The light bathed Madeleine in warmth. She breathed in air, but it was all an act. She'd gotten used to it. Air hadn't graced her lungs in over six years. She flexed her muscles, but they, again, were all just in her head. The warmth, the lightness, the breeze on her skin -- they were all in her head.

"What are you doing?" she said to Seiren, then started. She heard her own voice. In her ears. Her voice bounced off the walls. She reached out her mind, but it only extended so far before it stopped, and she couldn't feel Seiren's presence.

Her eyes opened -- ever so slowly. White light bathed her from head to toe -- and she could see herself. She extended her fingers before her in wonderment. Long fingers, neat nails -- Seiren's were always chewed. Slender wrists. She touched her face. Soft skin, a small scar under her chin from a fall when she was young. Blonde hair in two plaits fell past her shoulder.

She was... alive?

No, something still felt unnatural. Her skin was pale, translucent. Her eyes adjusted. She was in a circular room with coloured glass windows surrounding her. Sunlight filtered through, leaving quite picturesque spots on the marble floor. Several figures stood against the sides, their faces difficult to discern with the light in the background.

Below her was a large, complex rune, in a medium she'd never seen before, on some sort of pedestal with stone steps going down in all directions. The magic glistened with an unnatural light and was made of a type of silvery fluid that flowed constantly along the rune. No, she had seen something like this before. Seiren's desperate cries filled her head, along with her overwhelming sense of guilt and despair. Loren's glassy-eyed gaze faced the sky.

Organic magic.

Seeing forbidden magic this close filled her with apprehension and wonderment. Madeleine spun around -- her feet weren't touching the ground. Someone must be activating this. She was anchored to the centre, her amulet directly in the middle of the design. Kneeling on the steps was a woman with white-blonde hair and sweat dripping down her forehead, her brows creased in concentration. Karis Bonneville.

"That's enough. Good job, Karis." One of the figures stepped forward. Butterworth, with a terrifyingly scarred face. Madeleine glared at him, not saying a word. Bonneville stood up and wiped her forehead. "So this is what you look like, Madeleine Harred."

She said nothing to him. No doubt he would try to goad valuable information out of her, and she was not about to disclose anything that would jeopardise Seiren.

"Definitely twins. Even your death stares are alike, even if you still look like a child." He smirked, twisting his scarred face. Madeleine was surprised there wasn't a rune mage proficient enough with green runes to heal that to at least lessen the disfigurement. It must have been some explosion. "How long will this last, Karis?"

"It's just the setup that takes time and energy. As long as the rune gets replenished with flash, it should hold for as long as needs be." Bonneville tucked stray blonde hair behind her ear and tossed her head. "Guess that little brat did manage some variant of organic magic after all."

"Interesting. So she was right."

"What are you talking about?" Madeleine said with a frown.

"We're talking about you, sweetie." Bonneville bore a grin that sent shivers down Madeleine's back. It was the smile of a wolf about to pounce on its prey. She glanced down. Organic magic rune. They must be referring to Seiren.

"The rune Seiren drew on my necklace is... organic magic?"

Mother was researching organic magic? There was so little about it taught at King's it was shrouded almost entirely in mystery.

"Seiren can barely do burst magic. There's no way."

"The primitive organic magic started out as runes, but it was too weak. Turns out burst magic works for it, but flash magic works even better." Karis Bonneville brushed her form-fitting dress down and straightened her cloak. "Now, let me have a look at you."

"What--" Madeleine gasped and shuddered when Bonneville stuck a hand through her. Although they made no physical contact, it still caused a nauseating, gripping sensation in her abdomen and she wanted to vomit -- not that she could.

"No physical form, huh. But fully sentient, intact recollections, a visible form, cognitively functional," Bonneville muttered to herself, cocking her head.

Without warning, a flash of fire shot at Madeleine. She screamed, flinching away, but was trapped within the glow of the organic magic circle beneath her feet. The flames passed straight through her with no effect, and dissipated. She panted, eyes wide at Butterworth, whose grin stretched even wider, looking more sinister than before, if that were possible.

"The perfect form," said Butterworth, spreading his hands before him. Madeleine gave him a wary look, her heart thumping despite it not being there.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look at you: ageless, flawless, immune to diseases and magic. It's perfection. Granted, to be stuck at the age of eight--"

"This body is twelve."

"--is probably not ideal for you, but imagine immortality, all your powers and mind intact. This organic magic rune is perfection. Can you imagine? Whoever acquires powers like yours will be undefeatable. All you need is a willing host -- or perhaps even an unwilling one! How did your dear sister do it?"

Madeleine turned her head away and spread her thoughts out. Although her physical form was bound within the organic rune circle, the room was vibrant with magic. She felt the energy tingling in every person in the room -- and they were powerful. Four of them, three of them mages. The walls were lined with runes, likely to prevent eavesdropping and external attacks.

