#96 Familiar Chains

Elsa's POV

As I stare at the empty room, my eyes linger back to the duck paintings on the wall again. There were almost hundreds of them, but each one was strikingly similar to the other and to what my father had once taught me. Somehow, it offered me a sense of calm... also renewed my will to survive. I couldn’t die here, not like this. I wouldn’t.

I had to know who the cloaked man was.

Now that I recollected his patterns and how he behaved, I was certain he was mind-controlled. And I knew who. Dane. I was sure of it now. He had no free will, no control over his actions. A puppet, living in shadows. And perhaps in his dark world, this duck was the only ray of light, and so was mine now. I wanted to find some clues as I looked around the tiny, dimly lit room.

My wolf stirred inside me, faintly. "Do you feel something odd?" I asked her, searching for some kind of confirmation.

Her voice was soft, weak. "Yes... there is something about him. Something... familiar. But I can't be sure. It