Page 70 of Thrall
[Four seconds of silence.]
PALLAS: Who is this?
[CALLER #14’s line disconnects. A brief dial tone can be heard on the air.]
Editor’s note: WVBS (“Pallas Radio”) ended its broadcast at the conclusion of this call, two hours and four minutes before the end of its scheduled time slot. No further audio was recorded for Broadcast 112.
Click-click.
Lucy clawed her way out of a murky half dream. She wasn’t where she last remembered. The broadcasting studio had been bright with the morning light—wherever she was now, the blinds were drawn. But she didn’t have time to get her bearings yet.What’s easier than locking a door?Laurentius had said. As if he’d ever had to imagine a door like his life depended on it.
But she did imagine it, even as the room spun. She pressed the lock, flipped the deadbolt. And her mind was so quiet, in the wake of it, that she knew he wasn’t there.
Maybe he’d been too slow. Maybe she’d dreamed it. Or maybe he just wanted her to know that he was paying attention.
Something touched the side of her head. She flinched away from it, at first. But the voice that followed it was one she knew.
“It’s okay,” it said. “Can you sit up a little? Let’s get you some water.”
Lucy blinked away that locked door in her mind and finally began to register where she was. She was tucked into a creaky twin bed. The blinds above her, those were Mila’s blinds. And sitting beside her, stroking her hair, was Natalie Baker.
“Natalie.” Lucy’s voice was a rasp. When she tried to move, she found her arms secured over her head, the way they had been for the past two nights. She was restrained again, she realized. In broad daylight.
“Sorry about those, by the way.” Natalie helped ease her head up to take a sip of water. “Mila thought you might feel safer this way. But she’s out for a bit, so if you want those untied, just say the word. No offense, but I’m pretty sure I could take you right now.”
“Natalie,” Lucy said again, clearer now after the water. She was faintly aware that she’d started crying. “I thought you left. You should have left.”
“Oh. Oh, honey.” A sunbeam fell across Natalie’s face as she wiped at Lucy’s cheeks, obscuring her expression. Her voice sounded thick. “Of course I didn’t leave you. Didn’t I tell you I just needed some sleep? I’m so sorry I took so long.”
Lucy closed her eyes, dislodging a few more tears that Natalie hurriedly dried away. “You needed it.”
“Not as badly as you need it right now,” Natalie said. “We’re, um…trying to figure out what’s going on. But whatever it is, it’s doing a number on you. Just try to rest.”
She was probably right about that. Lucy felt delirious. She probablywasdelirious. But she felt a strange, feverish clarity, too. She could hear the sounds of Natalie’s vitals, as usual. But she felt like she understood the emotions behind the heartbeat now. It was clear enough, if she listened closely. Under that breezy bravado, Natalie’s body was singing with fear.
And yet it hadn’t occurred to her not to come back. Or if it had, there was no trace of that, looking at her now.
If she lived long enough to speak to her mother again, Lucy needed to tell her that she was both right and wrong about the world. It had teeth. But it also had Natalie Bakers.
“The infection is progressing,” Lucy mumbled. “I punched a hole in Athena’s wall. I don’t think I should be able to do that.”
“That’s what Mila said, too.” Natalie had moved on to anxiously rubbing at her arm. “It’s still too bright in here, isn’t it? Sorry, we tried to make it as dark as we could. Here, I’ll put this back on.”
A cool cloth settled over Lucy’s forehead and eyes, and the relief was so immediate, she could have cried all over again. The itchy sunlight faded into a damp cool, sending the occasional shiver through her. It wasn’t wholly unpleasant. There was something almost grounding about the ripple of goose bumps down her arms.
“You said Mila left,” Lucy said. “Where did she go?”
“Not sure.” Lucy heard the grimace in Natalie’s voice. “She said she had an idea, and she’d be back before sunset. Hopefully it’s a really good idea.”
Lucy made a small, affirmative sound. She was glad Mila wasn’t here, seeing her like this. It was probably how Jon had looked before he died. At least Mila hadn’t been there back then. Even if she had to watch it happen to Lucy, she hadn’t had to watch it happen to someone she loved.
She willed herself to believe she wasn’t there yet. If nothing else, she couldn’t die on Natalie’s watch.
“And Athena?” Lucy said.
Natalie paused. “That Provost woman wants her out of her suite by tomorrow,” she said. “She’s packing up over there now, I think.”
“They can’t shut her down,” Lucy said, although it didn’t sound convincing, even to her. They could shut her down. Theyhad. She wondered if Athena would come see her, too. But no. That wasn’t safe. If Vanya asked Lucy, right now, to hand Athena over—Lucy didn’t know what she’d do.
