Leela felt that if she’d kept the circlet on longer, she might have found out. All she could do now was try to help those imprisoned. She knelt at the edge of Estelle’s stalactite and recalled the movements the High Priestess had made when she’d first trapped her here.

She ran one hand in a clockwise circle over the ice. “For devotion,” she said, her voice trembling. She passed her other hand counterclockwise. “For wisdom.” Then she passed both hands in a long line down the center of the circle. “For love,” she whispered.

Leela waited, hardly daring to even breathe. Suddenly, Elorin gasped and Leela saw cracks appear in the surface of the ice. Liquid began to weep from them, spilling across the ground and soaking the knees of Leela’s robe. And then the ice was gone. Leela reached out and touched the inside of the stalactite—the liquid was clear as water but much more viscous.

“Estelle?” she called, unsure of exactly what to do.

For one agonizingly long moment, nothing happened. Then Estelle’s whole body lurched, limbs flailing through the thick fluid, until she burst from the stalactite, coughing and choking and heaving up water onto the cold ground.

We should have brought an extra robe, Leela thought as she and Elorin helped pull her out. She realized how much she had doubted that this would actually work.

“I’ll get her a robe from the dormitories,” Elorin said, as if reading Leela’s mind.

Leela nodded and Elorin quickly left. It was only after she’d gone that Leela remembered she’d sealed up Faesa’s statue and Elorin would not be able to get out.

But Estelle had stopped coughing and now turned her eyes to Leela. They were flat black, no trace of blue at all.

“Who are you?” she croaked.

“M-my name is Leela Starcatcher,” Leela stammered. “I—”

Estelle grabbed her arm so tight it hurt. “Are you working with her?”

Leela didn’t need to ask who she meant. “No,” she said. “I’m trying to stop her. I only found this place a few weeks ago, no one in the City knows about it.”

“She lies,” Estelle said, her grip tightening. “You could be lying too.”

“Please,” Leela said. “You’re hurting me.”

“How long has it been?” Estelle demanded. “How long have I been . . .” She shuddered and released Leela, slumping over and holding her head in her hands. “Is this real? I have had the freedom dreams before.” She looked up and her black eyes sent a shudder deep into Leela’s heart. “Am I dead?”

Leela knelt before her. “You are not dead,” she said gently. “And this is no dream.”

Estelle looked around, wild and frantic. “What do you want with me? Where are the others?”