Page 124 of The Girl Out of Time
Emmeline and Louisa stared at each other across the carriage.
“Did you know?” Louisa asked.
“No. But it makes perfect sense.” Theo had said Cass intended to talk with her father. It must’ve been about this. Like Theo, she’d decided to not submit to her father’s wishes any longer. “Do you think,” she started again after a moment of silence, “that Daniel can get us to see Theo?”
“You hadn’t seen him pull his ‘I’m the Marquis Farenham’ card,” Louisa said. “It’s highly effective, I assure you.”
Nervousness, fear, but also a tiny drop of hope mixed in Emmeline’s stomach. Why wouldn’t Daniel’s orders override Wescott’s?
After about fifteen minutes, Daniel came back. “You can go see him.” He extended a hand out to stop Louisa from going after Emmeline. “It’s no place for the ladies, Sister. If I could spare you both, I would.”
“I’ll be fine,” Emmeline said to Louisa and exited the carriage. “You should go,” she then said to Daniel.
“We’ll wait for you.”
“You and Cass need to go. Don’t lose another minute on my account, please. Wescott could find out about her disappearance at any second. Don’t let him do the same to either of you.”
Daniel’s jaw twitched in frustration. “Very well. I’ll order another carriage to come pick you up.”
She nodded and started toward the entrance, when he pulled her back and leaned his head toward her, for a second invoking the old memory of last summer—before she realized he only wanted to whisper in her ear.
“He’s been sentenced to death. Tomorrow morning.”
Her breath caught.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more. They barely allowed to let you see him.”
A burning rushed up her throat and to her eyes, but she managed to nod. “Thank you.”
He tilted his head goodbye and disappeared into the carriage.
Emmeline clutched her hands, steeled her spine, and headed for the entrance. A grim, cold, darkly lit lobby awaited her inside, with a guard standing in attendance. “This way, Miss.” He led her down a tiled hallway, through a door, and then down a stone spiral staircase, the rising gloom gobbling up her courage. They reached another hallway, with a few lamps casting lonely circles of light onto the stone walls. Metal screeched somewhere in the distance, covering weak screams and painful moans. The smellof something rotten mixed with sweat and humidity, nearly making her gag.
Iron doors with rows of rivets ran down the hallway. The guard stopped at one of those, nodding at Emmeline and leaving her alone. A grid of small squares, perhaps two inches on the side, offered her the only glimpse inside the cell, but it was pitch dark. She approached, taking note of a heavy metal lock. No chance she could pick it. “Theo?” she tried, her voice coming out shaky.
“Emmeline?” Something inside the cell stirred, and his face pressed to the grate.
“Theo!” She ran to him, scratching at the door, trying to maneuver into being able to kiss him or touch him at all, but the few small holes were unyielding.
“Emmeline.” Theo’s voice was half-hopeful, half-desperate. “How are you here? Why? This isn’t the place for you.”
“Neither is it for you. Wescott did this.”
“I figured, from the police and guards’ behavior. Emmeline …” He leaned to the side. “I’m sorry.”
She pressed to the door and closed her eyes. “Don’t be.Youmade the right decision. But it’s not over yet.”
Theo smiled. “Always the optimist. Always ready with a plan. But this time …”
“Don’t say it.”
“You know, don’t you? Of the sentence?”
She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Yes.”
“I wish we’d had longer. I wish you could send us back to that castle …”
“I could try,” she said with an unconvincing peep. It had been so long since her powers had worked. “Maybe I could send you away, somewhereWescott can’t reach you. Perhaps to your mother! You could pretend you’re a neighbor. You’d get to know her, for a few years at least, and you’d live in peace—”
