In the silence of her cell, paranoia creeped its way into every thought. Had the Sphinx uncovered something she did not know?

Had  she made a mistake one of those nights with the Sphinx? Had Dougan  mentioned that he hadn't been able to attend that meeting and the Sphinx  knew there had been an infiltrator?

The more times Vanessa thought, she assumed she had found her loose thread. It could've happened in a myriad of ways.

The  Captain could have referred to something discussed in the meeting  Vanessa had infiltrated, yet Dougan was unaware. Captain was now aware  someone had spied through Dougan's body. Who could do that? Stingbulbs  and narcoblixes. But, supposedly, only the Society had stingbulbs and  the Sphinx controlled the Society, so he knew that a stingbulb wasn't  there.

In contrast, he knew Vanessa was there. So, he knew that Vanessa knew the Sphinx was the Captain of the Knights And...

She sat up straight.

And, when she had met with the Society leader afterward, she hadn't confessed the Knights' Captain was the Sphinx.

Yet  if she was a good spy, and hadn't known that the Sphinx ruled the  Society too, she would have immediately offered up that priority intel  to the Society leader.

The Sphinx must have come to the same conclusion.

Rapid breaths spasmed her lungs. Vanessa was a dangerous loose end.

She grabbed the bars of her prison cell and locked eyes with the silent Mr. Lich.

He had been right.

She was never walking out of here.

—

When she heard footsteps down the hall and saw Mr. Lich dismissed, her heart stopped. This had to be the Sphinx.

But, then the figure rounded the corner and it was Warren.

She gasped and jumped to her feet. Yes! He had come to see her. Was he here to save her? Hope bubbled beneath her logical brain.

His mouth pushed into a firm line and he scanned her cell. "Why did you come here?"

Vanessa stood, taken aback. "What?"

"I'm serious. Why did you come here?"

She took a deep breath. "I came here because I thought that you were going to be at Fablehaven."

Warren scoffed. "No. No, no, no." He pointed at her. "You are not going to keep up this act after you've been caught out."

Oh. Vanessa felt like she had been sucker punched. He hated her.

"What act?"

"Jesus fucking christ, Vanessa. Drop the accent, drop the innocence. Stop saying my name like that."

Vanessa laughed. "Warren—"

"No."

"Warren?"

"Vanessa."

When was the last time he called her Vanessa and not Nessa? A lifetime ago?

"I  know it's a shock. But," Vanessa paused when he opened his mouth to  retort. But, after a moment, he bit his fist and made a continue motion.  Vanessa started again. Unfortunately, she really couldn't think of  anything to say. She already felt small and low and vulnerable, and the  thought of confessing anything she had dreamed about made her want to  shoot herself in the mouth. "I didn't mean to harm your family."

Warren  blinked and took his fist out of his mouth. He held up a finger as the  other hand covered his mouth. Vanessa waited until he spoke. "Okay. So,  let me just make sure I understand. You, as a Society member,  impersonated a Knight and took a mission to steal the artifact from  Fablehaven. In order to do this, you—" He held up a finger. "Number one.  Tricked my twelve year old nephew into getting bit by a death sentence  of a frog."

"That was Errol. Technically."

"Your partner."  The word dripped off his lips like poison. She knew they were thinking  the same thing. Warren had always been Vanessa's partner, and their  actions had been each others'. She swallowed her protests. He held up a  second finger. "Second, you bit my entire family. By the way, it would  have been really nice to know you were a fucking narcoblix."

His vitriol washed over her and her hackles rose. "Well, would this have been your reaction?"

"Would  this have been—" Warren's mouth dropped in shock. "Vanessa, you are one  misstep away from never seeing the outside of that damned box again.  Now, I wouldn't know how I would've reacted because you never told me,  huh? Now, where were we? Oh, yes. You bit my entire family."

"I never bit you."

"Gold fucking star, Vanessa."

Vanessa rolled her eyes in exasperation and made a motion. "Get on with it."

Warren scoffed. "You know what? I don't need to. You know what you did."

Anger  crested over the tides of shame, guilt, and embarrassment and Vanessa  bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood. Sure, she knew what she did.  But, did he? He didn't understand at all. He grew up with a brother and a  home and he chose to become part of the Knights of Dawn. Sure, Vanessa  had said yes to joining the Society. But, the situation hadn't ever  allowed for a no. She knew that.

