Page 161 of Fortress of Ambrose
“You needed a friend, too, Abby. I hear you.”
She holds on to me so tightly it brings tears to my eyes.My first friend.If she feels this way, I can only imagine how Erla and the others feel. When we let go, I eye the time and realize there isn’t much of it left.
“Jordan is planning to go through with the extraction.”
Her lashes flutter. “He is planning to die?”
“To save me, yes.”
“What about the Scroll?” she asks.
I update her on the Scroll. “I need you to call him here for something dire. Perhaps tell him there were some additional tests you need to run, or some epiphany you’ve had. I’m going to go destroy the lab before he has the chance to use it.”
“Then what?”
“I need some kind of sleep elixir. Something that won’t hurt him. I’m going to lock him in the basement and seal it with protections so he cannot get out.” With him locked away, I can figure out a safer plan to get this magic out of him.
“I don’t know about this. He will be furious.” She stuffs her hands in her pockets. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just leave him to his fate?” Abby’s countenance darkens. “You don’t need him. You just need the magic inside him.”
“Sometimes we have to fight for those we love when they are hurting too much to fight for themselves. I won’t abandon him in his most desperate time of need.”
She shrugs and turns back to her rocks. “I’ll send for him like you asked. Just let me know when.”
An unsettled feeling sticks to my ribs.
When midday lunch comes, I spend the time in the halls, watching for Jordan, who appears right as planned. He moves at a fast stride down the corridor, through the foyer, and turns the corner toward the healing ward. I stroll casually, careful to stay out of his line of sight. When he disappears into the Healer office, my heart thuds.
It’s now or never.
As I linger in the hall while a handful of people are escorted to their rooms with lunch trays, I spot Erla. She speeds up. I catch up to her.
“Wait up.”
She’s rigid with fear, eyeing the stragglers in the halls. “I know what you did.”
What I’maboutto do…
“My brother.”
I swallow my exhale.
“At least I am free of him now.” Housemates linger in the corridor, waiting for her.
“Move along,” I tell them. “Back to your rooms.”
“I should get back to my room, too.” Erla pulls away from me and runs off. I clench my fists and race toward the Sunrise Corridor. The long hall of session rooms is empty. I will just have to do this myself. I reach the extraction lab and twist the knob with a fistful of toushana in my free hand.
It’s locked.
I burn through the door with my toushana, but the room is dark and empty. Where there were once rows of tables and lines of chairs is just stone floor. The chalk wall that was covered in equations has been wiped clean. Everything for the extraction is gone. I stumble backward and out of the room, checking to make sure I have the right one.
I break into the room next door. Also empty.
The next several are wiped clean, as well.
The world sways.
He knows what I planned, and he beat me to it.
