“No,” she said. “I was abducted, and you know that because—”
Before she could finish, the voice shouted, “Wrong! Wrong answer, Madison.”
The next thing she knew, the whole room went dark, as an earsplitting shriek emanated from the walls.
FORTY
RING OF FIRE
Aster was in full-blown panic mode. Her cell signal was dead, and as far as she could tell after relentlessly banging her fists against the walls, there was no way out of the space she was stuck in.
When the lights suddenly dimmed and Trena Moretti’s face was projected onto the wall, Aster screamed, “Please, help me! Get me out of here—now!”
“She can’t hear you.”
Aster spun in circles, trying to determine where the voice was coming from.
“She can only hear what I want her to hear. Also, just so you know, you’re being filmed. This is going out on a live feed. So you might want to pull yourself together and try to look a little more presentable. Your panicked face isn’t nearly as pretty as your usual face.”
For the first time since she’d entered the room, Aster noticed the camera in the upper right corner pointing at her.
“What do you want?”
She glanced between the wall and the camera.
“I want you to tell the truth.”
“About what?”
“About whatever we ask. If you do, you’ll be richly rewarded. If you don’t . . . what’s the opposite of richly rewarded? Poorly punished?”
“Where’s Ryan?”
“Somewhere. Hard to say where exactly.”
“What have you done with him?”
“All in good time. Now please, your attention on Trena. She has something to ask.”
Aster turned toward Trena, who looked tense. If nothing else, it was a relief to know she had not volunteered for this—whatever this was. Clearly, it wasn’t exactly the soft opening Trena had expected. Aster knew Ira would stop at nothing for free publicity, but this was way out of line, even for him.
“Trena, go ahead. Ask Aster the question on the script before you.”
Trena consulted the page, then looked at the screen and said, “Are you still a virgin?”
Aster stared incredulously. “What kind of junior-high bullshit is this?”
“Language! You’re being filmed, and there’s a good chance your parents are watching, so—let’s try that again. Answer the question, please.”
Aster dropped her head in her hands. Her parents were watching? Great. After all the pain she’d put them through, it was about to get even worse.
She looked at Trena and said, “No. Not anymore.”
Immediately, the bench where she sat began to warm, along with the rest of the room, which up until that point had been unbearably cold.
“Very good. See how this works? Who knows, another correct answer might connect you with Ryan. So, Trena, what say you?”
Trena took a deep breath, then looked at Aster. “This one’s about your little brother, Javen.”