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"Where are you taking me?" I demand.
"Somewhere we can talk," Miss McCleethy says. "You are a very slippery girl to catch, Miss Doyle." "What have you done to Nell Hawkins?" I ask.
"Miss Hawkins is the least of my concerns at the moment. We must discuss the Temple."
Fowlson douses a handkerchief with liquid from a small bottle.
"What are you doing?" I ask, the terror rising in my throat.
"We can't very well have you knowing how to find our hideaway," Fowlson says.
He looms over me. I fight back, turning my head left and right to avoid him, but he is too strong. The white of the handkerchief is all I can see as it floats lower, covering my nose and mouth at last. There is the inescapable, suffocating odor of ether. The last thing I see before succumbing to the darkness is Miss McCleethy popping a toffee into her mouth without a care in the world.
I come to by degrees. First, there is the taste in my mouth, a foul, sulfurous thing that sits on my tongue and makes me gag. Then there is the blurred vision. I have to raise my arm to block the wobbly, dancing light. I'm in a dark room. Candles burn. Is there no one else? I can't see anyone, but I'm aware of others. I can feel them in the room. There's a rustling sound coming from the darkness above.
Two masked men enter the room, escorting someone in a blindfold. They remove the blindfold. It's Kartik! The other men back away, leaving us alone together.
"Gemma," he says.
"Kartik," I croak. My throat is dry. My voice cracks. "What are you doing here? Did they take you, too?"
"Are you all right? Here, have some water," he answers.
I take a sip. "I'm so very sorry about what I said that day. I didn't mean anything by it."
He shakes his head. "It is forgotten. Are you certain you're all right?" "You must help me. Fowlson and Miss McCleethy kidnapped me and brought me here. If she has his loyalty, then we cannot trust the Rakshana."
"Shhh, Gemma. No one brought me here against my will. Miss McCleethy is part of the Order. She's working with the Rakshana to find the Temple and restore the Order to its full power. She's come to help you."
I lower my voice to a whisper. "Kartik, you know that Miss McCleethy is Circe."
"Fowlson says she is not."
"How does he know? And how do you know that he has not been corrupted as well? How do you know that you can trust him?"
"Miss McCleethy isn't who you think she is. Her name is Sahirah Foster. She's been on the hunt for Circe. She took the name McCleethy as a decoy, in hopes of calling the attention of the real Circe, as that was the name she took whilst she was at Saint Victoria's."
"And you believe this story?" I say with a sneer.
"Fowlson believes it."
"I'm certain Nell Hawkins could tell you differently. Don't you see?" I beg."She is Circe! She murdered those girls, Kartik. She murdered my mother and your brother! I won't let her do the same to me."
"Gemma, you are mistaken."
He's been taken in by her. I can no longer trust him.
Miss McCleethy enters the room. Her long green cloak brushes the floor.
"This has taken entirely too long, Miss Doyle. You will take me into the realms and I shall help you find the Temple. Then we shall bind the magic and restore the Order."
From above, a deep voice rings out. "With access to the realms and the magic granted at last to the Rakshana. "' In the candlelight I can see only a masked face.
"Yes, of course," Miss McCleethy says. "I know all about you," I say. "I wrote to Saint Victoria's. I know what you did to Nell Hawkins and the other girls before her."
"You know nothing, Miss Doyle. You only think you do, and therein lies the problem."
"I know Mrs. Nightwing is your sister," I announce triumphantly.
