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ground where I lay. The chains linking my wrist shackles rattled as I moved. I hated them and wished I could rip them off. How had Lucas survived being in this place for so long? The severe lack of oxygen would kill a human, and weaken immortals. The small portions of food and water they gave me didn’t help, either.
    Frigid cold had settled into my bones. Trying to recall what the soothing heat of a fire felt like was beyond me. My lips were chapped, and my hands were callused from working in the mine. Every muscle ached from sleeping on the uneven stone floor of my cell. It was frozen over with a layer of ice that made me shiver constantly. As a newly made immortal, my body wasn’t strong enough to endure the harsh environment of Purgatory as well as the other prisoners.
    The door to my confinement cell suddenly made an ear-splitting screech, opening wide. I pulled myself to my knees and squinted at the blinding light streaming toward me. Was my time up? Could I finally get out of here?
    “Come, Melena,” Aldous said, stepping into the doorway.
    I climbed the rest of the way to my feet and shuffled toward him. My time in solitary had weakened me to the point that my legs wobbled like molds of jelly. It was all I could do to keep them moving. To Aldous, I must have resembled the walking dead coming toward him, one tiny step at a time. After three days without food, water, or a bath—the description couldn’t have been too far off.
    When you’re strong and healthy, it’s easy to think you’re invincible. Then something happens to ruin that illusion and you discover how fragile your body really is, even as an immortal. It was equally humbling and horrifying. I made a final lunge for the doorframe and grasped it like a lifeline. No way would I fall flat on my face in front of the guardian. I was already feeling bad enough about myself without adding that humiliation.
    Aldous handed me a mug of water. With shaking hands, I took it from him and sipped slowly. I’d learned my lesson before about drinking too much at once. The water was surprisingly warm and soothed my throat as it went down. The guardian watched me with a hint of sympathy in his gray eyes.
    After I got my fill, he handed me a chunk of bread. “Do not tell Dannia I gave this to you.”
    “I won’t. Thanks,” I said, tearing into it. If the female guardian had her way, I would have to wait until a regular mealtime to get something to eat. Sometimes, I wondered if she and Kerbasi were cut from the same cloth. They both enjoyed making people miserable.
    A little of my strength returned as I finished the bread. My body sucked up every bit of the nutrients and spread them to my starved cells. Even my vision sharpened a little. I was a long way off from full strength, but it was still the best I’d felt in a while. The thought of going home soon would help even more. Less than two weeks—that was all I had left of my sentence if my calculations were correct. I could make it.
    “Where are we going?” I asked when Aldous took me on a different route through the tunnels than expected.
    He glanced over at me. “The bathing chamber.”
    I exhaled a breath of relief. The last time I’d come out of solitary, I’d had to listen to a lecture from Dannia for an hour before she sent me to my cell, reeking to high heaven. We only got to wash ourselves and get a fresh set of clothes once a week. I’d have been even more miserable if I’d had to wait much longer.
    We reached the bathing chamber door where two guards stood outside. I held out my hands and Aldous unlocked my shackles one by one, starting with my wrists and doing my ankles last. This was also the only time we were allowed to go without chains. Rubbing my wrists, I gave him a grateful nod and went inside. I was surprised to discover there were no guards in the chamber. Most of the time, Dannia brought us. She and her minions kept a close watch even while we stripped down and got into the water.