The thought of the helmet made my stomach sink. The pressure of the bloodbane against my skull was not only numbing but painful, as though my head had been turned to glass. I brushed my fingers over my temple and felt the shallow indents the helmet had left there.
The memory made me shudder. So did the metallic taste of blood that still coated my tongue.
But it was the vacant eyes of the captives that stayed with me. The people upstairs had been forced into service for gods knew how long.
Once, Gwin’s job had revolved around rescuing humans who had been compelled to serve the Order for years. The world hadn’t stopped because of Reagan’s curse. It had fallen into the background while everyone in the staff worried about Mountheim’s fate. Who knew how many had been taken over the years.
We were late. We were so damn late.
But there would be more, if Madden’s thread line was any indication. Places where people would be funnelled, buried, hidden away like those tunnels. It waspeopleinside them. I wondered if I could place the locations, if there was still time to intervene.
How could we outwit a man who could alter a thread, who could step backward and rearrange the past? To stop him, he would have to be caught off guard, blindsided by a future he couldn’t anticipate.
He might manipulate the past, but I could see into that future. In that sense, I was just as strong as him. Even if I didn’t know how much the Sight would allow me to see.
The girl upstairs on a man’s lap seemed just as young as Joy. She might have been living that nightmare for years. If she was being compelled, she was still aware of everything happening around her. Whatever that girl had endured, she had felt every moment of it and was unable to fight back.
If it hadn’t been for the helmet or the bloodbane, I wouldn’t feel so numb and weak now. I might have been able to think of a way to help her.
I’d never heard of the mineral before, though I knew there were countless things I had yet to learn. It was not surprising that a man like Madden who had once owned a mining business would know enough to use it as a torture toy. Perhaps he used the bloodbane for other things.
Like his cells.
My head swam in the dark, and I still couldn’t see a thing. I reached out until my fingers found the padded wall beside me and pressed my fingers into it. It yielded like foam. I began to scratch at the surface.
It took a long time, not sure how long, before I finally tore a small dent into it with my nail. I pushed a finger inside.
Foam closed around it. Foam and a sandy residue at the bottom. I couldn’t see it, but I would have wagered anything it was the same cursed bloodbane used in the helmet.
That was why this room weakened my access. That was what this place was. A suppression chamber. Madden had said this was what they used in prisons.
The door clicked.
I pulled my hand back and shoved my pillow over the damaged padding, covering the dent.
Light spilled in from the corridor, sudden and blinding. I raised a hand to shield my eyes, blinking as a figure stepped into the room. The glow carved out the outline of a woman. I could make out little of her face beyond its stern expression, but the plain dress told me enough. A servant, like the others.
She said nothing as she placed a tray on the floor. The scent of mild herbs and cleaning solvent drifted in with her. There was no prickle of mana at all.
A human.
“Hello,” I whispered, my pulse skidding as I glanced towards the open door, waiting for the Scion who should have followed her inside. No one came.
She stood alone and silent, probably compelled.
“Does anyone know you’re here?” I asked softly, standing up over the cold tiles.
She only stared at me, her eyes sunk in and vacant.
“Can you speak?” My voice thinned. Perhaps they’d done something to her or ordered her not to talk.
ButIwasn’t compelled. I could sneak out, perhaps bring her with me.
Her stillness was too perfect, too unnatural. And yet something was wrong. This felt too easy and risky for them. Maybe it was a trap. Maybe if I ran and I took her with me, Scions would be waiting beyond the stairs.
“Are you alone?” I tried again, my pulse speeding now.
She reached into the pocket at the front of her dress and lunged.
