Englecon Mine, Desmond, 10416 P.C.

Matthew's eyes fluttered open.

The room was terribly silent, and not a single thing had changed. The posts stood sturdy, the walls unscathed, the roof above them looming yet firm. His whole body trembled, his mind certain he had witnessed an explosion yet finding no physical evidence. He was crumpled beside Stephanie, both of them in rather haphazard positions on the stony cold floor. She didn't move as he shakily sat up, taking an exhaling a deep breath as he did. His head ached. He felt weak. The Warmth stirred, unchanged. He couldn't have been blacked out for more than a few seconds.

The collar around Stephanie's neck no longer glowed purple. He fumbled with it, trying to remove it as gently as possible. It finally popped off and he tossed it away with a clatter that broke the silence and rang in his ears. He looked back at Stephanie, breathless. Her neck was burned a raw and fiery red, and the sight clenched his stomach. He gingerly touched the wound, feeling how hot it was on his fingertips.

She moaned, shifting at his touch. Her eyes fluttered open, squinting at him as her face twisted in pain. "Oooh, what happened?" she whispered, her hands going to her throat. She hissed when her fingers brushed the tender skin.

Matthew looked around, still catching his breath. "You were right," he said. "I destroyed the force field."

She sat up with a grimace. "That screen he has," she said immediately, determination hard in her eyes. "We have to get it."

Nervous anxiety welled up within Matthew's chest. "He'll catch us."

"Shut up, will you?"

She wasn't taking no for an answer anymore, and he knew it. They couldn't afford to, anyway. When the Overseer came back, regardless of whether he cooperated or not, Matthew was dead and who knew what would become of Stephanie once they shipped her back to Zusia? They were on a suicide mission whether he wanted to be or not, and he had decided the moment before he had destroyed the force field that if Stephanie was willing to die for the cause of freedom, then he was as well.

It had taken him long enough to make that choice. He had nothing left to lose anymore anyway.

"We need a plan," Stephanie continued. "We know that there are cameras. He might be watching us right now."

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"He'll be on his way, no doubt. We're trapped."

"Oh, you're so full of sunshine and happiness. I told you to shut up. Let me think." She closed her eyes, grim determination creasing her features.

Matthew found himself studying those features to distract himself from their impending doom. She was pretty, he decided. Cleaner than the other women in the mine, for obvious reasons, yet marred by the dragonmark on the left side of her face. It was a distraction from her natural beauty, which he picked out between the lines. A smattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose, thick lips parted in her concentration, long eyelashes. And when she opened her eyes, green. A dark, shadowed kind of green that seemed to play tricks on his eyes, flickering with a brighter colour every now and again as if he watched them through a mesh or screen. They were fascinating. She was fascinating. He felt drawn to her in ways even beyond the Warmth's influence. Attractive, he realized. He found her attractive. He found it funny, almost, how he was thinking about such things in their current situation.

"The other side of the room," she demanded, oblivious to his stares. "Is there an exit? Does this room have another exit?"

Matthew hadn't considered it. He turned his head, looking beyond the pits in the middle of the room. There were six of them, three and three, and beyond, more posts set up. He wasn't sure if he had ever truly noticed that before. His eyes immediately found the door on the other side of the room.

"Yes," he replied, although he knew she had already seen it.

"Let's go." She got to her feet and started for the other side of the room.

Matthew quickly followed. "Plan?"

"Find the screen and set everyone free."

"You have no plan."

"You have no optimism."

"We can't just wing a kamikaze mission like this."

"I know." She stopped at the door, looking out into the hallway stretching in either direction, exactly like the other door had. "Do you know your way around here?"

He had known Feldspar like the back of his hand. Englecon was a whole different playing field. "Not at all. We've only been here a few weeks." His nervous anxiety was bubbling up again. "Stephanie, this is a bad idea."

"I know." She started forward anyway, taking a right.

Matthew took a deep breath and followed.