"What things?"
"About Incarceron. It"s finished, Finn. Please. Make a life for yourself there. Forget the Outside ..."
"And what about me?" Gildas snapped.
"I"ve spent sixty years planning my Escape! I scoured the Prison for a lifetime before I found a Sta.r.s.eer, and I"ll never find another! We have traveled to the End of the World, girl! I will not give up my dreams of a lifetime!"
She stood up and stalked toward him, furious. "You use him like my father uses me. All he is to you is a way out; you don"t care about him! Any of you!"
"That"s not true!"
Attia hissed.
Claudia ignored her.
Looking hard at Finn she said, "I"m sorry. I wish things could have been different. I"m sorry."
There was some sort of commotion outside her door; she turned and yelled, "I won"t see anyone! Send them away!"
Finn said, "Do you know what I"m escaping from? From not knowing myself. Having this darkness inside me, this emptiness. I can"t live with that. Don"t leave me here, Claudia!"
She couldn"t bear it anymore. Not Keiro"s anger, not the fierce old man, not him. He was hurting her, and none of this was her fault, none of it. She reached out for the Key.
"This is good-bye, Finn. I have to give up the Key. My father knows about everything. It"s over."
Her fingers closed on the link. Voices argued outside the door.
And then Attia said, "He"s not your father, Claudia."
They all turned to her. She was sitting on the floor, arms around her knees. She didn"t get up or say anything more but just sat there in the shocked silence she had created, her narrow face grimy and calm, her dark hair greasy.
Claudia came right up to her, "What?"
Her own voice sounded small and unfamiliar.
"I"m afraid it"s true." Attia was cool and distant.
"I wouldn"t have told you, but now you"re forcing me to, and it"s time you knew. The Warden of Incarceron is not your father."
"You lying little b.i.t.c.h!"
"No, it"s true."
Keiro grinned.
Claudia felt as if the world had shaken. Suddenly the hubbub outside was too much; turning her back on them, she hauled open the door. Jared was there, and two guards holding him back.
"What is this?"
Her voice was steel.
"Let him through."
"Your father"s orders, lady-"
"My father," she screamed, "can go to h.e.l.l!"
Jared pushed her back into the room and slammed the door.
"Claudia, listen-"
"Please, Master! Not now!"
He saw the lightfield. Claudia stalked back to it.
"All right. Tell me," she said. For a moment Attia said nothing.