Cassius squirmed in the restraints. His left foot had itched for the last twenty minutes, right on the sole where he didn’t have a chance of scratching. Worse than that, he desperately wanted to reach behind and pull Madame’s device from his neck, but she was right. Even if he’d had control of his arms, he couldn’t feel a thing back there. No tingle or rawness from a scar. But he knew it was inside. That was enough.
Various Unified Party officials had been in throughout the day, spoon feeding him breakfast and lunch. The woman in the morning had been downright chatty, blabbering like he was her long lost grandson. The lunch guy- younger and less smiley-hadn’t said a word. Instead, he’d glared at Cassius through thick glasses as he ladled a stew into his lips.
He looked at the clock on the far wall. It had been over an hour since anyone had visited. The silence was becoming unbearable. His limbs stiffened. They’d started to cramp early in the morning. Now they were nearly numb. Numb would be better.
He longed to conjure the fire inside of him, to break free of the shackles and shake the stillness of the room. But, true to Madame’s word, his body remained unresponsive.
He tried not to think about mind control. Harnessing. She’d told him his mind would function fully, but impulses would steer him in directions he didn’t want to go. Madame’s impulses, his body. It was a dangerous combination.
It couldn’t happen. He wouldn’t let it.
But Madame knew him too well. Without his power, he was as helpless as any other prisoner. The thick metal bands locked him in place. Strength didn’t matter. All the agility and combat skills in the world were useless to him now. There had to be another way.
The door cracked open. He balled his fingers into fists, expecting Madame. Instead, a brown haired kid-twelve or thirteen-crept into the room and shut the door carefully behind him. His messy hair stuck in a diagonal across his forehead, framing a youthful, dirt-specked face at odds with his intense, rattled eyes. Cassius had seen this kid before. Only once, but he remembered it clearly.
Last spring, a day before boarding Skyship Atlas in search of Fisher, Cassius had watched this boy leave Madame’s office. The thought of someone else having a direct line to her had bugged him then. It didn’t matter so much now, but seeing the kid evoked immediate anger. Bad memories.
As soon as the door was safely secured behind him, the boy’s shoulders relaxed. A ratty undershirt hung over his gaunt body. Cassius caught the glint of metal hanging from the back of his belt.
The kid took a step forward. A devilish smile spread over his face. “So you’re the legendary Cassius Stevenson? You don’t look like much.”
Cassius stared, unsure of what to say, or whether to say anything at all. The boy’s immaturity showed in the way he carried himself, bobbing around the room like he had too much energy for his body to contain. He could be a mirage-a vision of his half-conscious mind.
Cassius closed his eyes. When he opened them the boy was still there. He swallowed, and found his tired voice. “What are you, the court jester?”
“Nah.” The boy continued to approach. “My name’s Theo. Theo Rayne. I guess we’re kinda brothers, in a way.”
Cassius grunted. “Great. Another one.”
Theo’s smile straightened, though the corners of his lips still curled slightly. “She’s always talking about you. I get sick of it sometimes. I mean, look at you, chained to the wall like a human sacrifice. What’s so great about that?”
Cassius’s eyelids drooped slightly as he fought to stay lucid. “You’re one of Madame’s kids, aren’t you? I saw you coming out of her office last spring.”
Theo’s shoulder twitched. “My real mom was gunned down before I could speak. So yeah, Madame’s the only mother I got.”
He sighed. A part of him knew this kid, everything he had thought and felt while growing up in the Lodge- everything Madame had told him, every stupid line she’d used to manipulate his behavior. In a different situation, he might try to convince the boy to leave while he still had a chance, but he wasn’t feeling particularly charitable at the moment. There were more important things on his mind. Chiefly: How can I exploit this kid to my advantage?
“She’s using you,” Cassius mumbled.
Theo smiled. “Sure is. Woman’s got a use for everything, doesn’t she? Definitely got a use for you. She’s always got a use for the great Cassius Stevenson.”
He chuckled. He hadn’t felt so great when Madame had abandoned him in Washington to capture Fisher, or when she’d let him destroy a train full of innocent passengers without even trying to clean up the mess.
Theo moved closer until Cassius could feel the kid’s breath on his neck. He paused for a moment, staring up at him with wild, dangerous eyes before turning abruptly and strolling to the far side of the room. Cassius noticed the glint of metal beside his back pocket again. A knife. How antiquated.
“Even after you go and get her killed,” Theo mumbled, talking to himself. “Took awhile to get her walking again, you know? The brick crushed her left tibialis.” He turned. “Do you know what a tibialis is? I’ve memorized every muscle in the human body. It’s good to know where to aim your bullets.”
“Are you trying to impress me?”
“No,” Theo said. “No one can impress the great Cassius Stevenson.”
