Chapter 22
Chapter 22 Yard Time
La glanced upward.
The metal doors on the third floor were dented and warped, with no signs that feral Sentinels had smashed their way through them. Even so, she couldn’t fully relax.
She/headed for Cell 120 and slid open the small service window. The raven darted over at once.
“Caw p>
The bird let out a soft cry.
Lyra stroked his feathers and craned her neck to peer inside.
Felix still lay sprawled on the floor just like yesterday, yet he looked vastly improved.
His skin had regained its natural tone, with a faint pink tinting his cheeks.
That handsome face of his curved into a bright grin as he stared straight at her.
Lyra frowned.
She scribbled a note, “Can you not get up p>
The clever raven snatched the slip of paper and carried it across the cell to Felix.
Felix stretched out on the floor, brushing his fingertips slowly over the writing.
His eyes crinkled into warm, sparkling half–moons.
He lifted one arm and drawled in a teasing tone, “Ugh, every muscle’s gone limp. You’ve gotta come haul me
up yourself, Lyra p>
Lyra shot him an unamused glare.
“Quit fooling around. How are you really feeling p>
After reading it, Felix pressed both paper slips to his cheek and rubbed them gently, his gaze soft and dreamy. “Your concern brought me back from the brink p>
Lyra stared at him blankly, at a total loss for words.
He didn’t drop his smile, waving her closer.
“C’mere, listen. My heart’s beating brand new again just for you p>
Without a word, Lyra shut the service window and turned to leave.
Felix’s playful voice drifted out after her. “If life’s gonna knock me flat, I’ll just lie right here and let it watch me wallow p>
Lyra paused mid–step. What an odd way to think.
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Chapter 22 Yard Time
She moved straight down to the second floor.
Inside Cell 120, even the raven seemed fed up with his nonsense, pecking his arm with its sharp beak.
Felix glanced over with a half–smirk, chiding the crow lightly. “Ungrateful little thing p>
He cupped the bird’s head in one large palm and ruffled its pluniage. “Forgot who let you enjoy yourself yesterday p>
The raven flapped its wings hard to shake him off, squawking sharply in protest p>
Felix let out a quiet, amused laugh.
Just then, a loud rumble echoed from his empty stomach.
If he didn’t eat soon, he truly wouldn’t have the strength to stand p>
He planted his palms flat on the concrete floor and pushed himself slowly upright.
Last night, Lyra’s gentle touch had burned away a chunk of the black psychic corruption clinging to his spirit.
Now his body felt light and renewed, like dead branches revived by sunlight and rain.
Felix stared down at his own hands, a quiet joy glowing in his chest.
The two green paper notes still rested there, delicate as fresh new shoots sprouting from dead wood.
His eyes flickered with soft emotion.
He closed them gently and pressed a light kiss to the slips of paper.
After delivering all the breakfast trays, Lyra hurried over to the supply depot to pick up items the Sentinels had requested during morning roll call: ornamental fish, dog food, cat chow, floral essential oils, and more.
When she returned to Building Three’s cell block entryway, a crowd waited for her.
Most were fully armored guard Sentinels, with only a handful wearing the same standard staff uniform as Lyra.
Some crew had come to rip out and replace the warped metal doors on the third floor.
A second group was here to escort Sentinels out for supervised yard time.
A third team arrived to deep–clean Cedric’s cell, a favor he’d requested the day prior.
All three groups had converged at the same spot.
Lyra stepped forward quickly and handed over the master keys for the third–floor cells to the repair crew lead, who took them and left immediately.
One guard held up a checklist and spoke up. “Three yard release applications were filed for Building Three yesterday, only two got approved.
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Chapter 22 Yard Time.
“Everyone except Rook in Cell 201 is cleared for outdoor activity today p>
Ly froze for a beat. She’d heard second–floor yard permits had endless red tape.
F
Over in Cell 201, Rook erupted in rage the second he heard his request had been rejected. Furniture crashed and metal clanged as he threw every loose object within reach, shouting furious curses/the whole
time.
The armed guards looked entirely unfazed by the commotion and held out their hands toward Lyra.
She fished the remaining cell keys out of her pocket and passed them over at once.
Up on the third floor, the guards had already subdued all feral Sentinels locked in their cells.
Every room on that level was built with hidden restraints that could lock down rampaging Sentinels at a
moment’s notice.
To the untrained eye, the chambers looked ordinary–save for reinforced blast walls lining every side.
The guards unlocked each cell door and stepped inside, injecting an extra dose of sedative into the immobile feral Sentinels.
Once the sedatives knocked them fully unconscious, two guards stood watch over each Sentinel while the rest dismantled and swapped out the damaged metal doors.
Down on the second floor, the guards ordered Draven and Cedric to slide their wrists through the service windows.
They fastened silver monitoring cuffs around both men’s forearms.
Each band was fitted with dozens of psychic detection sensors and a built–in potent sedative injector.
The hardware suppressed their spirit animals, stopping them from lashing out and harming staff.
It also restricted their physical movement. If the sensors picked up a violent spike in mood that would spike their corruption levels, the cuff automatically jabbed the sedative into their skin to paralyze them instantly and blare a high–pitched emergency alarm.
The wrist monitors weren’t the only restraints. Both men were strapped upright to tall vertical restraint frames. Their arms were crossed tightly and secured to shoulder bindings, and thick bite guards covered their mouths to stop them from biting anyone.
Watching them bound like that, Lyra finally understood why so few Sentinels volunteered for yard time, even though the outdoor enclosure was far more open and unrestricted.
She thought of a movie she had once watched, The Silence of the Lambs.
The infamous cannibal serial killer had been transported restrained in exactly the same fashion.
He was terrifyingly dangerous, responsible for a string of brutal, unspeakable murders.
Even confined, he could manipulate fellow inmates into taking their own lives with nothing but a few well-
chosen words.
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Chapter 22 Yard Time
For a convicted killer, that level of containment made grim sense.
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Olivia Harris is an emerging author celebrated for her captivating romantic and steamy novels. With a talent for crafting deep emotional connections and fiery chemistry between her characters, Olivia’s stories offer readers an escape into worlds filled with passion, intrigue, and heart-stopping drama.