[[Tags to
@Lion!!!]]
The world was moving. This way, then that way. This way, then that way. And the world wasn’t only moving, it was… fuzzy. And heavy. And moving. This way, then that way. This way, then that way. But try as she might, Zahi Akello could not manage to open her eyes. Or, for that matter, muster much of a will to move. She was… fuzzy. Her eyelids and her arms felt were made of lead. She should just sleep. That was easiest. The appeal of it weighed down on her like a warm, heavy blanket. It would be so easy…
Where was she again? Even in her muddled consciousness, Zahi was aware that she didn’t know. She didn’t know where she was.
This way, then that way. This way, then that way.
Something in her brain tried to raise the alarm. But it was hard. Zahi felt so…
relaxed. And heavy. And fuzzy. But where was she? What was the last thing she could remember?
Quinlan. She was with Quinlan in some dingy tavern room. Drinking whisky. Why had he been there? Zahi racked her muddled mind. Selevea. They had been in Selevea. It streamed in Zahi’s mind like reflections on water. Moving this way, then that way. This way, then that way. They’d been hunting traffickers. Human traffickers. No. They hadn’t been. She had been there with Tallinn. Quinlan had been… no. He hadn’t been involved. In the end, he hadn’t. And worse, he had helped Zahi and Tallinn bring the trafficking operation to light. And crumbling down. Just one last night, that’s what he told her. One last night together. One last drink. One last drink together before they disappeared from each other’s lives.
One last drink.
”He put something in my drink,” without realizing it, Zahi mumbled the words out loud. And with a groan, she turned where she lay, rolling onto her side. She sleepily ran a hand over her face. With another groan and an unreasonable amount of effort, she opened her eyes. The brown, then the hazel. And immediately she blinked, screwing her eyes shut again. Sunlight streamed into her vision. She took a moment to adjust, then opened her eyes again. It was a small, clean room full of bright sunlight and surprisingly fresh air. She was in a narrow, hard bed under loose and scratchy linen and, she realized, partially dressed in only her smallclothes.
Where was she?Then she raised her head enough to look out of the window. There was nothing. Wait, nothing. Just
onething. An endless blue sky, and rolling blue waves.
With a start, Zahi tried to get up off the bed, but barely managed to raise herself before the heavy effects of whatever had put her to sleep plopped her right back onto the bed.
”I’m going to kill him.”