Lilly's vision blurred as she returned to consciousness, a warm liquid dripped down the side of her face. On instinct, she reached up to wipe it off but was restricted by something cold and unyielding wrapped around her wrists. Illuminated by a single oil lamp on a table in the middle of the room, she could scarcely make out the chains that bound her. The metal clinked as she pulled against them with as much strength as she could muster, but they wouldn't budge. There was a dull throbbing in her skull, exacerbated by her erratic movements. Lilly groaned, resting her head against the wall in an attempt to subdue the sharp pains and dizziness that plagued her.

"Good, you're awake," Prudence appeared by the table, which upon further inspection, held a plethora of medieval torture devices, some still covered in dried blood from the previous prisoners. Lilly felt sick, whether, from her likely concussion or the sense of imminent death, she couldn't tell, most likely both. "You know, Jane, I would have thought you, of all the children, would know better than to misbehave. You're the eldest, you must set a good example. I thought you were better than this. I suppose I was wrong," Prudence lifted a particularly sharp scalpel from the selection, turning it over in her palm. The warm lamplight glinted off the edge menacingly.

"I'm not Jane. You have me mistaken for someone else," the fear leaked through in her tone. "My name is Lilly, Lilly Cole," the Magician tried frantically to squeeze her hands from their restraints. Prudence crept towards her, the old-fashioned lace dress she wore swept across the cement floor in spectral silence. She looked more hostile than before. "Please, I'm not Jane. I'm not Jane!"

"No talking in The Quiet Place, little girl, and no playing such childish games. For that, you will be punished," Lilly's breath grew erratic the closer Prudence came with the knife. She shrank back as far as she could against the cement wall to get away from the old woman, but Prudence clamped her hand tightly around Lilly's neck, digging her nails into the skin. Lilly's gasp of pain soon morphed into a bone-chilling scream as the scalpel was dragged agonizingly across her chest, ripping through the skin. "Don't make me sew your mouth shut, Jane. Best not to ruin that pretty face of yours."

Prudence gripped Lilly by the chin and brought the bloodied scalpel down viciously across her cheek. The scream was muffled this time by Lilly clamping her teeth over her tongue. She had no choice but to ignore the metallic taste of blood as it flooded her mouth. Her stomach roiled, the pain was excruciating, and Prudence showed no signs of halting. Against the cement, her legs twisted.

Instinct took over as she tried to push herself away from the ghost. Her fingernails clawed savagely at the walls, but nothing could save her. Prudence brought the knife down over and over again. Never enough to kill, but more than enough to cause pain. Lilly's vision clouded with tears and blinding agony as the wounds bled down her face. Lilly slipped in and out of consciousness for the duration of the torture, the pain had become too much.

It seemed to go on forever with no end in sight. She had no spells in her repertoire that could get her out of this. Even if she did know a spell, her hands were chained to opposite sides, and she needed both to cast. Her best option was to wait it out and pray that her friends would show up before it was too late. Blood dripped over the clock necklace she wore, joining that of the real Jane Chatwin, who was surely tortured in this dungeon time and time again. She didn't know when Prudence stopped or when she passed out again, but Lilly was too exhausted to do anything other than lay limp in the chains.

"Lilly!" A harsh, panicked whisper cut through her daze. Her head lolled to the side, vision swirling as she stirred, "shit, Lilly, Lilly!" Her eyes took a moment to focus on whoever was calling her. Prudence had disappeared but chained to the opposite wall was Penny.

"Penny?"

"Yeah, it's me. What the hell did that bitch do to you?" Penny struggled against his restraints.

"I'm fine," Lilly dismissed, but she was far from fine. It wouldn't help the situation to break down. "Is everyone else safe?"

"I don't know, but I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?" She had no idea how he was going to do that when he was chained up too. Blood trickled down her arms onto the floor, forming pools of scarlet on the cement. Her wrist was rubbed raw from struggling against the chains. Distressed, Penny surveyed her wounds. He was about to speak again but was interrupted by the icy command of Prudence.

"No talking in the Quiet Place," she'd appeared once again beside the table of knives. Lilly curled in on herself in anticipation. Penny noticed the subtle movement, and it only fueled his rage towards the ghost.

"Lady, I don't know who you think we are, but--"

"Insolent is what you are. I've told you, I'll sew it shut." She held up the hooked needle and thread she'd threatened Lilly with previously. Penny's eyes widened as he sucked in a breath, then diverted his gaze to meet Lilly's glazed brown eyes.

