Becoming Magical [2]

C H A P T E R - 1 9

"I don't understand," Sophie said as Elwin set her down her on a giant canopied bed in one of Everglen's enormous upstairs guest rooms. It was the same bed she'd woken up in when she'd nearly faded away. "How can I be faded? I'm wearing a nexus."

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." He grabbed her wrist, squinting at the meter on the underside. "Did you do anything differently during the leap?"

"I wrapped some of my concentration around Alden to make sure I brought him home safe. But my nexus is supposed to keep me together no matter how much I concentrate, right?"

"That's what it's designed for."

She looked away as Elwin flashed orange around her wrist, not wanting to trigger another headache.

"The nexus is working," Elwin said after a second.

"Then there has to be some mistake."

"Oh, there's no mistake. See for yourself." He handed her a silver mirror from the dressing table.

Sophie's eyes widened.

All her color had been washed away, leaving her lips and cheeks the same pale white as her skin. Even her eyes looked more gray than brown.

"Don't worry—it looks worse than it is. When it's serious your skin starts to turn translucent. And when it's deadly you're practically clear. There were parts of you I could barely see when Fitz found you last time."

Sophie shuddered. "You can fix it, right?"

"Yeah, I just have to make up some of that limbium-free Fade Fuel that Kesler came up with. And in the meantime, I want you to drink this"—he handed her a bottle of Youth—"and try to rest."

He smeared purple balm on her burn and wrapped her hand in a damp silk cloth. "I have to go take care of Alden. Will you be all right?"

Sophie nodded. "Is he going to be okay?

"Of course. He's a little beat up, but it's nothing I can't handle. Just try to relax. I'll be back in a few."

She downed the bottle of Youth, trying not to stare at her pale hand as she set the bottle on the bedside table.

She was going to be fine.

She didn't even feel different. Just tired and sore.

She closed her eyes and leaned back against the pillow, hoping to get some much needed sleep. But the nightmares refused to let her rest.

Fire and chaos from Fintan's memories. Madness and mayhem from Prentice. All the horrors she'd seen during her probes, mixed with her own fears and sandwiched together into the ultimate horror show in her mind.

But the worst was a memory she didn't remember seeing.

Prentice, strapped to a chair in a round room with projections on the walls. Sophie had been there once, when Alden brought her to Quinlin's office in Atlantis. But this time all the screens projected the same image.

The sign of the swan.

Prentice stared quietly at his lap as Quinlin circled him, shouting questions. Finally Quinlin wrung his hands and reached for Prentice's temples. Prentice didn't struggle—didn't resist—didn't do anything except stare at the person whose eyes Sophie was seeing the memory through.

Alden.

Sophie could feel Alden's anger and sadness as Prentice thrashed and screamed, and she jolted awake, hoping to bury the devastating memory so deeply in her mind that it would never resurface. But she had a feeling it would haunt her the same way it must be haunting Alden.