Dark Matters - Michelle Diener Page 0,89

the beads on the necklace, which they hadn't taken any notice of at all.

Lucy eyed Fai and Havna from the corner they'd put her in, watching the way they leaned together to talk in hushed whispers.

They'd moved Casivera's body to one side and now they were talking strategy.

She wondered if they were talking themselves into or out of supporting Silius.

She could tell Fai now that if she went against Havna's decision, he'd either take her down or rat her out to Silius.

He was a yes man.

She pulled out the cylinder. Looked around for any metal in the room she could use.

Fai had turned on a light. The space was open and clean. A tight spiral staircase stood to one side, with a barrier across it to prevent anyone from going up without the proper access.

A shrine had been built into the far wall. A miniature Karn stood, hands outstretched, on a shelf above a miniature waterfall. It fell in a pale green sheet into a pile of rocks below and disappeared into the floor.

The rest of the space was empty.

Not much to work with.

She weighed up the benefits of using the beads, but she still had to get out the door, so beads or flying up onto a wall with the cylinder, either way, she was still in the room, and she had a feeling Silius hadn't gone far and wouldn't be away long.

She was feeling more and more herself as the drug left her system, and she flexed her fingers, wriggled her toes, tensed the muscles in her legs.

She couldn't pretend to still be groggy after her attempted escape earlier, but she had been compliant and quiet since they brought her in here, and she hoped that gave them a false sense of control over her.

The door opened, and Fai and Havna turned, shockguns raised, only to relax when one of the soldiers who'd gone out with Silius poked his head around it.

“What?” Havna's voice was sharp as he got over the spike of shock.

The soldier gave him a dirty look. “Silius wants one of you. He says to drug her again if it will make things easier for just one to watch her.”

Fai and Havna exchanged a look.

“Fai can go.” Havna tilted his head at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

Doesn't fully trust her, Lucy thought. And now she knows it.

“Fine.” Fai holstered her shockgun, pulled her cloak around her, and stepped outside.

Lucy watched as Havna closed the door behind her. Took a look at the round metal handle on the door that reminded her of the hatch locks on submarines.

She didn't know if it was the right kind of metal, but she might as well find out.

Havna turned to look at her, slid his shockgun away and pulled out a flat disc with a sharp tip in the middle. The sedative, she guessed. She'd just officially run out of time.

“We should have gotten rid of you hours ago.”

She shrugged. “You should never have taken me in the first place.”

He hunched a little at that, because she guessed he'd thought the same thing himself more than once.

She smoothed a finger down the side of the cylinder, and even though she knew what to expect this time, she still flinched as the tip shot off, past Havna, and then suddenly she was being dragged across the floor at speed.

She'd made sure her legs were bent to her chest when she'd released the magnet and she stuck out an arm to grab Havna's shins as she passed him.

Her shoulder was wrenched in a vicious jerk as she hit him, and he fell with a shout of surprise.

As soon as she reached the door, she ran her finger down the cylinder twice, to uncouple it and free her hand, and then she pulled the door open.

Silius was standing just outside, looking down at his handheld.

At the swing of the door, he looked up, and his face contorted at the sight of her.

She slammed the door shut again and spun, looking for escape.

Havna was on his hands and knees, groaning.

She spun back to the door, looking for a way to lock it, and then realized there was no lock.

This was a shrine, and anyone could come in.

She saw the handle begin to spin and she turned away from it, ran her finger down the cylinder, pointing it upward, and hoped it would find something to attach to.

Suddenly she was flying, moving out of the way of the door a moment before Silius