“What can I do?” I asked, voice hoarse.
Romy shook her head, her eyes still closed whilst her fingers unfurled enough for me to get a better grasp. “Until Hector wins the Witch Trials, there’s nothing that can be done. We have witches trying to send messages into Bahmet’s realm, whilst the majority are still out of these walls attempting to grapple with peace between our kind and the world. It’s in shambles out there.”
I’d never liked the feeling of helplessness before. It was rotten and poisonous, and ate away at me from the inside. In truth, I wanted to get out of this bed and tear the fuckingwalls down, claw my way back to Hector and do something…anything.
But I knew better. My body was weak, both hot and cold. No doubt some sort of infection was inside of me. I couldn’t begin to comprehend how much time had passed since the previous trial, but my body and soul suggested it had been a while.
“He stayed behind… to win?”
Romy opened her eyes again, the whites stained red. “Hector knows that Tomin can’t win without a witch. He also knows we need Bahmet’s sway to save witch-kind.”
“Again,” I gasped, thinking back to Eleanor Letcombe.
“Yes,again.”
My ears pricked at the sound of footsteps. Romy noticed, her head turning slightly to the side. A door opened, the footsteps growing closer. Then a face, so similar to the one before me except older, but equally as exhausted, came into view.
“He’s finally awake,” Verena said, keeping a cautious distance from her daughter. “Good.”
I could read in Romy’s reaction that she was uncomfortable, and yet her body seemed to lean slightly towards her mother, as the pull of a compass was always pointing in the direction of true north. “Any news?”
Verena shook her head. “We have eyes on the White Tower, and no one has passed through the gate yet. The second we get word that Hector has returned, we will know about it.”
“And my… father?” I asked, not because I cared about his well-being, but because he’d not been mentioned yet. Kai, Romy and Verena had made it out, which left Hector and my dad. I needed to hear someone acknowledge him.
“Still to be determined,” Verena confirmed, firm and factual. “Time works, as we’ve determined, slightly different during the Witch Trials. What is a day within Bahmet’s realm may only bea matter of hours here. Rest assured, the moment we are tipped off that Hector has returned, we will go.”
I kicked my legs over the bed, ready to pounce. I wasn’t happy just waiting here, knowing that any second Hector could return, and it wouldn’t be my face that he would see.
“Steady,” Verena said. “You’re in no position to go running about yet, Arwyn. Not only have the bones in your fingers barely set from their breakage, you got yourself a rather impressive blood infection. You might feel strong, but that’s just the adrenaline. Once that fades, you’ll be useless to our cause.”
My lip curled over my teeth, a reaction I couldn’t control. “And what cause are you talking about?”
Verena and Romy shared a look. It was brief, but long enough for me to sense the unspoken tension.
“Spit it out!” I shouted, feeling anything but weak now adrenaline was coursing through me.
“Kai and Hector have a plan.” Romy took control; perhaps she knew it would be better coming from her. “I barely got the bare minimum of information about it before Kai lost consciousness, but I have to trust that they know what they’re doing.”
It wasn’t good enough. Not for me.
“Tell me,” I growled. “Everything.”
And so they did. When Romy couldn’t finish speaking, Verena took charge. She told me of their brief encounter when Hector went to save her from my father. She recited their conversation as best she could. Romy told me about what happened after she traded places with Hector.
I think they believed it would calm me. That a normal person would take the information they provided, and let it settle into their bones.
However, I was no normal person.
By the time they finished recounting the little information they had about Hector and Kai’s desperate plan, I was tearing the remaining wires and tubes from my body, and throwing myself out of the bed. Blood spluttered from the cannula I ripped out of both my arms. My bandages tore from my rushed movements.
I barely heard their attempts to stop me. My head was full of the final words they’d said.
And so, I was running. Barrelling out the door into a corridor full of startled witches. I had no knowledge of how to get out of the secret base, but I trusted I would find it eventually.
I didn’t bother looking behind me to see if either of them followed. No one had lived with the devilish whisper of Bahmet inside of their head. No one but me had battled against his will, and discovered just how alluring the promise of his dark power could be.
My only focus was getting to the White Tower as soon as possible. I had to reach the stone gate before Hector came through it. Not so I could see him first or welcome him home with praise and celebration that he won.
