Chapter 4

The tower was silent when Mike halfheartedly carried me back to my cell. I would have laughed at the irony that he had carried me anyway despite his initial refusal, but my head still swam in whatever the alchemedis injected in my veins. At some point, she tired of listening to my screams and sedated me from my suffering.

She reset my bones and taped my wrist straight. I vaguely remember choking on something they'd poured down my throat, and the muttered words, "to speed up her healing." Whatever it was, the effects hadn't worked yet. My body felt like I had been trampled by a racetrack worth of cruegers.

Mike laid me on my cot with surprising gentleness and left without a word. The stone slid shut behind him, stealing the light with his leave.

I slept for an intangible amount of time, until the drowsiness wore off.

"Milla?" My name slipped from the darkness, startling me awake.

"I'm still alive," I groaned. "I think."

"What did she do this time?" A deeper voice joined our conversation. "We heard them take you through the hall."

Vesper and Callow had been in the cells beside mine since the day I was thrown in here. At first, their voices seemed close enough that we shared the same cell. But I learned the pair were darkthieves, and although their remnants were dulled by the glint, the shadows still carried their voice through the stone, enough so I had someone to talk to when the dark became a malevolent form of company.

"I don't..." I choked, recalling Marco's face when I grabbed him, when I flayed him into dust with a single touch. "I don't want to talk about what we did."

"That's alright," Callow said. "Let's talk about something else."

I curled my knees into my chest, wincing at the movement. "Have either of you been taken since I arrived?"

"No," Vesper replied, though she didn't sound proud about it. "Delilah has apparently lost interest in us."

My eyes stung, withholding the tears this place didn't deserve to take. "Did you ever go through... trials?"

"We went through experiments, but never trials." Callow answered this time. "She tried to bind my power to a watchman once. Ended up killing him, I think."

"Good riddance," Vesper hissed.

"Milla," Callow said slowly. "You've never told us, and we never asked after the first time, but—"

"You want to know what my remnant is?"

A pregnant paused filled his reply.

I sighed, wincing as each rib poked a sore place in my chest wall. If none of us were getting out of here, did it truly matter if I shared my secrets or died with them?

"Promise not to tell anyone?" I jested.

He snorted. "I dunno, me and Vesper are pretty popular here."

I smiled, though no one could see it. It was foolish, finding companionship in a voice. Trusting someone I'd never seen before, solely from the words passed between walls. They'd talked me through the panic spells, the recovery from Delilah's tests, the homesickness. I told them about Nico and my brothers, how I watched Giles die that day I was taken. They always listened and had something kind to say to put a bandage over the wounds in my heart.

And soon, they'd probably be dead. Just like the rest of the descendants who came to the tower. Just as I would, and I wanted someone to know who I was, even if this secret didn't survive beyond us.

"Chaos. I'm a remnant of Chaos."

Neither of them replied.

"Callow?"

Silence.

"Vesper?"

Nothing.

They didn't speak to me the rest of the evening, or the days that followed. Though, I was certain I heard their shadows crawl over my head and whisper between each other.

No one was coming for me.

No one knew I was here.

And now, even those that did wanted nothing to do with me. I longed for the next trial, if only to escape this empty darkness and the silence it carried.