“I can’t give you my magic. I can’t use it to protect you. No offense, I don’t even know you. Depositing bits of my magic here ties me to you forever. Not only that, this magic I have is all our people have left. I can’t just give it to some…”

“Macazi.”

“No, it’s not like that. I don’t think less of you, trust me. This is ours. That’s all. It’s ours and it was given to me to protect.”

“And use as you deem fit.”

“Lady, I can’t—”

The door clicks open. “Taavi?” The woman with the wrinkly face is back.

“Take some time, think on it.” Taavi claps me on the back. “I’m sure you know what it’s like to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. I know you’ll choose wisely.”

The woman comes in, refusing to meet my eyes. “Sup is ready.”

“Willa here will take you to eat. I’ll see you after.” Taavi waves and ducks out the door.

“Whenever you are ready, miss,” the older woman says. “And no hard feelings for that welt on your head, I hope. I was just… Totsi only opens that door, you see. Then there’s all the blood leaking through the ceiling overhead. I-I panicked.”

I don’t know what to say to her, so I gesture for her to lead the way. Following her out, I reach for the nostalgic piece of home I carry on my wrist.

Me: You ever feel like no matter what choice you make in life, somebody gets hurt?

I tap send but get an error message. The corridor we’ve slipped into is dark, firelight bobbing along the perimeter. No cuts in the rock, no light from the outside. I tap again, but nothing. I sigh and follow the hobbling woman down the craggy hall, deeper into this underground world of people who want me to betray my own or effectively slit my throat.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE FOOD THEY GIVE me is a pureed mash of something and a few pieces of lettuce. There’s a hard bit of meat on my tray too, but I’m not touching it. The only reason I’m eating at all is because I’m starting to see double. The table I was given is in the corner of their version of a kostarum. Barbed wire lines thin, ground-level windows along the cavernous ceiling. You’d never know all this was underground without being down here.

Willa sits at one end of the table from me. I told her she could leave, that I remembered the way back to my room, but she just smiled.