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Lilith flung open the cover and flipped quickly through the pages. They became more wrinkled and creased as she drew closer to the book's midpoint. She was searching for something she already knew was there. But even though she had memorized the words years ago, she needed to see them in print. Only then would they give her the courage to go through with what she had already decided on.

It tugged at her heart to see exactly how much damage had been done to her favorite book the night she left home. Something so important to Lilith and Joshua had thrown it to the ground and stepped on it. But the story lived in her heart. It would always be with her.

Cold tears struck the open page. I'll make sure it's the same for you, Dad.

Turning back to the text, Lilith found the passage she had been looking for.

╔═══━━━─── 🌸 ───━━━═══╗

> The last of [Lilith's] hope had faded away. In the sixty years since the prison's construction, not a single inmate had escaped. Sure, A few had avoided their execution by taking matters into their own hands. But the 'Iron Coffin' had more than earned its nickname. Once inside, death was the only freedom. Yet [Lilith] still thought she could be the one to break free. To weaponize their complacency, and end the prison's reputation.

>

> With just another week she could have done it. No, four days if she hurried. But if what [Pandora] told her was true, she was to be moved to a new facility in the morning. He had said they wanted her to be closer to the execution grounds. With more than a month till execution day? What a load of shit. They must have found her out and now they were moving her before she could execute her plan.

>

> [Lilith] pressed her head against the door. "I'm out of time."

>

> [Pandora] reached his arms through the bars and wrapped them around her. "I'll be coming with you. I'm with you to the end. We can still enjoy the time you have left."

>

> She pulled away from his embrace. Maybe if she hadn't wasted her time with him she could have escaped. How much time had she spent longing after the person set to kill her? Her head fell into her hands and she berated herself. How could she blame him for this? So what if he was Galmurian and she was Olexan? The sins of a nation couldn't all be laid at the feet of every Civilian. She had already decided not to let lines on a map get in the way of her love for him.

>

> No more secrets. It was time to finally tell him everything.

>

> [Lilith] drifted back to the far wall. To the spot she had spent so long trying to conceal. "[Pandora], There's something I need to show you."

>

> "What is it?"

>

> She pushed against the stone, the way she had hundreds of times before, and it slid aside to reveal the passageway behind. She gave her best attempt at a smile to [Pandora] but she knew it was weak and distorted. What would his reaction be? Would he run off to tell a superior? Maybe he would kill her, thinking she had finished the tunnel out.

>

> "Let me come with you."

>

> A bitter hand grasped at her heart, wringing out the joy his words brought. [Lilith] was sure now that he didn't care who she was, or where she was from. He loved her. But they had missed their chance to leave.

╚═══━━━─── 🌸 ───━━━═══╝

The situations didn't quite match. It wasn't like Lilith had completely run out of options yet. And sharing her secret with Pandora would be a terrible idea. Wouldn't it?

Maybe I should try.

Could she stand to give up the only person she could turn to at the end? She wasn't naive enough to think it would work out like a romance novel. Pandora wouldn't be carrying her off into the sunset so they could live happily ever after. But maybe. Lilith clapped the book shut and hugged it against her chest.

Whether she chooses to accept me for what I am or kill me for what I am, I want it to be her there at the end. Not Andor, not Allister, and not Gamal. It has to be Pandora.

Lilith gripped the novel tight in her hand and rushed out of the room not sure of what she wanted. Her destination? She was even less sure about that. She should have asked Allister before he left. But she hadn't made up her mind yet. He might not even know where she was anyway.

Endless gilded halls ran the length of the ship, crossed by identical halls in at least 6 places. Each one with dozens of indistinguishable doors. And that was only a single deck. Lilith felt crushed under the search that lay ahead of her. But then she realized that each of those doors led to passenger cabins. Even if Pandora had found another room to sleep in, she wouldn't be there at this time of day. Not during a hunt.

The lodging areas could be safely ignored for the time being, though that only told her where Pandora wasn't. Lilith did need to pick a place to start her search. She made her way to the grand staircase that spiraled up the ship's center and began to climb. The youkai had attacked several places, but it had been seen last above deck. She would start her search at the highest point and work her way down.

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When Lilith stepped out onto the deck of the ship, she was assaulted by a horrific smell. Like rotten meat in a hot room. Her face contorted itself, the automatic reaction stopping her dead in her tracks. As she fought the bile rising in her throat a wet slap sounded beside her.

A chunk of raw meat lay on the deck by her feet. Writhing maggots crawled across its surface and fetid liquid seeped out onto the wooden planks. Lilith felt as if all the blood in her body froze over. It started at her limbs, locking them in place, then traveled through her veins to the heart, arresting its beat.

The meat had clearly fallen from above. There was only one scenario her brain could conjure to explain that, and it ended with her dead. So for that reason, she decided not to look up. It was the only power she could steal from the creature about to end her life. Except, death didn't come. But why? Lilith's mind did what it normally did in the absence of understanding; it generated theories.

Maybe the youkai dropped it from well up in the sky and it's nowhere near me. But there's a roof over this section of the deck. Maybe it hasn't noticed me yet. That's stupid. What, is it supposed to be blind?

