I shook my head. “I don’t know who it is, but we should check on them, just in case. This is a lot of blood to lose.”
We began following the blood trail, and the droplets led us through a maze of hallways. I couldn’t be sure where we were until Kallie uttered, “This is leading us toward death row.”
“No one knows about that place but us.” Ava sounded confused.
“Except the Warden,” I theorized. “Maybe he ran out of room to torture people in Cellblock 9.”
The thought of him taking a student and dragging them down here made my blood run cold. The ghosts alone were enough to frighten someone to death.
We continued down the twisting hallways, until we heard the faint sound of a tortured scream. It didn’t sound like it came from one of the ghosts, either, but someone living. We ran down the hall as fast as we could, until we came to the curved hallway leading to death row. We slowed, because we had to assess the situation before we came in guns blazing.
“I’d sooner kill myself than tell you anything,” a woman snarled. It sounded like Professor Mazur.
Holy shit, what had she done? I wouldn’t put it past the Warden to torture one of his followers if they stepped out of line. After all, he’d killed Professor Cusak. But I never imagined Professor Mazur would defy the Warden. She was one of his most devoted followers.
A hollow laugh echoed down the hall, followed by a cat’s hiss. “I’m not allowing you to die until you tell me what you know.”
“That’s Alistair!” I realized.
“It sounds like they’re alone,” Ava remarked. “What the fuck is he doing?”
Ava grabbed the wheels of her chair and rushed into the cell block. Oberi barked, and the rest of us followed closely behind.
“Tell me where to find Eddie!” Alistair roared. Pig growled lowly.
I heard a fist crack, and it sounded an awful lot like the fights at the club. Mazur cried out, but I couldn’t make sense of the scene. Alistair sounded like he was at least several yards away from her.
Mazur spat, and it sounded like she was spitting blood onto the floor. “Oh, look. Your friends have come to stop you. How ironic.”
“What the hell is going on here?” I demanded.
There’s blood all over the floor, Oberi explained.Mazur’s on her knees, and she’s covered in bruises. Her right eye is swollen shut, and there’s a gash across her forehead. I barely recognize her through all the injuries.
“I’m doing what has to be done,” Alistair said calmly, like he didn’t care he’d been caught.
“Torturing a professor?” I balked. “Alistair, you won’t just be sent to Cellblock 9 for this. You’ll be executed! The Warden isn’t going to let this go!”
“So let them hang me!” Alistair snapped. “I’m gonna die to find Eddie. Don’t act like you’d do any different if they took Ava.”
Ava wheeled forward a few feet. “Alistair, perhaps we should talk about this—”
“Don’t come any closer!” he yelled.
My friends and I all backed away, but we hadn’t intended to. I suddenly felt like a puppet on a string, being forced to move in ways I hadn’t decided to. I tried to take a step forward, but my legs had turned to stone. I realized I couldn’t move unless Alistair pulled the strings, and that was terrifying.
“Alistair, let us go,” Marcus demanded. “You can’t use your Mentalist powers like this.”
“I obviously can,” Alistair replied with a bitter laugh. “So I will.”
I’d always known Alistair was from the Mentalist Cast of the Miriamic Coven, but I didn’t know what powers he possessed until now. From what Marcus had told me, Mentalists were witches and warlocks who could control the mind and perform telekinesis, though their exact specialties varied. It looked like Alistair had the power to play puppeteer. It was different from vampire compulsion— like the powers Mad Dog had used on Thaddeus. Each one of us were fully aware of what was happening, but nonetheless, we couldn’t stop it.
Marcus had warded us from mind reading from other Seers, but this was mind control cast by a Mentalist. There was so much going on that we couldn’t account for every variable, and it was difficult figuring out every possible way that our enemies could hurt us. We couldn’t think of everything. But Alistair was a friend, and I never thought he’d use his powers against us.
“The Goddess didn’t give me these powers to sit on my hands and not use them,” Alistair said. “I’ve been hiding my magic from the Warden because I didn’t want to wear one of those damn noxite bracelets, but I can’t hide it anymore. This bitch needs to fess up.”
A heavythudsounded as Mazur’s fist connected with her own face. The sound of gagging met my ears, followed by the scent of stomach acid as Mazur vomited. Alistair must’ve made her shove her fingers down her throat.
“Tell us where you moved the Elves!” Alistair demanded.
