"We were nurturing you and the others. Preparing you. And the time did come, when they heard rumors that we'd started using the Baker again."
"The Baker's dead!" Peer gasped, and Malia laughed bitterly.
"This is the new Baker," Gorham said. "She was killed twenty years ago, yes, but she chopped herself, knowing what was happening. It's how generations of Bakers have continued their line. So now we deal with… well, her daughter. And her mother handed down all she knew."
"So you betrayed me for your cause," Peer said, smiling. There was nothing behind the smile-no humor, no life. It was a rictus grin, and Gorham had to turn away.
"They took you and the others in the political arm. We hoped that dismantling our public face would satisfy them, but they came further. Bad times, Peer. We lost so many. We never suspected the ruin would run so deep. There were betrayals that led to scores of deaths-the Marcellan Canton's walls ran red for weeks afterward, and they announced a two-day feast to celebrate what they called the 'defeat of heresy.' But with you… we never knew-"
"Of course you knew what they'd do!" she shouted, but then she sighed and hung her head. "They tortured me, Gorham," she said, head still dipped.
"Yes."
"They made me hurt, demanded that I renounce my beliefs and accept theirs. And when I didn't, they smashed me."
"I know, Peer."
"You know?"
He nodded. "The tortures were made public knowledge."
"Do you care?"
How did he answer that? Of course he cared. "We need to make sure you haven't come here meaning us harm."
"And that's your answer?"
"That, and I'm sorry."
"Going to torture me now, Gorham?"
"No." And because he could not face watching this, and because he hated himself for not being able to say everything that needed saying until it was over, he turned away and left them all. Devin gave him a torch as he passed, and Gorham found a shadowy doorway and aimed for it.
"I came for you!" Peer shouted behind him. She sounded angry, but he still knew her well enough to hear the hurt.
Gorham could answer only silently and to himself. When I'm sure that's true, I'll welcome you back. The corridor closed around him and he slipped into a room, leaning heavily against a wall, sobbing.
From the large area he'd just left, he heard the hissing of Malia's truthbugs.
"My husband was one of those they crucified alive," Malia said. "You remember Bren?"
"Yes, Malia. I'm sorry."
Malia looked up from the table and stared at her, and Peer could see the sadness in her eyes. Anger tried to hide it, fury closed it in, but the sorrow was unmistakable.
"Thank you," Malia said. "I apologize, Peer. This won't hurt. But what Gorham said is right: We need to know. A lot has changed since you…"
"Since I was sacrificed?"
Malia sighed and came forward, several small bugs flitting across the palm of her hand.
Peer looked after Gorham, but he had not reappeared. Devin and the other two Watchers stood back, glancing around nervously as a whisper passed through the subterranean room once again. "I'll tell you the truth," she said.
Malia nodded, then held her hand flat in front of Peer's face and blew.
Peer felt the bugs strike her skin. They stuck for a while, speckling her face, and then they started moving. Some went for her mouth, some her nose, and one wormed into the corner of her eye. She opened her mouth to scream but could not. The breath was frozen in her throat.
"No," she heard Rufus say beside her, but she could not turn to comfort him. He'd better be what I think he is, she thought, and then something changed abruptly. The pain in her right arm grew distant, the ache in her hip faded, and the coolness of the air misted away into a comfortable warmth. Everything felt fine, and she relaxed down into the chair, her body taking the weight of her tied arms.
"Why have you come here?" Malia asked.
"To see Gorham."
"Why?"
"Because of Rufus."
"Who's Rufus?"
Peer glanced sideways at the bound man.
"Why do you think Gorham wants to see Rufus?"
"You don't need your little bugs for me to…" She frowned, feeling them on her, in her, and a terrible shiver ran through her body.
"Why?" Malia prompted.
"Because he's from beyond Echo City. I saw him walking in across the desert, and he doesn't know this place."
Malia's eyes went wide. Her mouth opened, then closed again, as though swallowing whatever she was trying to say. "That can't be…" she said at last.
Peer saw the others step forward, and all the attention moved onto Rufus. And then, below the terrible feeling of those bugs still shifting inside her, she realized the urgency of what Malia had to do next.
"Him," Peer said, shaking and feeling a terrible sickness rising.
"Devin, give her the drink," Malia said, and she returned to the table.
Devin came close to Peer and held a small goblet to her mouth, but he never took his eyes from Rufus. "Drink," he said. "It'll kill them. Is he really from the Bonelands?"
"I think so," Peer said weakly. The fluid tasted of rotten mepple, but it settled the rising vomit somehow, and she leaned back, exhausted, in her chair.
Malia was whispering to one of the other Watchers, and the woman ran off toward where Gorham had vanished.
"This is it," Peer said. "This is it, isn't it?"
Malia threw her a strange glance but then moved toward Rufus, her hand held out and swarming with a new batch of truthbugs.