It had been hours.
Amanda had pounded at the door until her hands were numb and raw. No one had come, no one had answered. Through the small window, she hadn’t seen a single person, only heard the distant march of boots.
There was a window at the far end of the corridor and she’d despaired watching the stripe of sunlight on the opposite wall fade towards evening.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten, the last time she’d had something to drink.
Karina only watched, perching as best she could on the thin bench. It wasn’t wide enough to stretch out on, and so she was forced to keep one foot on the ground or risk sliding to the floor.
Her eyes were red, swollen and despairing, and the look she kept throwing Amanda only got on her nerves.
‘Are you finished crying?’ Amanda asked. ‘You’re the Abra, get us out of here.’
‘You’re the criminal,’ Karina shot back, her tone grey, ‘shouldn’t this be your area of expertise? You saw those sigils. Only the person who closed it can open it again, she keyed it to herself.’
‘There has to be something. Steph, where is she? Isn’t there a way you can contact her?’
‘You think if there were I wouldn’t have done it already? She’s young, she’s scared.’
‘She’s got my fucking scryball. If I don’t get it—’
‘It always comes back to you, doesn’t it? You’re no better than those people out there.’
‘I was helping you.’
‘While it suited you. Don’t kid yourself. If they’d asked you, you’d be right out there helping them. I can see it in your eyes. You’d have your hands around my throat right now if you didn’t think Steph could come back at any moment. You have no idea what she’s capable of.’
‘Neither do you, the look on your face when she fought.’
‘Who could possibly be ready for that? Those animals out there finished what you started. She was bright, intelligent, she could have changed the world. And then she met you. And what could I do after that?
‘You know she wanted to find you? Track you down? Yeah. But I wouldn’t let her. I wanted to show her there was a right way of doing things. That people were good and decent, that things could be changed without violence and dirty tricks. Things would get better, I told her. So long as we kept pushing and persuading. Now look where we are. They won. People like you have won. And they’re going to keep on winning.’
‘You said Harry was going to kill the whole island. What did you mean?’
‘I meant what I said. Back there, before they caught up with us? I said someone had already interfered with the storm ward.’
‘And it was Harry,’ Amanda realised suddenly. ‘That’s what he’s been doing. Every time I’d see him, there was dirt and sand on him. And his beard, it was like he’d been having nose bleeds. Like you had when you were…’
‘Now you’re getting it. Those wards house some serious magic. With the staff here in his pocket, it probably didn’t take him long to find out where they all were.’
‘You think that’s it? He’s been fucking with them somehow?’
‘Not all of them, but enough. I didn’t have time to think about it when we were there, but now it’s obvious. He said he was going up to the hill? I’d say he only has to get a few more done up like the one on the beach and then he’s finished.’
‘And what will happen?’
‘Have you ever noticed him carrying something? Something he never lets go?’
‘He has a medallion. A stone he keeps around his neck.’
‘That’ll be it. That’s what will connect him to all those new sigils he’s got on the wards. He’s doing what I did but bigger. Much bigger.’
‘He’s messaging someone?’
Karina sighed with frustration. ‘He’s shutting them off. He’s turning the wards back on the island, turning the spell inside out. It’s going to short every sigil on the island. The storm’s going to come sweeping in and scrape this whole place clean of people, just like it was made to.’
‘And that sorts out the sigils on the data disks that the warden was talking about. So all Harry needs is the password and he’ll have everything he wants. The prison will be gone. They’ll think he died with the rest of us while he’s off establishing a new gang. And with those disks, he’ll have a good head start on where he left off before he ended up here.’
‘And it won’t be long now,’ said Karina. ‘It’s been hours and he doesn’t have to hide what he’s been doing any more.’
Amanda hit the door with her fists. It had taken him a long time, but Harry had finally beaten her. He’d been planning this for months, years even. No wonder he had panicked when he’d first seen her. He must have thought she’d come to wreck his plans all over again. But when he’d realised she hadn’t a clue, no wonder he’d been in better spirits when he’d next seen her. No doubt it felt like Christmas, knowing she’d die in his big scheme. And right now dying was all she could do.
