Coen knew it, too. He only shook his head at me, marching me toward the last door at the end of the hallway. He didn’t release me until we were inside, the door clicking shut softly behind us. I watched as he hunted through drawers, pulling out a shirt and a pair of male sleep-pants. They had been cut short for the summer season. I suspected they would have ended above the knee on Coen, but for me, they were almost a full set of pants. He handed everything to me and then jerked his head in the direction of the alcove at the other end of his bedroom. Siret’s had been full of books, but Coen’s was mostly empty. Just a rug and a chair, facing the windows. It had a door, too. I stripped off and pulled on the fresh clothes, chuckling at how ridiculous I now looked, before moving back into the main room.
“What’s so funny?” Rome asked me, his eyes flicking over me once before settling on my face. He was probably just making sure that I was finally clothed.
The others had all gathered, too. Silently and rapidly, like smoke beneath the door. It was a little bit scary.
“Nothing,” I muttered, wandering over to their group.
None of them were sitting down, but I was exhausted, so I sat on the edge of Coen’s bed, facing them all, and then I just blurted it out.
“So I feel sick and my chest hurts whenever I move away from you all. It’s really painful, like my chest is being ripped apart. When I move closer again, it gets better. With one of you touching me, it disappears altogether.”
I paused, drawing in a breath and passing my eyes from one of them to another. They were all doing that scary, blank-expression thing.
“Allrighttt,” I drew out the word, twisting my hands together nervously. “I’m going to go sleep now. I’m tired. See you all tomorrow.”
I jumped up, heading for the door.
“Trickery,” someone muttered, and a moment later, there was a sol behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder, catching the side of Siret’s profile, and then turned back to the door.Eh, whatever. Siret could follow me to the closet if he wanted to.
Unless … unless this was the moment that they killed me.
“Overreact, much?” Siret laughed, pulling me toward his dorm room. “You’re staying with me tonight. The others … they need a bit of time to process.”
“Are they angry?” I asked, as Siret pushed me gently from one room to another.
“Very,” he answered cheerily.
“Why aren’t you angry?” I scowled, spinning around to face him as he started pulling items off the only couch in his room.
“Rocks … my gift istrickery. I love surprises. Especially surprises that annoy people. Especially surprises that annoy my brothers. Especially surprises that spend half of their time naked. A naked surprise is always a good surprise.”
I didn’t really know what to say to that. He kind of had a point. He swept me up, mid-yawn, carrying me over to the bed and dumping me right into the middle of it, before leaning over me to steal one of the pillows.
“See you in the morning, Soldier,” he said with a wink.
Twelve
As soon asmy eyes drifted closed, sleep claimed me. I was wrenched immediately into a dream, in which I managed to grow into something twice my size, with massive limbs and hands the size of my face. Manly hands.What the hell?
“That can’t have been Rau’s intention,” my voice growled out, sounding far too much like Rome’s voice for comfort.
My eyes rose, meeting the eyes of three others. Yael, Aros, and Coen.
Holy freak! I’m inside Rome’s head!
No. That was impossible.Calm down, Willa! It was just a dream. A harmless dream …
“There’s only one explanation.” Coen was shaking his head, looking angrier, darker, than I had ever seen him. “Whatever his magic was, it was meant for one of us. Not a dweller. You know that they react differently to magic. They’re sofragile.”
“It should have killed her.” Yael said the words like an accusation, but there was confusion riding his tone, too.
“I think it ripped her soul apart,” Coen returned.
Whoa, I wanted to interrupt.What? Excuse me? WHAT!
“I think so, too.” Rome’s voice carried seemingly from my mouth. “And all of those pieces … they latched onto us. We somehow assimilated her. It shouldn’t have been possible. Maybe it had something to do with Rau’s magic. If it was designed specifically for us, it would have sent the pieces of her soul toward us. It still would have tried to seek us out, even after it had shredded her.”
