Page 56 of Their World

“We have to kill the Grand Advisor,” I said and wiped at my face. “But if he’s as strong as it appears, he could pretend to be anyone.”

“Leona will be able to help us prepare an attack against him. You know she is the strongest siren,” Trey said, though he didn’t sound as confident as I would have liked.

A niggling feeling in the back of my mind had me scowling. I was missing something. Something important.

Why would the Grand Advisor have brought me over to their world to begin with? Why this story about the necklace and me being prophesized to come? What role did I play in this? Was he just hoping to use me against my family? As a hostage? But then why let me live when he knew about my shadow powers?

There was a huge hole in this that we didn’t understand, and it seemed like it was vital. So … what was it?

An emergency meeting was called and all of the royals gathered together. While they talked strategy for an invasion, I stewed on what I was missing. Maya sat beside me, holding my hand. She’d rushed over after my brother had apparently called her.

Was there a memory from talking to the Grand Advisor that he’d made me forget? Did I have the information and needed to unlock it?

Closing my eyes, I searched through my mind and body, looking for any magic that was not my own.

There, in the recesses of my mind, a tiny sliver gleamed. It was so small I would have never seen it had I not been searching for it.

I tried to grasp it, but each time I did, I felt an extreme exhaustion cover me. Opening my eyes, I turned to Great Aunt Leona and said, “I need your help.”

Everyone at the table stopped talking and stared at me in surprise at the interruption.

“What is it?” she asked and walked around the table to stand next to me.

“There’s something in my mind, a sliver of something, but every time I try to grab it, I get tired and it slips away. I think … I think it might be memories from interacting with the Grand Advisor that will help us.”

Mason and Kayden growled.

Her eyes widened, but she nodded, leaned her hip against the table next to me, and put her hands on my head. “I’m not sure I can do much. Although I’ve been practicing, removing a magic spell from another person’s mind isn’t something I’ve done. For you, I will try, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up. You need to relax to let me in. It is going to feel weird to have me rooting around in there. Okay?”

I nodded.

She took a breath, and I felt her press against my mind and it took all of my willpower not to erect shields and walls to keep her out.

Mason set his hand on my leg and it helped calm my racing heart a bit.

She reached the glowing bit of magic and immediately withdrew from my mind with a gasp. Her hands dropped away from my head and she said, “Well, we’ve definitely confirmed that he’s part siren.” Shaking her hands out, she looked down at me and added, “I think I can remove it, but I’ll need to sing, so we need to go somewhere private, where my song won’t hurt anyone else.”

“Go and help her, maybe her memories will help us in finalizing our plan,” Great Uncle Silverowl said.

“We can go to the barn,” I suggested. “If everyone else stays here, inside the house, the barn will be far enough away it should be safe.”

“Sounds good,” she said with a nod and headed out of the house.

Trey caught my hand, stopping me as I attempted to walk by him. “Are you sure about this? What if it hurts you?”

I smiled reassuringly, bent over, and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be fine. Great Auntie won’t hurt me.”

“I’m more worried about what the memories will be,” he whispered and stroked his thumb across the back of my hand.

“Whatever it is, I need to know.” I kissed him on the lips and spun away, headed out to the barn.

Chapter

Fifteen

I sat on my rock with my legs folded as Great Aunt Leona put her hands on my head again.

“Try to stay relaxed, okay? Just keep reminding yourself that I would never intentionally harm you and we need to get this magic out of your head. Okay?”

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