Day seven.
The deadline had arrived.
When I stood before Grimm again, he pressed a handkerchief over his nose and mouth with one hand while his greedy eyes devoured the storage case in my arms, its contents pulsing with faint blue light.
Ninety-eight, ninety-nine...
Beep --
Purity anomaly! The detector shrieked in a sudden, sharp wail, its red light flashing in a frenzy.
The smug expression on Grimm's old face collapsed in an instant.
"You dare try to cheat me!"
He whipped the antique revolver from his belt and jammed the black mouth of the barrel against my forehead.
"Lord Grimm! Mercy!"
I threw myself to the floor, clawing at the hems of his trousers, sobbing until snot ran down my chin -- deliberately smearing the filth from my face onto his expensive robes.
"I did everything I could... but the last specimen was diseased. Its toxin glands were shriveled... Please, I don't want to die!"
Gus dropped to his knees beside me, slamming his forehead against the ground over and over.
A cloaked attendant at Grimm's side leaned in and murmured a few words into his ear.
He looked down at the pathetic wreck I'd made of myself and yanked his leg free in disgust.
"If this defective tube reaches the Goldface, my entire family goes into the meat grinder!"
BANG!
He pulled the trigger.
The bullet screamed past my ear and struck the metal wall behind me. The impact set my eardrums ringing with pain.
I collapsed flat on the floor, shaking uncontrollably.
This time, I wasn't faking it.
"For the sake of the other ninety-nine blue tubes, I'll let you keep your miserable life. For now."
I kowtowed like a woman possessed, forehead hammering the ground in rapid succession.
In that moment I was not the dissector who could strip bone with surgical precision. I was just another Numbered, groveling for one more day of breath.
"However..."
Grimm bent down and ripped the filthy bandage from my face, the cloth crusted with dried pus and blood.
"Since you're the one who made this mess, you're the one who'll cover my losses."
He flung the bandage aside, staring hard at my face, and smiled coldly.
"Next month, Hub 101 is hosting the Deep Blue Aurora auction. If you can sell this defective batch for a premium price at that event, I'll let you off the hook. Otherwise --"
He paused deliberately, his gaze frigid.
"You and your little helper will spend the rest of your lives in the breeding shed, servicing those creatures."
"Th-thank you, my lord..." I forced the words out through chattering teeth. "And Mara...?"
"That little bitch is already locked up in the breeding shed. If you don't do exactly as you're told, I can't guarantee she'll still be alive when the month is up."
Grimm released me, shoving me away like a piece of garbage. He waved a hand at his guards.
"Take her. Find some experienced handmaids and scrub this eyesore clean. Next month, she's going to be my star Energy Maiden."
The guards seized me under the arms and dragged me out. My fingernails dug so deep into my palms they nearly broke the skin.
Day 1,308.
I was no longer merely a debtor on death row. I had become a commodity in Grimm's hands, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder.
The night before the Deep Blue Aurora auction.
For the first time in memory, I was given a private room with a lock on the door. Clean sheets. A pillow that didn't reek of mold -- all courtesy of Grimm, so I'd perform well at the auction.
He had handed me over to a crew of brutal handmaids. They scrubbed me the way you'd scrub machine parts, stripping away the layers of grime and dead skin, then forced me to practice a mincing, coquettish walk.
For the entire month, I was watched nearly twenty-four hours a day, except when sleeping. Only behind this locked door could I let myself breathe.
I curled into the corner of the bed and fished out a faded photograph from a slit in the pillow.
In the image, a white island floated above a sea of clouds. Beneath it, a line of blurred text: Avalon: The Last Promised Land.
It was the only thing I'd had on me when I woke up.
Titan City, which the Lycan had mentioned. The "outside" that Skagg had spoken of with his dying breath. Every clue pointed to the same conclusion -- there was living civilization beyond Hub 101.
Tomorrow's auction might be my only chance to escape.
I silently took stock of what I had: twenty-three green tubes, fifteen hundred fire coins, plus the six thousand Grimm owed me. If I could get my hands on all of it, I might find a way out -- find the legendary Avalon.
And the purple chip and the wolf-fang pendant were my last cards to play.
As for the pendant's owner...
I pulled the pendant from the pocket sewn against my skin. The silver fang gleamed faintly in the dim light.
