"Leave, boy," the woman in red said, glancing over her shoulder and glaring at Leo.

"You said you won't hurt them." Doubt laced Leo's voice. He looked at the woman and then at Ninnette, his face guilt-stricken.

"You'll get yours, Leo." Ninnette scowled, regret twisting in her gut. She made a mistake trusting him last night. She thought she knew her friend. But when money was involved, even the best people could turn into strangers.

Leo frowned, shook his head, and walked away, leaving Ninnette and Kazi to the Order.

"Shoot them," the woman ordered, turning her eyes back into the bedsit room.

The man beside her raised his gun, barrel pointing at Ninnette.

"Wait!" Kazi stepped in front of her. "If you kill her, the bangle will disappear and reappear to the next curse breaker. It won't do you any good."

"Why should I believe you, demon?" the woman snarled.

"You want to gamble on it? Go ahead." Kazi dared, but Ninnette heard the worry in his voice.

She remembered the skeleton in the shipwreck. The woman had died, but the bangle stayed with her. Kazi was lying. But she hoped these members of the Order were fools enough to believe him.

Gritting her teeth, the woman's lips curled. "Take them both."

Another man stepped toward Kazi and placed a bangle on his wrist.

"Huh?" Kazi's brows furrowed as he stared at the contraption, almost identical to the one on Ninnette's arm. Only this one had no ticking gears. It was a simple bangle made of brass. "I wasn't expecting that."

Ninnette glimpsed a dotted pattern on its circumference. "What is it?" she asked, wondering if it was another cursed artifact.

"It restrains your power, demon," the woman in red said to Kazi. "Don't waste your strength."

"Who do I thank for such a wonderful gift?" Kazi asked, sarcasm modulating his tone.

"A good friend of yours," the woman answered and said nothing else.

Kazi was given clothes to wear--a shabby shirt and trousers, and frayed shoes that made him look more human than demon, more sea drifter than landborn nobleman.

Ninnette and Kazi were then shoved out the door and into an automobile carriage wagon. Inside, the woman in a robe sat across from them, flanked by two men holding guns.

The wagon started with a loud clank before it settled into a rhythmic wheeze. The wheels turned, and though Ninnette couldn't see the street outside, she could sense they were moving farther away from the sea. What little water she could grasp along the way wasn't enough to save them from point-blank range shots.

"I've never met a priestess of the Order before," Kazi said, breaking the tense air inside the vehicle. "What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked, giving the woman the same devious smile he'd given Ninnette the day they met on The Deep Dredger.

For some reason, Ninnette felt a pang of jealousy, wondering why he'd never called her sweetheart. She detested herself for it. Why she was envious, especially at a time like this, she didn't know.

The woman was much older than they, but she had a regal look with flawless, honeyed skin as if she had never been burnt by the sun.

"You shall know me as Aleja dela Marina, the one who has finally captured you and the map." The woman raised a proud, pointed chin.

"Sure. Sure." Kazi nodded. "Beautiful name. So, tell me. How long have you been a priestess? You look young."

Aleja grimaced. "Flattery will get you nowhere, demon."

Kazi chuckled and shrugged. "At least I tried," he said.

They fell back into silence, the chugging of the engine and the muffled morning market's noise seeping from outside.

Ninnette looked around for a way to escape. There was nothing else in the cramped space but a single gas lamp in the corner, dimly lighting and casting long shadows over their faces. The worn upholstered seat felt lumpy under her bottom. The four metal walls seemed thick, but she was confident Kazi could have easily rusted through them if not for the contraption on his arm blocking his concretostrinjerie.

When the wagon stopped and the door opened, Ninnette looked out to find a rural area.

Outside, the early sky was copper-hued. The vehicle stopped on the side of a cobblestone road winding through a village. This side of the market felt foreign--a location she'd never visited before.

"Where are we?" she asked as they were escorted to the nearest cabin--one with iron-trimmed windows, wooden walls reinforced by copper platings, and a brass filigree door.

"I've never been inside a chapel of the Order before," Kazi said, eyeing the door like he knew what the engraved patterns meant.

They entered into a cold and empty space. Only an unlit fireplace stood against a wall.

One of the men walked to the hearth and cupped the mantle, feeling for something. A click sounded. Large gears creaked from underneath their feet, and the floor opened up to a dark stairwell.

"Welcome to one of the largest chapels of the Order of the Chain. Built under the Floating Market," Aleja said, taking the steps down to a secret underground structure.

"Why is this part of town still called the Floating Market when it's no longer at the sea or floating?" Kazi asked with a playful tone, sounding unimpressed by the chapel's description.

Aleja didn't take the bait, leading them down to a hall where five women waited. Unlike the members of the Order wearing waistcoats who captured them, these women wore red capes. And instead of guns for weapons, they had swords sheathed at their sides.

"The Honorable Priest has just arrived, Priestess," one of the women in a cape said.

"That is perfect. Take us to him," Aleja demanded.

The rest of the members stayed behind as the five women guided them through a hallway lit with gaslights on the ceiling. Warm steam hissed from pipes crawling on the walls.

