“Finished?”

“Yes.”

We left Lloyd’s place and headed back to mine. I took a seat again at my kitchen table and watched as she went about preparing sandwiches.

She worked in silence, and then sat down at the table opposite me and began eating.

I watched her expression as she swallowed.

“This is weird,” she said, as she stopped chewing. “Food. It tastes… different.” She dunked a spoon into the jar of pickles and dolloped more into her sandwiches. “Everything tastes more… tasteless. It feels like it needs more salt or more… something…”

“I guess that’s because you’re halfway to being a vampire.”

“Do you know a lot about half-bloods?” she asked.

“More than you, I’m sure, but not a lot.”

She adjusted her shirt to reveal a tattoo—the same black cross that we all bore—etched into her right arm.

“What is this?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Everyone who enters The Oasis seems to get one the first night they’re here.”

“I tried to ask Michael about it, but he was cryptic.”

Marilyn had also given me no clear answer. I’d put it down to just her being drunk. But I hadn’t bothered to ask anyone else about it. I had been so focused on how to escape this place.

After River had finished eating, and chugging down a whole jug of water, we went into the living room. Sitting down in the comfortable armchairs, we continued talking. She began asking dozens of questions about vampires, half-bloods and the world of supernaturals. I tried to answer them to the best of my ability without giving away too much personal information. I also deliberately skirted around the topic of immortality because I felt it would overwhelm her.

The excuse I’d given to Jeramiah for wanting River—that she was newly turned and so we had much in common—had been something that I’d thought of on the spot. But it turned out to be true. Although I’d been surrounded by supernaturals all my life, from the very day of my birth, being a supernatural myself was still so new to me.

When she asked me whether she could ever turn back into a human again, assuming we managed to escape, I didn’t know how to answer her. Of course, I knew that there was a cure for vampires, but half-bloods? That was uncharted territory. I hadn’t even known of the existence of half-bloods until I’d met Jeramiah. Discovering a cure to vampirism hadn’t been easy, and had come about after dangerous experimentation. I just answered her honestly.

Then she began to shiver.

“You’re cold?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Feel free to use the sauna,” I said.

She stood up. “No, I’ll just get myself a blanket.”

She walked out of the room and returned with a thick duvet. I guessed she had found it in one of the spare rooms.

She took her seat again in the armchair and wrapped herself in it. She shuddered. “This cold. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

There was a knock on the door.

River looked panicked. I wondered who it could possibly be. Leaving her in the living room, I made my way to the door and opened it.

There was no one there. I looked left and right, but the veranda was empty.

But then my eyes lowered to the floor in front of me. A backpack had been placed in front of my doorway. I bent down and picked it up, then made my way back to the living room.

River was standing waiting for me, the duvet still draped around her shoulders. Her eyes widened as she spotted the backpack in my hands.

“That’s mine,” she whispered, taking it from me. “Who brought it here?”

“There was nobody outside,” I replied.

“I left this in Michael’s apartment. I wonder why on earth he’d bother to bring it back to me after everything…”

She sat down and unzipped the bag, pulling out a vial of clear amber liquid and then a black fabric bag. Loosening the bag, she revealed that it was full of gold coins.

“In Michael’s place,” she said, looking tense, “when I woke up after being drugged, this bag of coins and this vial of liquid were waiting for me in his bedroom. There was a note left with them. It said that these were gifts for my mother and my brother. Michael said they were gifts from The Oasis. Why on earth was I given these? How do they even know about my family?”

I stared at the two objects. I was just as clueless as her.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I have no idea.”

She put the backpack down and looked at me. “When do you think the next hunt will be?”

“There was one recently. It could be a week or maybe longer until they go on one again. There doesn’t seem to be a set schedule.”

She moved closer to me, the blanket trailing behind her on the floor.

“Please, help me locate my sister. Even if we have no way of saving her yet… I just need to see her.”

I looked down into her desperate eyes and heaved a sigh.

“Okay. I’ll help you.”

Chapter 14: Ben

After promising River I would try to get us down to the basement, I now had to figure out how.

I didn’t need to examine the lock again to know that I wouldn’t be able to break through it without damaging it. It was far too complicated a lock to pick.

No. We had to find a smarter way to do this.

River took a shower while I thought, and by the time she’d finished, I’d come up with a plan.