“Stop calling me that.”
Theo grinned, clearly enjoying himself. “Even after you betray her, she’s still obsessed with you. I can’t figure it out.”
Cassius grit his teeth. Like this kid knew anything about what it meant to be the object of Madame’s obsession. “Is that why you strolled in here? You wanna find out why she’s got me tied up?”
“I know why she’s got you tied up, stupid.” Theo reached up and patted the side of Cassius’s head-the way a parent would, or an older brother. If he hadn’t been restrained, Cassius would’ve punched the kid just for that. “Harnessing.” Theo emphasized the word like it was some imaginary voodoo curse. “It’s gonna be funny watching you toddle around the Lodge like an obedient little android.”
“You’ve got quite the vocabulary.”
Theo grinned, that same twisted, unnatural smile he’d worn when he’d first entered the room. He lowered his hand to the side, fingers playing with an empty belt loop. “I don’t like you, Cassius Stevenson. I don’t like you coming in here after all you’ve done and playing around with Madame’s head.”
Cassius sighed. “You wanna set me free, then? I’d be happy to leave.”
“Not really.” His eyes settled on Cassius’s wrist. “What’s this?” He ran his fingers along the surface of the black bracelet. “Did Madame give you this?”
Cassius remembered when the bracelet had been a simple black box, presented to him by Madame’s hands. That was before it had transformed and clamped around his wrist like a shackle. “You could say that.”
Theo’s eyes locked onto the shiny darkness, analyzing it. “Does it come off?”
“What do you care?”
“I’ll pry it off your dead arm when she decides to kill you.” He reached behind him and pulled out the knife, thrusting it into the air and slamming it into the metal inches from Cassius’s ear. “It’s inevitable, you know, with the way you’ve behaved. But it probably won’t be for a long time.” The tip of the blade screeched along the wall as he dragged it downward in line with the contours of Cassius’s face. “Wouldn’t it be easier to get rid of you now?”
Cassius tried to control his expression, though the scream of metal on metal rattled his ears. “Madame wouldn’t like that.”
“No.” Theo’s expression froze. “She wouldn’t.” He lifted the knife from the wall, then ran his fingers along the blade, nonchalant. Cassius grit his teeth. Someone his age shouldn’t be this comfortable with violence. Had he been the same before Seattle? Was this what Madame did to kids?
Theo shrugged. “But you know what? She’d get over it. She’s still too close to you to see that you’ll betray us again. Even harnessed, you can’t be trusted. Not fully.” He pricked the end of his index finger with the blade’s tip. “She’d be proud of me after she realized.”
Cassius pulled at the restraints. He should think of something. He always thought of something. But his mind wasn’t strong. Fifteen hours hanging against the wall and he was starting to lose it.
Theo neared closer. He pressed the blade into Cassius’s chest. “You know, she always told me I was special. That I could do things that most people couldn’t. Did she say the same things to you?”
Cassius shook his head. He felt a bead of blood drip down his stomach. The pain intensified.
“I saw what you did to the lab,” Theo continued. “You’re a real pyro, aren’t you?” He blinked. “I think it’s a little messy, myself. Leaves too much to clean up. You do things right and nobody even knows where to look.”
Cassius winced as he felt the blade twist, peeling skin. “Wait! Before you do anything you’ll regret, listen to me.”
Theo’s eyes widened. He steadied the blade.
“Theo!” Madame’s voice echoed from everywhere at once. Her condemning tone was enough to send shivers through both boys. Theo pulled the knife back to his waist. His wild eyes darted around the room, eventually landing on a pair of circular speakers in the corner of the ceiling. He sighed.
“My office.” Madame’s voice continued, as if she was looking down on them from the heavens. “Now.”
Cassius breathed a sigh of relief, even though Madame’s interference meant the room was surveilled. She was probably watching them on video screens right now.
Theo sheathed the weapon behind him. He took two steps back and admired Cassius for a moment before grabbing the door handle. “Later.” He saluted. Cassius watched him bound from the room like a schoolboy eager for recess.
Cassius let out a fractured sigh, cursing himself. He needed to get out. Now.
Madame’s voice came from the speakers once more. “I’ll see you soon, Cassius. Don’t let Theo antagonize you. He’s a troubled boy. I’m sure you understand.”
He closed his eyes to shield tears. It wasn’t the wound or the shackles that undid him. It was how it all looked, how he must look to her, tied up at the mercy of a child. It was pathetic.
But emotion didn’t last long. It wasn’t going to help him, anyways. He fought past it and gave all his attention over to thought. Strategy. He wouldn’t have long before his brain was useless against her. He needed to make the most of the time he had. Devise a plan, and get rid of her. And this time he’d make sure she was gone forever.