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"What kind of something?"
"I'm not sure," I said slowly. "Maybe she wanted us to hurry in opening it. Perhaps she was warning against opening it."
"You said she screamed before she disappeared?"
"Yes."
He rubbed his chin. "She might be likewise locked away somewhere else."
"Not here," I replied. "If she was here, they would have found her."
"Would they have told you?"
I hesitated. "I don't know." I stepped closer to the sarcophagus and touched it lightly with the palm of one hand. It felt cool under my skin, just ordinary stone.
After a moment, I had a sense of the presence inside. Fainter than before, it felt like a heartbeat through layers of clothing.
"Do you know who she was?" I asked. "That woman. What was she trying to tell me?"
A sensation, like a jab of warning, hotter than a poker fresh from the flames, flashed through me. I wanted to jerk back, but my hand wouldn't move. I was fused to the stone. No, not exactly fused, but compelled to keep my touch on its surface.
Fuck.
I swallowed hard.
"I presume you think we should stay away from her, whoever she is?"
The warning pressed a little harder, then disappeared, along with the compulsion to keep my hand in place. I pulled it back and examined my fingers. If I expected to find them damaged, I didn't see anything.
"He didn't seem happy she was here," I remarked blandly.
"Are you all right?" Knox asked. "You looked scared for a moment there." He grabbed my hand and scrutinised my fingers. "No damage that I can see, but I don't think you should touch that again."
Anger flared inside me. I wasn't planning on it, but the choice was up to me.
"If it helps me understand, then I will," I said sharply. I was tempted to touch the stone again, just to spite him, but that would be silly. Childish. To risk myself solely to irritate him… I wouldn't do something so stupid.
I shook my head and moved away from the sarcophagus.
"Did you feel anything? A presence?"
He pursed his lips and shook his head slowly. "I just heard the music."
"At the same time the woman was here. That can't be a coincidence, surely?"
"It could be, but it seems unlikely." He rested his chin on his thumb and forefinger and gazed thoughtfully at the front of Comus's prison.
"What power do you have?" I asked, the words out of my mouth before I was aware of having the thought.
His eyes swivelled toward me. "None that I'm aware of. Why?"
"I might have seen the woman because of my power, but that doesn't explain why you heard music. Have you heard it before?"
"As a matter of fact, I heard it yesterday, not long after we arrived here."
"About when I saw her the first time." But Luther didn't see anything. Helene had her back to me. It had nothing to do with the power then. At least, not entirely to do with it. I couldn't rule out power being the cause of these… Whatever they were. Imaginings? Illusions? Hallucinations?
"We should leave here before anyone comes," I said. "Or before they start to look for us."
