Chapter 42: Helpless

Caine sat at the very edge of his cell, his feet dangling above a black pit below. He had never seen a cell like this one, before. There was not a single wall to hem him in, only an iron gate blocking the way back.

But with a thousand-foot drop on all sides, it still got the job done.

Helplessness seeped through him, creeping like a stain to every limb. He had tried to wrench open the locked door. He had tried hammering at the iron bars with a loose chunk of stone he had found. He had even tried to climb around the gate to solid ground on the other side, but there had been no handholds to support him, and with the deadly drop below, he did not dare try and jump.

Now, he did not know what to do.

Caine balled his hands into fists. ‘Useless!’ He could have screamed it at himself. Again, when Vix needed him the most, he had let himself get led away, as docile as a sheep, to sit, awaiting rescue.