Cassandra woke, gasping for air. All of her memories crashed together, leaving her with a pounding headache and a thousand thoughts. But one thought was more prominent than the others.
“I need chocolate,” she muttered, rolling out of bed.
But, of course, there was no chocolate to be seen.
A tear rolled down her cheeks. Not because of the lack of chocolate. Though, honestly, that certainly didn’t help the situation.
Her memories hammered against her skull, heavy, loud, and impossible to ignore. They’d been leaking in since yesterday, but something about seeing Mother had released them all at once. And it did not feel good.
Cassandra sank to the ground and hugged her knees, rocking back and forth, the rhythm doing nothing to block out the memories.
Lies. Spells. Treatments. More lies. More treatments. Blood. Death. Her heart beat twice as fast as it should, blood screaming through her body. But the memories just kept repeating, looping around and around until she couldn’t breathe.
Lies. He’d said he loved her, but neither of them had believed it. She simply hadn’t cared because she had a roof over her head and food in her stomach.
Spells. He’d taught her to channel the powers, and she’d been good at it. Too good.
Treatments. She hadn’t understood what they were for at first. She should have been paying closer attention.
More lies. So, so many. About Kairos. About Titus. She hadn’t believed them. Not at first. But then…
More treatments. Her memories began to slip away, so quickly that she didn’t even notice them leaving.
Blood. He’d asked her to use her spells to hurt people. She’d tried not to, but then came more treatments. She stopped remembering what she did each day, mind full of only what he wanted her to know.
Death. In the dungeons. He’d said they were expendable. Necessary deaths before launching the full plan. Nobody cared if the criminals died. If she had cared about the killing, the treatments erased the emotion.
And, then, the biggest lie of all: Escape.
Cassandra pushed her head down into her knees, the pressure doing nothing to combat the horrible memories. Pressing even harder, she tried to focus on the one thought that made any sense: Leave. She needed to leave right now, and she needed to take Titus with her. None of this was his fault. She needed to protect him.
The door cracked open. Cassandra did not stop rocking, but peered up to see a woman looking in on her. The door opened wider.
“Are you not well, miss?”
A servant? Cassandra choked back an angry sob. She’d fainted, yet Mother couldn’t even be bothered to come check on her herself.
The woman crouched next to her. “Do you need anything?”
“I want my brother,” Cassandra whispered.
“He’s in his room, miss. Getting ready for supper. I can fetch him if you like.”
“NO!” That was too suspicious. They’d notice.
The servant repressed a frown. “No? Well…Is there anything else you’d like, then?”
“Chocolate.”
The servant’s brow wrinkled and Cassandra saw an expression run across her face. Judgement. Fine. Let her judge.
“What’s that, miss?”
Cassandra glared at her, tears hot on her cheeks. “Chocolate! Get me chocolate!” she screamed.
“We don’t have -”
“I need CHOCOLATE!” She clenched her fists for effect, and her entire body kept rocking of its own accord.
The woman straightened and fled, eyes wide. “I’ll look, miss.” She slammed the door closed behind her, but did not lock it. That was a start.
The floor rocked beneath her as Cassandra pushed herself to her feet. Stumbling forward and falling against the door, she tugged it open, then slammed it closed again.
Focus. Focus.
Wiping the tears from her face, she smoothed her hair and swallowed, forcing the memories to quiet. She didn’t know who was working with him. It could be anybody. Except for Titus.
Cassandra bit her lip and slipped out of the room, only to find herself in a long hallway full of doors. Balling her hands into fists, she picked the closest door and focused. She felt the wood of the door and the cool air on the other side. Wrong room.
She tried the next. And the next. Both empty. The third door held human heat behind it, but the heart beat wasn’t Titus’. She teettered down the hall, head pounding, blood boiling, breath coming fast. The next door she came to was wrong, too. And the other.
The sixth door barely held back the heat behind it. The pulse of it was right, too. Good, steady, and hotter than the sun. She shook herself and the sensation faded.
Staggering into the door, she pushed it open and fell into the room.
“Cassandra! What are you doing?”
Titus’ face loomed over her, lips pressed together in annoyance, and then concern. She lay on the floor, trying to form a full sentence.
“Leave,” she croaked out. The memories roared at her, confusing her thoughts. Lies. Spells. Treatme – She slapped the memories down, fighting to finish her sentence. “Us. We two. Now.”
He crouched next to her and helped her sit up. “You don’t look so good.” Titus turned to look at Festus for help, but the creature only blinked at them both. Typical.
“We need to leave. Now.”
“Shhhh,” he whispered, using his sleeve to wipe sweat from her brow. “Everything’s fine. You fainted. That’s all. You need to rest.”
She pushed his hand away. No. He didn’t understand. Using his shoulder as a prop, she struggled to her feet.
“He let me escape. He’s using…” Nausea washed over her and she doubled over, skull screaming with pain. Lies. Spells. Treatments. More lies. More treatments. Blood. Death. Death. Death.
She threw up all over Titus’ boots. They already weren’t very nice boots, and now they were worse.
Titus took her arm, pulled her across the room, and sat her down in a chair. “You need to sit down. I’ll go find somebody to help you.”
But that wasn’t right, was it? She couldn’t trust any of them. He didn’t understand that. She stared at him. Why didn’t he understand that?
“The prince. They’re working with him. Some of them. I don’t know…” Her temples burned with pounding heat. “Don’t know who. He’s trying to unlock the -”
But Titus was too worried. He was halfway to the door. Why did he have to be such a good brother?
Don’t go out there. But maybe the words didn’t leave her mouth? She wasn’t sure. Her head hurt too much.
Titus kept moving toward the door.
Mustering all of her strength, Cassandra stood and picked up the chair. Closing her eyes tight, she slammed it down on her brother’s head.
He fell to the ground.
“Well, that was stupid.”
Cassandra sank to the floor next to Titus. “Shut up, cat.” He was no help.
Festus ruffled his wings.
His wings?
Maybe he was of help after all. “Fly us.”
The creature gave her an annoyed look. “I’m not big enough for that.”
She rubbed her hands along the back of her head. She could feel her pulse in her hair. Was that normal? Lies. Spells. Treatments. More – The memories kept crashing against her skull.
“Help,” she whispered to nobody in particular, and slumped to the ground next to her brother.
