor several feet away. There was a chain around his ankle that kept him from attempting to run. Although it was invisible, there was a barrier between the two and both knew it.

Serendipity walked over to Artemis and Seneca and smiled at them. “You’re just in time. MJ was getting impatient.”

“What’s going to happen?” Artemis questioned as she stood next to MJ.

“The Library has a policy for punishments,” he started. “Especially for the ones that have overstepped their boundary which Maddox has done more than once.”

Seneca stepped up next to Artemis. “And what is it?”

“The person that they hurt the most gets to punish them.” His dark eyes reminded her of the sky yesterday as it tried to restrain the storm that brewed just out of reach. “People like this aren’t allowed to leave the Great Library alive, not that he would live for long, but it’s just protocol.”

They were quiet, each knowing what that meant.

“Artemis, whenever you’re ready.” MJ nodded towards Maddox. “You can do whatever you want to him.”

She took a step towards the divider but was stopped when Seneca stepped in front of her.

“I know I said I wouldn’t stop you but when it comes to the point where you’re beating a dead horse, someone is going to intervene,” he lowered his voice. “So know when to stop.”

She nodded and he stepped around her, giving her hand a small squeeze before going back to his spot next to MJ.

The glass door handle was startling cold compared to her sweaty palms and as she stepped through the doorway, she found out why. The other part of the Chamber was at least twenty degrees colder than the side the others stood on.

“I should have known you’d be the one to enter,” he said, standing. The chain slid along the ground, making her skin crawl. “At first I thought maybe it would be Seneca but then I realized he’s too forgiving.”

“You underestimate him.” She stepped a foot away. “He is capable of destroying you if he wanted to.”

“Then why isn’t he?” He sneered. “Is he scared?”

She clenched her jaw and started rolling her sleeves up. “No one’s scared of you, Maddox. You’re a weak human that is capable of dying and there is nothing you can do to save yourself.”

“What makes you think that?” He took a step backward and she smirked. “Do you think I can’t fight back?”

“I didn’t say that,” she pointed out. “I said you couldn’t save yourself. Even if I don’t kill you, you’ll die from infection and you’ll rot away, little by little as you take your last breath in the most painful way.”

“You’re all about that aren’t you?” This time he didn’t retreat. “Killing people as painfully as possible.”

“I am,” she admitted. “Because it gives the person the chance to think about everything they’ve ever done and realize just how unimportant and insignificant it was as they’re taking their last breath.”

“You’re a psychopath,” he snapped at her through clenched teeth, his back pressed against the far wall.

“Where do you think I got that from?” She grabbed him by his neck and yanked him away from the wall, the chain chasing after him. Letting go, he crawled across the floor as quickly as possible to get away from her as she followed after him. “I had a perfect example 905 years ago, Maddox.”

“I didn’t teach you this,” he growled at her, grasping the chain in his hand. “I didn’t kill a single person in that rebellion.”

“That’s right,” she leaned back on her heels. “You got everyone else to do it for you, convincing them that they were fighting for a good cause and that it would open the eyes of the entire kingdom. You promised freedom but look at us now. You lied.”

Anger rushed through her like the wind through the trees in the middle of a storm. She lunged forward, yanking the chain from his hand and wrapping it around his throat.

His fingers clawed at her hands, tearing at the skin and drawing blood but she bit her tongue to keep herself from registering the pain. The tighter she pulled, the more he stood up and it was a matter of seconds until she had him back on his feet. As his face swelled up and got red, she slowly let go.

“Just kill me already.” he dropped to his knees, bracing himself so he didn’t face-plant. He glared at her, his black eyes darker than a moonless night.

“That’s not as fun.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m waiting for you to fight back, to make things more interesting.”

He struggled to his feet and clenched his hands into fists by his side. “Would fighting back make this any quicker?”

“How badly do you want to live?” she questioned.

“I don’t.” His breathing was ragged and she could see the bruise already forming around his throat. She wouldn’t be surprised if she had damaged his vocal cords. “I never wanted to live. From the day I was born, I wanted to die and the longer I lived, the stronger that desire grew.”

“Then why haven’t you died yet?” she yelled, her voice echoing back to her in the empty chamber. “You’ve had multiple opportunities but you haven’t taken any of them.”

“You don’t think I’ve tried?” He took a shaky step forward. “Do you think you’re the only one that’s tried to kill themselves but was always stopped by the Guardians?”

Artemis’s gaze flickered back to MJ and Serendipity who stood, watching. They knew every time she had attempted to take her own life yet they had never said anything, never let on to the fact that they knew about the pain she hid from them.

“I tried so many times,” his breath reeked of blood and it made her stomach flip. “But I could never succeed so I decided to wait for someone else to do it for me.”

She stepped back, realizing what he was starting to explain.

“So I did things that would make you mad.” He smiled. “If there was one person from my past who wouldn’t hesitate to kill me, it would be you, Artemis. I knew from the very beginning just how bitter you were and I could use that to my advantage. When you stabbed me just before leaving with Seneca, I had hoped you would have come back and finished the job but you didn’t.”

“You’re the psycho,” she sneered, kneeing him in the gut. He stumbled back, grabbing at his abdomen.

