Page 75 of Speak No Evil

I stare at AJ. At her fire fae kin. At the others on the dais. Their faces hold no answers.

Do what you must, love.Vrahs’s voice in my head is the nudge forward I need.

I sink deep into my well of power and pull out something new.

With the same metaphysical muscle I use to speak to other’s minds, I reach into AJ’s.

I reach in and look for the truth in her words.

Vrahs grips my arm, steadying himself as I plunder her mind, her emotions and fears. Was I pulling power from him?

No, love. You aren’t accessing my power, only my heart.

I ignore that, focusing on AJ.

She’s still, face locked in surprise.

Show me. Show me everything.

Her mind opens to me, and I rifle through everything. Childhood memories. Past lovers. Her grade school bully. All of it unfolds and floats by my awareness.

I find her parents. The memory is dark and heavy but not evil.

There is no deceit within her.

No malice.

In fact, AJ’s mind is purer than mine, with all her thoughts of helping people and community, not orgies, money, and violent vengeance, like mine.

Is this everything?I ask.

Yes! Everything in my conscious mind. I’ve hidden nothing, Jade. Nothing.

So I go deeper, into her unconscious.

Vaguely, screams register outside our linked minds. I focus on finding it. Sensing…

There.

I don’t sense it.

Ifeelthearchalusdeep within her. Trapped, crying out, begging to be released.

The despair and hopelessness rising from the being threatens to drag me down, pull me in with it.

I slowly pull away from the deeper parts of AJ’s mind until I’ve exited entirely.

She stops screaming, shivering on the ground.

You did very well. You caused no serious damage.

I ignore the comment and approach them, leaving Vrahs behind.

AJ didn’t actually kill any of these people. She didn’t take Em’s life. Her repressed, neglected, and misunderstood alternate form did.

And so what’s the right answer?

What’s the best choice?

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