“So she tortured you?” Dray cackles. “That’s fucked up, man.”
“I don’t know if she would have killed me,” I say. “I don’t know if she would have let it get that far. Or maybe she was hoping I would break before that point.”
“Did she know we were coming?” Beaufort continues.
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“You told her about Briony’s powers?” Beaufort asks.
“Yes. Before the trial, like we planned, I told her.”
“Are you sure?” he says, staring straight into my eyes with his piercing silver ones. “Are you sure you didn’t tell her anything before then – when you first learned about Briony’s magic? Are you sure you didn’t tell her anything more?”
“I’m sure,” I say. “And as you will recall, I never wanted to tell Veronica in the first place.”
“But you teach that class to identify ordinary students who might have abilities, right? So she wasn’t suspicious when you came to tell her about Briony?”
“No. In fact, she had an inkling that Briony was different. She suspected it right from the start.”
“Because she knew about my sister,” Briony hisses.
“Because she knew how much I was captivated by you,” I tell her. And is it my imagination, or even out here in this gloomy place, do the girl’s cheeks seem to blossom with delight?
“Was Briony the first student you’ve ever come across from one of the other Quarters who had powers?” Beaufort asks.
“Yes.”
“And what were you told to do if you identified such a student?”
“Do?” I ask him.
“Yes, do.”
“Inform the deputy headmistress.”
“Because?”
“Because …” I repeat, not following his meaning.
He looks off into the distance and I can tell he’s thinking.
“Right,” Briony says, pushing at Dray’s chest. “Happy now? Satisfied? Can we go?”
“Yeah,” Dray says. “We can go.” But the way he looks at me tells me he’s still unconvinced. And maybe, if I’m truthful, if it was me standing in his position, I’d feel exactly the same way too.
Dray wants us all to climb on the back of the dragon and fly as quickly as we can to the border, but Briony’s having none of that. “He’s exhausted,” she says. “He’s been fighting demons and the Madame. Plus, I’ve only just healed him. It was a struggle for him to lift three of us from the ground. He’s not carrying all five of us across that distance. No way.”
“But this place sucks,” Dray whines. “I just want to get the hell out of it.”
Briony shakes her head, but the wolf is undeterred.
“He could do relays. Take you and me first, then come back for the others.”
She shakes her head again. “No. Look, Dray, I want to get out of here as quickly as you do. We don’t know if the Madame’s going to come back, plus all those demons. But Blaze’s welfare is my responsibility and I won’t have him injured even more than he has been.”
“Fine,” Dray says with a sulk, stomping off ahead of us.
We trek across the desolate landscape for what must be hours, although there’s no sun here, no stars or moon either, and if it weren’t for the watches on our wrists, we’d have no ability to tell the time or the day.
