out?”
Madgie spoke again quickly. “Yes and you must. The Ancients will hunt you, find you, and kill you. She stands alone as the only being to escape their clutches. Find her, Amanda. She’ll be able to protect you from them.”
Amanda cocked a brow questioningly. “And why would she want to help me?”
Madgie’s lips curved into an uneven smile. “She would do just about anything to defy the Ancients. If they want you dead, then it will be her life’s mission to preserve you, for nothing more than the simple pleasure of annoying them.”
Amanda smiled back at her. “Will she be able to help me find Kaedin?” she asked eagerly.
Madgie shrugged her shoulders. “Like I said, I don’t know if it’s even possible to find a Scar, S-B; but if it is, she’ll be able to find it. She’s the most powerful being ever to walk the earth. The Ancients have outlawed the mere utterance of her name, Shiphra. Her existence is a blot on their ‘all-powerful’ personas. If she’s strong enough to elude them, then she’s stronger than all of the Ancients combined. All who were alive when Shiphra escaped know this, and it kills them.”
“She’s an Ancient, isn’t she? I mean, I always thought they were kind of a package deal. They even have the same voice,” Amanda said.
“Yes, she is, the Ancients you saw today would like me to say that she ‘was’ an Ancient, but I suppose that isn’t true. As long as she’s living, she’s an Ancient. It isn’t a title one can shed. How well did you fare, trying to rid yourself the stamp of ‘Healer’?”
Amanda didn’t like thinking about that time in her life.
“No, these aren’t things we choose. We just are what we are. Oh, and that was the leader of the Ancients, Baal’s voice you heard. They all have their own voices, but, over the years, I’ve heard their individual ones less and less,” Madgie said.
She was going to ask why they’d locked Shiphra up but realized she was wasting time with stupid questions. If they were going to make it out of here, they needed to get moving.
“So what’s the plan?”
“First put these on,” Madgie said, throwing her a bundle of clothes.
Amanda unraveled them and found a pair of sneakers, jeans, a sweater, and a long cloak.
The old woman started to pace the room, her every movement silent as the desert. “Well, getting out of here has no plan. Just follow me, try to be invisible, and pray for luck, but after you get out that’s a different story. As soon as you leave the Hovel, you must run, travel as far away from here as you can. You must move quickly while taking the time to cover your tracks. Try not to leave a wake of emotion,” she said.
Amanda shucked off the gown and slipped into the jeans. “The less you think about your situation, the less emotions you feel, the better. They’ll be like bloodhounds on a scent, and they’re proud. You’ll make a fool of them, so they’ll want to drag you back here for everyone to see. All of this withstanding, you can’t be afraid. Fear is the simplest emotion to sense. Even animals can do it,” Madgie said. “As you run, I want you to think nothing of your trial or familiar faces. Try to think about Shiphra as much as possible. Meditate on the face you saw. If she wants you to, you will find her.”
Amanda picked up the light grey cloak and quickly threw it on.
Madgie glanced back at the only door in the cell once more and spoke. “We must leave. Now!” She turned on her heel and ran for the door with Amanda quickly following.
5
Madgie opened the large wooden door of the cell with caution. Glancing back and forth, she swept quickly out of the holding place. Amanda stepped out slowly with her eyes shut tight, expecting to be tackled by a guard. When no one immediately brought her down, she opened her eyes and saw they were alone in the hallway. Amanda let out a breath of relief and closed the door behind her as quietly as she could manage. An audible click hung mockingly in the air, and they both froze in place.
After a few moments of stillness, they continued. Madgie had told her to think as little as possible about her situation, but she couldn’t stop her mind from reeling.
Why in the world did they have no one guarding her cell?
Madgie had just walked through the door and plucked her out. Of course, to the Ancients, and most Healers, their word was law. They never imagined someone would defy their wishes. Did they not understand that they all had the option of saying no? The cloak hid her well; only the tips of her fingers could be glimpsed at the bottom of the long sleeves. She wished she could pull it up and look at herself in the light of the hallway. Inside of her, the war still raged. She was getting so used to the pain it was hard for her to tell if there had been an improvement or not. A question she continually asked herself. Maybe the answer was on her skin.
It took all of the self-control she possessed, which was very little, not to draw back the dangling sleeve and study her veins. Madgie rounded the corner and didn’t hesitate even for a moment, so Amanda was taken aback when there were Healers scattered throughout the hallway in front of them. She almost stopped in her tracks, but Madgie’s confidence was contagious, and she managed to continue their doomed-to-fail trek. Luckily, the people in the hallway were too caught up in conversation to be bothered by the passersby.
“I can’t even imagine how she was feeling in the arena. You have to be in a lot of pain in order to project it from you, and I could feel her pain, burning me,” said an older-looking gentleman she’d never met before.
The plump lady standing next to him puffed up. “We all feel sorry for her, but honestly she’s the one to blame for her current state. If she were properly educated, she would still be pure and strong,” she said.
The man looked taken aback. “Surely you can’t blame a ten-year-old for being scared at the Dredging. You must remember how overwhelming it was. Strangers plucking you from the life you lead, although most don’t run. It is understandable when one does,” he said. His kind face looked up at Amanda as she passed, and a little smile played at the corners of his thin lips.
The old lady didn’t notice and shrugged her shoulders. “No, it isn’t. She’s just a bad seed. Even now, when she’s old enough to know better, she questions the Ancients. If I were in her position I’d be glad of their decision,” she stated in a matter- of-fact tone.
The man looked unconvinced. “Are you so sure of how you would feel in her position when you have never been in it?” he asked.
The woman looked down her nose at the short old gentleman with harsh eyes. “Yes,” she said defiantly.
Amanda heard no more of the conversation. Either because she and Madgie had gotten out of ear shot or it had abruptly ended. Both seemed likely options, so she’d never know which it was. She and Madgie had cleared the group of Healers without notice, which was surprising.
“How do they not feel me as I feel you?” she asked.
Madgie kept the same pace and spoke quietly without turning. “They are so caught up in the day’s events that they aren’t able to use their senses, even if they cared to try. You have to be interested in the world around you, beyond yourself, in order to sense anything in it. Aside from that, I’m having a hard time feeling your spirit myself. I have to focus intently to get your flicker, and I know you better than most,” she explained.
They slowly made their way up in a flash of unfamiliar corridors and stairways. They finally reached familiar territory, and Amanda thought they might actually make it out of the Hovel unseen and unscathed. They mounted the last set of stairs and were met by a familiar face. She didn’t know if it was the puffiness of his cheeks or the redness of his eyes that caused it, but she called out to him before she could stop herself.
“Cole?” Amanda said.
His tear-wrecked face looked up at the sound of her voice, the pain in his eyes was apparent. “Amanda?”
A flood of emotion overwhelmed her as she realized just how much he’d been holding back all of these years. His longing was so strong her mind was clouded, and she couldn’t separate his feelings from her own.
She stared at him, her best friend. He looked terrible. She’d never seen a person outside of a Scar look so dreadful. His naturally tanned skin had drained of all color. Cole’s bright eyes had lost all spark, the small fragment
