recognizable as Prometheus’s—his robes were draped over the back of the chair, somehow duller and smaller now that they weren’t being worn.
And the third thing I saw was Adjutant.
I froze, and Basil came to a halt beside me. The entry catwalk wasn’t wide enough for more than two, and the other Renewables were forced to stop behind us.
Adjutant strolled toward us, halting beside the column where Tansy hung suspended. “Miss Ainsley,” he said, as calm and polite as ever. “I thought as soon as I learned that the Renewables had escaped that you would be coming here. I’m gratified to find I was right.”
Seeing my face, he smiled. “Of course I know who you are,” he added. “Your brother spoke of you incessantly for the first year he lived here.”
Basil stepped forward, fists clenched. “You should have told me, Adjutant,” he spat, his voice taut with fury.
Adjutant inclined his torso in a slight bow, spreading one hand in a conciliatory gesture. There was some sort of machine on it, bands of metal around each finger, spreading over the back of his hand like an exoskeleton. “I live to serve you, Prometheus,” he said reverently. “My life and my actions have always only been to protect you.”
“Prometheus?” It was Curio, his face transformed by confusion and, slowly, loathing. I glanced at Wesley, but instead of seeming surprised, he only stood there, expression unreadable, his gaze on mine. Wesley worked in CeePo every day— perhaps it was stupid of me to have thought that he wouldn’t have recognized Prometheus, even out of uniform. The other Renewables behind us were murmuring bewilderment and anger, trying to understand what was happening.
“The rabble are turning on you, Lord.” Adjutant lifted his hand, stretching the other out toward the column containing Tansy. “Allow me.” That hand had a similar machine on it—as he turned towards the Renewables, I could see that the devices on each hand ran up over his shoulders and connected in a knot of copper and glass at the nape of his neck.
Before I could figure out what he was doing, a jolt of magic flowed from Tansy, into the device, and then out through his other hand. Basil knocked me to the metal catwalk with a clang, his body on top of mine—I felt the heat of the blast through my hair as I fell.
A man screamed—I jerked my head up in time to see the Renewables fall, every last one of them, writhing on the ground. By the time I shoved Basil off of me and dragged myself to my feet, all of them lay still. I could see flickers of magic there—they weren’t dead—but they were all incapacitated. Nix was no longer on my shoulder, but I couldn’t see it anywhere—whether it was in the pile of bodies or hiding somewhere else, I couldn’t tell.
“What did you do?” I screamed, turning back toward Adjutant, who was staring at his hand as though seeing it for the first time.
Basil got to his feet and pulled me back, ignoring my attempts to claw my way past him.
“He’s like us,” I gasped, holding onto the catwalk railing.
“No.” Basil was staring at Adjutant. “The device—the one I made to let others take over where I left off.”
“It’s perfect,” breathed Adjutant, still gazing at the hand that had delivered the blast. “You truly are more than human, Lord.”
“It’s not ready,” Basil said through gritted teeth. I could feel the fury behind his voice—I wondered why he didn’t just lash out, didn’t just try to get the machine away from Adjutant. “There are still flaws—it’s unstable, Adjutant. Dangerous for you; dangerous for her.” He jerked his chin toward Tansy, whose mouth I could see opened in a silent scream.
Adjutant lifted his eyes finally, gaze going from me to Basil. “Lord, I never wanted you to find out that Lark Ainsley was here.”
“That wasn’t your decision to make.”
“But it was.” Adjutant sounded surprised, slightly wounded. “It’s my calling to keep you safe, Prometheus. To keep you from the hard decisions. I thought by presenting her to you after we’d learned the extent of her abilities you’d have no choice but to—”
“To use her?” Basil stepped forward, shoulders tense and eyes hard. “Like we’ve been using these others?”
Adjutant’s eyes widened, and for a moment I could see a hint of the madness he’d showed in the audience chamber. When he’d told me to show respect for my god. “It has always been in the name of the greater good, Lord.”
Basil shook his head. “It may have started that way, but it’s not that way anymore. It’s not about just saving ourselves—we have to be worthy of salvation.”
There was silence for a moment while Adjutant struggled to digest this. My mind raced, trying to go over the options. I still had Oren’s knife, but there was no chance I’d get close enough to Adjutant to use it. And while Oren might have been able to throw it, my aim was nowhere good enough.
But that wasn’t the only weapon I had. The blackout device. In a place like this, the blast would disrupt every machine in the entire room. The one Adjutant was using to imitate Basil’s powers—and the ones holding Tansy captive.
I slipped my hand into my pocket. All I had to do was throw it hard enough at the floor for the impact to set it off. But I remembered what Basil had said—jerking Tansy out of this machinery could kill her. Surely cutting power abruptly would do the same.
Adjutant’s gaze swung over to me, burning. “This is just proof of what I’ve known for a long time,” he said quietly, his voice low and tight. “You’re too soft. Too trusting. Even I can’t protect you from every tough decision— and when I try, you . . . disappoint me. You’re letting this girl ruin in one night everything we’ve worked together for years to create.”
“She’s my sister.”
“And I am your Adjutant!” A fleck of spittle lingered on Adjutant’s lips as he breathed heavily, struggling with himself. Then he straightened, in control once more. “I didn’t want to do this, but you must be shown the truth. Your innocent, kindhearted sister consorts with monsters—her lover is one of the Empty Ones.”
Adjutant gestured toward one of the experiment bays across the room, the one I’d guessed was Prometheus’s station, and on cue its dark glass cleared and the cell lit up from within.
He lifted his head—he hadn’t been able to see out either, and evidently the windows were soundproof as well. Shock staggered him backward a pace as he saw me—then he threw himself against the wall of his prison, pounding his fists against the glass. I saw him screaming soundlessly, shouting to be let out, to be allowed to go to my side. His lips formed my name as he met my gaze, and then he launched himself forward. A sound tore its way out of my throat as he threw his entire body against the glass and fell to the ground.
My heart was tearing itself in two as I watched him dragging himself upright again, dazed and bruised, but I’d seen the madness in Adjutant’s face. I didn’t know what he’d do if I moved from where I stood.
“You see,” Adjutant said, moving over toward the banks of machines in front of the glass box that held Oren, “he’s a savage even when he’s human. There’s no room in our new world for monsters like him.”
“Let him go,” Basil said coldly. “I trust Lark.” But I could see the confusion in Basil’s face. First I’d asked him to trust a pixie—now he was being asked to trust this.
“You don’t understand,” said Adjutant. “Let me show you.” He reached out and pulled a lever. My head rang with magic as something shifted, sucking the power out of the cell. Then Oren was gone, and in his place was the shadow.
It snarled soundlessly and threw itself against the glass with ten times the force Oren himself had been able to muster.
I couldn’t look at Basil. I couldn’t look at Adjutant, either. I could only watch as the thing that had been Oren threw itself at the glass over and over and over, mindless, full of rage and savagery and hunger. All I could hear was the dull thud of Oren’s body hitting the glass, his muffled snarls. My eyes burned.
“You see,” said Adjutant. “You see what she is. These are the creatures she pities. She wants to see them take over. She wants to ruin everything we’ve done.”
“No,” said Basil. I lifted my head with an effort, my eyes streaming. “What we’ve been doing, you and I, is