‘Where do you think Steph is?’ she asked, trying to peer out into the corridor.
‘Far away, I hope.’
‘You knew she could teleport.’ Amanda didn’t make it a question.
‘When you asked, I didn’t think I could trust you. If you’d let them know she was here… The island’s meant to have wards against that too. But she found a way around them. That should give you an idea how talented she is. A good roof over her head and who knows what she might have become.’
‘Know what?’ said Amanda, rounding on her. ‘I’ve already said that I’m sorry for that. I get it. And I’ll keep saying it to her. But maybe if you’d kept more of an eye on her instead of pretending you could change the world, then maybe she would still have a roof over her head. And if it was so fucking great with you, then why has it taken her this long to come here?’
‘Because the first time she came here I told her to stay away from me. Don’t you get it? I’m bait. I didn’t know it before, but you’re the last piece of the puzzle.’
‘What the fuck are you talking about?’
Karina slumped, her head hitting the wall behind her.
‘We checked the scryball. I know who did this to you. And it’s both the beginning and the end to all of this. His name is Gregory McKittrick. He’s a software engineer. His wife, Melissa, was on my campaign team. I never really knew her, but she helped with mailings and door to door. He pitched in with newsletters. But then she got arrested. They’d been smuggling healing charms into the country. Nothing harmful, just a magical bump to help with arthritis, pain treatment – charms so minor they didn’t think they’d be detected.’
‘But they were.’
‘She was. She would go over to France, pick them up, hide them in the headrests of her car, then she’d come back. No one on the campaign knew, as much as people tried to prove otherwise.’
‘But then she got caught.’
‘She got caught. He begged me to do something, but what could I do? The law was the law, no matter how unjust. We couldn’t be seen to be standing by criminals. We cut ties. In the end, they hanged her. And Greg was so angry. But our opponents were already tearing into us, branding us all criminals. The numbers showed it, we were losing sympathy. What else could we have done? They shouldn’t have been…’
‘You don’t have to convince me. Just tell me what happened.’
‘That’s it. He went away. I’d thought that was the end of it. A few months later, we won our argument on the death penalty for Abras. They made this place as a trial… Well, that’s over now.’
‘None of this explains where I come in.’
‘I’m getting to that. Back before all this, Melissa and Steph had become friends. When it all happened, I forbade Steph from seeing them again. I think the McKittricks were the ones who helped her with material for her hands. And after what happened, Greg encouraged her to draw those plans she made. And when she did, I think he was the one who told my opponents where to find them – Fitzackley among them. Back then, Fitz was a climber in magical law enforcement. He must have been so pleased to have me as one of his first prisoners. I think Greg was hoping that I would suffer the same fate as his wife. Instead I ended up here.’
‘But that wasn’t enough.’
‘Apparently not.’
‘What does this mean for my daughter?’
‘I don’t know. If you had asked me three years ago, I’d have said that he was probably no harm to anyone, but after this, I have no idea. It’s not like he’s actually physically hurt anyone. I’m sorry, but I don’t know. He’s a sad, grieving, very angry man. I wouldn’t have said that he was capable even of this, but…’
‘But here we are.’
‘I talked to Steph. She was the one who told Greg about you. Like I said, he was in software. He must have figured out a way to find you.’
‘And decided to go after me through my daughter.’
‘Whatever he told you was a lie. He doesn’t know anything that’s happening here. Only what you tell him.’
‘Wasn’t like I could risk not believing him.’
‘Exactly.’
‘So Steph knew this McKittrick guy. How does that get her to this?’
‘I told you that Fitzackley got involved once Greg sent his information. They raided my home, they found Steph’s things. You have to appreciate what Steph’s managed to do: she’s built on her mother’s work and what she’s done with it shows enough potential that it could change everything. She’s started an entire new magical notation: simpler, more efficient. Given time it could change the world.
