26
For two entire weeks, the experiments continued.
They scorched my skin, stabbed me with sharp objects, and used me as a test subject to see how I reacted to the other violent types of magic.
I was the perfect test subject. Each time I endured, but not without a hefty cost. My death magic, even enhanced by the magic Caspian gave me, could only do so much.
At this point, it was being pushed to its limit, barely able to keep me alive let alone heal my injuries.
I lay back on the narrow cot shoved against the wall of my storage closet.
It was hardly wide enough to stretch out on, the mattress thin and unforgiving, springs pressing through the padding like dull teeth.
The space was cramped and windowless, the air stale and faintly metallic from the pipes overhead.
Still, it was the only place in this building where no one watched me.
The only place that felt remotely like shelter.
The concrete walls leeched heat from my skin, seeping through the thin fabric of my shirt.
Bandages had been wrapped around nearly every inch of my body.
Layer upon layer of gauze bound my arms, my ribs, my thighs.
My dislocated shoulder joint had been popped back into place, my wrist splinted, my torso bandaged so thoroughly that even shifting an inch tugged at half-healed skin beneath the dressings.
The fabric scratched when I moved. Dried blood had stiffened parts of it, pulling uncomfortably at scabbed wounds.
Given the number of injuries I had, I wasn’t even allowed to properly shower, resorting to Mandy having to wipe me down with a cloth each night before bed.
The smell was suffocating. Antiseptic. Herbal salves. Burn ointment. Something sharp and medical failed to mask the metallic tang of blood.
The scent clung to me, soaking into the gauze and my hair along with the thin pillow beneath my head. I could almost taste it at the back of my throat. Every inhale reminded me how wrecked my body was beneath the wrappings.
How much longer could I go on like this? Was Ren going to come save me?
The original plan had fallen to pieces. I may have succeeded in returning the phantoms back to the Nether, but the core problem, fixing the veil, was still a threat. Alex couldn’t do it alone, and I was in no condition to help, trapped here under the Syndicate’s surveillance.
Alistair kept telling me this was only the beginning, and I cringed at how this could possibly get any worse.
The technicians were planning something even bigger, evidence of the massive array I caught glimpses of every time they dragged me half-conscious back to my room at the end of the day.
Another version of Caspian’s array, although this time, it sounded like they had planned to use it for its original purpose: to search for someone or something.
A soft knock came from the other side of the door. “Theo?” Mandy’s voice was gentle as ever, but I knew now that she was just as deceptive as the others. “I have your breakfast. It’s time to start your day.”
The cot creaked when I shifted, and pain flared throughout my entire body as I sat at the edge of the bed. “Give me a minute.” My voice was dry and scratchy, not from lack of water but from the invasive poisons that had burned away my insides.
Mandy had left me with a new set of clothes when she’d locked me in the room last night, but I couldn’t be bothered to change. It hurt to raise my hands over my head, to lift my legs into a pair of pants, so I stayed in the bloodied, ripped sweatpants and t-shirt I was in.
When Mandy entered the room, her face paled as she set down the tray of food and sat beside me. “You poor thing. Let me help.”
I would have slapped her hand away if I had the energy to do it. So I let her remove my shirt, wipe me down with a damp cloth, and reapply some bandages that had been soaked through with blood.
“Eat this.” She handed me a bowl. “It’s oatmeal. I know your throat hurts, so I thinned it out and let it cool for a while. I mixed in some medicine too.”
Maybe it was my own fault for always looking for the best in people, but I'd convinced myself there was compassion buried somewhere inside her. That beneath all the lies and manipulation, there was still a part of her capable of caring about someone other than herself.
I forced a few bites down my throat, but when the coughing fit erupted, I dropped the spoon and clutched my chest.
“It’s okay, Theo.” She took the bowl from me then rubbed my back, but when I winced at the pain she stopped.
“Maybe just drink the juice. Then we should go. They’re waiting for you.
” She tilted the glass of juice to my lips, and I was only able to swallow a few sips before I felt like I was going to vomit.
