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“No need to patronise me,” Alex said, frowning at the unnecessary title. She felt D.C. tense behind her, pulling uncomfortably on their bound hands.

“I wasn’t talking to you, Alexandra,” Aven said, pausing at the doorway. “I have to admit, when I discovered your roommate was the royal princess, it came as a delightful surprise. I couldn’t have picked a better hostage.”

Royal princess? Alex’s stomach dropped. Surely he was lying again?

Aven smirked when he noticed her expression. “Am I to understand you don’t know who you’ve been sharing a room with all year?”

Alex refused to say anything, but he continued, “I have to admit, it was difficult to find her, so well hidden as she is here at your academy. But allow me to make introductions. Alexandra Jennings, I give you Her Royal Highness, Princess Delucia Cavelle.”

Alex felt D.C. sag in defeat behind her.

“I’ll allow the two of you some time to become better acquainted,” Aven said smoothly, before he turned and walked through the doorway. The light dimmed significantly when the door closed, and with the darkness came a silence so loud it was almost deafening.

Forty-One

After Aven left them inthe dark cell, neither Alex nor D.C. knew what to say, and the silence lingered uncomfortably between them. When Alex couldn’t stand it anymore, she quietly asked, “Are you okay?”

D.C. released a trembling breath. “Sure. Never better.”

“We’re going to be fine,” Alex said, not sure who she was trying more to convince. “Someone will notice we’re missing and they’ll come looking for us.”

“They won’t be able to find us down here,” D.C. said with a hint of bitterness. “Not unless they’re Chosen—like you apparently are.”

There was a question in her tone, like she wanted to know more but wasn’t willing to ask. Alex was equally unwilling to share.

“I’m not the only person who can get down here,” Alex said. “The headmaster can, as well as my friend Darrius. Someone will raise the alarm once the Lockdown is over and theywillfind us. Especially since you’re here.”

D.C. didn’t respond, ignoring the implication, and the silence grew around them again.

Alex tried to wiggle her hands out of the bonds, but it was no use. The wire was so strong and tight that even the smallest movement caused it to bite into her flesh.

“I don’t suppose you have some kind of super-strength gift?” Alex asked.

“No. But even if I did it wouldn’t help,” D.C. answered. “It’s Moxyreel, made from Myrox.”

“Myrox?”

“Meyarin steel,” D.C. said. “It’s completely impenetrable, the strongest metal in the world. The only thing that can break through Moxyreel is something else made from Myrox. So don’t bother.”

“How do you know about Meyarin steel?” Alex asked.

“How do you know Aven Dalmarta?” D.C. shot back.

“I—I don’t know,” Alex answered, surprised by the abrupt question. “We just sort of ran into each other randomly a while back. And then it happened again the last time the Lockdown was activated. He just kind of… appears, you know?”

“You haven’t seen him since the last Lockdown?” D.C. asked.

“I saw him again the day before classes started back after the Kaldoras holidays,” Alex said. Then she realised something. “But the Lockdown wasn’t activated that time, so I don’t know how he got through without triggering the wards.”

“They were de-activated so the students could Bubble back in,” D.C. said.

“Oh. I’d forgotten about that.”

“What happened when you met him that time? Did I hear him right when he said you fell through a painting?”

“Yeah,” Alex answered, knowing how ridiculous it sounded.

“What did Aven do when he saw that? Did he say anything?”