“I didn’t want to,” she says in a small voice, hiding her face again, cradling her head. Even her fingers look thinner. It’s as though she’s shrinking. “I didn’t—”
“It’s all right,” I whisper, stepping into the shower. My shirt gets wet before I can reach the tap, the water scalding hot. Aliz hisses again when the water stops, glaring up at me with those terrifying eyes. “What happened?”
As soon as I reach down, she pushes me away, crying, droplets of blood running down her chin. “She forced me to,” she sobs.
“Who? Aliz—”
“Arla!”
She makes a retching sound, and I didn’t think it was possible for her to lose more blood. It’s only now that I realise how bad the situation is. I still don’t know what’s happening, but if she continues to lose blood—
I kneel outside the shower and search for the dean’s number. “It’s all right,” I whisper, trying to soothe her without getting too close. I’ve never seen her like this. I rush out of the bathroom, almost slipping on my way to her fridge. There’s only a quarter of a bottle of Marcus’s blood left, but I try to stay calm, breathing as I fill one of her paper cups with the substance. I stick it in the microwave then finally find Nocth’s number.
As I wait for him to pick up, I head back to the bathroom. She hasn’t moved. Her arms are still around her knees, soaked through in the glass cage that is the shower.
“Dean’s office?”
“Nocth?” I have to stay calm. “This is Cassie Smith.”
“Oh. What a lovely surprise.”
My chest is about to cave in. “Something is wrong with Aliz. She’s—” I look around the bathroom, blood everywhere. “She’s vomiting blood, crying, and—”
“Did she say the nameArla?” His voice has lost all humor.
“Yes,” I say, and the microwave beeps. Aliz doesn’t lookup.
“Leave your door open. I’ll be right there,” he says. I rush over to the microwave, hoping that now, once she drinks, she’ll feel better.
I walk back into the bathroom slowly, letting her hear my footsteps. “You must be cold there,” I say, before crouching down in front of her. “Have this, Aliz.”
She grabs the paper cup and throws it, almost hitting me with it. Blood splashes on the shower’s glass wall. “I didn’t want to,” she mumbles, hiding her face. “She forced me—Arla forced me to kill her—”
Kill her?
“It’s all right,” I whisper. I reach out to touch her, and she slaps me away.
I head back out, my throat tight, and open the door. Nocth arrives just a few seconds later, in a suit similar to the one he was wearing the last time I saw him. He scans our bedroom quickly, taking in the puddles of blood, but doesn’t say anything. His eyes pause on my saltward, and when he turns to look at me, for a second I could swear he looks disturbed. “She’s in the bathroom, right?”
“Yes.”
He walks into the white-tiled room, and Aliz doesn’t react to his presence.
“Did your memories come back, Aliz?” he asks, and I follow him, lingering just outside the shower. He gets down on the ground, staining his suit trousers, and forces Aliz to look at him. “You remembered what happened?”
Aliz swallows hard, her nostrils flaring. “I didn’t want to—”
“I know.” Nocth brushes her soaking hair away from her brows and pulls out a vial of blood. Before Aliz can react or push it away, he tips her head back and pours it into her mouth. She makes a choking sound, but he covers her lips, forcing her to swallow. “Listen to me,” he says, and from outside of the shower I see his eyes taking on a red glint. Can he compel other vampires? “You will remember what I say.”
“Yes,” she says in a trance.
“You did not undergo a coming-of-age ceremony,” he says. “You never met Arla. You never met that human girl. You did not kill anyone.”
His eyes continue to glow, and Aliz stares transfixed. She gives a small nod.
“You ran away from home because you fought with your parents.”
Another nod.
