Page 7 of The Stone Curse
“Yes.”
“The same creature who attempted to kidnap you a few weeks ago?”
“That’s correct.”
“And why would he spare you? Why not take you with him?”
“Do I look like a mind reader?” Had I said that out loud? The stunned silence in the room said that yes, yes, I fucking had.
“No, Miss Basque, I do not think that you’re a mind reader.” His tone was clipped. “But I think it’s time we employed the mind readers we do have to do our fact finding. Who knows…you may learn something.”
Two more alchemists entered, each carrying a large glass ball. They came to stand in the center of the room, putting them between us and the council. I met Lionel’s gaze and saw my confusion echoed on his face. He was just as out of the loop as I was.
“What’s going on?” Curi said under his breath.
“No clue,” Sharniza replied.
The other two alchemists took a step forward, and the air crackled with strange energy. Gooseflesh pricked my skin. Sharniza sucked in a sharp breath, and Curi groaned softly, but before I could look at either of them, the center of the room was filled with images. Cadets running in battle against…graynites. Oh…oh god, this was that night. A projection of that fucking night. I spotted myself running one moment, evading the next, and then from a different angle, held captive by Prasan. My pulse raced, blood galloping through my veins, rushing to my head and filling it with a buzz of a thousand bees as Serath came into view with his back to me. The angle of viewing changed, sweeping round so we could see his profile, but beyond that, I’d been saved by Ignus, his form a shadowy figure at my back for barely a moment. I remembered what happened next…I knew what happened next, and I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to relive this.
My head was suddenly tight, as if someone was pressing on it, gripping it. Squeezing.
I cried out and clutched my head.
“Basque is resisting,” a male voice said.
“Miss Basque, you will allow the alchemists to do their job.”
I didn’t want to see this. I didn’t want to watch him die again, but what if there was something in my memory that could help? What if I’d subconsciously picked up on something that could be vital?
“Miss Basque!” Ulrickson snapped.
I exhaled and relaxed, allowing the alchemist into my mind. But the pressure remained, a resistance that I wasn’t in control of.
“Miss Basque, you will stop this at once!” Iram ordered.
But I wasn’t doing anything.
The projection stuttered and froze on the image of Serath’s profile, and a fist squeezed my heart. The vise around my head tightened as the alchemist tried to get in.
My vision blurred, and the pressure on my mind increased.
“What are you doing?” Lionel asked. “Two alchemists? You’ll hurt her.”
“We must know what she’s hiding,” Iram insisted.
A fiery blade lanced through my head, and I cried out, knees buckling. They were crushing me. Crushing my head, and the pain was so intense that I couldn’t draw breath to cry out.
“Stop it!”
“Let her go!”
“Oh god, she’s bleeding.”
“NO!”
The pain cut out, leaving me clearheaded, on my knees, palms kissing cool wood. A droplet of blood hit the floor. My blood. I wiped at my nose with the back of my hand, leaving a crimson smear across my skin. Across the room, Derek’s largemenacing form loomed over the two unconscious alchemists who’d tried to crack open my brain.
“Cameron…” Sharniza gently grabbed my arm. “You okay?”
