Page 19 of Dark Rebel's Mystery

"Of course you are." She lifted her face and kissed his cheek. "You have no idea how stupid people can get because you don't interact with the mindless masses, and the ones in your small sphere of family and friends are all intelligent people."

"You forget how much televised content I've been consuming on a daily basis in order to educate myself about your culture," he said as they walked up the steps to Syssi and Kian's front door. "I didn't realize it might be detrimental to my mind."

She chuckled. "You're an adult now, and your mind is not as malleable as it was while you were growing up, but maybe you shouldn't watch as much. Stupid might rub off on you."

He affected a horrified expression. "Promise to wash it off me if it does."

"I promise." Smiling, she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

The silly banter helped ease the knot in her stomach. Syssi had been deliberately vague when she'd called to invite them for coffee, saying only that they needed to brainstorm what they knew about Kyra, but Jasmine had a feeling that there was more to the invitation than rehashing old information.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the doorbell button.

Okidu opened the door, greeting them with a deep bow. "Good evening, Mistress Jasmine, Master Ell-rom. Please, come in."

"Good evening," Jasmine said, returning his smile.

He led them to the living room, where Kian and Syssi sat on the couch.

They both rose to greet them.

"Just in time," Syssi said. "Okidu baked a chocolate cake, and I warmed up the cappuccino machine so it would be ready as soon as you arrived."

"Wonderful." Jasmine walked into Syssi's embrace and kissed her cheek.

With Kian, she'd learned that shaking hands was as far as he would go. The guy was uncomfortable getting hugs from anyone other than his wife, mother, sisters, and daughter.

"Someone is missing," she said, glancing around. "Where is Allegra?"

"She's at Annani's." Syssi motioned for them to sit down. "She has her grandmother wrapped around her little finger."

"Like everyone else," Kian said with pride in his voice.

After Syssi made everyone cappuccinos and Okidu served his chocolate cake, they all got busy oohing and ahhing at the divine taste of chocolaty goodness. Some small talk ensued, and then Syssi put her cup on the coffee table and looked at Jasmine with so much concern and compassion in her eyes that Jasmine's guts twisted in anticipation.

"I had another vision about your mother," she said. "I didn't summon it or even think about her while falling asleep. It came out of nowhere and hit me over the head like a brick."

Jasmine winced. "That doesn't sound good. What were you shown?"

"Kyra looked about your age in the vision, so what I saw must have happened long ago, close to when she disappeared from your life. She was in some institution. It looked like an asylum."

Jasmine's hand tightened around her coffee cup. "An asylum? Like a mental institution?"

Syssi nodded, looking even more pained. "It looked like a hospital, but the walls were covered in faded, peeling paint, and there were bars on the windows. There was only one bed in the room, the metal kind, and Kyra was chained to it."

The coffee cup started to tremble in Jasmine's hand. She set it down carefully as Ell-rom's arm went around her shoulders. "Chained how?"

"By her wrists, although I don't know why they bothered to chain her. She was drugged out of her mind."

Jasmine's throat started closing up on her as her memories of being drugged and abducted suddenly bubbled to the surface. "Why do you think she was drugged?"

Syssi swallowed audibly, and Jasmine braced for what she was about to say. "A man wearing a doctor's coat entered the room but wasn't there to help her." She met Jasmine's eyes, letting her see the pain and anger there. "Kyra didn't fight him, but it wasn't because she welcomed what he was doing to her."

Jasmine lifted her hand to stop Syssi from saying more but then shook her head. "I'm sorry. Please continue. I need to know."

"I woke up," Syssi said. "I forced myself to wake up because I couldn't stand seeing him violate her. But the vision was relentless, and it followed me to Kian's office."

Jasmine struggled to keep her composure. Her hands trembled in her lap as she pictured her mother chained to the metal bed, drugged and helpless, while that monster in a doctor's coat violated her.

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