Chapter 3 The Girl in the Cell

Garrick fell into step beside him as they left the furnace site, the wind carrying fine snow that stung any exposed skin.

"Visiting her personally is going to look bad," Garrick said.

"I know."

Garrick didn't argue. He just accepted it and kept walking, his boots crunching against the frozen ground.

The holding cells were located near the guard barracks, a low stone building that had probably been a storage shed in better years.

Two guards stood outside the door, and they didn't look angry or scared but uncomfortable in a specific way, the discomfort of people who knew what they were doing was wrong but hadn't figured out how to stop doing it yet.

One of them shifted his weight from foot to foot while the other studied the ground like it held answers he was searching for.

One of the guards opened his mouth to speak.

Marcus raised a hand. "I won't be long."

The guard closed his mouth. The other stepped aside without making eye contact.

The cell was small and clean, the floor swept recently with a cot in the corner and a bucket for water.

Lyra sat on the edge of the cot with her back against the wall, not chained, her hands resting on her knees with palms up and open in a way that suggested she'd been sitting like that for a while.

Exhaustion showed in the set of her shoulders, but it wasn't fear exhaustion. It was work exhaustion, the kind that came from running on nothing for too long.

Her eyes were steady and watchful, tracking him from the moment he entered.

"You came faster than I expected," she said.

"You were expecting me?"

"You're not acting like Edric Hale."

Marcus kept his face neutral. "Tell me what happened at Furnace Three."

She didn't answer right away. "What did you see there?"

"The fracture pattern shows two forces acting simultaneously," he said. "Internal pressure and external pull. That's not a normal blowout."

He paused.

"There were pages missing from the inspection log. I found a fragment that mentioned foreign material in the pressure chamber."

He pulled the metal sample from his coat pocket and held it up.

"And I found this."

Her reaction was immediate. She went completely still, her hands freezing mid-motion on her knees.

"You found one," she said.

"One? There are more?"

She nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on the fragment in his hand.

"They've been appearing in the deep tunnels for about eight months. Always near the oldest veins. I filed three maintenance reports about it. Nothing happened."

"Where are those reports now?"

She gave him a look that said exactly where those reports were without using any words.

Marcus pocketed the sample. "Right."

The cell had no second chair, so he sat down on the floor across from her. The cold stone pressed through his trousers, but he ignored it.

She looked at him like this was the strangest thing a mayor had ever done in her presence, her eyebrows rising just slightly before settling back.

"You're different from the last one," she said.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It wasn't one." But there was no heat in her voice. "He never came down here. Never looked at the equipment himself. Just signed whatever the council put in front of him."

Marcus studied her. "What do you think the fragments are?"

She was quiet for a long moment. "I think the mountain found them. Not the other way around."

He didn't push. She didn't explain. The ambiguity sat between them.

"How long have you been working the furnaces?" he asked.

"Since I was fifteen. My father trained me."

"Your father was the head mechanic?"

"He was. Until he died three winters ago." She paused, her fingers curling slightly against her knees. "I took over his apprentices after that. Kept the equipment running. Trained two more junior mechanics."

Marcus processed that. "So you know these machines better than anyone."

"I know them better than anyone who's still alive to talk about it."

The cold edge in her voice told him more than any explanation could. He stood up and brushed off his trousers.

"I need someone who understands what happened in that furnace," he said.

"I'm in a cell."

"Not for long."

Garrick's voice came from the doorway. "The council is going to love this."

Marcus turned toward him. "Let them. I need her out."

"And if they refuse?"

"They won't. I'll make sure of it."

Lyra watched the exchange with sharp eyes, her gaze moving between them like she was cataloging their dynamic. "You really think you can get me out of here?"

"I don't think. I'm going to do it."

She studied him for a moment, something unreadable passing across her face. "When you do, you'll want to see the deep tunnels. The oldest veins."

"Why would I want that?"

"Because the fragments are coming from somewhere. And that somewhere is still down there."

Marcus nodded slowly. "Then show me."

"Most people want to stay as far away from them as possible."

"Most people don't know what they're dealing with. I need to understand it before I can be properly concerned about it."

Something shifted in her expression. Small. Almost imperceptible.

"Your father," Marcus said. "Did he ever mention anything strange about the tunnels? Anything unusual?"

She was quiet for a moment, her gaze dropping to the floor. "He said the mountain had secrets. He said some things weren't meant to be dug up."

"And you believe that?"

"I believe he was right about a lot of things I didn't understand at the time."

Marcus nodded. "Then when I get you out, we'll go test that theory."

He turned and walked out, the guards straightening as he passed. Garrick fell into step beside him as they crossed back into the cold.

"You're actually doing this," Garrick said.

"Did you think I wasn't going to?"

"I thought you might think about it longer."

"I thought about it long enough." Marcus looked back toward the cells. "She's the only one who actually knows what happened in that furnace."

Garrick was quiet for a moment. "Fair point."