Chapter 30: Chapter 30

It took me days and days, even weeks and weeks, to recover from this new interview. I no longer had any notion of time. I dreaded another visit to the Master Hand’s quarters more than ever. My jaw had hurt so much that morphine had been combined with the rest of my daily injections. I kept thinking about the shock of having seen Olivia again, which was nothing compared to the surprise of knowing that she was so endowed with power. I wondered if she was experiencing her caste awakening, which had transformed her, as her strength was unnatural. But Blake found her a little old; moreover, it didn’t explain her behaviour. She had adopted the same attitude as Gilles: detached and insensitive, like a puppet awaiting its orders. This time I was oblivious and would thankfully never remember what my best friend had done to me. The pain in my cheek had persisted, however, and my face had turned purple-yellow after the dark blue of the first few times. This violent reunion had somewhat affected my determination as to my future escape, but Blake, who was gaining a little more weight each day, was pushing me to my limits to provoke a reaction and that I not let myself die slowly in this horrible place.

My condition had weakened considerably and I fell seriously ill, constantly taken by fits of unstoppable coughing and vomiting. Blake began to consider our escape for the next few days, but he still saw no way to manage to escape without being caught by Magnus’ soldiers.

Then one day, while Blake was attempting a new discussion, he suddenly froze and hid on his mattress using a blanket. At the time, I was surprised by his reaction because he had been showing visitors, such as Yanosh or Gilles, his pitiful original state for a while with the help of the simplest psychic manipulation according to him. I heard the elevator doors open and several steps in our direction. I sat in the back of my dungeon, too drugged and exhausted to move.

When the footsteps stopped in front of the bars of my cell, I felt like a warm wave crossed my chest. A feeling that wasn't unknown to me. Was it a new drug? I smiled without realising it and gathered my strength to raise my head. I recognized Carmichael, his face worried, his eyes terrified. I had a hard time staying focused in his direction. Behind him stood Magnus, Gregory and Ethan. The latter lowered his eyes, ashamed to introduce me to Carmichael in this way.

“So you see, she’s alive!” Magnus said scathingly.

“That’s what you call alive!” replied Carmichael, mad with rage “She’s dying! Do you really think of carrying out your projects by treating her like this!”

Gregory gave a slight whistle. Carmichael whirled around and lunged at the tall redhead like an enraged lion. He was immediately stopped in his tracks by his own father. Carmichael froze, his face contorted with pain.

“You don’t have to lecture me about that girl,” Magnus fumed, raising his voice, “I treat her better than my own brother! It’s up to her to change her life.”

Carmichael gave me one last look of remorse and mercy before leaving with my captors.

After this visit, I was more convinced than ever that I had hit rock bottom. I knew now that Carmichael could do nothing for me and I had been able to discover the incredible hold his father had on him by controlling him without difficulty. Blake reappeared, relieved that his brother had seen nothing of his new physical state and, therefore, his desire to escape. But I could no longer find the insatiable desire for revenge that I had felt since the beginning of my ordeal. All these events – Ethan who accepted the situation without flinching, Olivia’s improbable change and Carmichael condemned to remain passive in front of his father – had finished shattering my last hopes.

I lay down on the cold floor of my prison and let myself die.

A dramatic turn of events in the evening thwarted my suicidal plans when Ethan reappeared a few hours later and knelt down in front of Blake’s cell.

“I know what you’re doing, Mr Burton Race.”

“What are you talking about, Ethan?” replied Blake innocently.

“You have regained your strength and you’re going to escape.”

A long silence weighed in the dungeon while the two men stared at each other. Blake remained silent and turned his gaze towards me before turning around when my brother said to him:

“I’ll help you!”

“If it’s a trap, my boy, Everliegh wouldn’t recover from failure, you know that.”

“Of course, I know that. That’s why I waited for the right moment.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Blake, suspicious.

“Carmichael didn’t come alone, the Panchaks and Salomon are outside and waiting for his green light to infiltrate the tower.”

“The Panchaks? Are you talking about the two young men Eve told me about?”

“Absolutely. Thomas took a long time to recover from our... altercation, he’s here now, and Salomon too. Sam, Eve’s guardian, will meet us at a meeting point on the outskirts of London and take us to safety.”

“How do you know all this?” continued Blake.

“I proposed this plan to them.”

“You?”

“Yes, me! I’m not proud to betray the man who raised me, but I can’t bear to see my sister like this any longer. She’ll never give in and I already know that she has decided to let herself die.”

“What is your plan exactly?”

Ethan pulled out of his pocket the tranquilliser gun he admitted picking up when I first met Magnus. Gregory had dropped it in order to have a free hand and to subject me to abuse that I wanted at all costs to forget. Ethan had the presence of mind to seize it, and I realised that all this time he had been struggling with his conscience a little bit not to interfere.

“Carmichael will take charge of Gregory and keep the master busy while I bring in Salomon and the Panchaks. They can’t get here soon enough without the alarm system locking down the building. We’ll only have a few minutes before the Master Hand’s army falls upon us. Salomon will locate them while the Panchaks and I create a diversion. But Eve and you’ll have to manage to reach the entrance hall on your own. And there’ll be the Yanosh and Conway problem. They’ve been posted outside the lobby entrance almost constantly since Carmichael arrived and…”

“I’ll take care of them,” said Blake in a sinister voice.

“So we have to coordinate our attack and we’ll succeed,” Ethan said, turning to me.

“You hear me, Eve!" My sister! We’ll succeed.”