I jerked like I'd been slapped and stumbled back a step, a bit too numb from my earlier mysterious-monster-in-the-dark induced terror to react in any other way. I now know why they always use children in horror movies.

She had a ragged black strip of fabric tied around her head in a large, floppy bow, roughly shorn off hair, and looked around nine or ten. Freckles stood out on her skin starkly in the strange light.

"Hi," I said in a weird social reflex.

She just gazed at me as I continued to stare up at her in shock. I noticed small hands gripping the bars, white-knuckled with effort. They were shaking, like she was supporting her entire weight with them.

"Please don't scream," I whispered at her. Was she the daughter of someone here? Somehow, I hadn't thought there'd be children in the unworld. All I needed was some high-pitched child scream directing all the stun guns, creepy shadow monsters and scary red-light vehicles to my location.

She watched me silently and I felt a thrill of unease. I'd had enough horror for one night. I didn't need a zombie child staring at me.

I tried to see into the room behind her. Something about those bars on the window made me uneasy. Who puts bars on a child's room? Was it to keep something out, or to trap something inside? I could see a steel door on the wall behind her, surprisingly close to the window. The room she was in was as narrow as a closet. A horrible, creeping feeling was dawning on me.

"Are you –" I was silenced as she turned her head slightly, and I saw a dark tattoo on her neck. PM942.

I stared at the small, crudely shaped letters and my mouth twisted, filling with a bitter, metallic taste. It looked like a barcode. Like a brand.

"I'm getting you out," the words slipped out with no direction from me, as though I'd been briefly possessed by an Anna who wasn't battered, burnt, sprained, and scared out of her mind. The words were determined.

I had been shaking, adrenalin coursing through me, every nerve strung tightly enough to snap. I was prepared to run, my mind flickering from thought to thought erratically. But those words, so strange – that felt like they came from some hidden, buried part of me – sank down through my body like an anchor. Chaining me to the spot.

I looked at the girl and something in me clarified, crystallised. Before, I was all adrenalin, reaction, terror – but now, my focus was split. There was still the rapid beating of my heart, and the fear of the darkness, the creatures, and the spotlights – but there was also the girl, staring at me, motionless.

I bit my lip, and a sensation of hopeless certainty spread through me. I had to try. I couldn't leave her. I looked her in the eyes, which seemed strangely mismatched, even in the monochrome colouring of night.

"I promise," I said.

An expression passed across the girl's face, lightning-fast, transforming, twisting. Then it was gone, and she continued to watch me guardedly. Suddenly, she dropped out of sight.

Alarmed, I gripped hold of the bars and hoisted myself up in an attempt to look inside the room. A spasm of pain shot through my injured wrist, and I let go on reflex, falling away from the window and landing awkwardly on one knee with an ungainly and inelegant thump.

"Ah, fu – " I began, then quickly amended myself, "Fungi."

My heroic recue attempt was not going as planned. I tried again, jumping up and gripping onto the bars with my good hand – quickly realising that I was nowhere near fit enough to hold myself up. I hooked my forearm around the bars, using it as a brace. The metal was painfully cold, colder than was natural, and I winced.  My toes hung several inches off the ground. I gripped my shard with my injured hand, and peered into the room.

The girl was standing on the floor, staring up at me.

"I mean," I continued, slightly breathlessly "only if you want to go. Do you want me to get you out?"

The girl nodded. The metal was so cold against my arm I could feel it through my sweater like a burn.

"Ok, now don't be scared," I said, heroically. "I'm going to melt these bars." I brought the shard up, and concentrated. The tip started to glow with heat. The bars were thicker than the chain mail fence, but I was sure I could get through them if I just made the shard hot enough.

I pressed it against the bars. Nothing. I tried to increase the heat. Still, nothing.

My shard started to shake in my hand.

"The bars are made from auri, you fuckwit," whispered the girl.

 "What?" I hissed back unintelligently, not sure if I was more shocked about such language from a child, the weird content of her message, or the fact that she'd finally spoken to me.

"Aurichalcum," she said, like I was an idiot. "Shards don't work on it. You must be a pretty bad Waker."

I frowned at her, then lost my balance and half-slipped off the window. "Oh, bugg – bugs," I censored as I hauled myself back into view. "I'm new."

She scowled at me. "You can't get through the window. It's designed to hold Wakers."

"Are you a Waker?"

"No!" she snapped. "You need to go round the front. There are four guards, but I'm sure that won't be a problem for one of you chosen ones." (I have a feeling she was being sarcastic.)

"Four?" I whispered, holding myself up with difficulty, my arms shaking. "Four? Really? Four?"

"Yes. Four."

"Are they... asleep?" I asked, hopefully.

She shrugged belligerently.

"How do I get through your door, then, if it's made of this special kind of metal?" I hissed at her.

She rolled her eyes. "There's a bolt on the other side. They're too fucking stupid for keys."

"Ok," I said, psyching myself up. "Ok, ok... Ok." I took a deep breath.  "I'm going to scope the area."

She stared up at me, with her strange, uneven eyes. "Don't die."

That reminded me. "They're not Hierarchs, are they?"

"They're slaver scum, and you should kill them," she answered.

I blanched and dropped down from the window.  "I'll be back," I whispered up at the bars.

She didn't reply.

Avoiding the patches of light, I crept around the building, towards the entrance. As I passed close to the thin, metal walls, I could hear voices inside.

^^^

Author's Note:

Thank you everyone for reading! Let me know how you found the chapter, please vote or comment if you enjoyed! :)

For more Anna check out the tumblr (there's fan art there now?!): http://annawakes.tumblr.com/

Or the (super awesome) soundtracks: http://8tracks.com/annawakes