“The holes were cut out for caskets,” Marcus said thoughtfully.
“But instead of caskets, these people were left here to rot,” Kallie snarled in disgust.
Oberi padded forward and sniffed the bones.These bones have been here for a long time. Decades, at least.
“Let’s keep moving,” Ava said.
She started forward and guided me through a doorway. Ava gasped when she saw what was inside. I reached out, and my fingers curled around a cold metal rod. My stomach dropped as I moved my hands over rod after rod, all lined up in rows from the floor to the ceiling.
“Cells,” Ava said in a hollow tone, more to herself than to me. “This must be where the Warden has been holding people.”
I continued down the row of cells, wondering how far they went.
Ava described the room for my benefit. “There’s dry blood all over the floor. It’s—”
Something wet squished under my shoe, and I slipped. I flung my arms out to grab on to the cell bars, but my hands met nothing as I went crashing to the ground.
“Charlie!” Marcus cried, racing over to me.
I landed on my back, and the liquid seeped into my shirt. My hands felt sticky as I lifted them from the floor.
“What the—?” I started, but I cut off when the horrifying realization hit me.
It wasblood. Magic swirled out of the blood and tingled up my arms. It felt so familiar and similar to my own.
“Uh, it’s not alldryblood,” Marcus said. My stomach clenched as he helped me to my feet.
“You don’t think…” Ava started.
“It’s Elf blood,” I said with certainty.
“How do you know?” Kallie asked.
I swallowed. “I can feel the magic with my Elf powers.”
The room fell dead silent for a few beats. I didn’t bother trying to clean up, because there was no time to waste. I continued moving around, hoping to find more clues. As I reached the end of the row of cells, I ran into a table. I reached out to feel what lay atop it when—
“Charlie, don’t!” Ava cried, but it was already too late.
Pain shot through my palm as my flesh met the tip of a sharp blade. I winced and immediately felt warm blood spring from a deep cut. I’d touched a saw of some kind.
“Ah, fuck!” I growled. I curled my fingers tightly around the wound to slow the bleeding, but it only made it hurt like hell. I heard drops of blood splattering across the table. A flap of skin moved under my touch.
Ava hurried over to me. She grabbed my hand to inspect the cut. “Hold still!”
She pressed her palm into mine, and her warm healing magic swelled through me. The throbbing pain eased slowly. I breathed a sigh of relief when she dropped my hand.
“Don’t touch anything else before I look at it, okay?” Ava suggested.
“Agreed,” I said firmly.
Metal clinked as she picked up one of the items on the table. “Torture devices,” she said thoughtfully. “They’ve been used recently. The Warden must be using them to get information. He tortured them before…”
Ava paused. We had no idea what happened to the Elves, and none of us were willing to jump to conclusions just yet.
“We need to figure out what he did with them,” I said. “We might still have a chance.”
“Then let’s keep moving,” Kallie suggested. “There have to be more clues somewhere.”
