‘It wasn’t Vihaela,’ I said, my voice unsteady. ‘It was you.’
‘Ding ding!’ Anne smiled. ‘See, I knew you were fast enough to keep up. Now before you do anything hasty, sit down and take a breath. Because there are some things you really want to hear.’
I stayed standing, staring at her. I’d faced this other Anne in Elsewhere, but back there I’d been fairly certain that she couldn’t hurt me, at least not seriously. Here was another story.
‘What have you done with her?’ I said. I managed to keep my voice level this time.
‘Relax,’ Anne said. ‘Nothing she hasn’t done to me. Actually, exactly the same thing she’s done to me.’ She cocked her head. ‘Why so tense? Feeling a little threatened?’
I didn’t answer.
‘Oh, all right.’ Anne glanced from side to side at the wings curling around her. ‘I guess they are a little intimidating, aren’t they? Let’s dial it back a bit.’ There was no sound, but the black shadows around her faded, the tendrils sinking back into her skin. In a moment, she looked like a normal girl again … almost. There was still something different in her eyes, a hint of something larger behind her. She sat down, smiling at me. ‘Now. I’m sure you’re thinking of yelling for help, or maybe using a communicator or that dreamstone. You’re not going to do any of those things.’
‘You think you’re fast enough to stop me?’
‘Yes, actually,’ Anne said. ‘But if I’d wanted to, I’d have done that already. No, the reason you aren’t going to call for help is that if you do, then once the story comes out, Anne’s going to be executed.’
‘She …’ I began to say, then stopped.
‘Oh good, you’re catching on,’ Anne said. ‘I mean, the two of you have had enough trouble keeping the Council off your back as things are. How do you think they’re going to act when they find out that she was the one who kicked the collective arses of that Keeper team up one end of the Tiger’s Palace and down the other? Not too happy, don’t you think? And that doesn’t even come close to how pissed they’ll be about what I’m about to do.’
‘That wasn’t her.’
‘Oh?’ Anne raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s going to be your defence, is it? “It wasn’t her fault, it was her split personality.” How do you think that’s going to play, Alex?’
I couldn’t think of anything to say. It had been hard enough to keep Levistus and his allies from getting us prosecuted for crimes when we were innocent. Keeping us safe from prosecution when we were guilty …
‘And don’t forget yourself!’ Anne said. ‘You were the one who sponsored Anne, remember? You picked her as your aide, and you brought her along here today. Somehow I don’t think the Council are going to be the forgiving types when it comes to this kind of thing, do you?’ Anne leaned back and smiled. ‘So you’re going to stay there and keep very quiet. Because the only chance you have of staying alive – not to mention keeping her alive – is for this to stay our little secret.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘Why not?’ Anne said. ‘They bought it last time, didn’t they?’ Black shadows flowed over her skin, turning her into a dark silhouette, just like the one I’d seen at the Tiger’s Palace, and the tone of her voice shifted. ‘Obviously Vihaela found a way into this prison somehow. Who knows what tricks those Dark mages have.’ The shadows pulled away to reveal Anne’s face once again. ‘I mean, it fooled you.’
I should have seen this coming. All the pieces had been there. When I’d seen that black shape at the Tiger’s Palace, I’d noticed that it was exactly as tall as Vihaela. I just hadn’t made the connection that with the shadow adding a couple of inches, it was also exactly as tall as Anne. And with ‘Anne’ telling me that it was someone else …
‘This would have been so much easier if you hadn’t insisted on talking about it,’ Anne said. ‘If you’d been a typical man and just communicated in grunts, everything would have been fine. But no, Anne has to pick the one guy whose idea of a casual conversation apparently involves checking their memories for inconsistencies.’ Anne shrugged. ‘Oh well, I was getting bored anyway.’
‘How did you do it?’ I said. ‘You took her over at the Tiger’s Palace, I can see that now. But how come she didn’t figure it out?’
‘You aren’t the only one who’s been learning new tricks,’ Anne said. ‘It’s not too hard to cloud someone’s memories once you know how. Only works if you’re very close, but obviously that’s not really a problem for me, is it? After everything was over, I gated back to where Anne had been hiding and left her with a bunch of confused impressions of waiting around outside for the fight to finish.’ Anne raised an eyebrow at me. ‘I was surprised that didn’t tip you off. You really thought she was going to just sit things out? One way or another, she was taking part in that battle. I just made sure she made an impression.’
‘So what’s the big plan?’ I said. ‘What do you want?’
‘What do you think I want, Alex?’ Anne leaned across the table to look at me, and she wasn’t smiling any more. ‘It’s my turn to drive.’
‘What are you going to do to her?’ I said quietly.
‘A better question is what you’ll do. You see, once we’re done with this conversation, I’m going to walk out this door. And you’re going to make absolutely sure that everyone thinks that I’m Vihaela. Because if the Council finds out, I think we both know what’s going to happen.’
I did know. We’d be totally and irrevocably screwed. There was no way the Council would have any mercy on us, not for this. It’d make Levistus’s attempts to kill us look like a friendly warning. ‘Here’s an idea. How about you turn back into normal Anne and don’t tip them off?’
‘Sorry, not on the cards,’ Anne said. She glanced past me at the wall. ‘Well, fun as this is, I’ve got a schedule to keep.’
‘Why?’ I said. ‘I thought you could do whatever you want now. That’s the idea, isn’t it? Getting your freedom?’
‘Unfortunately I did have to make some deals.’ Anne stretched, rising to her feet. ‘But I’ve got high hopes that you’ll help me out with that.’
‘What kind of help?’
Anne started to answer, then frowned, looking at me. ‘Wait. You’re trying to keep me talking, aren’t you? Buying time to think of something?’ She shook her head. ‘You are good at that. I guess you’ve never actually tried it on me before.’
Uh-oh. I tried to think faster. ‘Look. If you want to get out of here, you’ll need my help. You aren’t going to be able—’
‘Sorry, Alex,’ Anne interrupted. ‘Like I said, I’m on a schedule. And I don’t want you hurt, but I’d really rather not having you running around messing things up. So …’
I saw the attack coming, but there wasn’t anywhere to run. Blackness surrounded me, pulling me under.
It felt as though I was running through deep water. Anne was somewhere ahead of me, and I was trying to catch up with her, but my legs were heavy and slow and I was falling further and further behind.
‘Get up,’ Luna told me.
‘I’m trying,’ I tried to say.
‘Staff to the guard station.’ Luna said. ‘You need to get up.’
‘I know. Give me a second.’
Luna crouched in front of me. ‘Facility lockdown. Report.’
‘What does that even mean?’