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I wonder if Liaza suggested she leave it on for me. With a little effort I was able to sit up. After waiting for a while, listening carefully for heartbeats or any other sound to ensure I was alone, I slowly made my way over to that small hole and peered inside. Definitely darker.

Let’s hope darker soil meant more nutrients. I reached over and carefully unscrewed the bed knob and reached inside for those seeds. With careful fingers, I dropped each one inside the ground, placing them about a quarter inch apart. The last few days had been overcast, and I whispered a silent prayer the skies would clear to allow more light into the space.

Those seeds were already at a massive disadvantage. To get them to grow would take a miracle. But if I were right, and I’d managed to boost the soil health with microbes, bringing it at least a little bit back to life, I might have a tiny chance to get a message to Evie.

So I carefully covered those seeds with the tiny bit of leftover dirt and held my hands over the hole, grabbing most of that small spark of Cernunnos’s leftover magic inside me. Still weak, but with a little more energy now thanks to Mom’s handiwork, I sent that spark down into the soil and whispered Evie’s name. The soil glowed a brilliant emerald green for a heartbeat and winked out like it had never been.

I stared at it for a long moment, willing something else to happen. Anything. But the soil stayed dark, no trace of magic to be found.

Once I’d carefully covered any evidence of the area I’d been messing with, I scooted to the front of the cell so I could soak up the fireplace’s heat.

All I could do now was wait.

A few days passed with zero visits or taunts—long enough to make me nervous. Neither one of them possessed an ounce of empathy, so it couldn’t be them wanting to give my body time to heal before they started up again.

I even spotted a gray hair on Mom’s head yesterday, so something was definitely up. Minka was not one to have a single dark hair out of place. Perfect, poreless skin, styled hair, and flawless makeup were not optional for Minka. My mother would rather be caught dead than have a single gray hair showing.

The last couple of nights in a row, I heard noises, the sound of the back door opening, and the slide of something heavy across the floor. They’d brought something large in. Something interesting enough to distract them from me.

Maybe it was a new sex toy for those freaks to explore with.

I snorted to myself. “Gross.”

Once again, I sent out my senses, probing the air for heartbeats and found none. With a pained grunt, I rose and shuffled over to the old metal bed. If they came back in the next few minutes, I’d pay for it, but I wanted to see what was outside if I could. The window was too high for me to peer out of, and I’d never been left alone long enough to look outside. I squeezed into the other side of the bed and pressed my back against the wall, pushing the side of the bed with my thighs.

Screeeeeeeeech. I froze, the sound of the metal scraping against the stone floor loud enough to wake the dead. When no one thundered inside a minute or so later, I took another breath and tried again, over and over until I was panting and sweating, and the bed was finally pressed against the side of the wall, right below the window.

Whether the frame would hold up when I stepped on it was another story, but I was far lighter than I’d been when I’d arrived, and I’d never carried much bulk. I stepped onto the bed, wincing as the springs let out an ominous creak. The damn thing had to be at least fifty years old and poorly cared for.

“Please hold up,” I whispered as I lifted my other leg.

My heartbeat thundered in my veins as I pressed my hands against the wall and settled the rest of my weight on the threadbare mattress. When I didn’t immediately break through the springs and crash to the floor, I let out the breath I’d been holding and looked up.

The bed wasn’t quite tall enough to allow me an unobstructed view, but if I stood on my tiptoes…

There.

I sucked in a breath at my first glimpse of the outdoors in months. Pure white snow and a cerulean blue sky greeted me. Sunlight beamed across the ground, sparkling against the drifts leaning against what looked to be an old, decrepit barn. No trees, no plants, no nothing anywhere around us to give me a hint about my location. Only the barn and untouched snow.

Tears sprang to my eyes. I was well and truly alone. How in the world would any of my friends find me?

My lips turned down in a grimace. Tess might be the one who found me first because I’d be dead. The thought of my friend seeing my lifeless body made me bow my head and press it against the cold stone.

“No,” I breathed. As much as I’d wanted to give up during my time here, I wouldn’t allow that to happen.

My gaze swept the barren wasteland before me. Nothing identifiable stood out to me. No hills or mountains or unique topography. The snow told me only that I wasn’t in the southern United States or in much of Latin America. Probably not in Africa or the Middle East. I’d see mountains of some sort if I were. Maybe I was on the top of a mountain?

I grimaced. She’d done a thorough job of wiping out anything that could give me a hint of where she’d taken me. The snow looked deep, and from the temperature of the walls, escape might turn dangerous fast with the lack of proper clothing and footwear I had, if I managed to make a break for it.

Getting out only to freeze to death would be less than ideal.

For the first time since they’d taken me, I felt truly alone. The world was vast, and I was a tiny creature, nothing and no one. Important to only a handful of people. My heart clenched.

Giving up would be so easy. Just let go. Just let her take what she wanted. Why did I have to fight so hard? Be so stubborn?

I was only hurting myself. Would it be so bad to give in? I’d be a gilded prisoner, but was it worse than what I now endured?

My fingers tightened on the ledge. One more look was all I could bear. One final glance at the world I could take no part in, and I’d move my bed away from this window and never look outside again. I couldn’t stomach looking anymore.