Chapter 55

**Sloane**

The hours crawl, and my world stays dark, damp and suffocating under the hood. Every breath is laced with mildew and rust, my shoulders aching from being locked in place, my wrists raw beneath cuffs that bite deeper each time I shift. Then the sound comes, the mechanical groan and click of locks disengaging in sequence, one after another, cages opening. It’s free time. An hour for the l