"Oi, kid." Madeleine's attention was abruptly torn back to Butterworth snapping his fingers in her face. She scowled. "I'm talking to you."

"I'm not talking to you."

"Holy flash, the similarity is bloody uncanny." He sniffed. "No matter. We have the means to find out, and plenty of time."

"Seiren will come looking for me."

"Not when she's halfway to Moakai, she won't!" said Bonneville with a cackle.

All the air left Madeleine's lungs.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said in a hoarse voice. "Moakai?"

Butterworth grinned and turned to converse with the others in the room.

"Hey!" Madeleine yelled. Bonneville knelt down again, infusing more of her magic into the runes. Butterworth ignored Madeleine.

"It seems that girl's research did come in quite useful," said one in the corner.

"Her potential is remarkable. And now we don't have to worry about having enough bodies for our army even if we have deserters. And this: even Kristen Harred herself didn't fathom her early research to have succeeded like this," Butterworth said, triumphant, making Madeleine's toes curl.

"This talent will be her downfall. Attaching her to that Woodbead was quite the string-pulling, Mage Butterworth."

"It kills two birds with one stone." He shrugged. "One from a family fallen from grace, one distraught by her family's massacre loses her mind -- both turning their hate onto their own mother country and hell-bent on sending it to its knees. History will remember them as such."

They had no qualms about letting her hear all that. That meant Seiren must truly be well out of the way now. Madeleine leant back in her tube of light, aghast. They wanted to use Seiren and Rowan as scapegoats for the country's downfall. The anger turned to despair. And they were so certain they could convince King Pollin and save Karma. Where was Rowan now? Was there anything she could do? Her physical form was solely due to Karis Bonneville infusing magic into the organic rune beneath her feet. Outside of it she would be nothing more than a red necklace. She tried to mimic Seiren's emotions when she summoned burst magic: empty mind, tranquil body. She snapped her fingers. Nothing.

She shuddered and glanced down. Bonneville added extra circles within the summoning rune. Madeleine had no idea what she was doing, but it felt as if there were multiple fingers probing into her soul, investigating her very essence. She bit back a groan. It felt like ants running under her skin, up and down, up and down.

"It's just as well: we were running out of renegades to experiment on at Bicknor. Nothing we did could even mimic what Kristen Harred theorised back in those days, and now with her being so occupied, acquiring this thing here--" One of the faraway figures said, gesturing at her. "--would take us that much more forward in our progress."

"What... what did you say?" Madeleine whispered, the discomfort neglected.

"Oh? She can still hear us. You need to work harder, Karis."

"Shut it, Zor. This stuff ain't easy," snapped Bonneville, baring her teeth. "Why don't you come have a try, seeing as you're having such a leisurely break?"

The speaker strode forward, hands in his pockets. He had pale eyes that seemed feral, almost aglow in the dimmed room, fixated directly upon Madeleine. His skin was dark, making it difficult to see him clearly, but he grinned with jagged yellow teeth.

"Well, you know how I insist on a perfect job..." He shrugged. "I wouldn't want to upstage you now, would I?"

Bonneville snarled, muttering obscenities under her breath.

"What do you mean my mother is occupied?" Madeleine almost dreaded the answer.

"Didn't you know? I guess you did do a good enough job, Karis!" The man Bonneville called 'Zor' laughed heartily. "Well, seeing as you can't do much beyond stamp your feet and scream at us, little Madeleine, I'll let you in on a little secret: your dear mother's alive."

"That's impossible!" Madeleine hissed. She lurched forward. Zor laughed again, his face still bathed in the shadows.

"Feisty! Just like your dear mother."

"She'll never cooperate with lowly scumbags like you!" Madeleine spat, glaring daggers at him. "My mother had honour!"

All the time, panic drummed in her ears. Impossible. Impossible. Yes, Seiren had given up the hope Mother might be alive, although deep down she'd hoped, too. Madeleine had clung onto the last thread that Seiren wouldn't be alone in the world. But not like this. Not with her being controlled against her will by the king's mages, betraying her own country.

"Funny. That's what your father said to me, too, before I killed him."

Madeleine's heart stood still. Zor stepped forward a bit more so that the glow from Bonneville's organic magic bathed his features. Madeleine's body froze. Angular jaw, with a neat, trimmed beard, high cheekbones, tanned skin, and backswept brown hair, although it had been rather ragged the last time she saw it for that fleeting second, before a flash of blinding white light.

There was no mistaking the narrowed pale eyes and bulbous nose that reminded her of a Hannan, and he, strikingly, did not have their trademark clipped accent.

This was the man that killed her and Father six years ago.

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