Stars May Fall (Stars May Burn #2)

16. Sophie

SOPHIE

T he hinges screeched as the door opened, and a cacophony of shrieks and rattles and scrapes tore through the air in response. The smell of urine and feces accosted my nostrils. It felt like the gaping darkness beyond was filled with injured dangerous wild animals.

Gregane didn’t seem at all ruffled by the noise and reached out to turn on a series of kryalcomy lights. They were small and evenly placed along the ceiling. Their faint blue light highlighted eight cells, four on each side of the corridor. The inward walls were purely thick bars, and those closest to us rattled as skeletal hands tried to reach through or wrench the bars apart. Three of the cells were strangely silent.

My heart went out to the people these creatures had once been. I had once been locked in the dark too, and I had once been a halfsoul. How was it fair that I’d been the only one saved from their fate?

Gregane walked slowly down the center. Every time he passed a cell, the occupant threw itself at the bars with an inhuman shriek, desperately scrambling to grab him. I’d heard the halfsouls described a few times, but my memories of them from the night I was attacked were hazy. I had been too overwhelmed and weakened from my injuries to truly take them in. I squinted into the dark, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Even though the creatures’ features weren’t clear in the gloom, their ferocity and energy were startling. The three last cells remained silent as Gregane reached them, and I could only guess their occupants were unconscious or dead.

Gregane walked back to us at a leisurely pace. He pointed to Meena. “Now your turn. Nice and slow, please. And don’t you dare harm them.”

Meena curled her lip in disgust before she walked up and down the corridor. Again, the halfsouls did everything they could to reach her with angular fingers and broken nails. She didn’t flinch. I wished I was as calm and brave as her, though I supposed she’d fought the halfsouls many times in the past.

She met my eyes as she returned through the door. “You don’t have to do this, my lady.”

I clenched my fists. “I do.”

It was just a short walk in return for what we needed. I’d always wondered what the halfsouls looked like. This was a chance to show I really could be brave and belonged at Kasten’s side. I would show everyone that I was worthy of him.

Gregane held out his hand. “Just give them a moment to settle down.” I wondered if that was even possible. The noise lessened by a barely perceptible amount. “Now. Go nice and slow.”

I held my breath and stepped through the doorway. The sound didn’t escalate like they had when Gregane or Meena had stepped through. I took one step. Then another. Nothing threw itself at the bars. I gazed into the shadows and made out a hunched figure crouching on the floor in strips of cloth that could barely be called rags. It was gnawing at one of the bars with broken teeth and occasionally gave out an animalistic cry of frustration. It completely ignored me. Did it assume from my build and mannerisms that I wasn’t a threat? But that made no sense. They were aggressive toward everyone and attacked without fear.

I stepped farther in. Again, nothing shook the bars. The next halfsoul was fixated on the open door behind me as if waiting for somebody else to come through. The next one paced back and forth like a caged lion. I stepped closer, causing Meena to shout a warning. Nothing tried to grab me, but they reacted to her voice, running to the front of their cages and craning to see her, snarls on their faces.

“Interesting.” Mister Gregane’s voice was an eerie whisper. “They still see you as one of them. I’ve always found it interesting that they don’t attack one another. But I suppose that would be detrimental to the spread of the disease.”

Feeling slightly calmer, I reached the silent cells at the end of the corridor and turned around. One had an unmoving body in its center. The other two were empty. Had they even been occupied? Or was that where they put their new halfsouls while they turned?

My hatred of this place intensified, and I just wanted to get out. These poor, poor people. So many people.

I started back for the open door where Meena and Callum waited with wide eyes. Hinges squealed, and before I could register what was happening, the door clanged shut. Panic flooded my body. I ran as if in slow motion, barely making out alarmed shouts from behind the thick door. My body slammed against the wood, and I tried to find a handle, but there wasn’t one. The door was wedged shut. There was no way to open it from the inside.

Gregane’s face appeared through the tiny grid. “Don’t worry. Don’t worry. I just wanted to try one more thing, just to make sure.”

Where were Meena and Callum? Why hadn’t they stopped him? And why weren’t they opening the door? I raked at the wood with my nails, trying to gain purchase. My fingers couldn’t fit through the grid. I was trapped and alone again. Only this time, I was with those monsters.

