Page 86 of Ruby & Onyx

Two invisibles appear before me with shackles in their hands. But where did they come from? I should have been able to see them after casting the spell, but they appeared out of thin air before me. Unless they were already there.

I try to run, but my body won’t cooperate. My hands begin to rise toward the invisibles. I try to stop the motion, but it’s no use. The disconnect between my mind and body is petrifying but familiar, like the first night they appeared in my cottage. They can compel people to act against their will, and they’re using that power on me now.

Within seconds, shackles are around my hands, and I can’t fight back. Their force won’t allow it.

No, no this can’t be happening.

I can’t breathe. I can’t see.

Oh, my gods.

“Take her,” Vani commands without a sliver of emotion.

The invisible’s moonlit hand reaches out to me, and, in a second, we’re whirling through the bitter and empty void. My hair wraps around my face, blocking my vision, as we move through space. My insides feel like they’re constricting and contracting against the force propelling us forward. It’s exactly like the first time I met them – when they first took me from Carcera.

The blurring madness stops when I land on my feet in the inky black darkness of a room without sunlight. With the shackles still on my hands, I frantically try to feel the space around me, searching for any signs of where I might be. One step at a time, I reach out to test the limits of this seemingly empty space.

If the invisibles are here with me, then I certainly can’t see them.

I was right. They tricked me into thinking that the spell worked. I could never really see them. They revealed their corporeal bodies when it was convenient so that I would let my guard down and believe that it worked.

Was it Sir Magis, then? Did he betray me?

I am a fool.

When I hit a wall, I run my hands up and down it, searching for anything to help me understand my new surroundings. The freezing cold stone extends up farther than my fingertips can reach. It takes about five steps for me to reach the corner and then another ten before I hit the steel bars. I stick my arm through the slats and scream when my hand comes into contact with a body.

“Hey! I was sleeping,” a man groans.

“I’m sorry! I don’t know where I am.” My voice quivers with terror and sadness, which he seems to perceive as he lets out a knowing sigh.

“Shit, girl. You’re in the prison,” he sighs again. “What did you do to wind up here?”

“I did nothing wrong, if that’s what you’re asking. Why are you here?” I resume my search of the room, running my hands along the slats until I reach another corner.

“I didn’t do anything, either,” he says with a flat tone of defeat.

“How long have you been here?”

“Days, weeks, months. Who knows?”

Sir Magis told me about the prisoners so far below the ground that they’ll never see sunlight again. He told me about how they feared the invisibles enough to allow him to experiment on them. Prisoners who were better kept…. silent

Understanding sets in, settling deep in my bones. That is what we are. Prisoners. Hidden beneath the ground to be abandoned and forgotten by society. Experimented on by Sir Magis.

Perhaps when faced with an eternity of darkness and solitude, the possibility of dying at Sir Magis’ hands wouldn’t seem so bad, after all. Maybe that explains their eagerness to volunteer.

“Are there others?” I ask.

A moment of silence passes as if he’s either struggling to remember or struggling to forget. “There’s a woman here. She arrived recently. Maybe a day or two ago. But who knows, there could be hundreds of cells down here.”

Gods, could it be?

I freeze. “What is her name?”

“Something odd. I can’t remember,” he says like he’s tired of the questions. “Hey! Lady! What’s your name? The new sad sop wants to know!”

A gurgled groan comes from the wall opposite the prisoner, but she doesn’t speak.

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