I paused, drawing in a breath and passing my eyes from one of them to another. They were all doing that scary, blank-expression thing.
“Allrighttt,” I drew out the word, twisting my hands together nervously. “I’m going to go sleep now. I’m tired. See you all tomorrow.”
I jumped up, heading for the door.
“Trickery,” someone muttered, and a moment later, there was a sol behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder, catching the side of Siret’s profile, and then turned back to the door. Eh, whatever. Siret could follow me to the closet if he wanted to.
Unless … unless this was the moment that they killed me.
“Overreact, much?” Siret laughed, pulling me toward his dorm room. “You’re staying with me tonight. The others … they need a bit of time to process.”
“Are they angry?” I asked, as Siret pushed me gently from one room to another.
“Very,” he answered cheerily.
“Why aren’t you angry?” I scowled, spinning around to face him as he started pulling items off the only couch in his room.
“Rocks … my gift is trickery. I love surprises. Especially surprises that annoy people. Especially surprises that annoy my brothers. Especially surprises that spend half of their time naked. A naked surprise is always a good surprise.”
I didn’t really know what to say to that. He kind of had a point. He swept me up, mid-yawn, carrying me over to the bed and dumping me right into the middle of it, before leaning over me to steal one of the pillows.
“See you in the morning, Soldier,” he said with a wink.
Twelve
As soon as my eyes drifted closed, sleep claimed me. I was wrenched immediately into a dream, in which I managed to grow into something twice my size, with massive limbs and hands the size of my face. Manly hands. What the hell?
“That can’t have been Rau’s intention,” my voice growled out, sounding far too much like Rome’s voice for comfort.
My eyes rose, meeting the eyes of three others. Yael, Aros, and Coen.
Holy freak! I’m inside Rome’s head!
No. That was impossible. Calm down, Willa! It was just a dream. A harmless dream …
“There’s only one explanation.” Coen was shaking his head, looking angrier, darker, than I had ever seen him. “Whatever his magic was, it was meant for one of us. Not a dweller. You know that they react differently to magic. They’re so fragile.”
“It should have killed her.” Yael said the words like an accusation, but there was confusion riding his tone, too.
“I think it ripped her soul apart,” Coen returned.
Whoa, I wanted to interrupt. What? Excuse me? WHAT!
“I think so, too.” Rome’s voice carried seemingly from my mouth. “And all of those pieces … they latched onto us. We somehow assimilated her. It shouldn’t have been possible. Maybe it had something to do with Rau’s magic. If it was designed specifically for us, it would have sent the pieces of her soul toward us. It still would have tried to seek us out, even after it had shredded her.”
Shredded.
Ripped.
Assimilated.
Pieces.
It was hard to believe that they were talking about me. It sounded like they were talking about a rag-doll.
“I don’t like this,” Yael snarled, beginning to pace.
Try being me, buddy!
“None of us do,” Coen snapped back. “And I bet she hates it even more than we do.”
Correct, for once!
Rome laughed. “No shit. She doesn’t even seem to realise that she’s a dweller. There’s not an ounce of accepting or obedience in her.”
The others smiled, momentarily, before the stormy expressions rolled back over their faces.
“We need to do something.” Aros spoke up, his silky voice thoughtful. “Maybe we can sneak her back into Topia.”
“It’s too risky.” Coen shook his head.
Aros grunted out an agreement. “Well, maybe we can get a message to Brina. If anyone is going to be able to reverse this curse, it’ll be her.”
The others nodded, and then they all seemed to fall into a thoughtful silence.
“Have you hidden the cup?” Yael finally asked, looking over at Coen.
“Of course,” was the bland reply.
“Think he’s noticed it missing, yet?” Aros asked.
“Of course.” This time, the reply was delivered with a flashing smile. Coen’s eyes glinted dangerously, a laugh falling from his lips. “If he could curse us again, he’d do it. But you know D.O.D.” He laughed again, shaking his head. “He’s probably trying not to be proud, because we finally managed to beat his sneaky ass at something.”
Their laughter slowly faded away, and no matter how tightly I tried to hang onto it, it evaded my grasp, dwindling into soundless night as sleep dragged me further away. After that, my dreams were normal. I dreamt about sleeper bugs the size of my face, and tables piled high with delicious sol food. I even dreamt about Rome’s bare chest, for a little bit. I tried not to judge myself as I then moved on to think about the others and the various images that they had planted into my poor little dweller brain.