Category: Conveyancing

They took Maphira away in a truck, as they had most nights before. She wasn’t bound, but she’d tried escaping this situation many times before with no luck whatsoever. The trucks used were the best – there was absolutely no breaking out of them.

She was only in the moving darkness for about fifteen minutes, so they still had to be somewhere relatively close to Brighton. Although Maphira was pretty sure she could have escaped between the truck and the new building they’d hold her in, she had become committed to the idea of seeing this through. The Conclave was planning something huge, and she intended to find out what it was, even if she’d be risking her life to do it.

Light flooded into the truck as the door opened, revealing a new conveyancing firm with a flashy sign out the front that read Carlton’s Best Conveyancing Solicitors.

Maphira wondered how long she’d be in this particular building. With only two days to go until Project Bender’s first test, was it worth them moving her again? Why were they even moving her at all?

She supposed it was probably in case the Resistance started looking for her. By keeping Maphira on the move, they wouldn’t be able to track her down and save her. For that, she was actually kind of grateful. After all, if she wasn’t at this conveyancing firm close to Carlton, she wouldn’t be able to get information about this test the Conclave of Mechanists was about to conduct.

No better place to watch a storm than right in the centre.

Maphira jumped out of the truck and followed the Mechanist grunts inside, where they led her to a room larger than most she’d been in. Perhaps she’d get to live like a queen for her last few days, in this luxurious conveyancing firm.

Well, Maphira thought sarcastically, better make the most of it.

Project Bender would have its first test in less than 48 hours.

Maphira had been dragged around the city of Melbourne for days on end. From buyer’s advocacy to buyer’s advocacy, the Conclave of Mechanists had moved their captive on a daily basis – often more than once a day, even. She was starting to get whiplash, and she was also starting to suspect that the Conclave had run out of buyer’s agencies to take her to.

After all, she was currently being held at the offices of a fine conveyancer based in Brighton, which was certainly a first. She wasn’t really sure what the point of moving her around so much was, but then again, nothing the Conclave of Mechanists did seemed to make sense.

Someone opened the door to the small room Maphira had been confined to, throwing a sandwich wrapped in plastic over to her, then quickly shutting the door and locking it. The sandwiches were always the same; peanut butter and strawberry jam. They’d always been Maphira’s favourite, but she pretended to hate them. When they’d first taken her captive, they had given her a cheese toasty, but when Maphira had expressed delight over the taste, they’d given her another sandwich the next day. It seemed they wanted her to be miserable. Perhaps they were trying to break her spirit.

Part of Maphira wanted to blame Rylee for putting her in this situation. After all, she wouldn’t be stuck at a property conveyancing firm if her sister hadn’t betrayed her. But Maphira knew that she only had herself to blame. If she’d just told Rylee the truth about Cole all those years ago, she wouldn’t have been in this situation.

Surely the Conclave had something in mind for Maphira. Vai had mentioned Project Bender, but that was weeks ago now. How much longer would they drag her from conveyancing firm to conveyancing firm? Or maybe she’d be back at another buyer’s agency again tomorrow. At this point, Maphira had no idea what fate had waiting for her anymore.