42
Nox
My fingers went numb, the charcoal slipping from my grip.Vera.
I got to my feet and righted the overturned chair, then sank into the cushion. In the blink of an eye, Arowyn appeared at my side with a glass of water.
“Thought you could use this,” she said.
“Let’s give him some space,” Tessa added. “Let us know what you find out, Nox,” she said as she, Arowyn, Everett, and Silas crossed to the exit, leaving me with several lingering, concerned stares.
I put the charcoal back to the parchment.
Tell me everything.
I waited for her response with my head in my hands, occasionally sipping the cool water and letting it cut a path down the fire still in my veins. As her handwriting finally appeared, I downed the last of it in one gulp.
D: S is running an underground fighting ring. He took me there tonight.
N: Afighting ring? We’ve never heard anything about that. Who does he have fighting?
D: The prisoners, Nox. He’s using his prisoners.
My stomach soured, nausea swirling and crawling up my throat. Before I could respond, more messages came through, one after another as she told the whole story.
It was so awful. They were all so scared. I can’t stop seeing them in my head. They don’t want to be there, but he makes them. Everybody was cheering and betting on the winner as they killed each other, and I just had to stand there and watch. But then they brought out the final two fighters, and I realized who it was. It was HER. It was Vera. S said she was his prized possession because she has all six magic types, and I remembered you telling me about her, and…she looks like you. She’s alive. He’s changed her somehow, done something to control her, but she’s still here.
I didn’t respond. I was a mess of pain and frayed edges. I read her words over and over until they faded into the parchment.
My sister. She’d seen Vera.
My hand burned as another message came through, along with more tear marks.
I’m sorry this is how you have to find out. I didn’t know how to tell you.
My sister was alive, and if she was in these underground rings, that meant she was strong enough to fight. That was more hope than I’d had in years. But Devora said Scarven was controlling her. Who knew what he’d done to brainwash her?
It made more bile creep up, the acid already on my tongue, but Devora’s next message stopped me cold.
I think I’ve convinced him to take me to the Hollow. I can find out where he keeps her.
Her scrawl here was messy, uneven, as if her arm was shaking as she wrote. She was scared. And yet, she was doing this anyway. For me. An ache formed in my chest, different from the torment the fatesprig brought.
Devora, you don’t have to do this. You’ve done more than enough. We’ll find a way into these fighting rings and get him from there.
I waited, a plan already forming in my thoughts. This could be our way in. She didn’t have to keep putting herself into danger.
D: He said they’re never in the same place twice, and they change the date and time constantly. I don’t know how to track it. You can’t find out when the next one will be, not unless you’re invited. There’s no other way, Nox.
N: Whatever you promised him, whatever you did to convince him, we can stop this. You can come home.
Ineededher to come home. I couldn’t lose someone else.
Her next response took so long to come through, I was about to message her again. Until?—
It’s already done. Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself.
Anything else I sent, any quickly-scrawled, frantic message I wrote, she ignored. The woman was as stubborn as ever. I wanted to break out of these walls, fly to Scarven’s mansion, and force her tolisten to me.