I hoped he wouldn't become an obstacle on my road to freedom.
I sighed, tucked the photograph and pendant back into their hiding places.
Leave it to fate.
The next day. The backstage dressing room.
The air was thick with the stench of cheap perfume cut with machine oil. Several Energy Maidens sat in blank-faced silence, troweling layers of lead-white powder over their skin, trying to mask the sallow complexion that years of hard labor had ground into them.
In Hub 101, Energy Maiden was the assignment every woman dreamed of. No rotting corpses to handle. Pretty clothes to wear. If you were lucky, some powerful patron might take you away under a "lifetime lease." Still a slave, yes -- but at least you wouldn't spend every day wondering if this was the day they kicked you into the meat grinder.
Of course, if you failed to hit your sales target, your fate would be worse than dying on the production line.
I sat down in front of the mirror and changed into the deep blue silk gown Grimm had provided. I had just finished my makeup when I caught two furtive silhouettes slinking past in the mirror's edge.
Instinct told me something was wrong.
I rose quickly, went to the clothing rack, and lifted the gown inch by inch for inspection. Sure enough -- every stitch along the hem and waist had been loosened with a fine needle. One wide step on stage and the whole thing would split open in front of everyone.
"Well, well. Look who it is."
A shrill voice cut in behind me.
Katia sauntered over, hips swaying, her eyes venomous as they raked over me.
"Who would have guessed -- that eye of yours actually works. Tsk, tsk. And look at that face. No wonder Lord Grimm has been giving you such special attention."
The scrawny lackey perpetually glued to her side bobbed her head in agreement.
"What are you doing here?" I asked coldly.
"What, you're allowed to play the lady and we're not allowed a taste of the good life?" Katia laughed, her whole body shaking with theatrical delight. "You should be thanking me, really. If I hadn't done my civic duty and reported your little green-tube stash, Lord Grimm never would have promoted us to Energy Maidens."
"I didn't steal anything." I stared her down.
"Didn't steal? Then those twenty-three green tubes hidden in the ventilation shaft -- did they just grow there on their own?" Katia's voice dripped with the pleasure of revenge.
My head buzzed as if struck by a hammer.
It was her.
This bitch had stabbed me in the back.
No wonder Grimm had looked at me that way in his office. He'd known all along. That whole speech hadn't been a test -- it was an ultimatum. He knew I'd been hiding behind the ugly disguise. He knew about my stash. And he'd still made me the closing act, because he intended to wring out every last drop of value before sending me to my grave.
"So don't bother trying." Katia leaned in close, her whisper ice-cold against my ear. "Even if you fetch a fortune tonight, you won't save that little bitch. And you sure as hell won't save yourself."
Cold sweat soaked through my back in an instant.
"I paid a visit to Mara in the breeding shed yesterday. Tsk, tsk -- surrounded by those mutant dog-men... Her face has been gnawed beyond recognition, not a patch of good skin left on her. She's just curled up in a corner, waiting to die."
"You're lying!" I seized Katia by the collar, fingers digging in.
"Lying? Go see for yourself." Katia showed no fear -- if anything, her grin stretched wider. "You'd better fetch the price Grimm wants, or you'll be keeping Mara company, servicing those animals. Oh, and that bone-crusher friend of yours? I'm sure his fate will be even more entertaining."
I released her slowly. My nails had carved deep crescents into my palms.
Rage, in this moment, was useless.
Katia was nothing but Grimm's dog. And Grimm had already sealed off every exit.
He was keeping me alive for one reason only: that case of blue tubes that hadn't been cashed in yet.
Outside, pounding heavy metal music and the auctioneer's frenzied screaming shook the ceiling hard enough to send dust raining down.
The auction had begun.
I looked down at the sabotaged gown. From the vanity I took a silver needle and slid it into my hair. Then I tore a strip of silk ribbon and wound it tight against my skin around my waist, secretly reinforcing the weakest seams.
Not perfect, but enough for an emergency.
Outside, the auctioneer's howling grew closer and closer.
I clenched my back teeth and took one last look at myself in the mirror.
Grimm thought he'd accounted for everything. Thought I was a bird in a cage.
But what he didn't know --
Prey cornered with no way out is often far more dangerous than the hunter.