Mystic Academy: The Lie

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The Leader Dog's mind was more like Jake's than Simon's. Or, I didn't know that. I hadn't been fully in Jake's mind when I controlled him, so there was no actual proof, but I knew for sure that it wasn't like Simon's.

I was thrown into a memory immediately, a memory I'd already seen. I got to experience how it went when the Leader Dog "came to life" once more. He probably knew himself that I'd seen it, because it was only the ending that played. The Leader Dog seemed to have more control over the situation then what any other person I'd used my ability on had had. It was like he steered me into the right path, showed me what could be important to know to defeat Hector.

The next memory was completely different. The Leader Dog wasn't there. Instead there was a guy, a guy with pretty long hair and hard, sharp jaw lines. He couldn't be more than 15. In his arms a girl sat, huddled together as if something had happened to her.
"Skyla," the guy said. "Skyla, it's okay. It was only a nightmare. It's already over. It wasn't real."

The girl sobbed weakly. She must've been really terrified.
The guy—who I believed was the Leader Dog—looked down on the girl's small face. "I'm here, I'll always be here for you."

Skyla looked up at him. "You promise?"

Although he tried to hide it, the worry shone through as he said, "I promise." He laughed a little. "What kind of brother would I be otherwise? Of course I'll always be there for you, and you for me."

The girl smiled. "Thank you. Thank you so much, Nico."

Nico continued to embrace his sister. "Of course. I will not let you be treated like I've been. I just won't."

The memory dissolved and was replaced by a new one. In this the Leader Dog—Nico—was younger. Some little sister was nowhere to be seen. The small boy sat hunched up in a corner of the room he was in. He seemed scared and upset. Nothing else existed. Nothing else except the boy and the darkness that surrounded every nook around him.

This must have been the beginning of everything that had happened until Nico became remembered under the name the Leader Dog. He must despise what happened, what made him agree to the master stroke dad played which made it so easy for him to create such an involuntary, but powerful army.

Suddenly there was a noise. The small boy looked up at the invisible door that caused the sound. A woman showed her face through the doorway. In front of her another head popped up a little boy's head. The two boys embraced each other and although the woman seemed worried, she did not try to separate them. She knew it would only make things worse. Because she'd made something illegal, knew that her own boy was forbidden to enter the dark room. But she also knew that Nico needed it. I could see that clearly in his eyes too. They shone of joy, all fear that only a few minutes ago had been reflected in his gaze was blown away. That he was now safe was also noticeable in the enveloping darkness. The longer the two children sat there, close together, the brighter the room became. The darkness dissipated, as if it was steered, controlled by Nico. When he was afraid it spread, as if it protected him, and when he knew he was safe it dispersed.

But I still didn't know what kind of relationship Nico had with Hector, why dad had chosen him as Leader Dog. For they must've had a relationship, something else was out of the question. They must have. Some kind of relationship must have existed before the Leader Dog—Nico—got so irritated at Hector that he betrayed him by giving me information that could help us defeat my cunning dad.

I hadn't even noticed that I no longer was in the Leader Dog's head anymore. I had spent my time in the last memory he wanted me to see, and I hadn't even focused on the ending. But I still understood. When the Leader Dog had been human he'd been tormented, weighed down by a burden I still had no idea what it was. He had shown me where he stood in this war. He chose us. He chose me.

I stayed with the Leader Dog for a long time. We stared into each others' eyes. He seemed sad. Sad that it had turned out like this. Sad about what had happened to me. But if you compared mine with the one he was in, mine was an easy problem to solve. Because being stuck in the body of an animal was much worse than being trapped in a big house with a man that—despite his evil intentions—still was my father. Our situations were not at all comparable.

We both had sympathy for the situations we were in.

And in that moment when we sat there, me crouching in front of him and him on the floor, we swore a silent agreement to help each other out of our situations.

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The days passed. I had managed to avoid bumping into Dad since that first meeting when came with me. It was a relief that released, a weight lifting from my chest.

I still despised him, but I knew I had to hide that hate from him and Aiden. I needed to show that I was part of the family, that there was no chance I would betray them. I needed to come up with a plan. A plan to tell Mom, Mr. Brock, Tristan and Katie that I was okay. That nothing would happen to me as long as I pleased Dad. As long as I was that good girl that obeyed all his orders. The girl I absolutely didn't want to become. But if I had to, I had to be that girl. But only temporarily. For we were going to win that war. We had too.