The corridor was tight and suffocating until they reached the end, where they came into a large space with high arched ceilings reinforced by a cage-like iron framework. The glow of several gas lamps hanging from above made it seem like midday. And the air smelled damp. Ninnette could sense the moisture on the walls and columns.

Rows of wooden pews led to an apse where a massive glass-stained portrait of the Sea Mother hung.

On the altar was a person in a crimson robe, kneeling in prayer.

"Honorable Priest," one of the women in a red cape called, disturbing the person's chanting.

The one on the apse rose and turned, revealing his muscular face--sculpted cheekbones, square jawline, and sharp eyes. He reminded Ninnette so much of Kazi for having the same tousled locks and the same stance, chest out and arrogant, as if they were bred by the same governess.

"Hello, Kazi." The man, who had a mature physique yet, like Kazi, could not hide his hints of youth, smiled.

"Do I know you?" Kazi asked, giving a confused frown.

"Seems like she'd taken that from you, too." He pushed aside the red robe from his chest to reveal a brass crest with an engraved chain. "It's me, Amaru. Do you truly not remember?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Kazi answered.

Amaru pressed his lips tightly and turned his eyes to Aleja. "Why didn't you kill them?"

Aleja stepped forward. "The demon says the bangle will disappear if the curse breaker dies."

"Is that so?" Amaru tilted his head to the side, giving Kazi a doubtful glare. "You're still smug even after enduring so many painful deaths of lost love."

"How do you know my curse?" The earlier playful tone had left Kazi's voice, replaced by something feral that Ninnette had not heard before.

"I still can't believe she's chosen you." Amaru pointed at Kazi, then his gaze landed on Ninnette. His eyes widened like he'd seen something he wanted for himself. "And you've finally found your hydrosi. But you still haven't broken your curse."

"Who are you?" Kazi growled, a warning to stop looking at her that way.

Amaru shook his head. "Cut off her arm and take the bangle." He gave the command to a woman in a cape who immediately drew her sword and charged at Ninnette.

"No!" Kazi moved in front of Ninnette as she stepped back in fear.

Two of the caped women grabbed Kazi to hold him down as another dragged Ninnette away.

"Get your hands off her." Kazi tried to free himself from them, but they shoved him forward. His knees hit the cold stone floor hard. Their fingers dug into his shoulders as they held him in place. "Ninnette!"

"Kazi!" Ninnette shouted for him as she struggled in the caped woman's hold.

Then it came--the sensation already too familiar, like thorns piercing her flesh and sinking through to her core. All she could do was close her eyes and grit her teeth.

"It's alright, Ninnette," she heard Kazi say, but like all the other voices, it came from a distance too far, as if all noise was pushed away except for her scream.

She knew she had fallen again. For a moment, everything went black, and then the torture dwindled.

She heard the clang of steel against steel. When she opened her eyes, Kazi swung a sword against one of the women in a cape, clashing with her weapon.

Kazi had somehow taken the sword from one of them and was now expertly twirling it in his grip.

Ninnette turned her attention to herself. She hadn't fallen after all. Instead, the caped woman beside her held her like a prisoner, an unyielding hand gripping her arm.

"Kazi!" Ninnette shouted.

"I'll be right there, love," he answered as he parried a strike from his opponent.

Ninnette growled. Despite not being able to use her hydrostrinjerie, she knew how to fight. She drove her elbow into the woman's rib, receiving a satisfying grunt. The hold loosened, but as she tried to rip free, the woman overpowered her, pulling her back and hitting her head with the hilt of a sword.

She collapsed to her knees, her vision blurring at the impact.

She saw Kazi like a shadow darting to her side, dancing in deadly flow, sword swinging in sharp arcs.

"I've forgotten you were the best swordsman among us." She heard Amaru speak, but she couldn't see him. Her vision went in and out of darkness.

"I still don't know what you're talking about," Kazi said as he knelt beside her. "It's alright, love." He placed a hand on her shoulder. Then he hissed. "You're bleeding."

She blinked the blackness from her eyes and found the woman who had hit her lying on the floor. Touching the back of her head, she felt dampness--blood.

Kazi stood and glowered at the bangle on his wrist. And then he smiled like a devil--a demon, twirling his sword and smashing the bangle, breaking it off his arm. "I should have done that earlier."

Dropping the weapon, he crouched and placed his palms on the cold stone floor of the chapel. It cracked beneath his hands, sharp edges of pale gray rock jutting out and snaking like fissures that reached the walls. The whole room vibrated, and the beam of the ceiling groaned. Dust and gravel fell.

"You fool! You're going to cave us in. The market will fall on top of the chapel," Aleja, who had stepped away from the fight, shouted, looking upward.

"For her, I will," Kazi growled, gritting his teeth as he continued to work his concretostrinjerie. Then he smiled again. "And what did you expect? I am a demon. I leave destruction in my wake."

Ninnette saw the columns of the chapel topple. A loud crash and screams rang in her ears. And before she fell into the shadows, there was Kazi's voice, "It's alright, love. I've got you."