The worst part is that I can hear their own voices too. Far away and faint, but panicked.

Simone! Help!

Once, when we were Lady Aisling’s captives, we each reached a point where we gave up. We stopped fighting and had no choice but to accept that being controlled was a new normal.

But now we’ve had a taste of freedom. We know that isn’t normal. It’s a violation of the worst kind.

And we’ll do anything to get that freedom back.

I don’t know how I can help them now—freeing Sebastian will be tricky enough—but eventually I must find a way. I can’t abandon them to Maeve’s whims.

“And what do you wish to talk about?” Maeve’s own voice echoes off the stalagmites and stalactites in the huge cavern, her servants suddenly silent.

I steel my nerves. I’ve made up my mind to tell her the truth. I expect to fail, but hope to succeed. The other shells have converged, and Maeve uses their arms to usher me to the side cave where she waits. From the corner of my eye, I see the edge of Rachel’s cloak as she and Sebastian cross the entrance to the tunnel that will lead them to freedom.

Run! I think toward them both. Sebastian’s mind is foggy, but now that the obsidian arrowhead is back around his neck, it’s beginning to clear. Get to safety. Don’t wait for me. I’ll follow when I can.

Simone? Sebastian thinks groggily. What are you doing?

Go with Rachel. I’ll be right behind you.

We both know it’s a lie, but he obeys anyway. They better hurry. Maeve is distracted for now, but it won’t be long before she realizes her connection to Sebastian has been severed.

He needs to be far away when that happens.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The shells drag me into Maeve’s cave, and I blink rapidly. It’s brighter here. Maeve has a warm fire burning, lending more light than the candles in the main cavern. It looks like there’s a natural vent in here too. And then there’s Maeve. Her auburn hair falling prettily over her shoulders, conflicting with the terrible smile she now wears.

“I’m glad you came back, Simone. You know how much I like you. You’ll make a perfect vessel.”

A shiver runs down my spine. Despite her profession of caring for me, she would still use me. Telling her that I’m really her daughter is the only way I might be able to shock some sense back into her.

And prevent her from using me as a shell.

The others have a fierce grip on my arms, thanks to Maeve’s controls. “You don’t need to hold so tightly,” I say. “Even if I tried to run away, you’d catch me again in seconds.”

Maeve laughs. “Do you think I’m that easy to fool?”

I shrug, though that’s harder than I expected with four sets of hands weighing my arms down. “No. It’s just that I know you don’t want to harm me. Not really. And I’m not going to run away.” Not until I’ve at least figured out a way to save Jemma, if not Ida and the other shells too.