His expression hardened.
“She’s an anomaly.”
“And anomalies should be eradicated.”
Epilogue
Seph
I woke in a cold, damp concrete cell, my arms and legs chained to the wall.
Heavy metal gauntlets had been strapped over my hands, locking my fingers rigid so I couldn’t move them. When I tried to flex them, the metal bit into my wrists.
Above my head, a small vent pushed wet, freezing air into the room. It whistled softly through the darkness, the only sound besides my breathing.
Across the room, someone coughed.
I sat up quickly, the chains rattling against the wall.
“Who’s there?”
“Persephone?” a voice rasped through another violent cough. “Is that you?”
I squinted into the darkness, trying to make sense of the shapes in the room. Slowly, as my eyes adjusted, a figure began to take form across from me.
“Father?”
Gideon Quinn was chained to the opposite wall.
Even in the dim light I could see his face was swollen and bloodied, like he had been beaten badly. One of his arms hung limp at his side, twisted at an unnatural angle.
Broken.
“I’m so sorry you’re here,” he whispered hoarsely.
For a moment… I almost believed him.
“Where are we?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
Before he could answer, a strange sound echoed down the corridor outside the cell.
Clank… scrape.
Clank… scrape.
It sounded like something heavy being dragged across concrete.
The door suddenly swung open, spilling harsh light into the room.
A woman stepped inside.
Cara Long.
She wore a black tank top and jeans, as if she were walking into a casual meeting instead of a prison cell.
Behind her came another figure I recognised immediately.
But something about him looked wrong.
