Page 37 of Her Magic Light

Coop didn’t say anything though, so I assumed it was one of his brusque nods. I should have hissed at the doctor. Or jumped at him. Or anything to scare him. The thought of Dr. Anderson hopping around his office to get away from me nearly brought an unexpected grin to my face.

Butunder control? The words echoed in my brain, and I clamped down on the mirth. I gritted my teeth again. Back to the whole zoo animal thing along with those ridiculous cells downstairs. Plus all the dark. Did they think I was anocturnalzoo animal?

“Meira.” Dr. Anderson leaned forward, but only slightly, and he kept his voice hushed and his eyes rounded as he watched me. “You. are. very. special.” Now he was speaking to me like I was a child, and I almost expected him to gesture alongside his overly enunciated words as well.

I sat back and watched him, safe in the knowledge he couldn’t see my eyes when I narrowed them. All I had heard was bullshit.

He seemed to take my silence as a good sign, rather than me just waiting him out, and he continued to speak. “You’re very rare. Perhapsthe rarestof anything else in our collection.”

My mouth twisted. What the—collection?

He hesitated. “That we have here.” He shook his head and smiled slightly like he was asking forgiveness. “It’s not a collection. I misspoke. Forgive me. But you… You…” He shaped the air in front of him like he was cupping my face between his hands. Like he might just lean forward and kiss me, and I bit back a gag.

His hand fluttered in front of his chest. “You might be the last of your kind.” His eyes shone brightly—a feverish type of excitement.

Then I chuckled, the dry sound harsh in the room. “Really.” It wasn’t even a question. Just one word to form a flat statement.

“Meira.” My name again, but this time coaxingly. “Please. You’re a rainbow mage, able to wield rays of light and do magic.” He looked at me like I needed to be impressed with him for figuring out my secret, but I laughed harder before abruptly stopping and shaking my head.

“So that’s why I’m here? Because you believe I can domagic?”

He nodded.

“Magic?” I repeated.

He nodded again.

“Do you hear yourself?”

Dr. Anderson frowned.

“Am I prisoner here because you’re deluded?”

Coop stiffened slightly behind me, his change in posture communicating itself in the air between us.

“Oh, not at all. Never a prisoner,” Dr. Anderson said. “You’re an honored guest.”

I shook my head again and clucked my tongue. “But Dr. Anderson—”

He lifted his head. “Yes?”

“I’m housed in a cage.”

He blinked.

“And I don’t believe guests are kept in the dark either.”Honored guest, my rainbow ass.

He laughed this time, but the sound was soft, like he had a secret. “But you’re potentially our most dangerous guest, Meira. Your rooms are kept dim on purpose, your access to light limited by those…” He indicated his own eyes. “You may be permitted to access light only with careful supervision.”

fourteen

Before he even gave me chance to absorb all of the crazy he’d just spouted, he clapped his hands briskly together like I was lagging behind him on a tour. But I was still stuck on the last thing he’d said.

“You’re going to restrict my access tolight?” As I spoke the words, they sounded absurd. But what else had they been doing this whole time? Darkness everywhere, shutting off lightbulbs as I passed by, sunglasses. “That’s actual torture, right?”

The doctor shrugged. Perhaps like he didn’t know. More likely he didn’t care.

I raised my glasses and glanced around his room again. Unlike last night in the waiting room, where everything had looked basic and utilitarian and possibly a little flimsy, this room had the faint aroma of wealth. I’d bet my life his desk chair wasn’t some sort of pleather. It looked the real deal. And his carefully casual clothes had probably cost him a fortune at some upmarket department store.

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