“You told me to get in my chamb–”

“Shut up!” Aptat opened a panel, typed something into it, and yanked a lever. “I have good news and I have not terrible news.” The main console split apart at the center and the sides began to separate. “The good news for you is that you’re disembarking the Silent Child, which means you will not be available for murdering when the Vortu arrive. The not terrible news is that the Scythin are convinced of the authenticity of your mental treasures and do not require you to be dredged ahead of time.”

I feel like I’m being dredged right now. “Wait, you’re selling me?”

“You’re already sold, Ben.” The console continued to drift apart, exposing a sleek black craft, tapered at the end like a torpedo.

Panic swelled inside my tightening chest. “What’s that?”

“A Scythin voidscull. Your ride. Departure time: now.”

They gestured to the floor. Patton’s chamber ascended.

A dribble of ice ran down my spine. “The Vortu didn’t lock it down too?” I asked, trying to delay, slow things up.

“Escape modules are always blockaded. The sortie can’t see it. Get in.”

“Get in? Now?”

“Now!”

The conical rear of the voidscull cantered upward and the outer shell split in two, with each half folding up against the body and revealing a slightly larger than Ben-sized hole.

“Will they dredge me?” I said, still not out of my chamber.

“It’s the only way to retrieve everything you know, so yes I imagine they will.”

“Keep us here,” I said. “You dredge me. You can just tell them what you find.”

“I’m not immune to the circumstances of your plight, Ben. But I wouldn’t know how to calibrate the dredge to coax out what it is the Scythin want. And chances are neither of us would understand what comes out of you. The Scythin are... different. Plus, as I’ve said, they’ve already paid me. It’s done.”

I glanced to Naecia, who was alert inside her cell. If the Vortu were coming for the Silent Child and they already knew what she had downcord, her prospects were pretty poor.

“Ben!” said Aptat again, urgent. “There’s no time.”

Clutching Pickles, I stepped out as Patton’s chamber locked into place.

A flick of the wrist. “Into the voidscull. Now, Ben.” The articulated arm sprang up from their shoulder.

“Where are we going?” asked Patton casually, like maybe it’s to the grocery store.

“If you shoot me,” I said, “then you’ll have nothing to give the Scythin.”

“I’m not going to shoot you.” The arm swung toward Patton. “Get in. Now.”

I went across the floor and crawled into the craft. Patton followed. It was small, barely wide enough for the two of us to lie shoulder to shoulder and only enough headroom to sit. I popped my head back out. “Can you beat the Vortu?”

“Unlikely.”

Naecia was watching all of this from her chamber. “What happens–” I began.

“Get all the way inside the scull, Ben.”