As slowly as she could so as not to spook the creature, Lilith turned her vision upward. She was met by a black of muscle and feather. A sea of unbroken black save for the chunk of pink meat hanging limp from the end of the youkai's beak. It was as rotten as the piece that had dropped beside her. The creature's head flicked and there was a loud clack as the bird snapped the meat up and swallowed it whole.

Lilith was stone still, looking up at the youkai as it tracked her with its pitch-black eye. It's definitely noticed me. Lilith tried to plan her escape, but her racing mind struggled to imagine any successful routes. She figured her best shot was to head back through the door she had exited from; the door directly below the youkai.

Lilith slid her right foot forward roughly half an inch, watching the bird's reaction. When it didn't instantly kill her, she repeated the movement with her left foot. The creature regarded her with curiosity as, step by step, she crawled closer to the door. When she had gotten as close as she could she paused to plan her next move.

I'll swing open the door and rush inside. There's no point trying to shut it behind me; it will already be chasing me. I'll need to throw myself down the stairs and hope I'm not too hurt to run when I land.

She ripped the door open and it swung hard into the wall with a violent crack. With every ounce of strength she could muster, Lilith rushed forward, making it three and a half steps before the monster landed hard on her back. She screamed as she fell, but was silenced by the loss of air in her lungs when she crashed into the floor. With the pain from the impact she almost couldn't feel the claws tear into her skin.

Almost.

The beast began to pull her back through the door. She clutched for anything to hold on to. If it dragged her outside it was all over. Eaten or dropped into the ocean. Either way, she died if she made it outside. But there was nothing she could do. She only succeeded in leaving grooves in the linoleum as her fingernails tried in vain to dig in.

A deafening roar enveloped Lilith. The sound of beating the dust out of a carpet; slow and steady. A heavy wind swirled around and soon she felt a shift in the direction of gravity. With each beat of its massive wings, the youkai lifted her further and further from the ground.

The air had finally returned to her lungs, and she used it to scream. She kicked and flailed, fighting against the creature's grasp. Then something changed; she was struck by a moment of clarity. Why was she trying to fight against the monster's grip? If she was lucky she would fall one hundred feet to the deck below, and if she was unlucky she would fall two hundred feet to the ocean. Likewise, why was she screaming? No one that heard her could help her from where they were. It was a waste of energy.

Lilith stopped struggling. It wasn't that she had accepted death; the fear pulsing through her told her she very much wanted to live. It felt more like her desire for life had shown her all the ways she could die, and now she just needed to avoid them all. The heightened calm she had been trying to draw out had finally shown itself.

How nice of you to show up to a no-win scenario.

With no actions for her to take, Lilith could only look down on the ship as the youkai continued its climb. A few men stared up at her. They were likely members of Allister's security team, but it was hard to make out the details at this distance. They were rapidly shrinking into tiny dots. It's not like they could help her anyway. At most, they could witness her last moments when the youkai let go.

If this thing does drop me, I just hope Pandora isn't around to see me fall. I've hurt her enough.

The men disappeared from view as the bird carried her through the thick smoke rising from one of the ship's exhaust funnels. The black fog of burning coal stung her eyes forcing them shut. Carbon coated her lungs sending her into a coughing fit. As soon as they exited the cloud, Lilith began to hyperventilate, desperate for clean air. Once she felt able to breathe again, she forced her eyes open and watched through tears as the youkai headed for the larger of the ship's two masts.

The creature reached out, holding her body above the peak, then dropped her. Her heart slammed into her throat as gravity took hold of her. Luckily she didn't have as far to fall as she originally thought. The tip of the mast scraped up the flesh of her back and caught on the fabric of her dress. Most of the force of her sudden stop directed itself into her neck, though her arms took a healthy hit as well. She was in tremendous pain, but for now, she was alive.

The youkai hovered lazily in front of her. Maybe it was her imagination, but it looked satisfied with itself. Her suspicions were confirmed when the creature let out a series of quick sharp squawks. The fucker was laughing at her.

Happy with the joke it had played on Lilith, the youkai dropped into a dive and glided away. It seemed she had been left to find her own way down. She wrapped her arms and legs around the pole to ease some of her weight off of her neck. It gave her enough slack to breathe, but the awkward nature of reaching behind made things difficult.

When she had first seen the ship at port, Lilith had wondered why a ship without sails needed masts. Now, it seemed she could examine them as much as she saw fit, at least until her dress ripped and she fell to the deck below. She needed to get a better hold on the pole before that happened. She would need to spin around so she was facing the mast, then she could worry about finding a way down. With a deep breath, she steeled her nerves.

Lilith let go of the mast with her left arm, tightening her grip with her legs to take up the slack. She needed to pull her free arm through the sleeve and into the dress. It took what felt like an eternity, but with a bit of contortion, she was able to pull her arm inside. She crossed it in front of her body and wrapped it around the pole behind her.

Next came the hardest part. Lilith let her legs fall free. Her weight dropped back on her neck and choked her. Only this time, with both arms on the same side, her body spun. A ripping sounded beside her head and she thought for a moment it was over, but she managed to get her legs wrapped back around the mast.

She had spun around and faced the pole. There was only one thing left. Her right arm was now crossed against her chest. She wouldn't need to pull it through the sleeve like she had with the left, that had been the source of the tearing sound. When she let her grip drop and crossed her arm around the pole her sleeve fell free and fluttered to the deck below.

Now Lilith needed to make sure she didn't follow it down.