began and saw a tall figure standing there. Silas. His gray eyes shone with an eerie light. His voice echoed powerfully around the cellar.
“There is no way out, Miss Winters,” he said, stepping into the weak sunlight. “The rules have changed. You are in my world now.”
Chapter 9
The Collector’s Room
There was a loud click, a buzzing sound in the wall, and a thin fuse burned along a glass tube in the ceiling, lighting a row of lanterns that illuminated the room with a faint orange glow. Kate looked for another way out. There were at least a dozen doors scattered around the room, but no way of telling which of them led out of the cellar or which were unlocked.
“I should have anticipated what happened at the station,” said Silas. “Edgar Rill is well known for his inventiveness, though not for his success. The fireworks were an interesting choice of distraction, but failure is a habit your friend cannot seem to break. As it stands, your ‘escape’ was both temporary and convenient.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” said Kate.
“Then you clearly do not understand your position. I am not giving you a choice.”
“You stay away from her!” said Edgar.
“There are only a few hours before I must deliver you to the High Council,” said Silas, walking toward them. “We have work to do. We shall begin now.”
Edgar grabbed Kate’s hand and pulled her toward the first door he could find, leading her on to a staircase that led even deeper into the old museum. The stairs were steep and uneven. There was no handrail, so they relied on each other to reach the bottom, fleeing through the dark with no way of knowing where they were or how far behind Silas was.
Edgar stumbled when they came across a small landing and he knocked against a handle in the dark. “Doors!” he said, grabbing it at once. There were two, one on either side of them. Both locked. The only way open to them was down.
“Can you hear him?” Edgar panted. “Where is he?”
Kate kept running, trying to keep her balance on the awkward steps. None of this felt right. Why were they going down? They should have been going up. Into the city, into the light. The air changed as they ran, becoming stuffy and dank, but they kept going, right to the bottom of the steps, bursting through into the only unlocked room they could find.
“Check the walls!” said Edgar, slapping his palms against the stone. “Maybe there’s a way out.”
Their bootsteps echoed from the stone walls, but the staircase remained silent. Either Silas was still at the top, waiting for them, or he was lurking somewhere close by in the dark.
Edgar lit a match and looked around. “Oh no,” he said, his face glowing in the light of the flame.
They were standing in a square room with three doors squeezed together along one side, each with a collection of switches and levers beside it. Edgar used the match to light a lantern hooked to the wall and he held it up.
“These must be Silas’s holding cells,” he said, testing the first door. “Every collector has a couple of places where he locks people for interrogation before handing them over to the High Council.”
“So this is a prison?”
“Sort of.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just do. This is not a good place to be.”
Kate tried the other two doors. The first was locked, but the second swung open easily. Inside was a cell just a few feet wide. It smelled musty, as if it had not seen fresh air for a very long time.
“No wonder Silas wasn’t following us,” said Edgar, pushing past her and feeling along the cell walls. “He knew where we’d end up.”
A strong hand reached across Kate’s face, stifling her before she could scream, and the cell door thumped shut, sealing Edgar inside.
“What made you think I wasn’t following you?” asked Silas, his voice faceless and terrifying in the dark. “Since you are so interested in disturbing my work, Mr. Rill, it is only right that you should take a closer look at it yourself.”
Edgar’s lantern light shone out through the window in the cell door.
“Let him go!” Kate tried to reach the handle, but Silas held her still.
“I warned you,” he said. “This boy is not the escape artist he believes himself to be.”
Edgar rattled the door, but it was stuck tight.
“He has served his purpose,” said Silas. “It is time for you to serve