From his bed in the next room, Nathan could hear every word that Eric and Crystal had said, and from what he heard, he was able to glean the truth: Eric had planned to torture him, but the plan had backfired, and Eric had gone from being the bully to being the victim.
Nathan let out a laugh so deep that it caused his chest to vibrate. He had not laughed so heartily in a long time. His laugh was so loud that it echoed off the castle walls, and each gale was like an ice pick in Eric’s ears.
“Nathan!” Eric shouted. “Get your chuckles in while you can because I will have the last laugh. You may have won this battle, but I will win the war!”
“You are hilarious.” Nathan smirked and said, “The war is over, and I am the victor.”
Paul was sleeping soundly on the couch when his cell phone rang. “I should have turned it off before I laid down,” he grumbled. The handy phone was sitting on the coffee table, and he glared at it, willing it to stop. It rang six times, and then - Oh, sweet merciful - Jesus - it went silent. - only to begin ringing again three seconds later. Paul cursed as he sat up and picked up the phone. He was ready to freak out, but when he saw who was calling, his anger dissipated. It was Michelle.Paul smiled as he accepted the call. “Good morning, baby, I was sleeping. Is there a problem?”“You haven’t been home for two days…” Michelle replied. She sounded upset as if she were on the verge of tears.
Nancy looked to the window where Paul had been, but he was gone.Noah put his hand on her shoulder and said, “At least Wolf wasn’t with us...”Nancy shuddered. She could easily imagine what Paul would have done had the dog been with them. She turned to face Noah and said, “This has gone too far, but I have a plan to make it stop.”Noah smiled hopefully. “Is there anything that I can do to help?”“As a matter of fact, there is,” Nancy replied. “But I was hesitant to ask….”“Don’t be silly.” Noah laughed. “I am at your disposal. Tell me what you need, and if it is within my power to do it, then I will.”
By the time Crystal was done feeding Eric and Nathan, she was exhausted. Her body was slick with sweat, and she was anxious to have some alone time. “Alright,” she said as she prepared to leave, “Sleep well.”“Darling,” Eric cried, “I need to go to the toilet.”Crystal’s body stiffened. “I beg your pardon?”“I have been tied up all night until now,”Eric explained. “I have physiological needs.” He raised his eyebrows. “This request is legitimate.”His request is reasonable - Crystal realized - But how can I let him pee without letting h
Almost immediately, Nancy woke up. Where am I? - she wondered. She looked up and was startled to see Crystal hovering over her. “What’s going on?” she asked.Crystal put away the oil and whispered, “Get up. The game is on, and I need you to be alert.”Nancy stood up dizzily. “I don’t feel right,” she muttered.“What’s wrong?” Crystal asked nervously. She was worried that the dr*gs might have had negative side effects.That was not the problem, though. Nancy was having trouble making sense of what Paul had done to her earlier. This was not the first time that Paul had assaulted her - not by far - but it had been the
Paul was bundled up so tightly that Noah could walk past the bodyguards with him under his arms, and they were none the wiser. Nancy and Crystal were giggling, though, and although that seemed unusual, the guards did not think too much about it.“What is up with them?” one of them asked. “They are just girls,” the other replied.“Nothing but space in their heads, as you know!” They both laughed.Nancy smiled and leaned over so that she could whisper into Crystal’s ear: “There is nothing worse than an idiot that doesn’t know how dumb they are.”Crystal nodded, and once they were a safe distance from the guards, she said, “We are ready for the next phase of our plan.”
Nancy looked at Paul, smiled, and said, “Now that he is up here, I am not as concerned about bathing him as I was. I would rather torture him. What do you think?”“What do I think?” Crystal laughed. “I think that I like the way that you think. Let’s do it!”Nancy gently touched Crystal’s arm. “Can you do me a favor?” she asked. “I would like to torcher Paul by myself. Would you mind torturing Eric or Nathan?”“It’s not a problem,” Crystal replied. She winked at Paul and said, “Count your lucky stars. If it were me administering your punishment, it would be a thousand times worse than whatever Nancy has planned!”.Nancy uttered a frustrated humph.
Michelle was not the type to give up without a fight. She turned to the servants and said, “Seize them!”Luckily, Noah had the foresight to bring his bodyguards, and they intervened. They defeated the servants, and then they took Michelle as a prisoner.Crystal pointed at a servant and said, “You, go and get a pot of boiling water.”“Me?” The servant shook her head violently. “You can’t boss me around.”“This is your chance to redeem yourself!” Crystal exclaimed. “Which side do you want to be on when your master returns?”The servant thought for a moment, and then she hurried into the kitchen to boil water.
By the time Nancy and Crystal made it to the car, Clark was half asleep. But after all that he had been through, this was no surprise. Not only had Michelle burned the boy’s arm and beaten him, but she had also deprived him of sleep and nutritional food. When he heard his mother’s voice, though, he opened his eyes and sat up straight. He nuzzled up against her and said, “Thank you for saving me, Mommy.”Nancy ran her fingers through his hair and said, “Clark, my sweetie, we are going to leave all the bad people behind us, and they will never find us. We will live together forever, and we will be happy.”****Having rescued Clark, the next step was to rescue Nathan from the castle and meet up with the ship that Noah had arranged for them. After crossing the border of