“Where’s Finn?” I asked, voice low, forced calm.
“He’s fine. I told you that already.”
“When will you release him?”
Phoenix didn’t break stride, but something in his posture tensed. “I’m not at liberty to say that.”
I frowned. “Then whatareyou at liberty to say? Are you planning to torture me? Hurt me?”
That stopped him. He turned on a dime, eyes suddenly blazing with a flash of anger I hadn’t seen before.
“Do you really think we’d bother feeding you if we planned to hurt you?” he snapped.
I tilted my head, unfazed. “A good torturer likes a healthy canvas. Where’s the fun in someone already broken?”
His jaw clenched, a muscle feathering in his cheek, but he didn’t speak. I could feel the shift—like I’d touched a nerve.
“I don’t know what you think you’re going to get from me,” I added, voice softer now, almost weary. “But you’re going to be disappointed. I’m nobody.”
Phoenix’s expression flickered for just a second—something unreadable in his eyes. Pity? Regret?
“I guess we’ll find out then,” Phoenix replied, his voice clipped and calm.
We walked down a long, echoing corridor—the kind that made every footstep feel like a warning. At the far end stood a small, boxy room with smooth metal walls and no windows. I hesitated on the threshold.
“What the hell is this?” I asked, frowning. “A cage?”
The doors slid open with a low hiss, revealing a tight, sterile chamber that wasn’t even big enough to lie down in. A panel of buttons glowed faintly on one wall like a mechanical constellation.
Phoenix gave me a sidelong glance. “You’ve never seen an elevator before?”
“A what?”
“An elevator. A travel chamber. It takes us where we need to go.”
I took a step back, my eyes narrowing. “Is this magic?”
“No. Mechanics,” he said, and then added, as if that would soothe me, “You’re perfectly safe.”
I didn’t like the way he reached for me—didn’t like the steel in his fingers as he caught my arm.
“Stop saying that,” I snapped, yanking free. “And don’t touch me.”
I glanced around, heart speeding up as I searched the room for any crack or shadow I could phase into—any escape route at all. But Phoenix was already watching me too closely.
“Don’t bother,” he said, reading me like a book. “Your powers won’t work here. This entire tower is warded. You’re locked out.”
I didn’t believe him—until I tried. The moment I reached for my power, it recoiled like it’d slammed into an invisible wall. Pain lanced up my spine. I flinched, breath caught.
Phoenix arched a brow and gave me a smug, almost pitying smile. “Told you.”
Just before the doors began to slide shut, a voice rang down the hallway.
“Wait!”
We both turned.
Leo loped toward us, all swagger and irreverence, a grin splitting his face. “Don’t go without me, darling.”
