I’m pushed forward and scramble a bit as I feel a cushioned seat to my left. I decide I’m in some kind of vehicle, especially when it begins to move. My stomach tightens as I grasp how absolutely fucked I am without Kit or Torin. Hell, I’d even take Mickey at this point, despite the likelihood that he’d sleep through the abduction.
Since I’m still connected to Kit’s eyes, I watch while Kit looks at the Door that appears to have been broken. Did these people do it when they took me? Is that what messed up the whole thing and sent me through the Door but left the others back in my world?
Torin is frantically repairing the Door, but I’ve already been dragged far away from it by this point. I wish I could communicate with them through Kit, but the only connection Kit and I have like that is her knowing which way I want to look. And she won’t even know that from this far away.
I decide to try speaking up again. “I promise I mean no harm. I came to help. I can explain to you everything I know about the horsemen and why we need to stop them.”
No one responds to me while the vehicle continues to move at a slow pace. When it finally stops, I’m dragged from it and pulled forward. It’s hard knowing where to step, and they obviously don’t realize I’m blind as I stagger after them.
The man says, “You will stand here as you are examined for magic. Would you like to confess right now if you have magic? We assure you, it’ll go easier for you.”
I hesitate as I realize that I have no idea how they’re going to check my magic. What should I do when they find out that I have it? Will they brand me, cutting me from my magic like they did to Story? Will I be able to reverse it?
Hell, maybe it’ll be the only thing that can save me.
“Put your feet on the Xs and stand still,” the woman orders.
I have no idea where the Xs are, so I just stand still until someone gives me a push. Stumbling, I must end up too far ahead of them because I get pushed back.
“Are you trying to test me?” a man who hadn’t spoken before barks.
I debate telling them I’m blind. It could make them go easier on me, more willing to listen to me and see me as less of a threat… but I hate the idea of telling them because what if they use it against me? I weigh my options, but at this point, I’m not sure I reallyhavemany options.
With a deep breath, I toss it out, hoping it’ll help me. “I’m very sorry, but I’m blind and I can’t see where the spots are. Could someone place my feet where they need to go?” I request, trying to sound and act naive and harmless.
“You’re blind?” the woman asks. I can hear her in front of me, but I can’t quite tell what she’s doing until I feel her hand touch my face. Startled, I jerk back as she goes, “Huh…” and then I feel her hands on my legs while she puts me where she wants me. I anxiously stand here and try to think about what I should do, but my thoughts are cut short when a machine starts to whirl next to me.
“What is that?” I ask.
“It detects whether you have magic,” she says.
My mind spins, wondering if I need to just try booking it out of here… but I honestly don’t think I could. I have absolutely no idea which direction to go or where the Door is, since I’d been unconscious for part of the journey.
But the instant they feel my magic… who knows what they’ll do to me. Story didn’t paint a pretty picture of this place.
The machine begins to beep aggressively, making me feel like whatever it saw, it wasn’t happy about.
The first man suggests, “Let’s brand him and move him to a cell until Onyx decides his fate?—”
“Wait,” a new woman says, her voice gentle and soothing. I can hear her footsteps as she moves toward me a second before I feel the chain that holds my pendant and the hourglass pulled free as she takes them from me.
I freeze, not having expected her to take two extremely valuable things from me. Two things that Ineedto have.
“Try him again.”
“Yes, of course,” the man says, and when the machine whirls this time, no beeps come from it.
“The magic was in his necklace?” the first woman asks.
“Must have been. How peculiar. Put him away for now, and I will meet with him in a minute,” the new woman says.
“Of course, Onyx,” she replies, and I’m dragged off while my mind races. How the hell can I get both things back from her without revealing much? They despise magic, so if I insist on having them, she’ll likely think something is up, but without them?—
“I need those,” I blurt out, my longing for the hourglass too severe.
“No one needs magic,” Onyx says.
“I do. A horrible magic user cursed my body, and even though I detest magic as much as the rest of you, I was told those items were the only things that could keep me alive.”
