Light.

Sound.

A car engine starting and then stopping.

I can feel that I'm moved but there's nothing I can do about it. My body is cold, numbed to most anything.

She betrayed me, she's behind this!

All I can do is think, since I'm not able to do much else.

All this time I've been talking to the enemy.

But why would she do this?

Nothing comes to mind.

I trusted her.

Even Luke's betrayal hadn't stung quite this much. I had poured out so much to her, trusted her to help me, heal me, listen to me. She had supported me through more than Luke had ever been able to.

Friends are better to share the happy times with, therapists are here to take your hardships and help you out of them.

It's something she had said to me when I had been upset about not being able to tell Tessa and Astrid about some of my fears because I knew they wouldn't be able to understand some of it. That and I hadn't wanted to spoil the time we would share together by bringing up the past.

"Open your eyes."

I do it without feeling my eyelids and without wanting to.

Mrs. Nox is standing over me and I realize I'm in the trunk of a car. She smiles at me, the same smile she's always given me but her eyes are empty now. Unfeeling.

"Get up," she says and like a puppet on a string, I obey.

I sit up and my heart stops in my chest as I see who is standing just a few paces away.

Clayton.

He looks different, less like the proper man I once thought I knew and more like a desperate person on their last shred of hope. He's dressed in baggy clothes that don't fit him right, his blue eyes sharp and darting about like he's looking for danger. Beyond him is a small dock and it's then I notice that we're at the harbor. I can hear the buoys out on the water as they ring in the distance, but other than that it's nearly silent and dark out.

Even if I could scream, I doubt many people would hear it.

"Hello, Kara," Clayton says to me and if I could bare my teeth I would. "Don't look so surprised, no prison can contain a Hallewell, though I will admit I made a special effort to break out tonight so I could see you again."

He says it so charmingly, almost like I should be thanking him but all I feel is a sickness twisting my stomach.

"Walk with us," Mrs. Nox says and I get to my feet as I follow her down to the dock.

Water harmlessly laps at the shore as we walk and I realize maybe halfway down that something is sitting in the middle of the dock. As we get closer it becomes apparent that it's not a something but a someone, two of them specifically who have pillowcases pulled over their heads.

Runes have been drawn across their arms and I read them to be dulling and neutralizing runes. Clayton walks over to them and pulls off the pillowcases and for just a moment I can feel my strength return as I stop in my tracks.

Staring back at me are Indigo and Connor.

"I need you to take their power from them," Mrs. Nox says airily. "Draining only one Unfamiliar is easier than draining three at a time if all of the power is concentrated to one of them."

I blink, a second movement that is entirely on my own.

Both Indigo and Connor are looking through me, like they can't see me as I stare back at them. One set of green eyes and one set of brown. A copy of my mother and father's eyes. There isn't a single flash of recognition in them, no sign that they know what's going on and I want to claw Clayton's face off for it.

Mrs. Nox makes an impatient noise then as she hands Clayton a glass wand, a wand that I know mortals can use since power can be stored in it.

"If you won't take their power I will take their lives Kara, it's up to you."

She says it in a low voice, like she's talking me through a calming technique when my panic attacks would become unbearable.

Indigo doesn't move as Clayton presses the wand to her flesh and starts to draw a rune that glows a bright shade of blue on her forearm.

"No."

I startle at the sound of my own voice and Mrs. Nox whips around to look at me.

I dig for some sort of power, for a shred of control as I manage to cast a faint ward on Indigo's arm as Clayton is no longer able to place the rune. I feel so tired, like heavy chains have been wrapped around my head and arms as I try to lift them, to control my own limbs.

Mrs. Nox makes a noise at this as she shakes her head and bares her teeth like a feral cat.

"It's useless Kara, either you give up your power or you will die, it's a simple as that," she tells me as she starts to walk up to me.

Her wand lifts as she points it at me, the tip glowing white as I try to brace myself.

"But mark my words, you can't break free of my control."