The next morning, the heavy iron door didn’t just open; it screeched against the stone floor, a harsh, grating sound that shattered the heavy silence of the early morning. Before the fog of sleep could even clear from my brain, a pair of thick, brutal hands wrapped around my upper arms and violently yanked me off the dirt floor.
"Time for your lesson," a rough voice boomed above me.
"No! Leave her alone!" Eloise cried out, scrambling forward through the dark. She and Toby both lunged, their desperate hands gripping tightly onto my clothes and wrists, trying to anchor me to the back of the cell.
"Get off!" the guard roared.
With a vicious backhand, he struck Eloise across the face. The sickening crack echoed through the chamber, and the force of the blow knocked her completely out, send
