I hadn’t intended to kill him, but I was too distressed for delicate work. At least his eyes hadn’t burst out of his face.
“Keep moving,” Ezra said, suddenly back at my side. He helped me step over the Transistor’s body. “Don’t look at him. You did what you had to do.”
“I’m going to throw up,” I whispered.
“No you’re not. Keep walking.” His hand was cold, but his grip was strong, and we made our way down and down and down, the air growing more damp with every step.
Even the walls sweated beads of frigid water. Nothing could thrive here. This was a place to stash the dead, to store meat. Not a place for children to grow up. Not a place for anyone to be held captive without end.
“You can wait here,” I told Ezra. “I can keep going and find him and bring him back.”
“Hush,” he said with finality. “I’m not leaving you.”
The stairwell abruptly ended, opening to a wide hallway. The ceiling looked different here, lined in row after row of thick conduction cables that disappeared into ducts that had to lead up to the main floors of the House.
“Thisisa prison,” Ezra said very quietly.
Voices echoed down the hall. Silently, I pointed to a tall chest with the door hanging open. It held mops stained in odd colors, as if they’d been used to wipe up bodily fluids. Together, we crammed ourselves beside the chest, the open door concealing us.
“The procedure took on the second attempt,” a man was saying, sounding very old and very pleased with himself. I could hear his rattled breathing and the unsteady shuffle of his steps. Through the hinge of the open door, I made out shocking white hair and papery bruised skin. The Indicator. I hadn’t seen him since my very first day at the House when he’d examined me. “I will document everything thoroughly. As you know, we’ve never had success with a young adult.”
“I’m pleased to hear that,” another man said. I realized, suppressing a gasp, that it was Master Hayes, the highest Elder. The last time I’d laid eyes on him, he’d been announcing my assignment in Frostbrook. “It’s a shame to see such a brilliant mind wasted,” the master went on in a syrupy tone, as if in reality it delighted him. “But treachery against the House is unforgiveable.”
“It’s no waste. No waste at all. I’ll make fine use of him,” the Indicator said. “Fine, fine use.”
I shook violently from more than the icy air. My fingers found Ezra’s, and we squeezed each other’s hands in a painful grip. My heart galloped in my chest. They’d stumble upon the dead Transistor shortly. We’d have very little time to locate Julian and get him back to the surface, to freedom.
There was no pretending the Indicator and Master Hayes were speaking of anyone but Julian. Horror ricocheted against my ribs. I’dnever asked the stars for anything in earnest, but down here, far from their eternal gaze, I wished for Julian to be whole, to be safe, to be ours again.
My breath caught in my throat. Was I content to wait for them to find the Transistor’s body and raise a House-wide alarm? There were no other voices in the hallway. No one to protect two elderly men.
“Stay here,” I whispered to Ezra.
He tried to hold me in place, but let go as if I’d burned him. Maybe I had. There was no time to check and see, no time to apologize. And what sense was there in apologizing when I was about to do worse? I’d already killed once today. Soon, Ezra might never look at me the same.
Stepping out from behind the door that had concealed us, I briefly debated confronting Master Hayes and the Indicator, who wore a boxy white overcoat that resembled the uniforms worn by surgeons from the Healer’s Guild. Master Hayes was wearing the familiar floor-length robes and elaborate hat that marked him as our highest Elder. A braided sash in white, blue, and red symbolized the combined power of Generators, Conductors, and Transistors. Pageantry. I’d believed those colors had been sacred, that Master Hayes himself had been sacred.
I decided not to announce myself. Nothing Master Hayes could possibly say would matter to me. The only reason I didn’t kill him first was my lack of a clear angle. Instead, I released a thick bolt of radiance with no warning at all, striking the side of the Indicator’s head. He jerked and tumbled into Master Hayes, who caught him as if on reflex, then dropped him with a snarl of disgust, letting him fall to the floor. The Indicator’s head made a sickening sound when it struck the stone, and a pool of blood formed beneath him.
Master Hayes stared at me. “What have you done, girl? Are you mad?”
“Yes,” I said calmly, crossing the distance between us with my hands poised to strike again. I felt none of the horror I’d felt over killing theTransistor on the stairs. The Indicator had deserved to die. I knew in my bones that he had caused suffering and had deserved to suffer in return. I’d given him a quick death only because I had no time to spare, no time to see how long it took someone to die if I tortured them with a low, steady current of radiance. He’d gotten off easy.
Instead of trying to strike me, Master Hayes stumbled back, tripping on the first stair leading back up to the storeroom. He landed on his backside with a thud, the impact making him grunt with pain.
“What’s wrong? Are you out of practice?” I asked with mock concern, letting radiance flow between my hands like a child playing cat’s cradle.
Master Hayes made a trembling gesture toward the Indicator’s body. “You have no idea what you’ve done. You won’t be able to use the Generators without him.”
“Usethem?” I asked with a disbelieving, humorless laugh. “I’m not here to use them. I’m here to free them.”
Now that we were down here, I knew we couldn’t leave with only Julian. We couldn’t abandon anyone to this nightmare.
“Freeing them would be cruelty,” Master Hayes said with a sneer. He pushed up to a higher step as if he could inch away from me and escape. As if he had a chance. “They cannot live in the world above. This is all they know. This is their home.”
“This is their prison,” I snapped. My radiance expanded beyond my hands, licking at his spindly legs where they sprawled out from under his robes. How had I ever feared this man and his authority?
And why … why wasn’t he defending himself?