‘Fitzackley realised that the moment he laid eyes on what was found in my house. He’s been after Steph ever since and sending those people out there after her. She’s been running for a year and a half now, men like Mallory at her heels – not knowing who to trust, scared out of her mind.
‘Now do you begin to see? Because of people like them, people like you, she’s been fighting and scared for so long that she doesn’t know how to stop. And it’s only a matter of time before she gets hurt or goes too far and does something she can’t take back.
‘But now she’s run out of places to hide and so she came back to me, right into the lion’s den. That’s why I needed to get to those people. She needs a place where she can be safe and nurtured. Because they won’t stop. Even after this, they still won’t stop.
‘The money that can be made from a mind like hers. If they don’t develop her ideas, they can just sell them. That woman, the one you thought was your friend? She’s the one who has been interrogating me since she got here. She’s been in my dreams, trying to find out what I know, to give away where she might hide. I haven’t slept in a year without her finding me in my sleep and questioning me. They’ll stop at nothing.
‘So now do you get it? What you started, they’re finishing. That girl out there is so angry and lost, she doesn’t know which way is up any more. All I know is that any direction she picks by herself, it’s going to be bad for everyone. She’s a cornered, frightened, angry young woman.’
‘So that’s it? You’re just giving up on me?’ The voice came over the small speaker by the door, cutting off with a scratch of static.
Karina sat bolt upright, like she’d been electrified. The women looked to one another. How much had she heard?
‘Steph?’ Amanda stepped out of the way just in time. Karina would have pushed her into the wall otherwise.
She peered out of the small window, craning her neck this way and that to catch a glimpse of the girl outside. ‘Steph? Is that you? You have to get out of here. The door’s sealed shut with magic. There’s nothing you can do for us. I can’t see her.’ That last to Amanda.
‘She can’t teleport us out?’ asked Amanda.
‘It doesn’t work like that,’ scowled Karina. ‘She can only do herself. Steph, where are you? I can’t see you.’
‘I came back for you,’ the young woman’s voice was thick with emotion. ‘I fought for you. Now I’m a monster?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘Well, that sounded like what you were saying. Because I stood up for myself? Because I tried to stop the people who were hurting you?’
‘Because where would it have ended? Those plans in your room. Those weren’t self-defence.’
‘It would have stopped them. All you wanted was another meeting, another protest, it wasn’t getting anywhere. Now they have you in prison and I’m not supposed to help you get out?’
‘Yes.’ Amanda leapt to the door before Karina responded. ‘Steph, you have to get us out. I need that scryball. I need to finish this. I don’t care what else happens. I just need to know Michaela’s going to be OK.’
Amanda peered out of the small window but couldn’t see anything. The strip of sunlight was still there. It wasn’t dusk yet. But there was no sign of Steph, the corridor was empty, her voice on the speaker.
‘No.’ Karina pulled her away again, anger in her eyes. ‘Steph, all you have to do is hide. Go somewhere they’ll never be able to find you. I’ve talked to people. You can just walk away. Make a life for yourself. You’re smart, you’re talented. Wherever you go you’ll succeed, you just have to give yourself a chance.’
‘They’ll never leave you alone,’ said Amanda. ‘They’ll never stop coming. But we can work together. If we figure out a plan…’
‘Shut up!’ The speaker whined with feedback, making the two inmates wince. ‘We don’t need you, Coleman. You’re just like them.’
‘Exactly why you do need me. I mean it. After this, they’re going to come after you again. Whatever you do, they’re going to keep finding you. You could fight them on your own. Maybe you’d win, but you’d have to be sure. This isn’t a game. You only get one chance. You’d have to be sure.’
There was a long stretch of silence from the other side of the door.
‘Steph?’ called Karina.
