Hope in Ruins Book III: The Fountain and the City of Salt

Chapter 15: The Faction

ANDA

The door opened and shut in the blue darkness.

"Anda?"

It was dark, sometime in the middle of the night or early morning. Aaron had left her alone with her thoughts, to consider his request that she work with him and refuse to work the Faction. Was it really a request or a demand? But did it matter? She was the prisoner with a cell filled with blinds. But maybe the Faction could help her get to the Fox. After all, that was what she wanted, wasn't it? She rubbed her eyes and tried to wake herself up, but all she saw were blue-gray shadows.

The long night had given her time to think it over, and as his words rolled this way and that way in her mind, cowardice pointed out how warm the room was. She should have been trying to escape, to rescue the Fox so he could cure her visions, but, well, here they fed her three times a day. The blinds blocked most of her visions, allowing her to sleep better than she had in... such a very long time. And she was just so very far away from Windrose and Watchers and soldiers....

"Anda?" that voice said again.

Aaron had said she'd be moved to the medical bay, but she hadn't expected them to come for her so soon and not in the middle of the night. Did she smell... eggs?

The blinds on the ceiling turned her cell a soft, dim blue-green like she was underwater. She rolled over and saw a figure, blue and gray in the dim light. The figure in the blue shadows moved, and Anda blinked. She expected to see a guard, ready to escort her to the medical bay, but Cassandra stood outlined in the dim light holding a tray.

Anda blinked in surprise as Cassandra flicked on the light with one hand. In the other hand, she held a tray with food: breakfast. But it was far, far too early for breakfast. She wore an Unseen guard uniform that was too big, and a scar, blue and green in the light of the blind, pulled across Cassandra's face like the branches of a young tree. It puckered the corner of her nose and her mouth. Anda swallowed and remembered that even though Cassandra had made it out of Windrose City, she had been caught in the attack. She was scarred but alive. And that scar was Anda's fault. Aaron was right: she did bring nothing but death.

They looked at each other for a moment, letting all the words that needed saying float between them like ashes spinning up from a fire. All Anda could see was Ben, his arms stretched out and stenciled against the fiery treeline, and a bubble of nausea formed in her belly.

"Oh, Anda!" Cassandra said. She set the tray down on a little table and crossed the room with outstretched arms. The scar across her face pulled her lip as her mouth broke into a smile. Her eyes crinkled, yet sadness was at her side. Sadness, that young woman dressed in fine, gray silk, her fingers bare of rings and promises, laid a thin hand on Cassandra's shoulder, bringing tears to her friend's eyes.

Anda crossed her arms tightly. "What... what are you doing here? Why are you dressed like... that?"

Cassandra let her arms drop, but her tears held steady and did not fall. "Because they wouldn't let me see you. Why else? I had to bribe a few guards. I only have a few minutes."

"Oh."

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"They told you about... I mean, about... about Ben."

Cassandra nodded. "Yeah. They told me. And Mica. And Styx. And I'm glad that you're okay." She pulled the chair close and let her hands rest on the bed, inching closer and closer to Anda.

Anda flicked Mica's lighter on and off and ignored Cassandra's hand. She wasn't sure why Aaron let her keep the lighter. "Well. I'm... I'm here now. When... when are they transferring me to the medical bay?" she asked.