“Feather?” The red-haired guy looked vaguely familiar, and I waved, unable to speak just yet. In an instant, he was by my side, and I remembered where I’d seen him. This was the guy who’d protested at the big assembly and been dragged away by the Guides. “Hey,” he said, gently pulling me down to sit on the floor. There wasn’t any furniture here, and the only thing in the room was a small box filled with meager rations. But he offeredme a grape, which I took. “I’m Perception. Can you… Can you tell me how long I’ve been here?”
I reached out and held his hand. A tear rolled down his face at the physical contact. So I hugged him. “About eight days,” I whispered once he’d stopped sobbing. “A lot is going on up there.”
“Tell me,” he demanded. His face grew more and more grim as I spoke, sharing the curfew, the strip searches, the rations, and the constant patrols. “There are others down here,” he said when I was done. “The cells on this side are filled. It’s all soundproof, but I’m a higher-level Protector, and my skill is perceiving what others cannot. I’ve been shouting about the changes in the Guides’ leadership for years, but the Protector in charge of my cohort is Valor.”
“Oof.” I winced. “And he’s their birch.”
Perception tilted his head. “Interesting. Everyone thinks you’re not afraid to gather smut, but you won’t even curse.”
I grinned. “I’m not afraid. There are a lot worse things than bearing a burden for someone else. But why carry more than you have to?” I winked, and his grin changed him from a disheveled, shaggy-haired boy next door to a heartbreaker. I found myself blushing for no reason at all.
“Lucky High Angelus Mikhail,” Perception murmured, then stood. “You said a word of power to get in here, yes? I felt it through the door.” I nodded. “I’m not sure how, but Valor can use simple angelic words, too. It gives him a wicked headache, I can tell. But he can come and go from these rooms like a High Angelus.”
“Crap on a cracker.” My mind flew to the two women in the Maker Hall. I prayed Valor wasn’t strong enough to get in there.
“He came down here yesterday to make sure I was suffering enough—his words, not mine. And when I wasn’t sufficiently impressed by his new status as acting leader of Sanctuary, hementioned that he could put me where they’re keeping the old leader, in the oubliette.”
“The fudgingwhat?” Ry was stuck in a torture hole? Suddenly I had plenty of energy, every ounce of which was going to be dedicated to smacking the crap out of Valor. “You people have an oubliette? I knew this was Hell.”
He shrugged. “It’s not really one. It’s just what they call the cell at the very end of the hall.” He offered me another grape. “But the bad part of that wasn’t the name of the room, Feather. It’s that it will be empty soon.” He stared at me with a somber expression, waiting for me to catch up.
My heart almost stopped. “Oh… He’s dying, isn’t he? Really dying.”
Perception nodded, taking my bag from me and helping me off the floor. “Let’s go.”
“You’re coming with me?” I asked, my mind spinning. I had thought I’d be doing this alone.
“Of course I am,” he said, that boyish grin transforming his face again. “We’re not all assho—jerks in Sanctuary. It’s just that so many of us lost hope.” My mind skipped like an old-fashioned needle on a record, unable to move on from Ry’s peril.
“Hope. She’s on our side as well,” I murmured, trying to distract myself from thoughts of Ry. “She’s been singing to the gate to keep it from falling, by herself, for over a week. Technically, her position is higher than Valor’s, and she graduated all her required seminars, so she doesn’t have to leave for lectures. The Guides don’t want her teaching anyway, Sunny said. Hope teaches the truth—not their new, unimproved garbage.”
“Ah. I wondered why Sanctuary was still standing. I had a thought that a good earthquake might shake down the walls on this level, and help us escape. But it’s better that she sings.” Hepushed the door open wide, gesturing for me to go first. “Good thing about her name.”
I gave him a puzzled look as he held my elbow and led me down the hall.
“Hope,” he explained as we approached the end, which was a more substantial door. The panel there was higher than usual. “As long as shehashope—which should be a good while longer, past when the rest of us would give up—she’ll have power to sing and help you. She has every bit as much power as Valor, you know. She’s just not as showy.” We stopped in front of the door. “It’s getting cold,” he went on, waiting for me to say the word, I supposed. I just wasn’t sure if I had the energy to do it.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Prison is always cold. I would know.”
Perception nodded. “I think it’s closer to the Abyss somehow. There’s a thin place in the Flight Hall between here and Earth. It makes sense there would be one between here and the Abyss. No one has ever said that, but my name?—”
“Helps you perceive unspoken things. That’s cool.” I lifted my hand. No more stalling. “Might want to stand back. And cover your ears.”
I spoke the word, and the door opened. And that was all I remembered.
I woke up in Perception’s arms with him humming a song that reminded me of one of Rumple’s strengthening ones. “That’s nice,” I rasped, and he jolted.
“Oh, thank the Maker.” He sighed in relief. “I thought you’d never wake up.”
“How… How long?” I asked, but he forced me to drink a few sips from the flask I’d brought for Ry, and eat two grapes before he would answer.
“At least four hours. Feather… I had to close the door behind us. I heard footsteps and voices. Guides were bringing moreProtectors down to fill empty cells. I didn’t want to risk them discovering us.”
“No worries, Percy.” I patted his arm, while he chuckled at the nickname. “I’ve got this.”
I did not, in fact, have anything. Anything but stubborn determination, a whole bucket full of pissed-off-ness, and centuries of experience in bearing a burden that should have broken me. “Percy, I need you to do something hard for me.”
Anything,he said. No, he thought it. I smiled, and his eyes widened. “You heard that,” he accused. “Have you heard all my thoughts?”
