Chapter 45 : Submission to the Master

*Lynn*

I heard the sound of battle cries outside and knew Calix had come. I felt him even as I shivered in the darkness next to my sister. His heart beat in unison with mine. I could feel his fear as much as his anger.

He hated what he had to do, but he wanted to find me above all else.

“Can’t you shift?” she asked me. “It’s past your birthday. I know you can!”

“I would,” I told her. “But there is something down here that prevents it. We’ll have to find another way out.”

I stood on trembling legs, gathering my cloak around me. I went to the door and traced my fingers along its edges, searching for a gap or something I could use to wedge the thing open. This wasn’t the first time I had tried this, and I doubted it would be my last.

But I hated seeing Clara as she was, barely alive and shivering with such cold. She would soon be dead. As much as I searched around the small room, I could find nothing that could help us, and as much as I tried to shift, nothing would come of it.