When Sparrow found herself in the Spire again, she was on her knees, staring up at Theresa. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She closed her eyes, trying to erase the events. Instead, the look on Bryn's face was burned into her memory. The fear, the confusion, that was the last thing her husband would feel. What did Lucien say to him? Did he tell them Sparrow was dead? Did he speak at all? A million thoughts were happening at once.
"Reaver did betray you, but he didn't know about your family, Hero. Arfur was destitute, and the promise of gold was enough to reveal your information." Theresa explained.
Sparrow didn't hear her, though. She was too busy thinking about the events that had just transpired before her eyes. There were so many things that could have prevented their deaths. She could have been home. She could have shown up at Castle Fairfax and shot Lucien point-blank. Then she remembered the sink. Why hadn't Bryn used the sink? By the time Lucien's army had reached the house, Bryn and Rosary could have been in the Bowerstone sewers, headed towards Brightwood. Did Bryn forget, in the wake of his panic? Sparrow needed to figure out why her husband didn't choose the escape route they had so carefully created.
"Theresa, send me back to my home." Sparrow's voice was calm, but Theresa could hear the urgency.
"As you wish, Hero."
Just before the spinning began, Sparrow closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was behind Reaver again, holding his gun against his head. She lowered his gun, and moved to go downstairs. It took Reaver thirty seconds to process the events that had just transpired. One minute, Sparrow was holding a gun to his head, about to kill him. Then, she just gives up, walks away like she forgot to get the mail.
"Lord, woman, you just tried to kill me and you're walking away like it didn't happen?" He followed after her. No response as she continued down the stairs.
"At least give me my gun back!"
Sparrow, too preoccupied, again failed to hear Reaver.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" Reaver tried swiping the gun back.
"Reaver, shut up will you?" Sparrow finally turned towards him. "Here's your damn gun!"
Sparrow tossed the gun at Reaver and moved on.
"Careful! You know there are only six of these in existence!" Reaver exclaimed as he caught his gun, placing it back in the holster.
"Yeah, and you own five of them." Sparrow replied as she rounded the bottom of the stairs, and stopped at the sink. Reaver followed suit. She began feeling underneath the bowl, for the lever. When she found it, she tried pulling it. The lever stayed in place. Sparrow pulled on it, and once again, the lever didn't budge.
"What the hell?" Sparrow began looking underneath the sink, only to confirm that the lever was jammed.
"How did this...?" She began fidgeting with the lever, only to see some bits of rust fall off it. It was then that Sparrow noticed the small crack in the bowl, just enough to let water through. Just enough to rust the metal lever.
"It...It rusted? They had to have tried to use it...but how did the bowl get cracked?" Sparrow began putting together the events of that terrible night.
"Er...what rusted? What exactly are you looking for?" Reaver was started to get bored.
"When my hero work really picked up, and started to get dangerous, Bryn and I installed a secret tunnel in this house as an escape route. Similar to your bookcase, the door was opened by pulling a lever underneath the sink." Sparrow explained, still looking at the rusty lever.
"You had an escape route?"
"Not for me, for my husband, in case something happened, and he needed to take Rosary and flee. Lucien was bound to find me at some point, and it was the only thing we could do to protect our daughter, or so we thought. Who knows how long the lever had been building rust." Sparrow moved out from underneath the sink and sat on the floor for a moment. If only she had thought to check the lever on her visits home, make sure there was nothing to prevent her family from escaping.
"And this was a better idea than a bookshelf because...?" Reaver began questioning her logic.
"Because a bookshelf is too predictable, Reaver. If someone is going to build an escape route, they're likely to create a false bookshelf, or have a brick in the wall that you pull, or a loose floorboard. Nobody suspects the sink to have a lever under it." Sparrow stood back up.
"Well it clearly didn't work considering that it rusted shut." Reaver smirked for a moment, before noticing the glare from Sparrow.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Really, why are you like this? Do you understand that my six year old daughter and husband are dead? I was gone for two weeks, I promised that I would be home soon. She was waiting for me to be there to protect her, and I couldn't. I don't even know what Lucien did with her body. I can't even give her a proper burial!" Sparrow had to use all of her strength to stay on her feet.
"The worst part is that its my fault. I knew being a hero and trying to have a family, especially in a town where I'm well known, was dangerous. But I told myself they'd be safe. That I could protect them. I knew I couldn't have a normal life while Lucien was alive, but I decided that I wanted it. I put my own desires for a family first, and look what's happened. I'm standing in the middle of my ransacked house, the place that was supposed to be safest, where my family was murdered. Their blood is on the wall upstairs, because of me. Lucien somehow erased their existence in anyone's memory, too. I can't even give them a memorial, because again, I don't know what Lucien did with their bodies!" Sparrow was on the floor again, sobbing.