Jem looked affronted and stood to face her. Lily knew she’d been rude and that she should probably have been thanking Jem over and over again for saving her life, and looking after her, but she also couldn’t stand being here, warm and comfortable in her clean clothes and her sheltered room, when she didn’t know where Alice was or what had been done to her. Guilt had settled within the cracks of her heart and only now did she realise that was what was making her feel so sick, so uncomfortable.

‘Look, I’m not forcing you to stay. However, if you’re serious about tracking down your friend—’

‘Alice.’

‘Alice, then you have, albeit accidentally, come to exactly the right place.’

‘The right place? Are you trying to tell me that she’s here?’ Lily was fraught and her head was pounding. Everything ached and her eyes were heavy and kept pleading with her to close them. She was sick of being in the dark.

‘No, she isn’t here. But I have an inkling as to where she is. I track them, you see. The Shadow Sect, which is a new name, I think. I knew them as the Sisters of Shadow, but they’ve had other names. “The Lightkeepers”, for example, is the one we particularly enjoy taking advantage of.

‘Anyway, I’ve been tracking them for just under a year now, and I think I’ve finally got the bastards.’ He spoke the last line with such a mixture of anticipation and malice that his entire face changed. Lily was taken aback to see his features morph into pure hatred. Whatever reason he had to want to track down the Shadow Sect, it had made him hate them with a clear and visible passion. ‘If I’m going to help you track them down, I’m going to need all the information you have, in exchange for all the information I have, and,’ he paused to clear his throat, catching her eye with an intensity that made her shiver, ‘you are going to have to trust me. Do you think you can do that?’

Lily paused. If this boy knew anything that could help her find Alice, then she’d do anything to help him. It was Alice above anything. Above her own safety.

She met his gaze for the first time since he’d entered the room, and nodded. ‘What do I need to do?’

‘First, you need to come with me and meet everyone else. Second, you need to eat. Third,’ he paused, smiling at her with a warmth that was contagious, ‘you need to lose those worried eyebrows. We will find her. You’re not alone anymore, Lily. You’re not alone.’

Chapter Nineteen

Grace leapt up and stood in a protective stance in front of Alice who was still sitting on the damp floor, shivering and unnerved. The open and kind girl that Alice had come to know over the past few hours had disappeared. In her place was a fierce and powerful Protector. Alice couldn’t see very much because of Grace’s position in front of her, but she could hear several pairs of boots now, coming closer at an alarming speed.