INFINITY | the infernal devices

𝟐: 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐋𝐄, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐀 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐃

∞

Mrs Dark had been right. If Elizabeth could have killed them both, she would have

She pulled experimentally at the ropes tying her legs and arms to the bedposts. They didn't budge. The knots were tight; tight enough to dig into her flesh and make her hands and feet tingle and shiver with pins and needles. She had a few minutes, she estimated before her extremities went dead entirely.

Her sister on the bed near her whispered over and over again something under her breath. "Tessie," Elizabeth murmured. "Shake it side to side a little, eventually the bonds will break. We have all night. It's worth a try."

Tessa looked at her sister, "Eliza, capital idea sister, but the bond will make us bleed."

"What's a little blood to a lifetime of captivity?" asked Elizabeth.

Tessa looked at her sister for a moment then tried shaking the bonds

A part of Elizbeth—and not a small part—wanted to stop struggling, to lie there limply until the dawn came and to rot there. She remembered what Aunt Harriet had told Elizabeth and Tessa. When you find a man you wish to marry, girls, remember this: You will know what kind of man he is not by the things he says, but by the things he does.

Aunt Harriet had been right, of course. No man she or her sister would ever want to marry would have arranged to have her treated like a prisoner and a slave, imprisoned her brother, and had her tortured in the name of her "talent." It was a travesty and a joke.

God, what a useless talent she had! The power to change her appearance? If only she had the power to set things on fire, or shatter metal, or cause knives to grow out of her fingers! Or if she only had the power to make herself invisible, or shrink herself to the size of a mouse—

She gasped. "Tessa. Tessa," she said, her sister looked at her with tired grey eyes.

"We can Change and Turn into the same person twice correct?"

Tessa nodded, then realization dawned on her. "Emma Bayliss," she said. Elizabeth nodded feverishly.

The Turn bore down on her like a train, almost knocking the breath out of her—reshaping her skin, reforming her bones. She choked back her screams and arched her back—

And it was done. Blinking, Elizabeth stared up at the ceiling, then glanced sideways, staring at her wrist, at the rope around it. There were her hands—Emma's hands—thin and frail, the circle of the rope loose around her small wrists. Triumphantly Elizabeth jerked her hands-free and sat up, rubbing at the red marks where the rope had burned her skin.

Her ankles were still tied. She leaned forward, her fingers working quickly at the knots. Mrs Black, it turned out, could tie knots like a sailor. Elizabeth's fingers were bloodied and sore by the time the rope fell away and she sprang to her feet.

Emma's hair was so thin and fine that it had slipped free of the clips holding Elizabeth's hair back. She turned to the bed next to her to see her sister break free of her bonds, or the other Emma, break free of her bonds. Elizabeth would almost find this comical had it not been for their current situation.

Elizabeth pushed her hair back impatiently over her shoulders and shook herself free of Emma, letting the Turn wash away from her until her hair slid through her fingers, thick and familiar to the touch. Glancing at the mirror across the room, she saw that little Emma Bayliss was gone and she was herself again.

Tessa and she looked almost exactly alike except for their eyes, but they were a close enough shade so it was easy to trick people.

Tessa and Elizabeth hugged as if the world would end. "Oh freedom is sweet, but you know what's sweeter? Cake. Promise me the moment we leave this blasted house we will scavenge for cake?" Elizabeth asked her sister. Tessa gave a bitter laugh. "We have no money, Liza."