TIME AFTER TIME

septendecim

SEVENTEEN:

"ESCAPE, PART i"

SABRINA.

This was the hardest thing I had ever done: going into Spartacus, escaping with my life, protecting my sisters—all without that lifeline, the one I used to connect our minds. 

My severed connection was why I couldn't sense Salem around the corner. We ran right into her. Our bodies collided in a beautiful reunion. At contact, I cry joyfully, allowing her to hold me at arm's length to stroke my hair and then reach for Scarlet. Despite our joyful reunion, my possessed sister looked at our previously captivated one blankly. As we hugged, she held the torch higher and said, "We must keep moving."

Salem grabbed my hand tightly, and after a tight squeeze and a deep breath, we ran through the prison tunnels. Once we reached a fork in the hall, Salem ran to the left as Scarlet, and I ran to the right. I stopped and looked at her, questioning, "Where are you going?"

"To Mom!" she hissed, gesturing to the dark hallway. " That's the whole reason we're here."

I shook my head, and although it pained me, I told her the truth, "We have to go now. The longer we stay, the greater risk we take in activating our curses," I shoot Scarlet a weary glance. "We need to take her home now."

Salem gritted her teeth, staring over my shoulder at our sister. I watched her eyes take in our sister, the tug of her brows and the slight shake of her head. She, too, could sense something off with our sister, And then she tore her eyes away, staring over her shoulder in the direction she wanted to run. It was like it pained her to be so close to Mom. Just as I began contemplating how difficult it would be to force her to the tunnels, she exhaled sharply and took off in the opposite direction, towards our freedom. 

"Catch me up on what I missed," she tells me as we quicken our pace. 

"After we got separated, I had Moss take us somewhere safe," I explain to Salem as we race to the tunnels. I didn't want to know what horrors followed us, just as long as they were behind us. For a fraction of a moment, I look to Scarlet, my normally thick-skinned sister, now utterly vulnerable. I would never tell her how I peered into her mind and saw what that demon showed her. I would never tell Salem, either. Not until Scarlet was ready to talk about it-- if she were ever ready. "He took us to a secluded cave where we gave her medicine to help with the curse. We stayed through the night, and we would have been here sooner it's just"-

"You came, that's all that matters." Salem was right on my heels. She looked over her shoulder as if expecting someone to follow. Instead, she turned to me and whispered, "Where is Moss now?

I bite my tongue, remembering our brief reunion - Salem's father was alive! - and a short discussion of a plan. Lucious and Moss agreed to be our eyes in Spartacus, to do what they could to protect Mom. Moss stayed in the tunnels, securing his cloak, and vanished after a tender goodbye. "He's... He's staying here."

If I had more time, I would ask myself what happened to her when we were separated. I would ask if she had ever seen a vision to prepare her to be reunited with her very much alive father. I would ask why she had that look on her face that told me a part of her would always be left shattered in Spartacus, too. But I don't. I just keep running. "Which way?" She asked when we got to a fork in the road.