As they continued on, the hall straightened out and spread wider, with simple wooden doors appearing between each cell. Asher wanted to check each room they passed, but the fear of walking in on someone who would, at best arrest him and at worst shoot him, kept him away. There were a few more Fienta in the cells, monsters as unimaginable as he remembered, but they seemed more worried about thrashing around then attacking them. One turned a crumbling dirt face to Penn and stared openly until they passed, but they didn’t bother any of them.

‘I feel like I should apologise,’ Sara mumbled.

‘For what?’ Asher asked.

‘You were so scared,’ Sara whispered. ‘You were terrified and I thought it was because you thought you were a witch, but these things are monstrous.’

‘To be completely fair, that was a part of it,’ Asher pointed out.

They came to another opening in the wall, and Asher wondered if they’d come around in a circle, but the large hall on the other side was different from the bare guard station they had come from. This one was lined with half-a-dozen desks stacked with more files, the far wall holding more cells, each of them full of multiple creatures.

Before Asher could get a proper look at them, Penn cried out and bolted forward, charging towards the cells.

Asher cursed and rushed after him, then paused when he realised there were yet more cells, each of them just as full as the last. A few monsters had a cell to themselves, but the three along the far wall were grouped up to the point of being overstuffed. Penn spoke fast and frantic to each of the creatures inside, and many of them perked up with an intensity that made the man flinch back. They looked different to the other Fienta. They weren’t monstrous, but they were strange to the point of uncanny. A few of them were humanoid, with human faces and human limbs, but they were too polished, too sharp, shining in the low light of the candelabra. He counted pointed ears and spikes along arms and backs, bipedal animals and quadrupedal humanoids, creatures with wings and branches and horns and antlers. None of them had a terrifying edge though, the kind that paralysed him so completely.

They were Nakati.

‘Oh no,’ Sara breathed.

Asher rushed forward as Penn pulled on the bars. All creatures in the three cells were alert now, watching them with large eyes, small eyes, bright eyes, singulars, and multiples, all of them fixated on Penn with an unnerving intensity.

One of them came forward to reach through the bars, stroking the edge of his cloak. Penn recoiled and hissed, and the entire group shrank back. Asher studied the lock. It was heavy, large and shining new. There was no chance rust would make it weak, but there were always ways to break a lock.

‘You are not with the others.’ The Nakati who spoke was as tall as Asher’s waist, with dark eyes as large as their head and webbed ears sticking out under dark hair. There was a waxy, green quality to their otherwise grey skin. ‘You smell like a friend.’

‘We’re going to get you out of here,’ Asher said. He scanned the desks around him, but there was no sign of where the keys would be kept.

‘The Jaliti has returned,’ the little Nakati said. The creatures in the cell around it bounced at the word. Penn recoiled again. He responded with a low voice, but the Nakati only grew more excitable. The noise bounced off the walls, and one of the Fienta growled behind him.

‘You guys need to keep it down,’ Asher said.

‘Make them stop,’ Penn hissed. ‘I’m not… they can’t see me as Jaliti.’

‘I can’t tell them anything,’ Asher pointed out. ‘But maybe they don’t hate you as much as you thought.’

‘Not my home,’ Penn whispered. ‘These are other Nakati. I can’t… I didn’t help them.’

‘You can help these guys now,’ Asher said. ‘That’s what matters.’

A low growl rumbled up from Penn’s throat, but he glanced at Asher and swallowed it back down. When he spoke again, it was low and gravely and sure, with an intensity Asher had never seen in him before. The words were weighted, forceful. Like a King giving orders.

The Nakati settled, and each of them backed away from the bars as much as the cramped space would allow. The little one with webbed ears stayed where it was, looking up at Asher with wide eyes. Penn snapped at it, but it didn’t move.

‘Do not let them grab you,’ Penn said.

Asher took a step back instinctively, crashing into Sara, who held up a keyring.

‘I found it,’ she said.

Penn snapped at the smaller Nakati again, and it shuffled back, away from the bars.

‘Can we get this many out without anyone noticing?’ Asher asked.

‘I have no idea,’ Sara said. ‘But we can’t leave them here either.’

‘We won’t,’ Penn growled. ‘I will stay back.’

‘You will not,’ Asher snapped. When Penn glowered at him, he added. ‘You won’t fix anything if they shoot you dead.’ He glanced at Sara, who yanked one key out of the lock and fumbled for another. ‘Do you think you can get them out?’

Sara froze. ‘Me alone?’

‘If Penn stays alone, he’s going to create absolute chaos,’ Asher said. ‘But we can both stay back and cause a distraction.’

