Page 191 of Spoils of war
She let out a cracked laugh, breath shaky.
“How?”
“You’ve seen it,” I said quickly. “Kalani told me about your dreams, Licia. You’ve been dreaming of me. Of this.”
She blinked slowly, trying to process.
“Kalani?”
“Yeah, we, uh… met. She’s waiting for you too. She said you still dream.”
“They’re just dreams.”
“No, they’re not,” I said, firm. “They’re real. Your dreams are real. They show you the future. They show you the past.”
“You think I can see the future?” she scoffed, leaning away. “Well, if you can fly, why don’t you fly us out of here?”
“I can’t fly,” I admitted, smiling despite everything.
“So… what can you do?”
I returned the smile, faint but real. “It’s easier if I show you.”
“Kera, this is insane,” she whispered, her voice splintering. “My visions aren’t real. You probably aren’t real. Will and Aran aren’t waiting outside. I’m just imagining all this because of the pain.”
I had to show her. She had to believe me. I clenched my fists and tried. Focused everything I had left into the center of my palm.
Nothing.
Panic prickled under my skin, and my head felt heavy. The mist in the air was pressing in again, dulling everything. My thoughts slowed, focus slipping. Whatever lived inside me, whatever answered when I called… stayed silent. I gritted my teeth and tried again.
Finally, a spark. Then a flame. Sudden. Sharp.It burst to life too fast, catching the edge of the sheet near Licia’s leg before I could stop it.
“Shit,” she gasped. “Put that out! You’ll burn the whole place down!”
She flinched, then lunged without hesitation, grabbed the blanket and smothered the flame in a few quick, frantic motions. “Not that I’d mind,” she muttered.
Then she froze, eyes fixed on the scorched sheet. Slowly, her gaze lifted to me.
“How… did you do that?”
CHAPTERFORTY-TWO
My heart pounded against my ribs as we stood lined up like cattle, waiting to be called—one by one. The air reeked of cigar smoke, thick and bitter. It tore through my nose and down my throat until I wanted to gag. And the mist, it was everywhere. They gassed the rooms at night, pumping it in until it coated everything, and was thick enough to choke on. Thick enough to make you forget who you were, what was real. It clung to my skin, crawled into my skull, made it hard to breathe, hard to think.
But I had to hold on.
I had to remember why I was there.
They’d given us all a special tea that morning. The other girls warned me never to skip it. It wasn’t like the remedy Iria had givenme. That one had made me bleed, this one did the opposite. It stopped bleeding, and anything else that might become a problem.
The girl next to me was crying, quiet, broken sobs, as her fingers tangled in her hair and yanked. Hard. Strands came loose, caught in her fists, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t even seem to notice. Her sobs barely cut through the low murmur of voices behind the door. There were two other girls, but they were silent. Hollow. Like the life had already been scraped out of them. Some had stopped fighting long ago, you could feel it in the way they stood, in the weight of their eyes.
Two guards leaned against the doorframe, watching us. I didn’t look at them, didn’t lift my head. I knew better. You’d be surprised how quick you learn in a place like that. Make yourself small. Quiet. Forgettable. Let them think you’ve given up, it’s the only thing that keeps you safe. If they don’t see the fight in you, they won’t try to break it. Let them underestimate you, so when you fight back... They don’t see it coming.
The door creaked open and a voice called through.
“Next.”
