Sybil—the woman I previously referred to as Seer—saw us off. The exits were toward the top of the silo in a large cubic room that was littered with narrow stairways that led to various ovals lining the walls, framed by stone. The oval openings contained what looked like a whirlpool of glowing liquid, all draining toward the center from the edges.

There were hundreds of them. Maybe a thousand.

I hung back and studied the scene. Most of the oval portals were slate blue, but several—in rows high above the floor with no access point from the stairs—shone in green, orange. And a single red portal, positioned at the top in the center.

I asked the obvious question. “What are they?”

Nick looked ready to answer, but Sybil beat him to it. Only her mouth moved, the rest of her body frozen in an almost statuesque poise. “The indigo thresholds lead to various locations within the human domain. Only a portion are secured—though their number grows by the day.”

That explained a hell of a lot. It explained how the Order remained so elusive. Kinsley’s door spell on a grand scale. Even the color reminded me of Kinsley’s door. Which led to my next question.

“Did they stay active during the Transposition?” I asked.

Nick tensed. Both Halima and Keith cast concerned glances my way. I couldn’t tell if they were uncomfortable with the line of questioning, or that I was interrogating Sybil.

Sybil herself seemed unbothered. “Most of them, yes.”

Another unfair advantage. And ‘most.’ What portals were restricted?

I cleared my throat. “The rest of them—the ones that aren’t blue. I’m guessing they lead to Flauros realms?

Nick subtly drove an elbow into my side.

“Shut up,” he whispered.

So it wasn’t what I asked that was making my companions uncomfortable. It was the fact that I was questioning Sybil at all. Which was odd. She didn’t seem all that intimidating from my initial impression, and so far, she’d done little other than speak in riddles and act as Hastur’s mouthpiece.

Sybil’s dreamy expression remained fixed in place. “I cannot answer that question at this time. If you wish to know more, Ordinator, come find me on your own.”

Fucking Sybil. This marked the second time she’d screwed me.

Keith and Halima both stepped away from me. Keith looked visibly horrified, while Halima maintained a stoic expression, hand reaching toward her rayon-wrapped hilt.

Nick snapped his fingers twice, rounding on Keith and Halima. “Hey! Guys. Myrddin took the oath. Which means?”

“He’s… with us,” Keith said.

“That’s right,” Nick said. “What he did? Whoever he was before? None of that matters. The big guy swore him in. If there was a problem, he never would have made it this far.”

“Got it,” Keith said unhappily.

Halima didn’t answer, but her hand dropped away from her hilt.

I considered Nick. Once again, his charisma shined through. But he was too quick on the draw with the intercession. Like it was rehearsed. Someone had already briefed him on who I was—probably Aaron after our initial encounter—and he’d prepared accordingly. I was starting to understand why everyone was so terrified of Sybil. The woman knew things, secrets, and she didn’t hesitate to air them out, regardless of who was listening. It didn’t feel malicious exactly. More like she didn’t see the value of keeping anything on the down low.

No wonder they were cautious around her.

“Is that all, Ordinator?” Sybil asked. The light trace of sarcasm in her voice was probably my imagination.

“I’ll find you later,” I said.

“Yes, you will.”

Nick laughed nervously. “Alrighty. Don’t want to take up too much of your time, ma’am. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Sybil held her arms out to either side. An indigo portal from one of the center bands levitated downward, settling on the ground with a low thrum that vibrated the stone beneath us. A series of atonal chimes followed, and a small portion of the flowing blue liquid within the portal leaked into a rut that encircled the entrance. “The way is unsealed. You may proceed.”

Nick nodded. “Halima, Keith, go ahead and secure the perimeter.”

Visibly relieved at the prompt, they both hurried ahead. There was a popping noise as they entered the portal, air rushing in to fill the space they vacated as they snapped out of existence.

I waited for Nick to ask what he wanted to ask. He wasn’t a lead-from-the-rear sort of guy. If he sent the others ahead, it was for a reason.

Something weighed down on me, like an invisible hand trying to press me into the ground. I grunted and went down to one knee, heart rate spiking, fumbling under the pressure to draw my knife from my inventory. My fingers locked around the handle and I drew it out, keeping the blade hidden behind my back.

Nick stared down at me. A red light shone behind his eyes, his aw-shucks persona entirely gone. He looked cold, and numb, and angry. “This is an official query, under the authority of the Court.”

“You’re… an official… prick.”

“Glad you’ve held onto a sense of humor.” Nick loomed over me. “Region 6.”

“That’s not a question.” I glanced over at Sybil, checking if she intended to interfere. From the amused look on her face, she looked more likely to grab a bucket of popcorn and settle in for the show.

“Not funny, asshole,” Nick seethed. “Thousands of people died. All I want to know is if you pulled the plug yourself.”

I considered lying. But what was the point? Sybil probably already knew the answer. And if any fragment of Nick’s traditionally staunch sense of right and wrong was intact, no matter how twisted, I was pretty certain how he’d come down on wholesale slaughter.

“Maybe.” The word popped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Nick growled.

“It means I don’t fucking know,” I shouted, then regained control of myself. “Something already altered them before I got there. Blood, guts, organs spread out everywhere like some sick painting. There were clothes and cores littering the street. They should have all been dead, but they weren’t. They were… still moving. Still alive—reanimated, maybe in some fucked-up capacity. And they were trying to move Lux and cores into their receptacle.”

“Why?” Nick asked, mystified.

“That’s the great part,” I said bitterly. “I stopped them and still don’t know. No clue what would have happened if they filled the receptacle. Maybe they would have been fine once it was full. Gathered around a bonfire and sang kumbaya. Or maybe what happened to them would have spread like a fucking wildfire.”

Sybil chuckled. It was quiet, almost imperceptible. But I hated her for it.

Something in Nick’s posture changed. The sickly red fire behind his eyes burned out. For a moment, he looked like nothing more than the lost kid I ran into in the rehab center. Scared, and confused, and tired. “Not sure I could have made that call.”

“Yeah, well, now you know.” I stood to my feet

“You, uh—you’re not what I thought.”

I strode toward the portal. The sooner we got into the tower, the better. I needed to punch something. “Just do me a favor and keep the truth to yourself.”

Nick stirred from his reverie. “What, why?”

“Getting blamed for it, regardless. Might as well bank the infamy.”

“You… want people to think you’re a cold-blooded murderer?” he asked.

Frustrated, I made a spastic gesture, indicating the grim portal room and the silo beyond. “Where the fuck do you think we are?”

Nick absorbed this and followed me toward the portal, deep in thought. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sybil gently catch his shoulder and lean in to whisper. Turns out, she did know how to be discreet. I lost most of what she said in the portal’s hum. It was a struggle to pick out the last few words.

“…cast off the chains that bind you.”