Incarceron Part 88

Then she stood up, brushing dirt from her bare arms. "I never liked you. Haughty, selfish, spoiled. You think you're so tough-you wouldn't last ten minutes in here. And Finn is worth ten of you."

"Attia"

Finn growled, but Claudia said sharply,

"Let her speak."

"Back there in the Sapient's tower we found lists of all the Prisoners who have ever been in this place. They all looked for their own names, but I didn't."

Attia came close to Claudia. "I looked for yours."

Finn turned, chilled. "You said it wasn't there."

"I said she wasn't in Incarceron. But she has been."

He felt so cold. Looking at Claudia, he saw her face was white; it was Jared who said quietly, "When?"

"She was born here, and she lived here for one week. Then, nothing. She vanishes from the records. Someone took a week-old baby girl out of the Prison, and there she is, look, the daughter of the Warden. He must have been very desperate for a daughter. And there must have been one who died, or he would have chosen a son."

Keiro said, "You recognize her from a photo of a baby? That's-"

"Not just a baby."

Attia kept her eyes on Claudia.

"Someone put paintings of her into the book. Images, just like us. Of her growing up. Of her having everything she wanted, clothes, toys, horses. Of her ..."

"Getting betrothed?" Keiro said slyly.

Finn turned with a gasp. "Was I there? Was I in that image too? Attia!"

Her lips set. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"I'd tell you if you were."

She turned earnestly.

"I would tell you, Finn. It was just her."

He looked at Claudia. She seemed stunned with shock.

He glanced at Jared, who muttered, "I have also found the name of Sapphique here. It seems he truly did Escape." Gildas spun around and the two Sapienti exchanged glances.

"You see what this means."

The old man was triumphant. He was bleeding and limping, but his whole body was charged with energy.

"They took her out. Sapphique got out. There is a way. Perhaps if we brought both the Keys together, we could unlock it."

Jared frowned.

"Claudia?" he said.

She couldn't move for a moment. Then her head jerked up and she looked Finn hard in the eyes and he saw her gaze was fierce and bitter.

"Keep the Key switched on, all the time," she said.

"When I get Inside, I'll need to find you."

30.

All my years to this moment All my roads to this wall All my words to this silence All my pride to this fall -Songs of Sapphique ***

She paced the study floor anxiously, dressed in dark trousers and jacket. "Well?"

"Five minutes."

Jared worked on the controls without looking up. He had already placed a handkerchief on the chair and operated the device; the handkerchief had disappeared, but he couldn't get it back.

Claudia stared at the door. She had torn up her wedding dress in a fury that had amazed even herself, shredding the lace and ripping the flouncy skirt wide open. All that was over. Protocol was over. She was at war now.

Racing down here through the dark cellars, she had run through anger and bewilderment and the emptiness of a wasted past.