The Queen's Curls

-10 104- Prayer

There were no squeaky hinges to announce her visitor, but there was a window and a package where her food usually drops down.

"Karma," the visitor says. "Why would you bury such a thing and call it treasure?"

The woman scoffs weakly. "After a hundred and one years, you're still alive, Jack?"

She could feel him bristle. "How did you know it was me?"

The parlour woman stalks up to the window. "I can't believe I didn't recognize you earlier. You're the one who gave me the wire last time. You helped me." She sighs. "Why are you here?"

Jack's muddy eyes come into view through the dusty glass. "Because I know what you've been doing. You have a mirror that you talk to someone through."

The parlour woman claps slowly. "Congratulations, Sullivan. You've caught me. Are you here to drag me to your siblings to let them deal with me?"

Jack's gaze hardens. "I'm not like them."

The parlour woman huffs out a humorless laugh. "Says the man who decided that the next time he would see me, he would make sure I would be locked away."

Jack's gaze turns to ice. "They threatened to kill our adoptive sister if I didn't bring you here."

The parlour woman narrows her eyes. "Was she the other person in the room?"

Jack nods. "That was her. They only brought her there to show what they were willing to do to her."

The woman's eyes narrow further. "Where is she now?"

Jack nods his head to his right. "The next room over, actually."

"How convenient," the parlour woman drawls.

Jack's face turns to stone. "You didn't answer my question. Why would you--"

"Why would I bury a coffin and call it treasure?" the woman says, her voice rising with every word. "Because no one was supposed to find it! I only gave you the location because I thought you might understand why I put her there!"

"Why, then? Why would you bury the body of a little girl somewhere where no one could find her?"

The parlour woman moves out of the view of the window. "Because I owed someone a favor, and that's what they asked me to do."

She more felt than heard Jack walk away from her cell, and as soon as he was out of earshot, she let out the breath she had been holding.

"Everything alright over there?" the man in the mirror says.

The parlour woman sits back down in front of the framed glass and sighs. "The man who brought me here decided to pay me a visit."

Dmitri huffs out a laugh. "How nice of him." He notices the package in the woman's hands and asks, "What's that?"

"I don't know," she says, gingerly turning it over. The woman pulls at the strings tying the package together, and they come loose, leaving just the jewelry box-sized package itself. The parlour woman gently tears the packaging open to reveal the bracelet he had given her, and a note.

"I wish things could be different, but I have a feeling it's too late. This bracelet is linked to hers. Please get her out."

The parlour woman read it aloud for Dmitri to hear. "Who is he talking about?" he says, his brows twitching together.

The woman sighs. "His adoptive sister. He says his other siblings were going to kill her if he didn't bring me here. Now he's asking me, no, begging me to save her."

Dmitri shakes his head. "What an ass. Doing that and then expecting you to still do something for him?"

She shrugs. "Even if I said I would do it, does he really think I would be able to in this condition?"

Dmitri hums in thought. "Those nutrition cubes might help with your health. Each of them has enough nutrients to last you a day."

The parlour woman smiles softly. "That's good news. Maybe someday soon I'll be able to get out of here." She sighs. "Let's just pray that the wisps of time won't fail me."