‘Do you remember what you said to me?’ Steph was quieter now. ‘On the train? About magic just being another way for people to have power over other people? I hated you for saying that. Then I hated you for being right.’
‘That’s just the way the world is,’ said Amanda.
‘No,’ said Karina. ‘No, it isn’t. If you do things their way, then it makes you no better than them. You don’t want that. Steph, you’re better than that. I know you are. Please, just go. I’m begging you, don’t worry about us. Those people out there will get what’s coming to them.’
‘What planet are you from?’ Amanda snapped. ‘No. They won’t. They’ll only get away with more. Believe me, the world is full of people like them and they never get caught. They get more and more powerful and then they die of old age in their sleep.’
The speaker went quiet, but for the occasional pop or crackle.
‘What are you doing?’ hissed Amanda. ‘She can free us. You really don’t care?’
‘Of course I care. But I won’t make a weapon out of her or anyone else.’
‘Who said anything about making a weapon? She’s out there, we’re in here. She can get us out. We should be doing everything we can. We aren’t the only people on this island.’
Karina shuddered. ‘I know that too. But if all that’s left is acting like them… I’m not going to do that.’
‘How very fucking principled. But if that means the only option is rolling over—’
‘You were willing to kill for what’s important to you. Well, I’m willing to die for what’s important to me. So fuck you. I tried to change things for the better. That’s more than you can say.’
‘You were the only one playing by the rules. Look what it got you.’
‘Yeah? Well you’re right here with me.’
‘I’m getting you both out,’ said Steph.
‘Stephanie, don’t,’ said Karina, heading back to the door. ‘Steph?’ When there was no answer, she rounded on Amanda. ‘You have no idea what you’ve done.’
‘She’s getting us out. We’re doing no good just sat in here.’
‘You are selling that girl out again.’
‘She knows the cost this time. I’m not tricking her. She’s making a decision.’
‘She doesn’t understand the cost.’ Karina was in tears now. ‘And neither do you. You have no idea what she’s capable of. Watch that door. You’ll see.’
They didn’t have long to wait.
Amanda was about to move away from the door when there was noise up the corridor, a shout and a crash.
‘What’s going on?’ she asked.
‘Only Zoe can unlock the door,’ said Karina, her face drawn, eyes closed like she was trying not to be sick.
The glass was cold under Amanda’s cheek as she pressed her face to the window, holding her breath so as not to fog it. A flash of light cast elongated shadows up the wall, a brief impression of limbs and struggling bodies. There were more crashes, shards of glass spraying and tumbling across the floor.
Then silence, followed by the squeak of shoes on the tiles.
Zoe stepped into view and Amanda stepped back in shock.
The woman’s hair was a mess, like she’d run her fingers through it the wrong way. Across half her face was a red sunburn mark, the shape of a handprint, up her cheek, the fingers across her eyes and mouth – one finger too many.
Blinking, Zoe looked down. The whites a dusky pink, there was a fearful look in her eyes.
Sigils flared again, the lock clunked, and she tugged the door open.
Amanda pushed her way through. Zoe flinched away, falling back against the wall. Amanda’s nose curled at the smell of her, sweat, burned hair and cooked flesh from the scorching of her face. ‘Jesus.’
‘Help me.’ The second word barely had the strength to escape Zoe’s teeth.
‘Oh my god,’ said Karina, pushing Amanda aside, following the injured woman to the floor as she slid down the wall.
‘Don’t touch her.’ The runes across Steph’s hands were throwing strange shadows across her face as she stood in the middle of the corridor.
‘What did you do to her?’
‘She tortured you,’ snapped Steph. ‘She invaded your dreams every night. You’re afraid to sleep. She deserves this.’
‘We’ve talked about this. We are not killers.’
‘Well maybe I am.’ There was a tremble in Steph’s voice, a crack in her conviction. ‘Get out of the way.’
Amanda took Karina by the arm. The woman jerked, trying to break Amanda’s grip.
