Page 240 of The Bone Season

‘You’re strong.’ I looked at him. ‘You can’t break the hatch open?’

‘No. The iron has been fortified with adamant, a rare material from the Netherworld,’ Warden said. ‘It resists all physical force.’ He demonstrated, giving it a pull. ‘The binding is very weak, made to be swiftly broken. The threnody may be powerful enough to override it.’

‘We’d have to know its name,’ I said. ‘The name it held closest when it was alive.’

‘Yes.’

The marks on my hand smarted. When I tried to sense the poltergeist, my nose bled again.

‘Fuck this,’ I said. ‘We’ll backtrack and use the same hatch as Jaxon. We can still—’

‘They’re coming,’ came a frantic cry. I looked over my shoulder to see a performer. ‘The Vigiles, the Overseer, the Rephs, the whole lot of them. They’re at the sally port.’

I pinched my nose. That scotched my plan to retrace our steps.

‘Julian,’ I said to her. ‘Where is Julian?’

‘I don’t know. Where’s Liss?’

‘She’s—’ I could hardly get it out: ‘Liss is dead. Gomeisa killed her.’

‘No,’ Nell whispered. ‘Not her.’ Several of the other performers stared at me, including Jos, whose eyes filled with tears. ‘Paige, are you sure?’

I nodded stiffly.

‘Enough. I’m not dying here, and I’m not going back.’ The voice came from a sallow augur in his forties. ‘Get away from that hatch, Reph.’

‘I would not advise touching it,’ Warden said.

‘I’m done taking orders from parasites,’ the augur sneered. ‘You’ll have to deal with a voyant doing what he pleases with his own life. Got it?’

Warden set his jaw. The augur had a heavy length of pipe in his hands, one of our many improvised weapons. Before anyone could stop him, he swung it overhead and brought it down hard on the padlock.

A shockwave cut through the æther. My hair crackled as the augur was blasted away from us, screaming.

I glimpsed scores of electric torches in the distance, replacing the vanishing light from the flare. For now, the darkness was still hiding us.

‘Everyone stay calm,’ Nick said. ‘Falling apart now will get us killed.’

‘Whoareyou people?’ Cyril demanded. ‘How do you have proper weapons?’

‘Later, Cyril.’ I tried to keep a level head. ‘Fine. The lock is unbreakable, but—’ I swallowed. ‘Could I persuade the poltergeist in spirit form?’

‘That may be our last hope. If you leave your body, you could speak to it in Gloss,’ Warden said. ‘I have already tried, but it will not respond to my voice.’ Against the darkness, his eyes burned. ‘I did not want it to come to this. You have already done too much, Paige.’

‘I can do it,’ I said, with more conviction than I felt. Only a fool would try to reason with a poltergeist. ‘Do you have any more amaranth?’

Warden gave me the vial from Pleione. Our fingers brushed as I took it and removed the stopper. He had been quick to put the gloves back on.

‘Drink every drop,’ Warden said. ‘It is the only way to fortify yourself.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘Yes.’

I nodded and drained the whole vial in one go. It mopped up the last of my headache, reinforcing my dreamscape.

The Vigiles were armed with ballistic shields and guns, defending the emissaries. Birgitta Tjäder was among them, as was Cathal Bell. When Tjäder spotted us, she gave a shout of rage. Nick raised his rifle, aiming for her head. No point using spools on amaurotics.

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