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It occurred to her that she could have tried to make herselfvomit. The alcohol had hit her almostimmediately, but expelling most of it would surely lead to a quickerrecovery. But then she would be back tolicking toasters.
Determinedly she ate one of the muesli bars and drank therest of the milk, placing her energy needs above the problem of even morealcohol. Should she fight, when theMoths came? Shields would be too risky,punches more a question of how much she was willing to damage her eyrieprison. She might get lucky and hurtthem, but lashing out wildly would not get her friends back. Unless she was on the verge of being completelylost, she would have to restrain herself, try to learn more.
The tower felt like it was swaying.
Fingers tangled in her hair, hauling her from behind thecurtain. Jolted from a doze, Madeleinecried out in pain, twisting to see her attacker. Gavin. Or, rather, the Core of the Five of the Ul-naa.
She tried pulling away, but her hair provided far too good ahandhold, and he wrenched it agonisingly, slinging her forward so that shetumbled to the blank expanse of floor by the windows. Head spi
"In future, you will not hide," said the Moth, andshe shifted to face him. "You will drinkand you will wait here."
His tone was curtly assured, allowing for no possibility ofanything but obedience. He clearlybelieved he could dictate her behaviour. The words 'in future' lit her attention.
Dizzy, and on the verge of being sick, she refused to cower,attempting a little of Noi's blunt defiance: "Go to hell."
The Core slapped her. A light, casual backhand as if he were cuffing a misbehaving dog. "There are no choices here."
Face stinging, increasingly angry that this alien so clearlydid not consider her a person, Madeleine worked to speak without slurring:"I'm not killing you right now because I liked the boy you'rewearing. But you're making it verydifficult."
It got under his skin, just a little: she could see thesuppressed a
Unable to summon any defence, she retreated into darkness.
ooOoo
Madeleine woke, warm beneath the bed's quilt, still herself.
It was not quite a surprise. There would have been no reason to speak of where she should wait infuture if the Core had been on the verge of taking complete control, though shewas full of a certainty that that...bombardment of identity was the begi
Almost, she could still feel him. As if the air itself could taste of triumphgone stale, of emotion, soul, self, spirit, turned to some tangible substancewhich could rain down on a person and hurt and hurt–
Madeleine shuddered, again curling protectively, then forcedherself to shift, to sit up. Outside thetower it was dark, the curving array of windows showing city lights and stars. She had been put to bed and left till nexttime.
Inevitably, she was hungry.
Feeling fragile, and terribly alone, Madeleine tried toimagine how the Musketeers would deal with this situation. Fisher would point out the link between herexperiments with him and the use of alcohol. The Core had learned of this and starved her, then set out spiked milkto interfere with her control.
Right, Noi wouldsay. Soall we need to do is not take the bait next time, and then slam the bastardwhen he shows up.
Steal his dragon!Pan would suggest.
Like that's going towork, Min would put in. Besides, he knew Maddiehad taken the bait. There must becameras.
So we get the oldcarton, fill it with water, and have it ready to fool them. Noi would give a little nod, confirming theplan.
If they wait longenough, I won't be able to do that, Madeleine thought. I won'tcare if it's spiked, I'll just care that it's food.
You can. Emily would take her hand, and give her alook of tremulous faith.
Then Nash would offer an understanding smile. Youhave two muesli bars left, he would point out, and have yet to exhaust the possibilities of the kitchens.
But does that mean I'mwilling to kill Gavin? She had noanswer, nor did she know what she would do about the dragon, if she did manageto fight off the Core.
"I'm having imaginary conversations with my friends,because my friends are all possessed," she said out loud, and made herselfget off the bed.
Step C was begi
Sca
Heading around the curve to check, Madeleine stopped short,confused. There was a new tray, moundedhigh with packages. Did this mean theyweren't going to starve her? Surely theMoths didn't expect her to obediently get drunk on command?
She approached the bar cautiously, sca
At first insensibly relieved, Madeleine moved on to unhappilywondering how many days this food was meant to cover. This would give her more of a chance topractice shields, but if it, for instance, was supposed to last her for a week,she could still be brought to a state of driving hunger. Common caution led her to prepare arelatively small portion of the frozen gnocchi, and stash everything else inthe second floor kitchen freezer. Thenshe went back to her bed, and debated whether it was worth blasting holes inthe ceiling in the hope of destroying any cameras. Sydney Tower really was an excellent choicefor a prison – she was tremendously wary of damaging it.
After thinking the problem through, she simply alternatelypushed and dragged the bed around the curve of carpet, to the far side of adividing curtain. Drawing the curtainhalfway, she hoped that would put her at the wrong angle for any cameras. Then she fetched her backpack andsurreptitiously tucked the muesli bars into the front pocket.
Her sketchpads and pencils took up half the space in thebackpack. She touched the spine of one,but didn't take it out, hadn't opened any of them since she'd woken in thetower. Looking at images of friends foundand lost would be unbearable.