“It’s happening,” Irene whispered, frantic. She wrapped her hands around the iron bars, dropping her voice even lower. “Whether you want it to or not. The Demien Order will storm the gates of Blackwood Academy, and you’ll either be by my side…or not.”
Masika’s chest rose and fell with shaky, panicked breaths. She reached out, placing her hands over Irene’s, her movements so quick that Irene barely had time to react, to back away from her.
“I can’t.”
And that was it. With those two words, Masika had assured her undoing. Her fate was carved into stone, her destruction now a certainty. Irene ripped her hands away from Masika, the feeling of her friend’s fingers still echoing upon her hands, as though Masika had left a trace of herself behind.
Irene flicked her wrist and the sound barrier dissipated. Seconds later, three figures emerged from the darkness. At the head of the trio stood Headmaster Silas, navy peacoat upon his shoulders, walking stick in hand. Flanking him were Housemaster Violet and Housemaster Wesley. The pair walked with their hands clasped in front of them, a stoic expression plastered on their faces.
“Ah.Irene.” Silas’s voice rang out, eerily serene. “Reacquainting yourself with your old friend?”
Irene stiffened. Her eyes flitted to Masika, who remained stone-faced.
“I figured I’d try to get ahead of the interrogation,” Irene supplied. “See what information I could get out of her.”
Silas shifted his gaze to Masika, who sucked in a sharp breath.
“Masika Sallow.” He spoke her name slowly, enunciating each syllable. “You’ve surprised me. Impressed me, even. When I heard you’d been crushed beneath a mountain, I didn’t expect you to make it out unscathed.” His eyes traced the scar on her face with deliberate precision. “Well, I suppose notcompletelyunscathed.”
Masika swallowed. To her credit, her gaze remained unflinching. “If you’re here to sacrifice me to the Ether—then get on withit.”
Silas paused in front of the bars of her cell. They were merefeet apart now, close enough that either could reach out and touch the other, though Irene doubted that Masika would try.
“In time,” Silas replied. He watched Masika with a strange glint in his eyes, almost as if he were waiting for something. “You know…this really isn’t my fault, Ms.Sallow. The Ether has been…deteriorating. Almost completely unstable since you all slipped away. If it isn’t fed what it craves—”
“Liar,” Masika spat out, lunging toward him. At the abrupt movement, Violet and Wesley each took a rigid step forward, corporeal magic crackling in their palms, but Silas raised a hand, and the pair instantly stopped in their tracks. “All of this is your fault,” Masika said. “The only reason the Ether craves my soul in the first place is because of whatyoudid. You’re not supposed to be the Headmaster! You never were!”
Violet’s lip curled back in disgust. “Shut your mouth, you insolent—”
“It’s quite all right,” Silas muttered, cutting Violet off. He let out a sigh, slowly slipping off his black gloves. “The girl is right. Iama liar. A thief. A crook.” He flexed his fingers and his golden ring burned crimson. “I am what I needed to become in order to survive.”
Masika’s expression hardened.
“Sacrificing me won’t change anything,” she spat out. “You’ll never find the others. And then the Ether will crumble. You’ll lose control. You’ll loseeverything.”
Silas leaned in closer. He wrapped his own hands around the bars. “And what makes you so sure of that?”
Masika met his gaze, chin lifted high.
“Because I’d rather die a thousand deaths than ever tell you where they are.”
At this, Silas smiled. “Well, Ms.Sallow…that won’t be an issue.” He snapped his fingers and Wesley stepped forward, unveiling the same spear they’d used to torture Thalia. “Have you not wondered why we’ve waited to feed you to the Ether? Why we’ve bothered to throw you in this cell?” His eyes raked her face slowly.
The realization must have struck Masika at the same time it dawned on Irene, because her expression fell, the defiance in her stare faltering.
Silas chuckled.
“Your presence here isn’t just a formality…it’s a necessity.”
Masika staggered backward. A single step.
“You’re using me as bait,” she whispered, voice cracking. It wasn’t a question. “It won’t work.”
Silas wrapped his hand around the spear. “We’ll see about that.”
Irene felt like she was going to be sick. She staggered backward, hand clutching her stomach. She just needed some air. A moment to think.
“I…I’m going to go check in with Samira and Everly,” Irene mumbled. But as she took her first step away from the cell, Headmaster Silas’s voice punctured the air, holding her in place.
