As they unwrap the net, the stink of sickness overwhelms everything, even their sour body odor. They’ll all be dead in a few weeks or months at the latest—though, much good it’ll do me.
They have their noose poles ready as soon as the net slackens, but I make a desperate rush at them anyway. There are too many for me to drain, but I’m not going down quietly. I can’t. A switch has gone off in my head, like the way a leg will kick if you hit the knee just so. Three of them lay hands on me, and I suck the life out of them with a snarl. I’m enjoying this.
I feel a noose tighten around my neck and the thrill of the fight ebbs away with my breath. I wonder when did I become this thing that I am now?
As white, blue, and black dots blur out the sight of their oozing, pockmarked faces, I hear the leader say, “Put her in the barn.”…
*
Lily sat up, her scream echoing off the walls of the cave. Rowan sat up with her, trying to hold her. They were alone.
“Nightmare?” he asked.
Lily nodded, lying.
Rowan narrowed his eyes, picking up on the ragged edge of her thoughts. “About Lillian?” he asked.
“Yes,” Lily admitted.
“What was she doing?” He pushed her hair back from her sweaty forehead, his face so open and trusting she had to look away.
“Killing people. Draining the energy right out of their bodies.”
Rowan nodded. “It’s a gruesome death. But if anyone tries to take you—if you’re ever cornered and have no choice—” he began.
“I know,” she said, resting her forehead against his. She felt him go still, his body tensing.
“How do you know?”
“I was going to do it to Gideon or Carrick when they had me in the oubliette. I figured it out on my own, but I never got a chance to lay a hand on them,” Lily said, reminding herself to keep her voice even.
Rowan sensed she was holding something back, something that might be about Lillian. It troubled him, but she was telling the truth about this, at least, and he could sense that. She felt Rowan relax. He held her tightly, smoothing her hair, his heart sore from sharing what she’d been through.
“Where is everyone?” Lily asked.
“They’ll be back soon,” he said. “Do you want to try and reach Caleb and Tristan this morning?”
“Yes,” she said, suddenly smiling. “I miss them.”
“Me too.” Rowan leaned back to really look at Lily. “Don’t think about Lillian,” he said, his forehead furrowed with worry. “We’re back in her world now, and the more you think about her, the more you open yourself up to her influence. She’s had a lot more practice manipulating minds than you have, and she knows how to do things you haven’t even dreamed of.”
“Like what?”
“Like making a mind mosaic, for starters.” Lily raised an eyebrow in question. Rowan pushed a hand through his hair, thinking of how to explain. “When you’ve claimed hundreds of thousands of minds like she has, you can use the perspectives of your claimed to build a bird’s-eye view of any particular moment. And as long as you don’t try to control them or communicate with them, you can do it without your claimed even knowing. Only trained mechanics can tell you’re looking through their eyes. Everyone else just believes they’re thinking of their witch at that particular moment. It’s really subtle.”
“Apparently, because I don’t get it,” Lily said, feeling a little stupid.
“Come on,” he said, standing up. “I need to get you out of the cave to show you.”
They climbed down the cliff and stood facing each other. Lily saw Rowan shiver from the cold, and she offered him her wrist. He grasped her wrist lightly between his thumb and forefinger like he was feeling her pulse. Lily fed him some of her ever-fever.
“Thank you,” he said, smiling with pleasure. She got the feeling he wanted to stand like this, warming himself with her heat for hours, but he forced himself to break away and concentrate. “I’m going to use something from your world to explain this, so you understand. Think of your claimed as thousands of different cameras all on the same movie set, filming the same scene but from different angles.”