‘Don’t touch me. I’m not going to stand by and watch this. Stephanie, if you hurt this woman…’
Amanda didn’t let up, pulling Karina to her feet, leaving Zoe slumped on the floor, curled up in pain.
‘Steph,’ warned Amanda, ‘I know I said we have to do what it takes. But look at her. She can’t do anything to you.’
‘You said she’d just keep coming,’ said Steph. ‘This is my chance to stop her.’
‘No.’ Zoe’s lip trembled, tears running down her right cheek. ‘Please. I’m sorry.’
‘Stephanie, you can’t do this,’ pleaded Karina.
‘There are other ways,’ said Amanda. ‘We just need to figure what they are.’
‘That’s rich coming from you.’ The young woman was shaking from head to foot, looking from Zoe to Karina to her and back to Zoe. ‘You tortured my friend.’
‘I had to. I was following orders. I didn’t have a choice.’
‘You chased me.’
‘I didn’t want to. Look, if you just let me go—’
‘I heard you laughing. I was running and I heard you laughing. You’re nothing but a selfish, stone-hearted criminal, using people and doing whatever you want so long as it benefits you. And now I have to let you go because I’m meant to be the better person. I’m the one who has to compromise.’
Steph’s hands were falling to her sides, coming back up only when she remembered.
‘You are,’ said Zoe, getting to her knees, ‘better than me. You are. Believe me, I’ve been where you are and you don’t want to do this.’
‘But I do. I really, really do. Because, what choice do I have? You’ll just come back. You’ll chase after us again. You’ll hurt more people.’ The young woman’s agitation began to grow, breath hissing between her teeth. ‘Because that’s what you do. You just take and take and take and you never look at what you leave behind. You never think about it. You’re not getting away with it. Not this time.’
Face turning a bright red, made dark by the strange light coming from her hands, she began to weave more cantrips.
Zoe let out a shuddering breath.
‘Steph,’ Karina made a move to stop her, but Amanda pulled her back, holding the woman still.
Magic began to crackle in the air, sparks spontaneously fizzing and dying around them. The runes in the cell doors shimmered like light on water. Amanda’s scars tingled, her gums itched, her heart trying to break free from her chest.
Curling towards the floor again, Zoe let out a moan so low it was barely a sound at all, wind rushing from a shell. Like hot embers invigorated by a fresh breeze, light began to peek its way out of her collar, the cuffs of her jeans and jacket. The tattoo that ran up her neck had started to glow the deep, smouldering red of lava in fissure, the flesh around it sizzling.
‘Stephanie, stop!’ Karina yelled. She’d stopped struggling, her whole body stiff. Like Amanda, she was unable to look away, her hands coming up to her nose and mouth to keep at bay the smell of cooking flesh.
Zoe was wheezing, trying to scream but unable to take the breath – a sound Amanda knew that she was never going to forget. Breath was clouding out from her nose and mouth, not smoke but steam, glittering with ice crystals, the space around her freezing while she cooked. Where her bare hands touched the floor, water was condensing, frosting in an expanding circle.
The young woman’s expression was fixed in furious concentration, her eyes locked on Amanda’s face.
Are you seeing this? her gaze demanded.
Amanda was seeing, only now realising how right Karina had been. The girl she’d known, the girl she’d hurt, had not been capable of this.
The time it took for Zoe to collapse was only moments, but felt like a lifetime. The cloth where her tattoos touched the material of her coat blackened, exuding a greasy smoke. The criminal’s arms finally gave in. Ash sprayed across the floor as she fell face first to the tiles. A final shudder, and she was gone. Her skin continued to snap and pop, the ice around the corpse’s fingertips fading to nothing.
‘Stephanie…’
The young woman flinched at her name, the weight of emotion the single word carried enough to rock her back on her heels. The look of remorse in her eyes quickly curdled to anger.
Scowling, Steph worked the cantrips she had performed in the forest and the air bent around her, the walls warping a moment before…
Snapping back, the girl was exactly where she had been.