Sara nodded, but she didn’t meet his eye. ‘Don’t do anything stupid, okay?’

‘I promise not to do anything more stupid than this,’ Asher said.

The cell fell open, and the Nakati poured out like a river breaking a dam. Asher backed up as Sara moved to the next cell, working the lock with the same key and pulling it open in a blink. Penn hushed the ones that yelled out or shrieked happily, and Asher considered his options. The best bet was pulling the guards’ attentions completely, rather than just turning them away for a moment. The longer they could go before anyone noticed the missing creatures, the better.

Unhooking the little pouch from his belt, he turned and made his way down the hall, continuing along with a silent hope that he wasn’t cornering himself in this place. When he came to a crossroad, he turned, waiting for the shadow of passing creatures trying their best to be subtle, then opened the pouch and tossed a handful of the dust into the nearest cell.

The creature inside was an amalgamation of iron and stone jutting out of a fleshy, six legged creature, and it had no mouth, but the noise it made shook the walls around the bars, harsh enough to make Asher press his hands into his ears. He chose the path to his left and hurried down, ignoring the pain in his ankle from the forced movements. He picked another cell at random and tossed another handful at the creature inside, causing this one to thrash violently against the walls and the bars of its cage, enough to rain rocks down from the roof.

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Another shriek tore through the air behind him, and Asher turned just as Penn darted across the branching hallway, disappearing around another turn. The next roar made the floor shake beneath him. Asher hurried on, tossing small handfuls of dust into whatever cells he passed, until the noise was enough to make him crumble.

The hall he had chosen ended with a wrought-iron door, and Asher paused. Going through it was just as much a risk as turning around, but turning back and retracing his steps would only guarantee walking through the chaos he had tried to create – and its response.

Taking a deep breath, he reached out to grab the handle, when the cold metal of gun pressed into the back of his head.

‘You’re done,’ Olive said. ‘Drop the bag.’

Asher raised his hands and let the pouch drop to the floor, the contents spilling into a small pile at his feet. His heart pounded in his chest. There was nothing he could say to prove his innocence. In this case, there was no innocence to be found.

‘I’m almost impressed,’ Olive said. ‘If you’d put your head down and run when you had a chance, you would have lived to see tomorrow.’

‘What about everyone else?’ Asher asked. ‘What you’re doing here isn’t natural.’

Olive laughed, so spitefully that it ground Asher’s teeth together. ‘You’re telling me what is and isn’t natural? You, the witch?’

‘This place is why everything is going wrong,’ Asher pressed. ‘Don’t you see that? You’re tearing holes in the world.’

‘If we were, you’d be on board, wouldn’t you?’ Olive demanded. ‘All your little buddies in one place.’

‘You don’t know why I’m here,’ Asher said.

‘Oh, I saw the empty cells,’ Olive said. ‘You’re going to tell me you didn’t open them and let all those nasty little things out?’

‘Those ones aren’t evil,’ Asher whispered.

‘They all are,’ Olive said. ‘That’s the point. They’re of this world, or they ain’t. You’ve lost yourself to all this, Lieutenant. No different from any other agent that sneaks their way in.’

Asher’s mind raced, trying to come up with any move that wouldn’t end with him shot, but the barrel of Olive’s pistol pressed hard against his skull. It knocked against the base of his head as she came forward and grabbed his arm.

‘Are you going to shoot me?’ Asher asked.

‘Try anything, and I’ll take out your good leg,’ Olive growled.

She twisted his arm around behind his back, and Asher cried out. It was joined by another cry, this one louder, feral and angry.

Penn.

Asher turned as Olive swung her pistol around to aim it at Penn’s head. Penn shouted again, throwing his arms wide. The walls shook. Grit and rubble broke from the ceiling. Asher saw his chance.

He threw his weight into Olive’s side, driving them both into the wall. Asher dug his fingers into her wrist until the pistol fell from her grip. He kicked it away as her fist rammed into his ribs, knocking the breath from his lungs. Another punch caught his jaw, and he stumbled back, righting himself as Olive drove her shoulder into his collar, pinning him to the wall.

The walls shook again, the earth quaking beneath their feet, and Penn leapt forward, charging into Olive and knocking her away. Olive recovered quickly, catching Penn by the scruff of his hood and twisting it around until the fabric pressed into his windpipe. She kicked Asher’s next attack away, catching the shin of his bad leg and sending a blinding, white hot pain through it.

Penn struggled, yelling and shrieking what could only be curse words, before his palm shot upward and grabbed Olive’s jaw. With another shout, the wall behind them crumbled completely, crashing down over both of them.

A Fienta stood on the other side.