"I'll be back, I promise," His words were pained, and it was apparent he didn't want to leave her. Lilly managed a feeble nod before he traveled out of the room. Prudence screeched like a banshee.

"Insolent children!" In the blink of an eye, Prudence left the cellar in pursuit of Penny. Lilly tried to squeeze her hands out of the cuffs again, only to gasp when the metal dug into the gashes that littered her skin. Tears pricked at her eyes, she was losing hope. She didn't know how long she had before Prudence returned, and she couldn't be there when she got back. Lilly rested her head in the crook of her arm, allowing the tears to streak through the dried blood on her skin.

The wall behind her was decorated with various patches of dried blood, likely from the real Jane and the other children Prudence tortured. It irked her to imagine those poor children going through what she just did. Except they had no one coming to save them. They'd endured this torture over and over again with no escape nor rescue. Lilly's eyes fell on one of the bloody child's handprints, so small and feeble, but abused by this monster of a woman. The sight was seared into her mind forever. That's when it occurred to her.

The horrifying thought was what could save her. It was only a few inches from her fingertips, just out of reach. She could make it. She had to make it. Lilly pushed against the restraints on her left wrist, stretching as far as it would go. The cuff dug tortuously into her wrist, but she couldn't stop. Blood began to pour from a gash on her forearm. Just half an inch further, and she could be free. Lilly stretched her fingers to the max, elongating each one until she brushed against the dried blood.

A few spots of red flaked off to the floor as she tried to imagine Eliza coaching her as if it were only one of their normal training sessions, not a life or death situation. Lilly focused on absorbing the DNA, morphing her own to match it. It was only a moment before she felt the shift. The tingling coursed through her like electricity. Her eyelids fluttered closed, her limbs began to shrink, and rearrange to child size. Her clothes were suddenly baggy, hanging off her in odd places, but the most wonderful change was that her now tiny hand could slip through her shackles with ease. The child's body was still covered in the gashes inflicted on her adult body, only they covered much more surface area now.

Lilly pitched herself towards the doors of the storm cellar. Blood loss was beginning to take effect. She clambered up the steps to reach the doors and pushed against them fervently. They were locked from the outside and showed no signs of weakness. A shattered mirror to her right revealed the blonde-haired little girl whose blood was splattered across the cellar wall. Lilly's heart sank as she stared into the innocent blue eyes of the girl.

Beatrix was her name, one of the housekeeper's children. She'd been tortured down in that cellar, who knows how many times. Her eyes were a vibrant blue, but there was no spark of childhood joy, or hope of a future. They were lifeless staring back at her. She didn't know if the emotions she felt were from sympathy alone or a product of the shift, but she seemed to experience every bit of pain and suffering this girl went through all in that one moment. Before she could fall further into the barrage of pain and grief, Lilly forced herself to look away from the shattered mirror and focus on the urgent task at hand.

She pictured her own body, allowing the tingling to take over and return her to normal. Once she had her own fingers back, Lilly performed a simple unlocking charm. The resounding click was music to her ears. She shoved as hard as she could, agony shooting through her with the added exertion. There was no giving up now. If she did, she had no doubt Prudence would kill her. Fresh night air greeted her, and she was barely able to climb out without fainting. She stumbled onto the grass, collapsing to her knees as her legs gave out. Her breathing was heavy, and she fought to push herself up off the ground, only to be yanked back violently by her hair.

"What are you doing out of The Quiet Place? I thought I made the consequences clear," Prudence dragged Lilly across the grass. A blood-curdling scream to pierce the night air. The gashes on Lilly's arms were caked in dirt, and she felt like she was going to heave up her dinner. This was the end, she couldn't get away this time. Penny wasn't coming back, he might be dead too by now. She had no strength left to fight the woman off. She lay limp, clutching her hair as Prudence dragged her back towards the cellar.

"Hey! Prudence!" Quentin, it was Quentin's voice. Lilly's best friend ran towards them, the others followed close behind. Their expressions each held varying degrees of fear, anger, and pity at the sight of her bloodied and beaten on the ground. "I heard the nastiest rumor about your brother," he handed the ghost a photograph of something Lilly couldn't make out, but it bothered the woman enough to drop her hair and rip it into tiny pieces. "Okay, fine, but there are about forty-eight more of those that I just hid all over the house. I'm gonna make sure everyone knows exactly what Christopher Plover did."

"No!" Prudence cried out, vanishing into thin air, leaving Lilly on the ground in a heap. Four sets of footsteps thundered towards her, and gentle hands helped lift her enough to see her friends gathered around her.

"Thank God, you're okay!" Quentin gasped, inspecting the collection of gashes.