I heard a long, low grating sound, and I turned around in horror as the barred gates of the cells slowly lifted into the ceiling. I felt under my skirt and unsheathed my freisk knife. Meena had told me the knives weren’t as effective against halfsouls as Kollenstar soulless, but it was all I had.

Where were Meena and Callum?

The first halfsoul rushed out from under the rising gate. It had a collar around its neck, which was attached to a chain that clinked behind it. It screeched and jumped around in excitement, its bony limbs bleached white by the dim blue kryalcomy lights.

Then a second came out, rapid, broken and jerky. And a third, staying low to the ground like a shadow.

I pressed myself against the door and didn’t move. I barely even breathed. My heart beat so hard it sounded erratic in my chest.

Gregane’s voice behind me was laced with pleasure. The twisted man was enjoying this. “Go on. Why not walk around? This won’t take long.”

I didn’t move. I was frozen to the spot, watching these strange creatures check every inch of the space for a way to escape. When they approached the door, I slid away to the corner. One clawed at the grid in the door window and squealed in delight when it saw Gregane. It scrambled and clattered, trying to get him.

I edged further away. The creatures still ignored me. One of the weak kryalcomy lights flickered overhead. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I struggled not to hyperventilate, trapped in my worst nightmare. How long until they realized I was no longer a halfsoul?

Behind me, Gregane laughed, a breathy, disbelieving sound of delight.

One brushed past me, its legs flicking my skirt. I started to count in my head, desperate for something else to concentrate on, anything that would ground me.

You are strong, Sophie. You are strong, you are strong, you are strong.

They weren’t attacking me. I could survive this. I straightened and made myself still, waiting for Gregane to be satisfied.

A high pitched squeal of metal on metal jarred in my ears, and the chains attached to the halfsouls’ collars suddenly jerked taut and started to retract. With enraged screeches, they were dragged back into their cells and the doors of bars lowered back down from their slits in the ceiling.

I was alone again. I collapsed to my knees on the filthy floor, panting. Gregane’s disembodied chuckle still echoed around me.

The wooden door opened on its rusty hinges, revealing the brighter kryalcomy lamp on the other side. I scrambled to my feet and ran for it, no longer caring about appearances. I never wanted to go to a dark underground place again. I needed fresh air and space so desperately, my limbs trembled.

As I rushed through the doorway, Gregane grabbed my arm and held me still. I realized, almost too late, that half the floor was missing between the door and the stairs. The man let go of me and closed and locked the door behind us. “I do apologize for the lack of warning before I released them. I just wanted to make sure my results were accurate. I’m sure you understand the need for robust experiments.”

I couldn’t reply. My mouth didn’t work, and my throat was constricted. My knees still felt weak, and I pressed on my necklace to draw some of the strength from my reserve. When I trusted my legs to hold me, I leaned over the drop that had once been the rest of the floor. Two stories below, Callum and Meena were standing on a mound of something like hay. If it weren’t for their tiny blue lanterns, they would have been invisible. Meena was attempting to climb the wall when she saw me, her lantern held in her teeth.

Her eyes widened. “Lady Sophie! Are you all right?”

I nodded and waved weakly, still not trusting myself to speak.

Gregane leaned over beside me. “Sorry, I needed to make sure you wouldn’t interfere or kill me. She’s quite safe. I’ll open your door so you can come back up.”

He pulled one lever, and Callum and Meena ran out of view with panicked movements. Gregane pulled a second and the floor slid back from its slot in the wall.

He sighed. “These measures have all been put in place in case the halfsouls escape. I had always hoped they would come in handy one day after all the effort to install them. They’re quite fun, don’t you think? Maybe I should have guests more often.” He grinned. “Now let’s go back to the parlor, and I’ll give you your metal.” He looked up and down my soiled, stinking dress. “You might want to get cleaned up before you have to walk through the streets though. You look a state. Whatever did you kneel in all that filth for?” He shook his head with a scoff as if he couldn’t believe I had been so stupid.

The old feeling of smallness crept in around my consciousness, and I fought back. No, I had been brave. I wasn't what this man decided I was. I had been through a battle, and I had been victorious. Now I would gain my reward.

