Page 94 of By the Moonbeam and the Mist
Neither, it seemed, did Steeler. Despite everything Nara had told him about the nature of the pills and the dome, he seemed to be caught in an inhale as he watched Mr. Gleekle stamp that brand to my shoulder…
Only for nothing to happen.
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Steeler’s hands curled into fists. He was already half-rising, his eyes on the back of Kitterfol Lexington’s neck, preparing to fight him mind-to-mind if Lexington so much assniffedat my thoughts.
But then Jagaros came.
Jagaros came, and everyone’s heads twisted amid shocked gasps to watch his sleek, stealthy trek to the stage, and Steeler’s face broke into a beam as he finally ripped his eyes from Lexington and found me again.
The mist changed.
Now he was stomping down the staircase in the Mind Manipulator house with the twins trailing behind him.
“Wait!” Sylvie reached out with a hand that barely managed to scrape against his shoulder. “You broke up?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” When Steeler reached his room, he closed the door behind him without looking back.
The twins just used their Summoning powers to unlock it.
“What are you going to do at the end of the year, then?” Sasha hissed as she trudged through his doorway, and I heard herthrow her thoughts out for Steeler to catch.Kidnap her? What if she doesn’t want to leave the island with us now that you’re not together anymore?
Steeler replied by shooting his own thoughts into her head.
We’re not taking Rayna with us.
Excuse me?Sasha stared at him, livid.You said she wouldn’t be safe on the island without us. And while her innate power is still shapeless, the dome won’t hurt her. Now’s her chance to leave.
“Some new information has come to light,” Steeler said out loud, in a tone edged with enough authority that it made the hairs on the back of my neck bristle. “We’re not taking Rayna with us.”
The mist changed.
Now a memory-version of me was watching Steeler pack up his things with burning intensity. As soon as he stilled, this Rayna said “I’m coming with you.”
“Rayna.” Steeler’s voice was hoarse, but his face… his face filled with enough self-loathing to shatter it. “You can’t. Dyonisia doesn’t know what you are, so your safest bet is to stay here and—”
“If this is about the shield, then I’m willing to test it,” memory-Rayna said. “Maybe I’m immune, too.”
And now I knew Iwasimmune. Not because of any special reason, but simply because my own power hadn’t developed yet, and the dome wouldn’t touch my Wild Whispering magic.
But Steeler laughed dryly, finally turning toward me.
“I’ve seen faeries disintegrate on the spot just from grazing the shield. It’s not a physical barrier, Rayna. It’s an anti-power that targets the magic in your blood and strikes.”
Not a lie. Not a lie, and yet…
Not the whole truth. He wasonebreath away from telling me that anti-powerwouldn’ttarget the magic in my blood as of now.
But he didn’t.
He didn’t.
And the mist changed.
Now I watched, horror-struck, as my past self writhed and flailed in Steeler’s grip, screaming at him to let me keep my memories.
“Let me go! Don’t touch me! Don’t you dare!”
