Page 8 of Siege of Shadows

“No.” Belle put a hand on the ice gently with her fingers, just over Saul’s face. “It was strange. He didn’t say a word. But he made a move toward me.”

Lake clutched her chest. “He attacked you?”

But Belle shook her head. “No. He just... moved toward me. At first I thought it was an attack, but there was something about his demeanor. As if—”

I stepped closer to her. “As if what?”

Belle paused. “As if he’d already been defeated.”

With a tap of her hand, she melted the ice just enough to create a hole through which he could fall into her arms. His limbs dangled limply, but I could tell from the way his head twitched that he was still alive. And his left hand was clutching something desperately.

“How do you take this off?” Placing his body on the ground, Belle began struggling with the helmet covering his face. “Help me.”

Lake and I looked for a lever, a groove, a latch, anything.

“Wait. There’s a switch here,” I said.

It was more like a tiny button tucked away by his ear. One click and the helmet shuddered and shifted open, steaming at the sides.

But the face inside was not Saul’s.

“Who the hell isthis?” Chae Rin loomed behind us for a better look.

The young man was barely out of his teens, blond hair matted against his pale forehead, scars riddling his thick, angled face.

“What’s going on?” I studied his face. “I thought Communications said that they tracked Saul’s frequency here.”

Belle was quiet for too long. All the while the timer was counting down. Seven minutes and forty-five seconds. Seven minutes and forty-four seconds...

“Well?” I urged Belle.

“The Sect tracked the cylithium frequency of an Effigy here,” she said finally.

The bunker was silent. That is, until the boy’s lips parted in a cough.

“It’s okay,” I told him, surprising myself. What if he was an enemy? But there was something about his feeble moaning and the way his eyes fluttered helplessly that made me wonder otherwise.

Kneeling by his side, Chae Rin grabbed his shoulder and shook him. “Hey! Who the hell are you?” After a pause of silence, she shook him again. “We don’t have all day.”

“Chae Rin, be careful!” Lake scowled at her. “He looks half-dead already.”

But if Lake was looking for sympathy, she wouldn’t find it. “The APD field’s about to go out,” Chae Rin snapped. “We don’t exactly have all the time in the world.”

“Sir. Who are you?” Belle asked, more quietly.

The young man sputtered. I could just hear the beginnings of words carving themselves out from the sounds he made.

“What?” Belle leaned in as the young man’s lips moved.

“Are you... Sect?”

“We’re the Effigies,” I answered quickly, tentatively touching his arm when it started to tremble uncontrollably. He looked relieved with my answer. “Who...” I paused, maybe because I didn’t want to know the answer. “Whatare you?”

“I ran here... I ran from them... I hid... I wanted you to find me.” He coughed, breathing heavily. “They were going to force me to... I couldn’t... stop myself.... I waited until it stopped working... and then when I was free, I ran.... I needed you to find me....”

It was like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing. It was almost impossible to stitch his words into a coherent picture.

“I don’t understand.” Belle straightened her back. “Who was forcing you? How? To do what? Tell us who you are.”

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