"Okay is a bit of a strong word, don't you think?" Eliot brushed her hair back into place, causing her to wince when he grazed the bloody head wound from earlier. Her eyes found Penny, who looked remarkably concerned and guilty.

"You're late, asshole, what happened?"

"I accidentally traveled to a fucking tree a mile away." Now that she thought about it, he did look a bit winded.

"Luckily, I learned from a young age not to wait for a man to save me," he rolled his eyes and delicately lifted Lilly to her feet. She hissed at the contact, but he kept his arm around her in support. If he hadn't, she'd be face-first on the ground. "Did you guys get the button?"

"Not yet, but we know where it is," Quentin explained. "That bought us around ten minutes. Penny, get Lilly back to Brakebills. Everyone else, let's go dig up a dead body."

➺➺➺➺

It took the Brakebills healers about three hours to fully heal her. Unfortunately, she was left with a few scars on her stomach, arm, and one right below her collar bone. It was a small price to pay after hearing what Prudence did to the poor tour guide. Penny stayed with her while they worked, allowing her to squeeze the life out of his hand every time one of the healing students had to disinfect the gashes or stitch her up. He didn't whisper comforting words as Quentin would have, but his silent, unwavering presence was more than enough.

It was a bit of a surprise that he could be so gentle and caring, even brushing a stay piece of hair from her eyes as she squirmed from the pain. Given that the rest of their friends were digging up the button or MIA, he was her only option. She found herself much more content with his company that she'd initially thought. Lilly sank back into the hospital bed as soon as they were done.

"I'm sorry I didn't come back," Penny's voice broke the silence and Lilly turned her head carefully to face him.

"It's fine, I can take care of myself."

"I know," Lilly's mind wandered to the face of Beatrix staring back at her from that mirror in the Quiet Place. "I'm sorry I burned that manuscript. If I'd known how much it meant to you, I wouldn't have done it. You know- that's a lie- I still would've done it. I'm a piece of shit, you know that, but I am sorry," Lilly gave a sad smile, her heart not truly in it.

"You know, after tonight, that manuscript doesn't hold the same appeal as it did before. It's probably not the worst thing that you destroyed it. At least now that monster won't get any more glory from those books," Penny nodded in agreement, though his guilt still sat like a ton of bricks in his chest as he watched the young woman's broken expression. "We have to help those kids. They're trapped there in that place forever, they're being tortured over and over. We have to help them," Penny shook his head, his eyebrows pulling together.

"Lilly, I don't think we can-"

"Please, I know it's impossible, but we have to try," she pleaded with him, her eyes showing the true understanding she had for what those children were going through. "Please," Penny hesitated.

"Alright," he whispered tenderly, understanding her need to at least attempt to do something. "We'll try to help, but right now you need to get some rest, alright?" She nodded minutely, sinking back into the pillows and shutting her eyes.

"Penny?" She sighed, peeking through her lashes just enough to see his face.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," she didn't know how long she was asleep, just that when she awoke, Penny still sat at her bedside, grasping her hand lightly. The door shut noisily. The rest of their group had returned. The energy was somber, they all looked and felt like they'd been put through a garbage disposal. Eliot flopped down exaggeratedly onto an armchair in the corner, pulling out his flask. Quentin went around the room and shut all the curtains so that their conversation would be safe from prying eyes. Alice silently made her way into the room, delicate and haunted by what they'd witnessed back in England. Quentin sat beside Alice on the empty cot across from Lilly's and began whispering comforting words to his girlfriend.

"Okay," Penny took charge, gesturing to Quentin, "let's see this button." Quentin pulled an object from his jacket pocket and placed it on the bedside table. Penny leaned in close, and Lilly craned her neck to get a better look. The button was kept in a glass container and looked anything but magical.

"It looks so ordinary," Eliot mused as Penny examined it.

"Nah, I feel something coming off it, hard." Penny reached for it, popping open the case. "You guys really don't feel that?" He looked around at each of his companions who shook their heads. To Lilly, it just looked like a regular old button, but Penny was a Traveler, and the button was a portal.

"Maybe you should put it away," Quentin suggested.

"Hey, don't talk to me like I'm you," Penny snapped. "Mayakovsky trained me himself. I stay put until I wanna go, period," he reached for the button again.

"Just-" Lilly cut in before he could touch it, "be careful." He chuckled at their lack of faith, but something about him touching it made her uneasy.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." He reached for it again, but the moment his fingers brushed the object, he disappeared, leaving behind nothing but empty air. Lilly rolled her eyes at his stupidity.

"Told him not to do that."