Wingless

14. The Break-Out

Gaius

Tess was not at the front desk when Tane and I walked in. I could hear her and her thoughts toward the back of the building. That was encouraging news on our part.

The air was thick; I could feel the sweat on my palms. Tane and I refrained from holding hands as we made our way up the stairs to the second floor.

 “It will be all right,” I murmured, taking in Tane's apprehensive expression. She nodded. “Just listen.”            

She nodded again, her hair falling loosely around her shoulders. She seemed to be more anxious about this than necessary; I was concerned for her. Our feet made lonely, echoing raps on the tiled stairs.

The scene was much of the same as we emerged on the second floor. Depressed, unresponsive, and hyperactive patients all clustered in the lounge; some of them hovered uncomfortably in their bedrooms.

I led Tane to Kelsie's room and told her to wait outside the tall door. Tane nodded again, her gaze falling to the floor as I watched her try to block out the sounds around her.

I poked my head into the room and saw the Septar in much the same state as our last encounter.

 "Kelsie," I greeted, walking into her room and sitting on her cot. We were fairly close but she was in the same position as she'd been the first time I'd come to see her.

Her legs looked frail and were angled strangely as she sat on the edge of the cot. Her hands fell dejectedly in her lap as she stared at her knees. There was a slight breeze in the room, and I could only imagine that it was coming from her influence. Her hair fell in two curtains in front of her face, shadowing it.

 "Kelsie," I repeated, more urgently this time, "we have a plan to free you of this place."

"Only to take me prisoner in another," she retorted faster than I would have expected. "Fismuth is a land of hierarchy and twisted morals. You rant in your mind about how great it is. I can see past the haze that you see as beautiful and righteous. If you really think I'm a Septar, you'll believe me when I tell you: Fismuth is corrupt. It had potential once, maybe. But now...."

I shook my head the entire time she spoke. She was wrong. The humans revered Fismuth as a heaven. As a safe-haven for all lost souls. As a place where angels flew free.

 "In your eyes then," she said, reading my mind, "When are humans ever right? What lost souls voluntarily go to Fismuth? Who is not dragged there? And your angels." She spat the word 'angels' with such disgust I flinched. "When have you ever seen them fly free for more than a few hours before they are summoned to perform a precious task for you? They do not know the sound of the word freedom; much less will one ever know the meaning of it."

I opened my mouth, but Kelsie lifted her hand to stop me as if she were already tired.

"They would take my name. My only identity. And give me another?" I closed my eyes and dipped my head, nodding. "And then I would be stuck in a tower, like a prisoner, to be trained?" She was taking all of Fismuth wrong, but I had no choice but to nod again. "And then when I've been brainwashed enough. They'll let me pull other 'lost souls' to the same fate?"

It was silent in the room save for the whispers the walls offered, the echoes of screams.

"I'd rather take my chances on Earth," she stated, her voice like dried parchment.

I looked at Kelsie; she was broken and quiet. I couldn't say anything that she would not see past. It was the disadvantage of saving a Septar and not a lower Prestigious.