“When my men rebelled against me, I prayed to God that they would kill me but instead they left me to rot,” he said. “And then the Library came for me. It was supposed to be a punishment but instead, it was a blessing. It gave me an opportunity to find you and anger you.”

“You manipulated me.”

He smirked. “What are you going to do about it? Are you going to kill me?”

“In the most painful way possible,” she answered. “So you realize just how desperately you want to live.”

“It’s not gonna happen, sweetheart.” His shoulders sagged as he dropped to the ground, leaning against the wall. “Either you kill me or I die—either way I win.”

“You’ll never win,” she crouched down next to him. “Dying isn’t winning, Maddox. It’s loosing.”

“Just get it over and done with.” He shut his eyes. “Please.”

She was quiet and when he didn’t get an answer, he looked at her. “Why are you hesitating?”

“Because I don’t want to give you what you want,” she answered. “It would be more of a punishment to make you live.”

Turning, she started to walk away from him, hoping she was making the right choice. As her footsteps sounded through the quiet chamber, she wrapped her hand around the glass doorknob and turned it.

“You’re a coward.” Maddox’s voice carried through the air, echoing back several times before dying out. “You’re a mistake that your father wanted to get rid of and you couldn’t do anything to stop him.”

She turned slowly, her hand still on the knob, not speaking. She knew what he was doing but as he droned on and on, an assortment of names and accusations coming from his mouth, she could barely keep her body from shaking with rage.

Her hands ached from how tight her grip was on the handle but she couldn’t make herself let go. If she did, she knew she would be across the room in no time and letting Maddox have it.

“Oh, and Seneca,” he started. “Is no better than you. He was the easiest to manipulate into doing what I wanted. He was like a dog, willing to do anything just to get a little bit of attention.”

The small hold she’d had on her anger snapped and she let go of the door. Step after step brought her closer to him and pulled back, kicking him in the stomach. He slammed against the wall, his eyes rolling back in his head as a sickening smile appeared on his face.

She knew the pain was something he would relish and death was something he craved but she wouldn’t give it to him so easily. He would get pain until he couldn’t take anymore. Then, she would make him beg for life.

Grabbing him by the collar, she punched him in the face, letting go of him as she did so. He collapsed to the ground, blood flowing from his nose and onto the see-through floor below.

He laughed, the twisted sound reminding her of nails on a chalkboard. He rolled over on his stomach and sat up on his knees before taking an unstable step in an attempt to stand. His leg buckled beneath him and he fell back to his knees, head hanging.

Reaching out, she grabbed his hair and pulled his head back so his throat was exposed.

“MJ,” she said, looking past the barrier. “A knife, please.”

He snapped his fingers and she felt the chill of the blade slide through her grip and the firmness of the handle between her fingers.

Her eyes met Maddox’s as she held the knife to his throat.

“I was going to drag it out.” She crouched down so she was on the same level as him, speaking into his ear. “But you made me too mad and I’m sick and tired of letting you live.”

He couldn’t speak through the blood that was pooling in his mouth from his nose.

“But I want to have some fun with you.” She let go of him and moved so that she was in front of him. “So you’ll have to wait a little longer.”

As she plunged the sharpened blade into his gut, she felt the warm blood ooze over the blade, over her hands, and drip to the floor below. Stepping back, she wiped the knife off on her pants leg and tossed the knife to the side. The moment it hit the floor, it disappeared, leaving only a few drops of blood.

A whimper escaped his lips and a tear rolled down his face, quickly getting lost in the blood that also flowed. He pressed his hands against the wound, an instinctive action to slow the bleeding.

“Does it hurt?” she asked. “Do you still want to die?”

“Yes,” he managed through gritted teeth.

She didn’t speak but instead traced his chain back to where it attached to the wall. Looping her arms under his, she pulled him back so she had more chain to work with.

“What are you doing?”

She could barely understand what he was saying so she just ignored him as she wound the chain around the several hooks that were on the wall, making it shorter and shorter until she had just enough to do what she wanted.

Once again, she grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, looping the chain around his neck twice and securing it to the hook. It fit perfectly on top of the previous bruise but this time, she wouldn’t let go of it and allow him to breathe.

Grasping for air, he grabbed at the chains and clawed at his neck. His eyes were wide as he struggled to breathe, his face reddening with each passing second.

“Do you still want to die?” She crouched down in front of him.

“Yes.” He barely whispered.

Reaching out, she dug her finger into the wound on his abdomen until he screamed.

“Do you still want to die?” she yelled at him. When he didn’t speak, she jabbed at the injury once more. “Answer me!”

He violently shook his head until she removed her finger and leaned back on her heels.

“Good.” She smiled at him sweetly. “Now I’m going to let you die.”

Standing up, she brushed her jeans off, smearing the blood that was on her hands and turned.

“I—hate—you.” It was barely a whisper but she could hear it.

She looked over her shoulder at him, face void of any emotion. “If you had left Seneca out, I would have let you die when you wanted to.”

Without another word, she turned and didn’t look back. With every step that took her farther and farther from him, his screams and inhumane sounds got louder and louder until she shut the glass door behind her, stopping the shiver-inducing screams from reaching her ears.

She had beaten him finally but she didn’t know if that made her better or worse than him.