Page 86 of Group Studies

My tears slowed. “Can someone cry because they wish they didn’t understand the concept of good and evil?”

Ashe grunted and squeezed me to him again. I took that as a yes and squeezed him back.

Disentangling myself from the wet spot I’d made on his shirt, I dragged my feet back to my jewelry. Ashe hovered over me the entire way.

I picked up the earrings. They enhanced my natural senses. I’d probably be comatose from information overload walking around with them on. However, my piercing went in right above my socket. No one would see it and it didn’t enhance anything. I honestly didn’t know what it did. I set down the earrings and picked up the pinkish steel bar with two pearls on either end. Did I want to wear it again?

“What does all this shit do?” Ashe asked, gesturing to my table.

I trained my gaze on him accusingly. “I’m assuming the unidentified potions are a test from Officer Keres.”

He raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. I leaned forward, boring my gaze into him as if looking hard enough would let me know if I could trust him or not.

Ashe weathered my scrutiny much like all the stuff which had just been returned to me, utterly untouched by the trauma it had gone through.

I wished I could be my stuff.

Pushing aside thoughts of family I didn’t know what to do with, I focused on the bottles of colorful liquid.

“I don’t remember what the unmarked potions are, but they’re a smokescreen. A potion within a potion only Damon would know how to unravel. Probably using my magic, or maybe even one ingredient to change the base structure. But I never did that part. Maybe Abe can help me.” I shot Ashe another look. “Assuming you let me go to her office someday.”

He narrowed his eyes and shrugged, reminding me he wasn’t making the rules, only following them.

I let out an annoyed breath. “The earrings enhance my senses, so, ah, sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. I used to use them while I made potions and runes.”

Ashe nodded. I rolled my piercing between my palms. “This goes above my socket.” The pearls sucked in the light around them. “I’ve no idea what it does, but it can’t be dangerous if they gave it back to me, right?” My nose twitched. “Before I got here, I never felt too full of magic. What if this is some sort of regulator working with my socket?” I brightened. “What if Damon had a fix for my magical overloads, and the socket and the piercing together eased my magic somehow?”

The low bell sounded twice, ominously echoing from down below and ending the class I’d been excused from. I rushed toward my bookbag resting against the couch and paused. Before I could think about it too much, I untucked my shirt and unlatched the piercing. It slid effortlessly through the skin above my socket. A warm tingling pressed against the metal.

“I don’t fucking like this, A,” Ashe growled, taking my bookbag out of my hand.

I tucked in my shirt and mimicked one of his grunts before flying down the stairs. At least going down was easier than up.

Out of breath, with the tingling from my socket slowly spreading across my stomach, I burst into Abe’s class just as it began. She scowled and I gave her an apologetic look before slinking to my workstation. I took my seat across from Ram with my back to Abe. Ashe hovered at the edge of our table before giving me a worried look and settling.

After a brief lecture, Abe left us to our projects.

“You look delighted,” Ram said, almost like my state of mind insulted him.

I grinned. “I have a theory, and I think I’m right.”

I patted my socket, not that Ram knew it was there. A little pop, like a burst of lightheadedness, assaulted the back of my head. I had to steady myself on the table. My piercing was doing something. If this worked, maybe I could call operation DUMP off. I stopped patting my socket and rested my hand over it. The blood drained out of my face as I had a thought.

“Kitten, what’s wrong?” Ashe asked.

I shook my head and bit my lips shut, reaching for the string of runes I’d started yesterday. If my piercing controlled my magic, was it possible I was part machine? Had Damon not only raised me, but built me? How would someone know if they were a robot?

I tried to focus on my project, but the tingling grew into hundreds of little gears, grinding under my skin. My gut tightened painfully. Sweat beaded on my forehead. The pain in my abdomen intensified into a stabbing pain as if someone stuck me with a knife and twisted. I let out an involuntary gasp. Warm liquid trickled between my legs.

Ashe was talking to me, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. The world slowed. I reached under my skirt and brought my fingers back out, sticky with blood. Another stab of pain hit my gut, and the tingling intensified.

“Ah, something’s wrong,” I said before my eyes rolled up in my head, and I passed out.

* * *

I blinked awake into a too familiar sea of blue. The curtains were drawn around my medical bed, though I wasn’t hooked up to any machines this time. A paper gown was tied around my waist, though someone tucked my lower half under a warm blanket. Some sort of thick padding between my legs made me shift uncomfortably. Other than being a little light-headed and queasy, I didn’t feel bad enough to be here.

As my eyes finished adjusting, I focused first on Ashe, standing at the foot of my bed, before frowning at Saffron sitting on my left.

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