Huffing with annoyance, she tried again to the same result.
‘Steph,’ Karina stepped forward, her voice regaining some of its strength.
The young woman threw out an arm.
The blast hit Amanda like a wall. It was a wave of numbness, a lack of sensation. All that she knew disappeared for a split second, her senses switched off. When they returned, she was on the ground a few feet from where she’d last been standing, her ears ringing, her vision smeared and her mouth experiencing a wave of tastes before she was able to start putting everything back together. She was staring up at the buzzing strip-lighting, a breeze playing across her face. Then she remembered what had just happened and sat up.
Karina had somehow gone from in front of her to behind her, lying on her side further down the corridor, her back to Amanda, her hair thrown in every direction. She wasn’t moving.
Steph was missing, the only clue to her whereabouts the melted hole in the far wall, the trees beyond whipped by wind.
Rolling onto her hands and knees, Amanda’s vision pitched and yawed, making her feel nauseated. She thought she caught a glimpse of Steph, heading out through the trees at a staggering run.
Karina stirred.
‘What was that?’ asked Amanda, her ears were ringing, her whole body humming like a tuning fork.
Karina was pushing herself up to a sitting position, still catching up on how she’d found herself on the ground.
‘Come on.’ Amanda pulled herself to standing. The ground wouldn’t stay true under her feet as she staggered over. Did she have concussion? That wasn’t good. She put a hand to Karina’s shoulder, trying to pull her up. ‘We have to get after her.’
The girl was already gone; a few more moments and they would lose her entirely.
‘Steph?’ Karina looked to Amanda, confused. ‘Where’s she gone?’
‘Nowhere good. And we won’t find out unless you move right now.’
The pair leaned against one another, Karina’s sense of balance just as off-kilter as Amanda’s was.
The hole in the wall was warm to the touch. Brick shouldn’t melt, Amanda thought as they stumbled through, her eyes fixed on the gap in the trees where she thought she had seen Steph disappear.
Her legs didn’t feel like her own and, from the way Karina tripped and faltered at her side, she wasn’t the only one feeling that way.
‘Where is she going?’ winced Karina.
‘Only building out this way is Fitzackley’s house,’ said Amanda. ‘Seems like she wants a second crack at Mallory. Something tells me the second attempt’s going to be any better than the first. She’s walking right into their hands.’
‘You pushed her to it.’
‘I didn’t think she’d go that far.’
‘I told you. She’s changed.’
‘I thought she was just angry at me. I didn’t know what else she’d… OK, I did. You told me. But I didn’t understand it.’
‘You didn’t want to understand it. So long as you’re getting what you want, you don’t care how it affects other people.’
‘I was never going to lie down and die for your beliefs. I’d just never seen her so…’
‘Wild?’
‘Yeah.’
Karina sighed. ‘Me neither. I’d always worried, but I’d hoped she wouldn’t be capable of… of that much cruelty.’
They were speeding up now.
The sun was well below the treeline, a burnt orange glow peering under the leafy canopy. In the dark of the lengthening shadows, images of what had happened played out over and over behind Amanda’s eyes.
It occurred to her that she’d lived far longer with the memory of what she had done to Steph than she had with the girl herself. All those times she’d tortured herself with recollections of her decisions, it had just been a shadow, a dark projection of her guilt. The little girl in her was simply another reason for her to punish herself for surviving. Now she’d met the girl again, a young woman shaped by that same fateful week, a living, breathing, changing human being so different to the pitiful character in her mind.
This was the woman she’d helped create, who had taken what she’d learned from the train and carried it out into the world with her. A woman marked by her exploitation, who lived with Amanda’s shadow, every bit as much as Amanda herself had lived with Steph’s.
Back in that hallway, she’d treated her like the girl she’d dealt with on that train carriage. She wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
‘It’s not too late,’ she said aloud. ‘What she’s done, it’s a step, but it’s not the whole journey. We can still stop this.’