I should be proud of myself.

Gregane started back up the staircase as Meena and Callum appeared, not even panting from running up the stairs. In one smooth motion, Meena picked up Gregane and slammed him into the wall. She held him by the lapels of his shirt with one hand and pressed a knife to his throat with the other.

“What was that!” she hissed in his face.

Gregane squirmed in discomfort and ignored my guard’s question, speaking to me over her shoulder instead. “Do you want your metal or not?”

I reached out to my guard’s back, not wanting her to undo what we’d been fighting for. “Meena, stop.”

Callum took my other arm, pulling me back and searching me for injuries. “Did they attack you or continue to ignore you? Did you get bitten?” His voice had more than an edge of panic.

“I’m fine,” I managed. I cleared my voice so I would sound more assertive and straightened my back to show I was in control of myself.

Meena slammed Gregane against the wall again. “If you ever, ever put her in danger again, I will cut you up into little pieces and throw you to your halfsouls. I’ll start with your toes so you can watch yourself get smaller and smaller.”

“Meena, stop!” I yanked on my guard’s arm with the last of my strength. She released Gregane who crumbled to the floor, rubbing his neck.

He scowled. “And here I was thinking we had reached a civil agreement.”

Meena sheathed her knife. “Don’t think you didn’t deserve that. You said she simply had to walk up and down a corridor.”

His dirty glare didn’t lessen. “She did.”

Meena gestured to the stairs, her rage still plain on her face and in the energy behind her actions. I had a feeling she’d give me a lecture later about taking risks, but all my concerns other than getting the metal and getting out of here felt far away. “Callum can go up first, then Lady Sophie, then you. I’ll bring up the rear. I won’t trust you again.”

Gregane blinked rapidly with half open eyes and sighed as if barely tolerating her theatrics. I followed Meena’s plan, my heartbeat far from calm. My hands still shook and my throat hadn’t loosened, but as I brought them under control, the expected dread and horror were not waiting for me. Instead, I began to feel warmed by triumph.

See, you’re not weak, Sophie. You are strong. You faced your fears and your weaknesses, and you overcame them.

I drew on more strength from my reserve as I continued up the stairs. I wasn’t sure what I would have done without it. My legs felt as if they had run ten miles, not just walked up and down one corridor.

When I reached the top, most of the tension left my body, and I sat down in the nearest chair. Sunlight streamed through the windows, making it seem as if that dark, terrible place below us didn’t exist anymore.

The guards were still there, lingering at the door.

Meena thoroughly scouted the room as if expecting more unpleasant surprises. “We should leave.”

I faced Gregane as he emerged from the staircase, confident there’d be no tremor in my voice. “I would like the metal now, Mister Gregane. As per our agreement.”

He scowled at Meena, who was still giving him a murderous glare, and took his time going to a neighboring room to unlock a cupboard before taking a plain wooden box from the top shelf. He unlocked the box and took out a silk pouch. He handed it to Callum who shook out its contents: a small lump of black metallic rock.

Callum rotated it in the light of the window before rolling it over his palm and back into the bag. “And a list of its components?”

Gregane held up a finger and found an ink pen and paper. He scrawled a list and handed it over. “That’s everything. And that’s all I’m willing to tell you.”

Callum frowned over the list of words. I moved to peer over his shoulder. It seemed to just be a list of substances with only a few clues as to the amount. He looked back at Gregane. “What’s haemoferros?”

Gregane shrugged with a smug half-smile. “I told you before, if you don’t know haemalcomy, you won’t be able to make this.”

Callum just shrugged back and seemed satisfied. “Good thing we’re not making it then.” He threw the silk pouch into the air and caught it again as if we hadn’t just risked our lives for it. “Well, as pleasant as this visit has been, it’s time for us to go.”

I wondered if anything could ever dampen his cheerfulness.

Meena agreed and rested a hand softly on my arm as I stood, steering me to the front door. The footmen opened it to reveal Lord Lyrason climbing the wide marble steps.

We stopped in shock, as did Lord Lyrason. He looked up and down each of us in turn, his expression becoming stern. “What, by all the kingdoms, are you three doing at my house?”

My sense of victory vanished.

This had not been part of the plan.