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I calmed my pulse and slowed down my breathing to get more oxygen into my lungs.
My trembling fingers groped on the ground to get a sense of where I was. Moss dotted the cracks between the uneven stones. Something scurried across the other side of the room. It must be a rat.
My breathing grew heavy again. All I heard was my laborious breathing and frantic heartbeat pounding in my eardrums within the iron mask. I was heading toward hyperventilation again.
I forced myself to inhale slowly through my nose, then exhale through my mouth, then rinse and repeat, until I cooled off to gather my thoughts.
I’d been dumped in a warded dungeon.
My abductors had teleported me here after they made sure the torque had bound my power, so it couldn’t interfere with their teleportation. I could still smell the dark substance they’d used to power the teleportation.
My hand kept exploring the space behind me, the chains on my wrist and ankle making harsh sounds as I moved. Two feet from where I’d been, my fingers touched a concrete wall. Even with my power caged, I could still feel dark spells warding the wall. At my touch, they crawled over my skin like spiders and made me shiver with disgust, but they couldn’t harm me.
Which meant even though the torque kept the lethal part of my power at bay and cut off my siphoning, it couldn’t completely nullify my magical self. Which meant I could reach Sy if I kept trying.
Sy! I called urgently while I stayed busy investigating my jail to find a way out. Sy!
How long had I been here? Had I been dumped in this shithole for a few minutes, hours, or even days? I shook my head. It couldn’t be days since my wounds were still fresh. The kidnappers had somehow administered basic treatment on them, not with magical healing, as it didn’t work on me, but the conventional way. A bandage had been wrapped around my stump, though the blood still seeped through. There were also makeshift stitches on my side where a blade had slid in during the fight.
If this situation lasted while I couldn’t access my power, I wouldn’t heal. My wounds would be left open, and then I’d be even weaker. I barely had any energy left, and hunger throbbed in me, digging a hole in the pit of my stomach.
I pushed my hunger, fear, and pain down and pricked my ears to listen, even though I didn’t know where the door was. I couldn’t see, but I could use my ears and senses despite the iron mask proving to be an obstacle.
As I focused my hearing to a laser point, my kidnappers’ voices drifted to me.
“…dangerous bitch…when…deliver…”
“…the messengers will arrive soon…”
My kidnappers were talking outside the door. I held my breath, pricking my ears in that direction to listen, but I couldn’t get most of the words, as the iron mask muffled their sounds.
Sy! Sy! I need you! Please, I called again.
I felt her trying to reach me. Severing our connection was one of the cruelest things anyone could do to us. Then, from across the abyss, Sy roared my name.
She couldn’t get to me. I had to go to her.
I dove into the chasm. If I shattered at the bottom, so be it. I didn’t want to stand alone one more second without her. I spotted Sy surging up to meet me. We screamed each other’s names, then our hands clasped, our fingers curling and locking around each other.
I gotcha! I shouted.
Gotcha too, she answered.
I pulled her up, and we alighted on solid ground, huddling and clinging to each other.
I’m sorry, Sy. I sobbed. I wronged you. Don’t leave again!
I was a bad servant, Barbie. She hugged me tightly. I won’t ever try to usurp you again. I vow it on our father’s black soul!
You were never a servant, Sy! It broke my heart that you put that hat on. You’re my other half that I don’t deserve. Let’s not fight again.
No fight! she promised. But you need to regain your strength. To get out of here, you’ll need to feed. You’ll need to let me go. Consume me, and you’ll have the strength to break that cursed torque.
No! I stared at her in horror. How can you even say things like that?
It has to be done, Barbie. If I were the primary, I wouldn’t have thought twice about consuming your essence. You must do it. You must escape before Ruin comes for you!
Never will I eat you! You die, I die. End of discussion, I said, my lips thinning in disapproval. Also, your information is outdated. You need to keep up. I sank into the old habit of criticizing her. This time, it’s not Ruin coming for us. It’s someone else.
