The Blue Tower

Chapter 22

WHEN I WAKE up, the ceiling above me is the familiar slate gray stone of the Blue Tower. The room is long and narrow, with short columns. Out of the corner of my eye I see a dozen small beds in a straight line beside mine, like a hospital.

I try to sit up but can't. It feels like lead weights are draped over my body from head to toe. I've never felt fatigue like this, like every ounce of energy has been sapped from me. I focus on my breathing, staying calm, thoughts racing, as my body lays motionless.

I think carefully through everything that happened in the Scouring. Our group had scattered when Max attacked. I'd lost Kiyo and Helena. But I'd helped save Hank. The girl from the Yellow tower, Emma, healed him. Then the moment I stepped on the white circle in the center I had been in the hospital again. It must have been a vision, like the Sieve. Kiyo had been there, with the woman dressed in black, crying at the feet of a sick child. Dr. Fitzroy was by the child's side. This must have happened, but the memory is incomplete. A fire had burned everything away.

But I'm alive again, awake, in the Blue Tower. Not even wiped. I must have done what Abram wanted, or close enough. Now if only I could get up.

One step at a time.

I focus on my pinky finger. I channel every thought into moving it, my eyes tilting down to watch.

At first, nothing.

A new wave of fear washes over me. Paralysis. Is there anything worse than that? I'd rather be dead, but I already was dead.

One step at a time.

I try again, and my pinky budges a hair. I summon every ounce of willpower to make it move, and my pinkie is curling.

Progress.

Next comes my ring finger, and then the others. I eventually lift my hand ever so slightly, but not enough to rise off the white sheets of the bed.

My next effort is to turn my head. Once I get it moving, gravity helps and I manage to look all the way to my right.

Beside me is Emma, from the Yellow Tower. She is lying still with eyes wide open, staring up at the ceiling. She's wearing a white robe and a silver band is around her neck.

My lips move just enough to whisper. "Emma?"

Her head turns slowly to me. Her lips part, then close. I realize she's testing her movements, as I did. Her lips open again. "Blue?"

"Yes."

"I'm...so...weak."

I feel it, faintly at first, but the more I focus, I sense Emma's weakness, like a dull throb deep in my mind. I also feel her fear, resistance, and awe. It must be the silver link around her neck. Shelley said anyone I captured would become my servant. She said the link makes a servant do whatever I want. In return, it makes me feel whatever my servant feels. This is going to take some getting used to.

Time to test it. I glance down at Emma's hand. "Lift it."

Her hand lifts. Her eyes tighten. "Who are you?"

"Cipher."

"You...captured me."

We are quiet then, staring at each other. She has knowing eyes like Kiyo's, except blue. Her hair is blond, her cheekbones high like a princess. She does not seem to belong here.

I wonder what will happen to her now. If she's my servant, will she agree to convert to Blue? I don't even know why I'm here, or why I'd been instructed to capture her. I don't know how we got back inside the tower. She doesn't seem like a prisoner, because other than the link, she's being treated the same as I am. Maybe we're both prisoners. Neither of us can move anyway.