“Bram is...well, he’s the leader of the Origin Cult,” Dr. Price said reluctantly, turning to me. “But they’re nearly extinct. There are only a handful of them left. I have no idea what he’d want with you.”
“The Origin Cult?” I echoed, my voice breaking as the memories the husk had unsurfaced became even clearer. For a moment, I couldn’t speak. Remembering the chains around me, burning as they had in reality...
When someone touched my arm, I jolted. I relaxed when I realized it was just Alistair. “Are you alright, Bells?”
“I’m fine,” I told him, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s just something I saw in my session.”
“What is it?” he asked, frowning.
I hesitated, but while they would definitely have thought I was crazy before, maybe not now in light of what Dr. Price had just said. “He said we were accessing my worst memory, and given what happened, or what was about to, I think he was right,” I said, hugging myself. “I was bound to some stone altar with chains like those,” I said, nodding toward the chains dangling harmlessly from Dean's hand. “There were people in these thick red robes surrounding me, chanting in some foreign language. They… they were about to sacrifice me.”
“Sacrificeyou?” Dean echoed in enraged horror, his upper lip already curling at the thought. “Why would they want to sacrifice you?”
“Your worst memory is something that you shouldn’t be accessing for months,” Dr. Price groaned, ignoring Dean. “This could have unspeakable effects on your mental wellbeing. We might have to wipe your memory.”
“The hell you will,” Dean snarled, turning on Dr. Price like he was going to bend him in half just like he had Dr. Andrianakis.
I winced, hoping I wasn’t about to have to break up a fight between my would-be mate and my therapist. What a day.
“I’m fine,” I said, even though that was pretty much a complete lie. The last thing I wanted was to start all over again. Every scrap of memory, as traumatic as some of them had been, had only increased my urge to learn the truth. “Besides, I think we have bigger issues than my mental wellbeing. If some crazy cult is after me, I need to be able to defend myself.”
“You don’t need to be afraid,” Dean said, his tone gentling. “I’ll keep you safe just like I did before, whether I have to twist a few culties’ necks or Dr. Price’s. Or both.” He glanced at Alistair. “And I think the bloodsucker will protect you, too--if he doesn’t drain you first.”
Alistair shot him a filthy look, but the one he directed at Dr. Price was far more menacing. “She’s not having her memory wiped,” he said, his voice as smooth as usual even though there was an edge to it.
Dr. Price looked between the two guys, who seemed more than ready to show their more monstrous sides, and he sighed. “Fine. Because of Alistair,notbecause of anyone’s threats, we won’t be wiping anything--and only because it would be a shame to lose a potential valedictorian.” He ran his hand through his blond hair. “If we wiped your mind, Bells, we’d have to do it for them, too,” he clarified.
“Thank you,” I murmured. “Do you have any idea why these people want me?” I cringed as I thought of the knife poised above my chest. “Beyond the obvious.”
“No idea,” Dr. Price admitted. “Maybe you come from important lineage, or maybe you’re something rare. Like a hybrid… though hybrids are usually obvious.”
“A hybrid who’s burned by iron?” Alistair challenged. “Hybrids usually have the best of both worlds when it comes to traits, don’t they? Iron is a serious weakness.”
He had a point, but I was grasping at straws at this point. We all were. I turned back to Dr. Price, hoping I could appeal to the kindness I had always sensed was there. “Please. I know we’re not supposed to know about our pasts until graduation, but isn’t there some exception that can be made?”
“Especially since the Academy is incapable of keeping her safe,” Alistair muttered bitterly.
“What he said,” Dean interjected, cocking his head toward Alistair, surprising me. Guess it was possible for them to agree on something.
Dr. Price shook his head firmly. “No. It’s redacted. This is out of my hands,” he said. “They don’t want you to know for some reason, and I have to respect that.”
I couldn’t hide my disappointment, but I wasn’t sure why I’d expected anything else. “Right,” I murmured. “Let’s go. I’m sure they’re looking for us all by now.”
Dean looked like he wanted to put Dr. Price through the wall, too, but he held back somehow and joined Alistair and me. “Yeah. Let’s go,” he muttered.
Chapter 14
Alistair
We’d been homein our block for the last hour after being released from the headmaster’s office much sooner than I’d expected, all things considered. Evidently, Dr. Price putting in a good word for us had turned what would have been a punishment into a thank-you speech.
It was hard to tell how much the administration knew, and who knew it. Dr. Price seemed genuinely clueless about Bells’ origins, and it wasn’t a surprise that he was unwilling to break from school policy even now.
After taking each of our accounts separately, I could only hope my decision to share the least the school needed to know would pay off. I still didn’t know what Bells and Dean had told them, and Bells had gone to take a shower the moment we got back. I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t know exactly what that bastard had shown her, but the picture I could piece together was brutal enough.
I couldn’t get her words out of my head.They wanted to sacrifice me.
Dr. Price was right. Whatever she was, it had to tie in. She wasn’t a celestial, or one of the undead, but her memories were split between heaven and hell.