But, she also knew the horrible  things she had done to others and she knew—fuck, she knew how much  Warren would loathe her if he knew the truth of it all. And that scared  her.

Maybe she didn't deserve him. Or salvation. Or any of it.

But she wanted it.

She needed it.

"Please,  Warren. Who knows how long they'll leave me in the Quiet Box?"  Vanessa's eyes darted to Mr. Lich standing guard and then away.

"Are those all the pleas you have? Come on, Vanessa. I know you're a better actor than that."

"Are  you here to just berate me on all the things I did wrong? It's been  years and I haven't seen you, or talked to you, or..." Vanessa's voice  trailed off and she realized she had backed into a corner of  vulnerability. Cool ickiness dropped down her spine.

Warren's jaw twitched as he worked it in silence. "Or?"

"Please,  Warren. Believe me." Vanessa stood from her seat and grasped the prison  bars. With her face so close, she couldn't see the barrier between  them. Yet, he stood far enough that she knew gray metal framed her face.  "What if...what if the Knights and the Society aren't as different as  they say?

Warren's voice softened to a quiet anger as he spoke. "How...am I supposed to believe anything you say? After all you did to me?"

Vanessa curled her hands around the bars. The cool metal bit her reddening hands. "Please."

The  stale air between them held still. The silence whispered sweet promises  made long ago under a different sky, but the biting cold of the dungeon  resisted the warm car rides and tropical missions of another time.

This  Vanessa stood the most raw and stripped down of any held in Warren's  memory. This Warren stood stiffer and colder than any Warren Vanessa  knew.

It was different. Everything was different. And it would never be the same.

Warren nodded in resignation. "Goodbye, Vanessa."

His  last words held the weight of several years of trysts, and they sank  Vanessa's to her knees he walked away. Loneliness crept in and she  curled into a ball.

—

Vanessa was destined for the Quiet Box.

She scratched her arms as she squeezed herself. The anger—it threatened to choke her. This was all the Sphinx's fault.

He tricked her. He cast her aside after years and years of heart-wrenching loyalty. Sacrifices!

She  needed to let his secret out. Burn the Knights and the Society to the  ground. But, Mr. Lich had always been the Sphinx's right hand and he  hadn't taken his eyes off her.

Frustration choked Vanessa, and pushed tears to her eyes. She couldn't do anything to the Sphinx in this cell.

She collapsed onto the cot, and her leather jacket sounded like ruffled paper. Vanessa grinned.

Or could she?

She tore through all her pockets until she found her wax-paper-wrapped prize in the inside one.

An umite crayon.

A Hail Mary, half-court, buzzer-beater idea sparked. Maybe, just maybe, this could save her.

Vanessa contorted her body in a way to block her hand from Mr. Lich's view and began scribbling her last shot.

It  seemed fitting that her one act of true, unadulterated kindness in  showing Kendra her umite wax might become her only hope of ever seeing  the outside of that box and taking a strike at the Sphinx all in one go.

It was funny how life worked.

—

Vengeance burned in Vanessa's final moments.

The Sphinx turned  to face her. "Have you any final words before you learn why we call it  the Quiet Box? Take heed—any utterance that passes your lips had best be  words of apology." His voice held a menacing edge.

Kendra, Seth,  Stan, and Ruth all faced her. She only focused on the young girl. Her  last hope. Vanessa felt the taste of her practiced words, and hoped they  held enough of a hint to snag Kendra's curiosity. "I apologize for the  deceit. I never meant any of you physical harm. A false friendship is a  terrible thing. Kendra, though you might not believe it, I remain your  pen pal."

"Enough," the Sphinx said. "Make no professions of  continued fidelity. We pity your fate, and collectively wish you had not  brought this evil upon yourself. You have sought forbidden knowledge  and committed unforgivable betrayals. You once had my trust, but it is  now irretrievable."

Forbidden knowledge? He wasn't talking about the artifact.

The  Sphinx shoved her in, and the door slammed behind her. Complete and  total darkness filled her vision to the point she could imagine her  surroundings were infinite instead of inches away. Coldness permeated  like knives through her summer clothes, and she shivered. Dust tickled  her nose as the stale air moved for the first time in thousands of  years, and Vanessa took a deep breath of it as her mind froze.

She had met her end.