She put the glass down, then wrapped her arm around my waist and hoisted me up.
“I can walk by myself,” I snapped at her, and she let go.
I lost my balance, smacking my shoulder against the wall as pain flared, but she let me be as I stumbled down the hallway toward the research room.
I didn’t bother resisting. I knew by now there was no point, especially with her mind control magic.
But when I turned right to head toward the activation array, the one that monitored all the experiments they conducted, Mandy stopped me.
“Actually, we’re going this way today.” She was moving to her left. That was where they were building Caspian’s array. Had they finally completed it?
We passed rows of pressure chambers, towers of stacked crates, and glowing command stations manned by no one. The deeper we went, the quieter it became. There was no clatter of tools. No shouted orders. No distant screams from other phantoms or humans being tested.
The space abruptly opened up into a wide stretch of cleared concrete, stripped of equipment. Carved directly into the floor were three concentric circles, massive and deliberate. The runes and sigils pulsed with a faint red glow, the light moving through the symbols like blood through veins.
I could feel the unsettling magic twisting inside me. They had constructed Caspian’s array, directly from the memory they had pulled from me. It might not have been as large as the one overtaking the city, but the engravings were more precise and clear.
“Oh good, you’re here.” Alistair appeared from the shadows. He kept his distance from me, as if my ragged clothes and bloodied bandages would dirty his tailored gray suit. “Today is a big day for you, Theo.”
I look into those cold gray eyes. “Am I finally going to die?”
Alistair pressed a hand to his chest and feigned astonishment. “And here I thought you had control over your death magic. Perhaps I was wrong and it’s corrupting you more than I thought.”
I scoffed. He had driven me toward the brink of death many times over the past two weeks. How could he have the audacity to even joke about it?
“Your fate is not death, Theo, but something far greater.” Alistair clasped his hands behind his back and paced toward me.
“We’ve gathered a lot of information about your death magic.
We’ve studied its limitations and abilities, and now you’re ready for the final test.” His hand gestured to the magic array behind him.
“Which is?” I asked.
Alistair chuckled. “This array here is a one of a kind masterpiece built by Caspian himself, extracted from your memories of the magic he passed onto you and what we know of his original work. To be honest, the Boston Strangler went digging through your memories to learn more about your connection to Alex. What a lovely surprise that he was able to retrieve one of his memories. Caspian was a clever one. If we had enough time, I’d have the Boston Strangler himself come back here and see what else he could dig up in your brain. ”
“What do you plan to do with it? With me?” My eyelids were heavy when I blinked. “I’m not Caspian. I have no knowledge of runes and arrays.”
“That’s not entirely true.” He tapped a finger to his head.
“You have his memories, even if they’re buried deep inside you.
There was evidence of that when you overtook the array we set up around the city.
We realized you, the anchor, could manipulate it how you saw fit.
Caspian wanted to breach the barrier between the living and the dead to bring his family back to him.
You, however, are going to bring someone else to us. ”
My chest tightened, my heart hammering against my ribs. With the array and the fractured veil working together, they could force me to bring back almost anyone.
The realization sent a chill down my spine. There were countless powerful people throughout history. Witches, fae, demons, even former Syndicate leaders. Any one of them could shift the balance of power. Who was so important that they were willing to gamble the entire city just to bring them back?
I stared at the empty circle in the center, knowing that was where my fate lay.
Was this the kind of torture Alex had endured every day of his life when he was kept prisoner by the Syndicate?
He was such a gentle soul. It was a miracle they hadn’t shattered that kind heart of his with their corrupted magic.
It had been two weeks, but it felt like an eternity I’d been trapped here.
I worried about him … about Stella and Ivy as well.
But most of all, I desperately missed Ren.
He was probably going out of his mind searching for me, but now his time was up.
I had to accept the fact that they weren’t going to make it, and I couldn’t delay this any longer.
“Get in the middle circle and kneel,” Mandy ordered. There was no power behind her command, but I listened anyway. The second I stepped inside the ring, those familiar silver chains bound me.