Truth Stealers (Thief's Signal: Book 1)

9

It had not been long before Lucy returned to Jag to show him a room to stay. Of course, she had locked him in. When she returned an hour later, she made him go back to her office.

"Doctor Gregariza wants a psychological assessment," she explained coldly. "Before the operation."

"Wait, wait, wait, what operation?"

"The one you signed up for," Lucy said impatiently.

"Ah, would that have anything to do with this then?" Jag pulled the receipt for Meta Mechanics Developmental out of his wallet.

"Yes, there's the proof. Now let's get on with it."

Lucy held up the first ink blot on the card.

"Can you at least tell me what damn operation I signed up for?"

"You'll remember soon enough. Now. Tell me what you see in this picture, Jag."

Bitch.

Jag stared into the ink, and after a moment, something seemed to be moving inside of it. A slinking, midnight shadow, twisting and turning in the card.

"Uhh," he squinted, "a, uh, a squid shooting some ink."

Having said this, Jag finally sat back in his seat, feeling satisfied. Lucy raised an eyebrow at his answer, and then picked up the next card.

"Interesting," she said, noting it down, "what about this one?"

To Jag, it looked just like the previous photo, except for maybe a bit of a rounder blob on one side of the card.

"Uh, this one looks more like a pufferfish."

"Really? Strange, honestly, you have a weird imagination for this test."

Lucy recorded his reaction in a notebook, and picked up yet another card.

"How many of these are there?" Jag moaned.

"Not many," Lucy said, "it will be shorter if you answer quicker ."

Wouldn't have married you if I knew you were this feisty.

"That's - ooh. I'd say a cat with an evil shadow following it."

"Hmm," for some reason this seemingly harmless reply made Lucy concerned, but nevertheless she jotted it down in the notebook and carried on.

"Fly swatter," Jag said.

Another card.

"Dead caterpillar."

And another.
And another.
And another, each one stimulating a frown from Lucy across the table, not quite sure what to make of the results.

"And that's the last one," she finally said, with a small wave of relief now passing over both of them.

Jag wiped his forehead lethargically, "please can I sleep now?"

"Look, I would love to tell you you can but we have just one more test to get through before that."

"Unhhh," Jag slumped disappointed into his chair.

"It's a simple word game. Jag, look at me. All you have to do is say the first word that comes into your mind-"

"Sleep."

"-After I say my word." Lucy stared across at Jag with a puzzled look that he couldn't quite make out.

"Let's begin," she said, and began the next test without relent.

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