Devon Dulac's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Devon opens his eyes to walls of glass and restraints that hum against his wrists. The cell is small, cube-shaped, filled with the sound of water moving somewhere beneath him. He tests the cuffs once, feels the current bite through his skin, and stops. He looks up. Above him, blue lightning dances across a circular barrier embedded in the ceiling, pulsing with violet veins that spread like roots. The pattern repeats every three seconds. He counts it twice to be sure, then shifts his weight forward against the restraints. The current intensifies, sharp enough to make his jaw clench, but he doesn't pull back. Instead, he watches the barrier flicker once during the pulse. It's small, barely a half-second gap, but it's there. Devon exhales slowly and settles back. He knows what the plan needs now. The clock on his escape just started. But outside the glass, something moves. Devon turns his head and finds it crouched three feet from the cell wall, watching him. The creature is all barbed wire and spikes, coiled into a shape that could almost be a body. Orange eyes glow from the center of its tangled head. It doesn't blink. The wires pulse with a slow rhythm, like breathing, and Devon realizes what it is. A marker. A trophy sign. They put it there so anyone walking past knows exactly what kind of catch they're looking at. He stares back at the thing and feels his lip pull into something cold. Good. Let them think they've got him pinned. He's already three seconds ahead. Beyond the wire creature, Devon can see the rest of the facility. Glass cells stack in neat rows along the far wall, each one glowing with its own barrier. Most are empty. Two contain shadows he can't quite make out through the pulsing light. He counts fourteen cells total, which means fourteen keypads, fourteen separate locks. His cell sits on the bottom row, center position. The water sound grows louder, and he glances down to see a thin stream running beneath the glass floor, disappearing into channels he can't trace. They're keeping the curses active. Smart. But the water means pipes, and pipes mean weak points in the structure. Devon tests the restraints one more time, timing it with the barrier's flicker. The current bites harder, but this time he smiles through it. He's found his starting move.