Page 71 of By the Moonbeam and the Mist
To which Mrs. Smetlar had slapped him across the face with a stuffed iguana and assigned him more after-class eyeball polishing.
Emelle had stayed quiet through it all, a ghostly paleness permanently stamped over her face. The birdfeeder on herbedside table was empty, save for a few cracked shells, and she hadn’t made any moves to refill it. She spent every free moment outside of class—including nights—with Lander, and…
Guilt nipped at me, to be honest. All of my masks and shields and secrets had kept me from being the person who could hold her together when she was falling apart.
I’d have to think about that later. For now, I had a sadistic, too-powerful Good Council elite to scare off.
Just as I was pushing back my covers to try to slip out of bed without waking Cilia or Dazmine, a dark, fathomless presence pushed against my blockade.
I sucked in a string of curses and fell backward into my own mind, landing on that snowy patch of ground with the ice-slathered wall before me, the vast expanse of nothingness behind me, and…
Steeler leaning casually against my wall.
“Knock, knock.”
“What are youdoinghere?” I stomped over to him in the spotlight of the crescent moon.
In the real world, I could feel my body still lying in bed, eyes closed and heart battering furiously. In here, though, my eyes had to have beenblazingand my heart was hulking down like a tiger, poised to attack this… thisintruder.
I had to call him an intruder or else my hypocritical, devious mind might forget that he wasn’t just a finely cut male pinning me with beautiful eyes that dared to blaze back.
“Well, I was hoping you’d let me in,” Steeler drawled, nodding at my colossal gateway. “So that I could test out all your internal blockades, make sure all your sensitive memories of last weekend are still hidden before Lexington interrogates you today.”
I stared at him, caught between telling him to get the hell out and finding it kind of… thoughtful that he hadn’t just forced hisway in. I knew I wasn’t yet a strong enough Mind Manipulator to keep that gate locked and secured if he—
No. I shook my head. Him asking my permission was the bare minimum. Just because he’d barged his way in before didn’t mean I should start drooling over the fact that he’d waited long enough to ask me this time.
“Go ahead,” I said dryly. “But I doubt you’ll even find them.”
Indeed, I’d spent the last few nights lying in bed just exploring my own mind before I fell asleep, continuing to pack in the walls of ice around my forbidden memories until that part of the maze completely blended in with its surroundings—the swirling mist of it muffled behind another frozen part of me. I’d even hidden my conversations with Jagaros and Dazmine as best as I could.
Steeler was gone in a blink. When he returned merely thirty seconds later, I blurted, “You can Walk inside my own mind?”
“The benefits of having two powers that merge,” he said, leaning against my wall as if he’d never left. “Well, I’ve got to say, Drey—you were right. I couldn’t find a single memory of last weekend. Of course I didn’t look for long, but unless Lexington plans to do another full-scale investigation today and knock down every wall in sight…” His lip curled up at that. “… I don’t think he’ll ever know.”
“Great,” I bit out. “Thank you for the maintenance check. Now go back—” I pushed against his chest. “—to your lighthouse before Lexington finds traces of you in here.”
Steeler caught my hands over his chest and held them there, all the smugness draining away as his expression hardened into stone.
“I’ve kept my distance during his interrogations with you until now, Drey, but if you think I’m going to leave you alone after knowing that he actuallyhurtyou…”
“Let me guess,” I said mockingly. “I’m an even bigger fool than you thought?”
“… then I haven’t made it clear enough I’m never leaving you alone with him again,” Steeler finished firmly.
Oh. Well, I couldn’t tell if that was a promise or a threat.
“It would be my fuckingpleasureto kickstart an even bigger war with Dyonisia if he does it again,” Steeler continued, lips mashing together—to hold back a snarl or something else, I couldn’t tell. “So no, I’m not going back to that lighthouse yet, especially not while you’re attempting to trick the most powerful Mind Manipulator on the island.”
For a moment, I forgot to try to tug my hands away, so overcome by the wicked promise glittering in his eyes.
Then I remembered Emelle and the empty bed next to mine.
“Maybe you should start a war over whatever dangerous, unstable things are attacking Esholian villages.” I ripped myself out of his grasp. “Do you have any idea what they might be if they’re not pirates? Your pal Jagaros wouldn’t tell me.”
To my surprise, Steeler flinched as if I’d delivered a blow. He glanced sideways, toward that large expanse of nothingness circling my mind, and dragged a hand through his hair.
“I don’t know exactly who—or what—is attacking the villages either,” he sighed, apparently deciding to ignore the sarcasm I’d used in reference to Jagaros. “Whatever they are, theyaredangerous, theyareunstable, and Iwoulddispatch a fleet to annihilate them if I could.”
