The morning wake-up call finally came after what felt like days of lying on my bed, wide awake with my mind spinning. I'd tried every trick I knew to fall asleep, but none of them worked. I even counted over a thousand sheep before giving up out of sheer boredom. But at last, breakfast time arrived, and with it, the sweet release from my cell.

Honestly, it felt like the dawn of a new era. Like I'd stepped onto a path toward something greater after discovering this new facet of my ability. A new day had arrived, literally and metaphorically.

My mood must have been obvious, because the moment I sat down with my breakfast, H called me out.

"What's going on with you? You look like a man about to be released, not someone gearing up for their first Challenge."

Inwardly, I laughed at how close he was to the truth without even knowing it. With what I'd discovered, I was more convinced than ever that Billy was right—I could escape. It would take planning and effort, sure, but now I had more time, more energy, and an edge no one else did. Sure, the Wallowhackers would be there along with other powerful people but their job would be killing demons, not babysitting prison conscripts. All I needed was a single opportunity, and I could slip away.

The only hiccup in my plan was Tom.

I'd grown fond of the man and felt almost like I would be betraying him if I didn't bring him along with me. I knew it was a sentiment he wouldn't return but that didn't change my feelings. On the other hand, I did barely know him, and trying to get him out as well would massively increase the chances of getting caught. I resolved to put the decision out of my mind until we actually got there. I justified my thought process because there was a risk that telling him early would risk the plan spreading, and it would also give me more time to think about whether bringing him was the right move.

"I just had a great sleep," I replied, trying my best not to look too smug.

Ginge scoffed as he shovelled oats into his mouth. After a beat, H groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

"You're not gonna try and escape, are you?" he asked, voice muffled by his palms.

"What?! No!" I lied, playing as though I was surprised by the accusation.

Ginge rolled his eyes. "Warlock, everyone has the idea at least once. Trust me when I say: no one ever pulls it off."

H nodded enthusiastically. "Everyone has it, everyone fails. The lucky ones are those that don't even try, because those that do?" He blew out a breath. "Trust me, you don't want to be one of them."

"I'm not planning to escape, lads. Honestly. Just had a good night's sleep," I said, doing my best to look sincere as I made eye contact with each of them. After a pause, I added, "But thanks for the concern."

Ginge didn't look like he believed me at all but it was also clear he wasn't interested in talking about it as he went back to eating his oats. H on the other hand went right into some of his wild stories that he'd "heard" from "real" people. This time it was about attempted escapees who had been killed or punished in extremely unsettling ways. A standout one he was telling us about as Tom arrived.

"So there he was—beat up, bruised, and bleeding. His arms limp by his sides, and his legs barely able to hold his weight. He gave it a good go but they caught him. A significant part of him was glad it's over." He looks around at us all to make sure we're engaged.

"But it wasn't," H smiles, pleased with himself because of his definitely unpredictable twist. "No, the Old Boy who caught him wasn't satisfied with the sorry state he was in. He wanted to send a message to other escapees, so he gets his men to tie ropes to each of the escapees limbs, and they drag him to Sea Drop Gorge.

"The escapee thinks he's going to be quartered. A gruesome, painful death. But that's not what the Old Boy has in mind. Because he wants to send a message, and a quartering isn't enough. It's plain. Boring. Instead, he splits his men into two groups. One group takes the ropes tied to the escapee's left limbs, and the other takes the right and he orders them to stake the ropes down on either side of the Gorge. With the escapee in the middle!"

"Alive?"

"Alive," H nodded solemnly. "Left there to rot, for all to see. A warning placed near the ropes that declared death for any who tried to free him. Some say you can still see his body hanging there to this day."

"You're so full of shit, H," Ginge said as we all got up, unimpressed by the melodramatic tale we'd listened to.

"Quartering is so much worse than that as well. I'd much rather be tied up over the Sea Drop Gorge than to be quartered," I added.

"It's the humiliation though," H pleaded." Think about it. He wants nothing more than to escape and now he's stuck so that if he does try to escape his bonds, he'll fall to his death for all to see."

"What do you think Tom?" I asked, trying to simultaneously deflect the conversation away from me and see if I could glean Tom's thoughts on escaping.

