Pain was my companion. That and the shadowy blot that kept me company.
My mind was exposed. Vulnerable.
Everything felt raw and abraded, like a sandblaster had been taken to my psyche.
It was that thought that finally brought me back to awareness.
I opened my eyes to the same ceiling I'd been staring at before I took my little trip, filled with the sense that I was no longer alone.
"Ah, she's still a statue," Astrid observed with disappointment.
The air stirred.
It wasn't entirely a surprise when the twins grinned down at me, crooning together. "Time's up, little toy."
My gaze flicked past them to the shadow crouching right next to my spider friend's web. What are you going to do, it seemed to ask me.
I didn't know, and that was a problem.
My thinking was both crystal clear and dispassionate, stimuli from the world around me seeming to come at a distance.
The worry I should have felt at the twins’ return was missing.
Enough of myself remained to know that wasn’t normal.
My mind was reacting the way my body would if it suffered catastrophic injury, shutting down the affected areas so the rest of me could function.
Only in this case, it was the emotions associated with survival. People think not feeling fear is the answer in a dangerous situation.
It's not.
Fear makes you sharper. Quicker. Pain lets you know you're still alive.
Without it, you take stupid chances and get yourself killed.
Right now, I felt no fear. No rage or anger. No sadness or betrayal.
I was numb. A passive observer in life as the shadow waited above.
I knew that it was the tiniest piece of that immense being I'd only brushed the merest part of myself against.
Despite that, the shadow contained power that could cripple anyone who came into contact with it. Enough to break my prison and destroy the group arranged around me.
It didn't because it was waiting for something.
What?
"Let's get this over with," Astrid was saying.
There was a brief pause.
"What? You agreed to this, Callie. I'm simply moving this along," Astrid said defensively. "You heard what Owen said. High Fae were spotted nosing around one of the old portals."
Uh oh. Trouble in paradise. There were cracks in the united facade of these Scattered. Not surprising given they were mercenaries, more accustomed to acting alone than as a team.
It wasn't always that way,a disembodied voice whispered in my ear.
No, not a voice. Not precisely.
