Keeper of the Lost Cities: Elysian

Chapter 51

Merida was once again facing her parents with a hard gaze.

But...

It took a few seconds for Sophie to realize that this Merida looked different. She had black hair and violet eyes... exactly like the girl Sophie had seen when her mind was broken.

The same girl who had been staring at the white eye.

"This memory has not been tampered with," the voice said. "You've seen what I looked like."

Was this Ely- Merida's true appearance?

"How did you 'tamper' with memories?" Sophie asked.

That was definitely something that wasn't included in her telepathy training.

"I didn't anticipate it would take you this long," Merida sneered. "It's gloriously easy to make people forget- or to see differently. People see things that don't exist. Why do you think there's something called paranoia?"

"That's not an answer," Sophie responded. She tried to think. To remember. "But you did manage to make Tam and the others mistrust me- or you made me go off course and were just toying with my mind. How did you do it?"

"I suppose the Veil had something to do with it," Merida replied in an innocently sad voice. "In reality- no pun intended- memories are simply fragments of what people see and feel. But as we both know, images can be shattered and eradicated. Thoughts can be twisted and shaped. And yet you ask why memories can be tampered with?"

The Veil again.

Sophie should have known- should have understood why she was seeing differently from her friends. Why they thought she was going insane.

But there was still something she was confused about.

"Even if you were able to manipulate others," Sophie started. "How did you do the same to yourself? And... why?"

"I'm showing you my memories for a reason," Merida said, and Sophie could almost hear her scowl. "So it's pointless to ask these futile questions."

Sophie wanted to protest- to shout that it wasn't her fault she had zero clue what was going on.

But it would be foolish to lose her only source of information.

She had to get to the bottom of the mess.

"We're going to talk," Merida's father said with a tone that prohibited any protest or refusal. "You have no excuses."

"If this is about Fallon, you should know that he was a jerk," Merida retorted. Her voice and posture were the same as the ones the Merida from the other memories had. She just looked different. "I told him I had to leave because he was making me uncomfortable."

"You don't consider how much significance your actions had on this family," her mother argued. "Having the Vackers on our side will be imperative as they are one of the most important families in the nobility. We thought by pairing you and Fallon together, we could achieve that. However..."

To Sophie's surprise, she smiled.

As did Merida's father.

It had devious satisfaction- which boded ill.

Sophie didn't like it.

"We realized that not having the two of you together as a couple does have its merit," Merida's father continued. "And that's the blessing of a curse. Even though we can't have you and Fallon in a relationship, we can have something much better. You will have taken a step forward to a position of greatness- the position of a Councillor."