"I think we should hurry up before we're late. Just because they're sending us to the Challenge, doesn't mean they can't still punish us more. Things can always get worse."

The morose answer killed the mood—though, judging by the looks on the others' faces, it was more in line with what they expected from someone facing a Challenge. They were clearly giving Tom a pass for the comment; I knew if it had come from anyone else, they'd have torn into him with some good-natured abuse. It made me wonder if I had been a little too chipper about my own situation.

Tom's bad mood lingered throughout the day. We worked on rebuilding the wall in near silence. The sections we'd finished yesterday had turned out fairly well, and Celine had called it a promising start. Today, she wanted us to repeat the process to build our speed. According to her, that might "prove pivotal" during an attack. Personally, I doubted it but she was the boss, and I wasn't about to slack off and risk raising any red flags. I'd been working to seem as down as Tom so that nobody would be suspicious of me so being dismissive of work would be a red flag. Not that I needed to pretend to be in a bad mood with the day I was having.

It wasn't that anything bad had happened. In fact, if something had, it might have actually made the day more interesting. The problem was that nothing happened. Just endless wall work. Tom wasn't up for conversation, and with it being just the two of us in our section, I didn't even have the option to distract myself by chatting with someone else. Normally that would be okay because I'd be fine losing myself in the job, but the wall repairs were so mind-numbingly dull in their simplicity that I couldn't even challenge myself in a satisfying way. And on top of it all, I was itching to use my power.

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Hour by hour, my mana reserves were recovering, and the physical labour had drained me just enough that I knew I'd feel an immediate boost if I pushed the fatigue away. But I held off. Not wanting to risk someone seeing me do it and figuring out I had a power. The urge to share what I'd discovered was eating away at me too. The need to tell people about my accomplishment so they could share in my joy. But for obvious reasons, I couldn't afford to tell anyone. Not until I saw Billy later.

So my time in the workshop was spent counting down the hours until I could leave. It was both a blessing and a curse that I couldn't see the sun's position to tell the time, though that didn't stop me from squinting at the shifting shadows through the open door like they might offer some clue.

Even lunchtime didn't bring any relief. H, Ginge, and Carl were no-shows for one reason or another, leaving me alone with the conversational brick wall that was Tom. At one point, Grian walked in with his crew. He made eye contact with us, and for a brief moment, I almost hoped it would lead to some drama—anything to break the monotony—but, probably for the best, he just gave Tom a sneering smile before heading to the front of the line for food. Tom paled at the sight, and I couldn't blame him. He already had enough to deal with without catching the attention of Grian One Eye.

"Hanging out with Billy again tonight?" Tom asked after a pause.

I shrugged. "Yeah, probably. What about you? Got much on after work? Actually… what do you even do after work? Don't think I've ever asked."

His brow furrowed, irritation flickering across his face. I knew then that I'd pushed one question too far.

"What does anyone do? We don't all have secretive meetings with gangsters," he sniped back.

I sighed and stuffed a mouthful of food into my mouth rather than rising to the bait. He was clearly itching for an argument, but I didn't see the point. Sure, it might've killed my boredom for a while but even in that mood, I didn't think it was worth straining our already thinning thread of friendship.

We worked in total silence for the rest of the shift. When the final bell rang, I scarpered like a fox from a henhouse. I'd been counting down the minutes and had already started positioning my tools for a quick getaway. All of them tactically cleaned so that I didn't need to waste time on them afterwards. I didn't even bother to look around for the lads before heading straight to the canteen. Beating most of the shift, I snagged a spot at the front of the queue and secured myself a steaming bowl of fresh stew that didn't last long. I demolished it with a speed that would have impressed a starving man, and within minutes, I was slipping through the kitchen and into the back room with Billy in record time.

"You're 'ere quick," Billy said, finishing up wiping down a table.

"Are you a butcher? Is that what you do?" I asked, suddenly fascinated by the realisation. It felt like I'd just solved a mystery I hadn't even realised I was that curious about. Sure, I could have just asked him earlier but it was more satisfying to figure it out on my own.

"Yeah. Why do you look so bloody excited about that?" he said, stepping back like I'd grown a second head. "Didn't I tell you I worked in the kitchen?"

