He wasn't telling the truth.

He couldn't be.

I knew his tricks, I knew how he lied.

My sister is out there! I'm going to escape, and I'm going to find her, and everything will be alright.

But the more I said it to myself, the more I started to doubt it.

My head pounded with the ongoing headache that plagued me. Normally, I would have done something about it, but my hands were twisted behind my back, bound by the same kind of material Thomas used when he created the bracelet that stops someone's flow of energy. He tried to explain it to me once, something about an overpowering current that confuses something called electrons? My wrists were also throbbing and sore, and my throat was dry from lack of water. But I pushed those thoughts from my head and focused on getting out of here.

Every plan I came up with was riddled with coincidences at best, and impossible at worst. I was on the verge of tears again, of giving in to the darkness that was slowly crushing the last bits of hope flaring inside of me. Thinking of my sisters, my friends, and the family waiting for me at home wasn't enough to fight against the bitterness rising through me.

I trembled in the darkness, but fortunately, a sudden noise jolted me from the storm of thoughts swirling around in my head. I wiped my tears against the grimy sleeve of my shirt and swallowed hard. It had sounded like iron scraping against stone, but that it was really much more than that. It was the sound of the prison cell next to me being opened. I stiffened, counting my heartbeats, as a muffled groan of pain rose through the air.

I heard that damned voice of the King, but he was speaking so softly, I couldn't make out what he was saying. I just knew that whatever it was, it wasn't good.

The sound of the iron gates against stone again, and I knew he was gone.

"You okay?" I asked, my voice meek, but even those two words I regretted. Divinity's children, it hurt just to speak.

Another stifled grunting, and I sighed. "Gagged again?"

That creature in there was in no way, shape, or form my friend. But I knew that somewhere, deep down, Thomas was in there, fighting to break free against the King's ironclad grip. So I couldn't help but feel a wave of sympathy crash through me at how he was treated like an animal. A monster. Gagged and bound and kept from fighting against the people that locked him away.

"What'd you do this time?"

He managed to get the gag out of his mouth, most likely by struggling against it until it fell away. "None of your business," he spat, the words harsh. I had never heard so much hatred from him before getting thrown in here, but now I was starting to get used to it.

"If you don't talk to me, you won't be able to talk at all," I pointed out, easing backwards so I was pressed against the rough stone. A small piece of it that jutted out dug into my back, but there was nothing I could do to get rid of it. I closed my eyes and listened, wondering if I could pick up his heartbeat. The last few times I had heard it, it hadn't just been irregular. It had sounded like a bell had chimed in his chest, and the last few notes were dying away. A single, continuous note. It wasn't much of a heartbeat, really.

"I don't need to talk to anybody."

"Well, that's a load of bullshit and you know it."

He paused, as though my words had struck a chord in him. "When's the last time you had something to eat or drink?" It came out gruff and authoritative, but even he was unable to disguise the way his voice went high at the end of his question.

"I don't know. A day or two, maybe? It's hard to keep the passage of time down here."

"You don't have to be so defensive."

"I wasn't."

A silence settled over us, an eerie silence I couldn't stand. It was so unnaturally quiet down in the dungeons, not even the sound of dripping water. No hushed whisper, no distant toll. There was just me and him. It was enough to drive somebody insane.

"I released a Tenebrie."

I perked up as his words echoed over the walls, tainted with the poison of defeat. "Is that why you're down here?"

"I couldn't bare to see it thrashing. Chained like it was nothing more than an animal. Angelica," he paused, drawing in a deep breath of the musty air. "Angelica, I heard it speaking to me."

I nodded, then realized he couldn't see me. The weight of what he had done seeped through my skin, and it took all of my courage to continue pressing. "And the King took that well, huh?"

"Looks that way," he returned, not missing a beat. 

I was silent for a while. "Why'd you do it?"

"I heard it speaking to me. Didn't I say that already?"

"You and I both know that isn't the real reason."

To that, he didn't answer. We sat in silence, far too close but far too distant all at the same time. I closed my eyes, hoping that somehow I could numb the pain of the chains digging into my skin, but it next to impossible. There was something almost reliable about the pain, though. It kept me grounded. It stopped my mind from wandering away into the 'what if's and the 'it's my fault's. I just focused on my breathing, trying to keep it as regular as I could. It felt strange to be on the receiving end of such advice.

My head shot up as I heard a sound, so low it was almost like I was imagining it. I strained to hear the tune that swirled through the air. It too me far too long to realize he was humming. Not singing, but humming nonetheless. My heart wrenched in my chest—in all the times he had been down here, trapped just like me, I had never heard him hum before.

"Is that an Earth song?" I asked, eager to keep him from forgetting the music he created.

"Hmm? Oh." A pause, as though he was trying to think. "I mean, it must be."

"How does it go?" I asked softly. If I could just dredge up even just one tiny piece of him, maybe the cage his mind was trapped in would shatter like glass.

"I—" he began, but the word turned to a panicked stammering. "I don't know!"

