“No need to struggle so hard,” Gargrave said, his voice suddenly much nearer than it had been before. “Ana-acro.”
I screamed as the spell hoisted me into the air by the ropes around my wrists. The magic jerked me to the right then dropped me into a wooden chair. For a moment I couldn’t see or think or do anything until the pain receded.
Then finally I looked around, getting my bearings at last. It seemed my first judgment had been correct. This was a dungeon, or at least it was underground. The air possessed that damp smell like the tunnels at Arkwell. There were no windows, and the only light came from torches hung on the walls. So no electricity either, it seemed.
Captain Gargrave stood a few feet in front of me. He was wearing his usual red and black Will Guard uniform, but he had the sleeves rolled up, exposing his thick forearms. I spotted an intricate black tattoo running up his right arm from wrist to elbow. It took a second for my brain to puzzle out the shape. Those black marks were a flock of crows in flight. Gargrave, not Corvus, must’ve been the crows in Eli’s dream.
The moment I made the realization, my eyes fixed on the man standing a few feet behind Gargrave, his face partly hidden in shadows. Even still, I recognized him. I’d never met Titus Kirkwood in person, but I’d seen his image often enough. Once again I was struck by the strong resemblance he bore to his nephew.
“What are you doing?” I said, struggling in vain to free myself. I couldn’t see the rope binding me, but I knew it was silver and made of magic, simply by the painful tingling in my skin where it touched. “Where’s Eli?”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Titus said in a voice that belonged in one of those annoying mud-slinging political commercials. “He’s here, too.”
I jerked my head around, trying to locate Eli in the semi-darkness. Then I saw him lying a few feet away near the wall. Like me, his wrists were bound behind him.
“Ana-acro,” Gargrave said again, and Eli’s body rose into the air. He cried out, coming awake at once. Gargrave deposited him into the chair next to me.
“There now.” Titus rubbed his hands together. He was a tall, broad-chested man with blond hair slowly giving way to gray and a pointed, severe chin. “The dream-seers together as they should be. It really is a shame that it’s come to this. Your talents would’ve proved useful, I’m sure. I tried to keep you out of the way long enough for me to finish my business, but it seems it wasn’t meant to be. You’ve learned too much.”
I glared at him. “How do you know what we’ve learned?”
A cold smile slid across Titus’s face like a snake. “Why, from your own mouth. I knew tonight was your last chance to predict the attack on Lyonshold so I had Captain Gargrave slip a listening device beneath Eli’s door earlier this evening. Bugs, I think ordinaries call them. Such a strange euphemism. But highly effective when brand-new and animation free.”
My mouth fell open at this news, and I cringed at all the things he must’ve heard. Not just about the Telluric Rods and our plans to search Mr. Corvus’s office, but also about the dream-seer’s curse.
“If you didn’t want us to find out, you’ve shouldn’t have relied on someone else to do your dirty work,” Eli said, surprising me by how quickly he’d recovered and caught up.
Titus examined his hands, the skin around his knuckles oddly discolored. “I only use these for the delicate situations.”
I scoffed. “You mean like beating up your nephew?” I expected Titus to react with anger, but his lips parted into a smile revealing a row of perfect white teeth.
“Yes. He’s always been a delicate situation, I’m afraid. Just like his mother.” Titus clapped his hands. “But enough wasting time.” He glanced at the watch on his wrist. “The ceremony will be starting soon, and I need to be away from here when it does.”
“Where are we?” Eli demanded.
“Lyonshold. In the dungeon of Senate Hall, to be precise,” Titus said. “And I’m well aware that you know what’s coming next. Even without the dreams, your detective work has been quite impressive, although it helped that my nephew was so eager to betray my secrets.”
“You can’t do this.” Eli jerked against the rope binding him, but Gargrave pointed his staff, freezing him in place.
“Go head and keep struggling,” said Gargrave. “I would hate for this to get boring.”
My head buzzed with the realization of where we were and when. No wonder moving had hurt so much. We must’ve been under that sleeping spell for nearly eighteen hours. “Abducting us was stupid,” I said, trying to draw attention off Eli. “We’re the dream-seers. Someone has to have noticed we’re missing by now.”
Titus smirked. “Oh, I think not. You’ve been suspended from the festival. Everyone thinks you’re back at Arkwell, pouting in your dorm rooms, no doubt.”
I started to ask him how he knew about the detention, but I realized Gargrave had been there. Now that I thought about it, Gargrave had been everywhere, he and his men always lurking in the shadows, watching, waiting. Paul was right. His uncle had a long, powerful reach. I’d seen enough of the Will Guard to know how loyal they were to their captain—a man loyal to Titus Kirkwood. Really, using the Will Guard was brilliant. They could be anywhere on campus at any time and no one would question what they were doing.
“Lady Elaine will notice,” I said, refusing to admit defeat. “I never entered my dream-journal last night.”
Gargrave chuckled. “We entered one for you. What with dreams being so erratic, it was easy to take snippets from your prior entries and mesh them together.”
I felt myself pale. This had been well planned, and I wondered how long Titus and his men had been spying on Eli and me. Probably from the moment they decided to sink Senate Hall into the sea. That also meant they’d known the moment Paul had contacted us.
I stuck out my chin. “Our friends will miss us.”
Titus cocked his head. “Which one? Her perhaps?” He motioned to the far corner, and my stomach dropped at the sight of a long black braid with hair as glossy and fine as silk. “Wake her,” Titus said to Gargrave. “But do it more gently this time. I’ve had enough screaming.”
Gargrave strode over to Selene and muttered a spell. Selene began to stir at once, moaning loudly from the pain of ill-used muscles. Gargrave stooped and picked her up, depositing her in the chair to my left.
I glanced at Selene long enough to determine she was okay. At least for now. I assumed they must’ve taken her last night when they abducted Eli and me. She wasn’t wearing pajamas, though, but the black coat she’d been tailoring for her home ec class. Seeing her here was a blow, but at least there was no sign of Paul.
Titus stepped up to Selene, grabbed hold of her chin, and tilted her head back as he examined her face. He sighed. “It’s such a shame we had to bring you into this. I’m quite fond of your mother, and I know she’ll miss you terribly. But you shouldn’t have gotten so involved with these two.” He motioned toward Eli and me. “You know too much as well, I’m afraid.”
Selene didn’t respond, just sat there, her expression a mask of calm but her eyes livid. I knew in that moment that everything Paul had ever said about his uncle was true. He was a monster, a man who took pleasure in the pain and suffering of others. In a way, that made him even worse than Marrow, who simply didn’t care about the suffering he inflicted.
Titus released Selene’s face and stepped back. “Now on to business.” He reached into his front pocket and withdrew a cell phone. My cell phone. “We need to discuss the data my nephew hid inside this. I have a feeling that you know how to access it.” Titus approached me and held the phone a few inches from my face.