Complete, paralysing fear washed over Asher at the sight of it. It wasn’t the same stitched together abomination that had nearly killed him in Le Torkani, but it was clearly also made by the Alchemist. This one started as an exotic creature Asher could place if he had a book, a bipedal bird with long legs and a feathered body. Its wings had been ripped off, replaced with dozens of insect-like legs, and the head of a human man sat at the end of a long neck. It was bulbous and bruised, the top of the head missing chunks of hair where feathers had been burned into flesh. The eyes and the mouth had been crudely sewn shut. It lunged towards Asher, but its wide body and tall stature caught on the edges of the hole and it felt back with a pained whine.

The pouch of dust still sat at his feet, and Asher caught it under his cane, dragging the leather across the opening as the creature lunged again, trailing a line of dust between them. This time, a shimmering, iridescent sheet covered the gap, and the creature’s body sizzled where it met the barrier. Blood roared in Asher’s ears, rushing faster as Olive got to her feet. She flicked the lock down on her pistol, then another part of the wall imploded.

The bone creature they had seen on their way in charged through the new opening, with another identical one following close on its heels. Asher hooked the pouch onto the end of his cane and flicked it up into his hand. He threw his arm in a wide arch to create another line between him and the creatures. The bag was almost empty now, but he tossed it to Penn, feeling the now familiar grit of the dust on his hands.

The two bone-creatures swiped at Penn, and Penn fumbled with the pouch, before something exploded against Asher’s side. He and Olive were thrown into the wall, stars flashing across his vision as the bird-monster gave a muffled shriek. It threw itself at the shimmering barrier again, and another pulse of energy blasted out, but it held firm.

‘What the fuck did you do to that thing?’ Olive pulled herself up and aimed the pistol directly at it, her hands shaking as she readied her aim. Asher struggled up with her, barely finding his footing before she fired.

The shot was loud and painful, enough to leave a whine at the base of Asher’s ears, but the bullet never hit. Instead it bounced off the barrier and clattered to the floor, leaving a smoking dent where it had struck the invisible wall.

No, not a dent. A hole.

Olive swore and flicked the lock down again, just as Penn cried out and a fiery flash of white light enveloped Asher’s peripherals. The bone-creatures had him cornered, pushing him further down the hall, but Penn was fighting, and he was pissed. When Olive readied the shot again, Asher cried out and knocked her aim off, but the shot still went wild and another hole ripped into the barrier.

‘Stop!’ Asher cried. The bird-monster threw itself at the barrier again, and this time it warped and folded around its body, stretching against it, and the pulse of energy was only a puff of hot air.

No. Asher couldn’t fight this thing. There were no spirits here, and he’d already used up the little he had in the pouch. The barrier had to hold, it needed to.

The monster lunged again, and with a strangled cry, Asher threw himself forward and pressed both of his palms into its face.

The pain was incredible. White hot fire enveloped his entire body as his hands stuck fast to the barrier between him and the monster, trapping him against it as though the thing meant to absorb him and tear him apart at the same time. Knives stabbed deep into his bones, driving into his skull, making his vision blur, but he couldn’t tear away. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t let go. Whatever Sara had shown him with that bowl now seemed nothing more than a mild discomfort as every one of his nerves exploded into molten glass and melted over his muscles. He could feel the same iridescent energy from the barrier ripping through him, shredding him into strips, into dust that would fade away if he didn’t let go, but he couldn’t let go.

The barrier was holding. The Fienta, still on the other side, had also stuck fast and was writhing in pain, its movements jerky and desperate as it too tried to pull away. He had to kill it. He knew he had to, or it’d break through and he’d have nothing. He would kill it. He would not let these things beat him again.

A pale, gentle hand came down to rest over his, and Asher found the smallest shred of energy in him, buried deep down and hiding away to keep him alive, and he ripped it upward. His hands – with the strange one still resting on his – fell through the barrier, and as soon as palm met tough, scarred flesh, the Fienta burst into flame. Its body tore away from the wall between them as the smell of burning flesh and feathers enveloped the space, the creature shrieking and convulsing and writhing, until it quickly and thankfully fell into an ashen heap on the floor.

The strangers hand pulled away, and Asher turned to see Hadley standing next to him. She looked exactly the same, with her short red hair and tattered dress, and as dark eyes met his, she gave him a sad smile, then disappeared in a blink.

With her, Asher’s strength evaporated. His legs turned to jelly under him, and the pain in his skull turned into white noise that swallowed his vision and burned through his entire body. He felt someone with much rougher hands grab his arm, then his body gave in completely and darkness swallowed him whole.