"Okay," I said, disappointed. "It's okay."

"No!" he exclaimed, and I heard his sudden struggle against the chains rattle through the air. "No, I should know! How can I forget? I-I have to...but I...no! This has to be—!"

"Thomas!" I exclaimed sharply, and his rambling died away. "What happened?"

"I should remember that song! I know it, I know I know it! But I don't!"

"Okay!" I said as calmly as I could. "That's okay, it's all okay—"

"No, you don't understand! All I've been trying to do is play music. It doesn't have to be singing, but something. And I can't! It's like there's something there blocking me, and I—"

"Okay," I said. "Just breathe, okay?" I made my own breathing as loud as I could for him to follow along, and though he struggled with it at first, he had himself back under control a few moments later.

We sat alone in silence again, and this time, there was no breezy humming to accompany us. I think he was trying to, but now that he actually paid attention to it, Thomas could never get past the first note. I bit down on my lip, trying my best to peer through the darkness. God, what I wouldn't give just to see sunlight again. To feel its gentle caress on my skin, feel its warmth seeping down into my stomach. I missed the sounds of the forest, with the singing birds and the rustle of the wind through the branches. I needed to have the vast, blue sky above me now.

"What's it like up there?" I asked. Well, I assumed it was up. We could've been a thousand feet under the ground just as much as we could have been a thousand feet in the air. There was no way to get any sense of direction, especially with the absence of light. My throat went dry. Even in our dungeon, down below the castle's floor, we still have a torchlight. The complete darkness rendered me as less than Peritum.

"How should I know?" he returned bluntly. "I can't enjoy any of it."

"No?"

"If I'm not locked in here, I'm at the King's side day and night. You know how often he leaves his study? Rarely ever. And when he does, it's because he needs to go and kill something."

I perked up, hooked on every word he said. Was he aware of the information he had released? He had to, right? Thomas wasn't an idiot. Or not a complete one, anyway.

"What about the gardens?" I asked.

"I'd like to see them again, but I doubt he's going to let me. Especially after this."

I nodded. "What will you do once he lets you out?" I pressed, needing to hear him speak before I lose my mind in the silent prison.

"Leave."

"W-what?"

"I'm not staying here as long as he hunts down my kind. He may be helping me control my powers, but it's only so he can keep me as his weapon."

"What about me? You're just going to leave me here?"

"I have a hard time believing you'll want to come with the person who killed your sister in cold blood," he returned sharply. The memories came rushing back, the ones he had showed me when I demanded him to. I tried to force down the sight of my Eliza, lifeless and dying. Tears ran down my cheeks, and I couldn't even reach up and brush them away. No matter how hard I tried to forget, the memories of her persisted, lasting far longer than I had wanted them too.

"I'm sorry," he said softly after a while, and his voice made me jump.

"Sorry doesn't do any good," I returned.

"I know."

I heard the rustle of his steel chains, and then nothing else. Silence stretched, long and overpowering. I couldn't distract myself, and eventually succumbed to the nightmares that leapt out of the shadows at me. They reached for my body, pulling me down underneath the black waves crashing against a lifeless shore. They were too strong to struggle against, and soon, I was nothing more than just driftwood floating around in an infinite sea of darkness.

I'm not sure when I fell asleep amidst my silent sobbing, but I was jolted from my dreams by the sound of iron scraping against stone once again. My heart leapt in my chest as I struggled to my feet. "You bitch!" I yelled as loud as I could, hoping at the very least I could provoke him. "Let me out of here!"

A low laugh cut through the darkness, and though shivers went spiraling down my spine, I raised my head in open defiance. Footsteps echoed against the confined walls of the prison, and suddenly, he spoke, his voice much closer to my cell. "Don't think I've forgotten about you, Miss Schuyler."

I hated the way my name rolled off of his tongue, as though we weren't anything less than friends. "Let me out!"

"Or what?" he asked, a question I had no answer to. When I remained silent, he laughed again. "I do admire your spirit, but this isn't about you. This is about Thomas. So if you would kindly keep your mouth closed, I would greatly appreciate it." Footsteps scraping against the stone again. "So, Thomas, have you learned what you've done wrong?"

"How long have I been down here?" he croaked, voice hoarse. How long had I been sleeping for?

"Three days."

I expected Thomas to snap at him, force himself against the wall no matter how the chains pulled at his arms. I wanted that fire, that flick of resentment, but instead, I heard a defeated sigh.

"Are you ready to come out?"

Since I heard nothing, I assumed he nodded.

The King's voice goes soft as he continues. "Thomas, I understand you're angry at me, but I did this for you. I know what you see in the Tenebrie, but you're so different from them. They are monsters that are incapable of feeling. You are obviously better than they are. I just want to help you."

"Don't listen to him, Thomas!" I tried to yell, but the words fell away halfway through as an unseen force snapped my mouth shut.

"Let's go, Thomas," the King said softly, and though I waited, I heard nothing else. They were gone.

And I was stuck here, alone.