‘Did you find eet?’ Maria asked at once. ‘Did you find zee dungeon?’
Penny nodded breathlessly, her face flushed. It looked as though she had been crying for her eyes were bloodshot and her nose was pink.
‘Are you all right?’ my mother said, taking Penny by the shoulders.
Penny’s bottom lip trembled and Tom wrapped his arms around her lovingly. His eyes were also red from crying.
My mother looked back at her husband with fearful eyes. I knew in my heart what Penny and Tom had discovered in the dungeon.
‘Show us where they are,’ Elise said in a shaky voice. Bran’s jaw was clenched tight as he nodded in agreement.
What would we find?
Tom beckoned us and we followed him hesitantly. He wound us through the manor, passing the kitchens and descending a flight of narrow steps intended for staff use only. Left, right, right, left. We continued lower into the manor, until I was sure we were several feet underground.
It must have been cold here, because those of us who were not Fire-Mage’s were shivering. Jack took my hand as we walked through the lantern-lit corridor, which was so narrow that we barely fit side-by-side. My father glared disapprovingly at our entwined fingers, but Jack did not release me from his grip, for which I was grateful.
Dread seemed to be consuming me more and more the further we walked. It made my legs feel like lead and part of me did not want to go any further. Yet the number of people with me was what prompted me forwards. There were twelve of us now and we marched through the Martinez manor together.
I felt as though we were unstoppable, yet what we were about to discover would surely ruin each us forever.
Finally, Tom and Penny pointed to a door at the end of the hall. It was steel with a small, barred window. It looked dark inside.
‘We already unlocked it,’ Tom croaked. ‘Penny slipped through the bars.’
No one moved forwards. We all looked at each other with fear in our eyes. Eventually, my father cleared his throat and stepped forwards, igniting a ball of flames in his hand for a source of light. He pushed open the heavy door with one hand. At once, a wretched smell reached our nostrils.
Jack gagged and I pulled my cloak over my nose. With one fearful glance behind him, my father proceeded into the dark dungeon. I looked at Jack, who nodded and ushered me forwards. I too produced fire in my palm and followed my father. The light illuminated the dark dungeon. At first I thought it was empty, until I followed my father’s gaze and allowed my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Behind me, the other’s filed in, one after the other. They squinted into the shadows.
Our gasps escaped in unison.
Chapter Nineteen
Martinez’s Offer
It happened suddenly. Everyone surged forwards. Elise and Bran Stalk pushed everyone out of the way and fell to their knees at the side of a little, blonde girl no older than six years old. The little girl sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, blinking confusedly at the source of light, as though she had never seen anything so dazzling before. She wore filthy rags and was covered in what looked like her own faeces.
‘Stacey!’ Elise held her daughters face and stared into her eyes. ‘You’re alive!’
Stacey Stalk stared, her eyes darting across her mother’s face. The girl gave no sign she had recognised her mothers voice or face.
Bran bent down and embraced his daughter, despite the putrid smell. Stacey did not hug back, but sat there, unresponsive. My stomach churned.
I looked around and my eyes full upon Penny and Tom who clutched a very skinny fifteen-year old boy. He too stared at his mother and father, emotionless. It was clear he did not know who they were.
‘Craig,’ Penny sobbed into her son’s filthy shirt.
And then I saw her. The one I had been looking for.
Helena was not as skinny as Stacey or Craig, but she was by far the filthiest.
In unison my mother, father and I ran forwards and fell to our knees beside Helena, who flinched at the sight of us, as though we were about to attack her.
‘Helena!’ my mother pulled her daughter into her lap and cradled her. Helena struggled against the embrace at first, but fear seemed to swallow her and she became limp as if playing dead.
My father embraced my mother and Helena, but I could not move. I could not speak.
‘H-Helena?’ I said. She did not respond to her name. She simply stared at my mother. Helena’s eyes were different. Before they had been a pale grey, but now they were dark. They were black. Nothing stared out of them.
I felt bile rising in the back of my throat. This was not my sister. This was a shell that looked like her. I stood up, but my parents did not notice. Helena’s eyes slid in my direction, but the gaze was lifeless. Tears flowed freely and slid down my cheeks. I wiped them away furiously with a shaking hand.