I hastily push past Tessa, not giving her time to respond. Frankly, I'd say that reuniting with her dead husband can be postponed until after I'm safe. I fly, the halls becoming a blur. The faster I get out of here the better, I can only hope that the Clave doesn't already have me on lockdown. I finally find the main stairway, and I'm almost relieved when I jump down it...until I see two enclave members posted at the door. I back up the stairs, watching them for unusual activity, however I find nothing out of the ordinary. I realize that since the ground floor is crawling with enclave, I must climb or jump from another level. I go to the third floor (which has no current residents) and I find a reasonable window to jump out of. I almost think its a shame when I smash my elbow through the beautiful stained glass and climb onto the sill.

Are you absolutely sure about this? My skin is on the line too.

"Yeah, I mean I'm a hunk of metal, hell, I'm Iron Woman"

Whatever you say.

I take a deep breath. I slide off the ledge and I'm falling, however, I'm not there for impact with the ground.

I come to in an admittedly extra disgusting bathroom, probably a gas station. I begin to panic, and looking for an explanation from Will, I smack my head a few times with my palm. Unfortunately, I am greeted with no answer. The bathroom is what is to be considered the most grimy place you could imagine. Forget tombs or dumps, this place takes the cake. You could even say its been decades since this place has been cleaned. There's a haze in the air, laying heavily on me, and it seems to be suffocating me. But that's silly, its a bathroom, a moist, humid place. The haze is simply a fog. I scan the room once more, only to find something even more odd. A dish of what looks like watery oatmeal. I slowly approach it, and I find the smell intoxicating, rendering me unable to resist its pull. I struggle to walk slowly toward it, fighting the temptation to dive toward it. Eventually I can't resist, I leap for the bowl of deliciousness and stuff my face. When I finish, I feel warm, and I feel a strange itch on my forearm. The source of said itch is a fresh rune, clearly recently activated. It is one that I recognize, but I have no clue what it means. And frankly, I'm too tired to care. The world is hazy and spinning as I make my way to the strange knapsack in the corner, and I fall asleep before my head can hit the straw-filled pillow.

I come to in an admittedly extra disgusting bathroom, probably a gas station. I begin to panic, as I have never been here. Looking for an explanation from Will, I smack my head a few times with my palm. I only hear a soft whisper, which leads me to wonder if the fall I took a few hours, minutes? back hurt Will in some way. I call out for Will again, only to hear what seems to be a muffled scream. It may have been that, or just me, but this bowl of watery oatmeal just appeared, and it smells delicious. I'm being pulled toward it, and I eat it, naturally. And now I'm feeling very tired, so I go over to a knapsack I failed to notice earlier and I fall asleep. However, before I drift off, I finally hear Will screaming, "Don't eat the porridge!"

I come to in a disgusting bathroom and with a terrible headache. How far did I fall off the building? Is Will here? After a terrible pause I finally hear the familiar voice of my forced companion.

Don't you dare eat the porridge, do whatever necessary, just don't eat it.

"What porridge? This is a bathroom for God's sake."

The porridge that will come in about ten minutes, look at your left forearm.

I look down to see an unfamiliar rune, that I maybe recognize.

"What is it?"

A special rune the Clave keeps to themselves:Compliance

"Why would I have this on? Didn't we escape? Why else would we be in this bathroom?"

This isn't a bathroom Xan. It's a prison?

"How would you know that?"

You have been in here for the past two years.

As Will says those words, I smell the most intoxicating smell coming from a small bowl of watery oatmeal.