"You said you worked in the kitchen, which could mean anything. And I've never seen you behind the counter, so I wasn't sure if you were just lying."

He shook his head. "Why would I lie about somethin' you'd easily find out?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Doesn't matter now anyway. What does matter is that it worked!"

He raised his eyebrows, a curious look on his face.

"Yep. I can use my power to heal my fatigue. And sleep. Watch."

Before he could get a word in, I snapped a finger and took a deep breath, launching straight into my meditative routine. I'd come up with a few theories during my sleepless hours, but I didn't want to risk trying something new in front of Billy just yet. I stuck to what I knew. As the mana flowed and the exhaustion lifted, the familiar euphoria washed over me. The ability to just reset was intoxicating.

I turned to Billy with a proud look on my face only to see the confused one on his.

"Why did you just do a dance?" he asked flatly.

"It wasn't a dance!" Though now that he said it, I could see exactly why he thought it was one. "It was me using my power to get rid of my fatigue."

"It looked like a dance," he said, not looking convinced.

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Can't you see how refreshed I look? I've reset my tired state." I left out the part where I'd just burned through thirty percent of my mana. It was similar to what happened last night which led me to believe it was just the cost of doing it.

"Oh. That's good. It didn't really look… I expected it to look a bit more… magical. It's a little underwhelming isn't it."

"Sorry that my power isn't visually impressive enough for you," I replied, bitterly. Then I snapped a finger to the side so it looked gruesome before healing it back into position. "Is that better?"

Billy gave a casual shrug, a grin tugging at his lips. "Would be better with some lights or somethin'."

I shook my head, rolling my eyes at his teasing.

"It's good that it worked though because I've got you somethin'", he told me, as he walked to the corner of the room. Pulling back a dark coloured sheet, he revealed stacks of stones.

"Oh brilliant. I've always dreamed of owning a pile of rocks," I said, voice dripping with fake enthusiasm.

"Fine," he replied, making a show of covering them back up again. "If you don't want anything for weight trainin', I'll just keep 'em 'ere."

"Whoa, let's not be hasty," I said quickly, stepping in to stop him. "I was only messing."

I picked one up, feeling its weight. Solid enough to do the job, but definitely not something I could casually lug up to my cell. I raised the concern out loud.

"Don't worry about that," Billy said. "Some of the lads have agreed to 'elp carry 'em up once we're done in 'ere."

"Thanks, Billy," I said sincerely. "That's really good of you."

He gave a small nod, but his tone shifted. "It's not all outta the goodness of my 'eart."

I braced myself, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"We've taken a bit of a risk gettin' these in for you. And I think it's fair to say I've done a lot for you already."

I nodded. He had, there was no denying that.

"You're a good lad, and I like you," he continued. "But there's only so much I can do without askin' for something in return."

I met his gaze, curious at what he could request. "What is it you want?"

"When you get out," he said, voice quieter now, "I want you to go see Erick. I'm not askin' you to join his cause, just talk with him. Him and his people 'elped sort this out for you, and they've been a big support to me over the years."

"I don't know Billy," I said, feeling the frown on my face. "I'm not looking to be a rebel. You've done a lot for me but that's like trading one sentence for another."

"I get that," he said, nodding. "But I'm not askin' you to be a rebel. Just… do a few jobs. Earn a bit of coin. Keep your options open. This is me lookin' out for you, even if it don't feel like it now."

I narrowed my eyes, sceptical. If it wasn't Billy, I'd think I was being sold a bridge. But he'd done enough to earn my trust.

"I'll talk to him but I'm not promising anything Billy."

"Thank you. And listen. I know it's not somethin' you want to do but these guys are actually your best bet at disappearing in the city anyway. They've been doin' it for years. Even got you out if what I've been told is correct. And like it or not, they're your people. I bet they'd be able to train you up better than me."

He was probably right about them being the best way for me to escape the authorities but I didn't want to be tied to their cause, and even doing a few jobs would be a slippery slope. When I went—and I'd already decided I would because I did owe Billy that much—I'd need to be careful of falling deeper into their clutches.

"Alright," I replied. "When I get out, I'll go see Erick. But I'm not promising to join his cause. I have other priorities. My friends first and foremost."

He nodded. "That's good enough for me. Now, shall we see what you've got?"

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