“This is a process,” she continued. “A requirement for the rest of your life, if you want to stay sane.”
I had a friend in elementary school who’d been diabetic. Every day, she monitored her blood sugar levels, gave herself a shot of insulin. She acted as though it was no big deal and for her, by that point in her life, it probably wasn’t. That was the attitude I needed—positive resignation.
“I don’t want to become a wraith,” I said, and glanced at Liam. “And I certainly I don’t want to hurt anyone—there’s been too much of that already. So yeah. I’ll learn. It won’t hurt, will it?” I wasn’t big on pain.
Nix’s smile was sympathetic. “Not nearly as much as magic destroying your body from the inside out.”
I couldn’t argue with that. “Then let’s get started.”
She nodded. “Let me just get comfortable.” She shook her shoulders, and the image of the long-haired girl human who’d walked into the store fell away like curling bark. It left behind a woman with delicately tipped ears, long fingers, and a faintly green cast to her skin.
I figured Liam would bring a Sensitive skilled at hiding her magic and who’d learned how to keep her levels balanced. But that wasn’t who Nix was . . .
“You’re a Paranormal.” I heard the anger in my voice, was embarrassed by the judgment in it. But this wasn’t a visit to Devil’s Isle, where Paras were supposed to be. This was my home, and Liam had brought a Para here without so much as a word.
I slid my gaze to him, let my lifted eyebrows ask the obvious question: Why is she here?
“I’m what humans might have called a wood spirit or a dryad,” Nix said. “And, contrary to popular belief, not all Paranormals hate humans. And not all of us chose war.”
“You had a funny way of showing it.”
“Perhaps you aren’t trustworthy enough to know the truth.”
I kept my steady gaze on hers. “Two Paranormals, a bounty hunter, his brother, and his grandmother now know that I’m a Sensitive. I’ve walked into Devil’s Isle, and I’ve outright lied to Containment.”
Then I shifted my gaze to Liam. “You have enough information to put me away for the rest of my life. You wanted me to keep an open mind, and so far, I have, because I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I don’t want to go to Devil’s Isle. But if you want me to keep believing in you, trusting you, then you need to explain what’s going on.”
Liam and Nix shared a look, and he nodded.
“Tell her.”
Nix sighed, clasped her hands in front of her. “Very well,” she said, then looked at me.
“Humans like to see the world as black and white, good and evil. It’s a lot easier to wage a war against magic when you’ve decided everyone with magic is your enemy. But that’s not how it happened.
“An assembly of Paranormals we call the Consularis ruled the Beyond peacefully for many millennia. That is no longer the case. There is rebellion—those who want to overthrow the Consularis, no matter the cost to law, to order, to peace. They call themselves the Court of Dawn, and their power has been growing stronger with each new generation. But they are still dwarfed in number by those aligned to the Consularis. When the Court determined they would not be able to rule the Beyond—”
“They decided to take our world instead,” Liam said.
Nix nodded. “The Court broke the Veil. But that is not all—they used power and magic to compel others to fight. They conscripted loyal citizens of the Consularis into the battle to help them take your world.”
“What do you mean ‘conscripted’?” I asked.
“Magical compulsion,” Liam said. “The Court decided there weren’t enough of them to fight humans. So they built their army with Paranormals who didn’t want to fight.”
Something settled hard and heavy in my stomach, weighted by the sudden possibility I’d hurt Paras—killed Paras—who hadn’t actually been our enemy. “Containment didn’t tell us that.”
“Containment didn’t know until the war was over,” Liam said. “For most, the compulsion didn’t end until the Veil closed again. By then, most remaining Paras were in Devil’s Isle.”
“So now they’re all in there together,” I realized. “The Court and the Consularis.”
Nix nodded. “Yes.”
“It’s almost impossible for Containment to know now who was conscripted and who wasn’t,” Liam said. “If they asked the Paras in Devil’s Isle if they were Consularis, and the Paras thought saying yes would get them freedom, they’d all say yes.”
Still. “So why don’t the conscripted Paras rebel now? Why don’t they break out of Devil’s Isle?”
“Where would they go?” Liam asked. “The Veil is closed. They can’t go back to the Beyond. And some of them don’t want to leave. There’s war in the Beyond, or so we assume. Devil’s Isle isn’t the nicest place to be, but it’s home for a lot of them. It’s relatively safe, and it’s relatively stable. I’m not saying they’re thrilled about being there, but they understand the grass isn’t always greener.”