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Sydni’s head rose. For the first time, I caught a glance into her brown eyes, glittering like dark gems in golden lantern light. They shifted to her friend. “You weren’t joking. She’s not that nice.”
Nate stiffened. “I said she’s bristly. And it’s not like you’re any better.”
Sydni shrugged. “Fine. Take a seat.”
We did. The bench was cold, but I didn’t care. My heart pounded, and my blood boiled. The magic in my veins seared into me, urging me toward Sydni.
She had a piece of the puzzle, and I was going to find it. But would I have to use my power on her? And would she sense it?
“If you tell anyone I’ve told you this, I’ll deny it,” she began.
“Good with me.”
“Well, then. We should start with the fact that I stabbed myself.”
My eyebrows snapped upward. “Come again?”
Her smile flashed in the dark. “The memories are hazy. Uncertain. Honestly, I’m not sure if this image is fake, but I… gods, it’s fucking terrifying.”
“Tell me what happened. Don’t leave out the important parts. Why did you tell the police that an attacker stabbed you?”
“Because I couldn’t tell them the truth. No one would believe me. No one.”
Nate said softly, “From the beginning, Syd.”
She huffed. “I just think it was someone from that stupid mafia organization. I think they put shit in the drugs that messed with us and made us see shit. It was my third month using. Third. And not even consistently! I’d pop a pill when a test was coming and I had to study. Whatever.
“The morning of my attack, I had a little more than usual. I was stressed, okay? More than usual. Benjamin was acting weird. Kept saying that I was close to getting in trouble or something. That I had to think about my actions.”
Aha. So she was buying from the golden boy too.
She pulled out a light and held it to a fresh smoke, her inhale long and deep. Releasing a cloud, she said, “I’d just been leaving a party. The last thing I remember is walking away toward the dorms, and then”—she snapped her fingers—“nothing. I woke up tied to a godsdamn chair. My hands were fucking locked onto a dagger by some magical force. My body was practically glued to the chair with nothing at all. No tape, no rope, nothing. I couldn’t move anything but my arms.” Her voice shook. She took another drag.
Nate put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off.
“I’m fine,” she rasped, coughing a little. “Just give me a sec. I hate talking about it.”
After a few quiet moments, she said. “A… thing came out of me.”
Cold nestled into my core. “What thing?”
“It looked like a spirit of pure evil. Thick, leathery skin. Legs like a spider’s, with razor-sharp feet. The mouth was fucking disgusting and huge.”
“And that came out of you?” I verified, more and more unsettled by the second.
“It was tearing itself from my stomach. It clawed at me. Cut me. It was going to kill me, I…”
Another drag, and then, “The only thing I could do was stab it. Right in its filthy, disgusting head.” Her laugh was as bitter as burnt coffee. “That’s when the lie disappeared.”
“You stabbed yourself. Not the monster,” I surmised. Even the most basic report had said that Sydni had sustained near-fatal wounds.
“Yup. Then the locks around my hands disappeared. The spirit vanished. All that was left was the handle sticking out of my stomach. I could take my hand off the blade, but I was still locked onto that chair.” She knocked her hood back and shook out a mane of dark hair. “I’m not sure how long I was in that room. It felt like an eternity. I kept expecting to die, but it refused to happen. When they found me—you’re going to laugh so hard—they pulled me off the chair like it was nothing. Like I hadn’t been stuck there at all. The paramedics kept saying how strange it was that I just sat there for so long.”
“I didn’t realize illusions can be so real,” I said.
“They can’t,” she snapped with more force. “Illusions don’t work like that, you fucking moron. It’s not possible. We’ve researched it.”
“No need to be an asshole about something you considered too,” I groused.
