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“That was the intention” Toland sounded frustrated “But as he sent here to do exactly?”

I groped around for answers, but I ca to panic If Toland didn’t knoe got here, how the hell was he going to find a way to get us back?

“Stop” Devra’s voice was sharp “She’s had enough She can’t remember”

“She has to,” the head his tone “She’s the only one who heard his ue, we need to know every word he said!”

My heart was racing, thruine revving But , refused to react I floundered in the dark, grasping for stray words asfaster and faster the more I tried to catch up with them

“Pull back,” Devra insisted “She’s losing focus She can’t regain it under this pressure”

“She’s going to have to” The hard edge to Toland’s voice her

“I Can’t!” I gasped Memories spun around my head, flashes of yellow and red and blue, the bloody battlewith sex and fear and academia and Seattle, a cluster fuck of nonsense

“Cassandra, stop this!” Devra bypassed Toland entirely

“No, Cassandra Keep her sedated until we get answers!”

“She’s shaking,” Charles, the tweedy e, said in his nervous tenor

My teeth clattered together until I thought they would crack Cassandra’s spell began to weaken She was pulling back without Toland’s approval It felt like a breakup, like a parent dying, like being picked last for dodgeball while si fired I was desperate for her to keep singing, even if it killed

“No,” I whispered through tre lips

Cassandra still withdrew, pulling away from my consciousness so slowly I aler My cheeks ith tears, and I was sobbing so hard I couldn’t speak

“All right,” Toland said with a sigh “Release her”