Superior

Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Delaney

My eyes swung back and forth across the room, watching Abby as she paced from one end to the other. Her hands, handcuffed behind her, were clenching and releasing, and I could see her teeth grinding together as she fumed silently.

"Jesus, Abby, would you just sit still?" I muttered finally. Shaking my head, I shifted in the dark red chair I sat in and tried to make myself comfortable—or at least, as comfortable as one can be with their hands secured behind their back.

Abby froze mid-step and whirled on me, her expression disdainful. "No, Delaney," she hissed, "I can't. I can't do much of anything with this goddamned color all over the place!"

She tried to gesture with her arms, but when that inevitably failed, swept her head in a wide arch to encompass the room. I looked up and grimaced. All around me was a sea of red, from the bright scarlet walls to the cream-and-crimson rug to the red chairs and chaises. Thick red curtains filtered light through the covered windows. Everything that wasn't red, it seemed, was a bright, sparkling gold. It was overwhelming, to say the least.

After getting off the plane, we had been handcuffed straightaway and led up an elevator and into the Capitol itself, where a taxi had been waiting to drive us away. It took us to a pretty white building, which Charisma (who had accompanied us) called The White House. Once inside, guards had quickly deposited us in this room and left, locking the door behind them. And so, for the past several minutes that felt like hours, Abby and I had been stuck in there, growing more and more restless by the second.
Sighing, I stared up at the blindingly bright gold chandelier above my head.

"Just sit, Abby," I said beseechingly, blowing at a piece of hair that had fallen in my face. It danced irritatingly in front of my eyes, then floated down to land on my nose, causing my glasses to slip. I groaned and added, "You won't help anything by wasting your energy like than."

"Speaking to you is a waste of energy!" she snapped.

I rolled my eyes. A few days ago, I might have shrunken back from her insults, but at that point, I was too numb to care. With all the uncertainty looming before us, I hardly had time to waste over yet another argument with Abby.

"Then why do you keep responding?" I countered tightly. That shut her up for a while, but, probably just to scorn me, she began pacing again, this time taking extra-heavy steps that clumped across the carpet. I breathed out slowly to keep my annoyance in check, but didn't gratify her with a response. Instead, I twisted in my chair, trying to find a position that didn't involve sitting on my hands. It was nearly impossible, but I kept trying. Anything to distract myself.

And that was how we were found, five minutes later, when two handcuffed figures were pushed into the room. I glanced over sharply as they stumbled across the carpet, their shoes leaving faint footprints in a plush material, but it wasn't until the doors slammed and they looked up that I recognized them.

"Trai!" I cried, as Abby shouted, "Caleb!"