Page 95 of The Souls Harvest
Before I can add anything else, Tabitha places her hand over mine. “What Galen wastryingto say is that Roden never intended to hold up his end of the deal because this has never worked before, and he believes you will fail.Again.”
“He did everything to convince you this choice was yours only.” Galen’s voice sounds distant.
A soft breeze sweeps over us from a place I cannot locate. Itrustles the trees nearby, carrying the scent of seawater and tender grass. I should enjoy it and feel at peace, but my body is frozen, and all I can hear is the echo of Tabitha’s last word.
Again.
My chest rises and falls, air fills my lungs, my blood pumps—but I can’t move.
Everything around me is alive. Galen’s hair has dried a little, fluttering in the gentle wind; Tabitha’s lips stretch in a tentative, reassuring smile.
Life continues before my eyes—but I forgot how to use my freaking mouth.
A warm hand presses over mine, and Galen appears in my field of vision. “Remember when I asked you to keep an open mind?”
I nod, and a stinging feeling rushes down my spine, like when I was a child and used to clench my teeth to stop myself from crying.
“Can I?” Galen motions to the space next to me.
Another wordless nod while my vision blurs because I’ve been holding my breath for too long.
Again.
I exhale, and time restarts its natural cycle. Spinning. Rushing, as if Nature itself knows there isn’t much left.
“How much do you remember of your childhood?” Tabitha’s voice is like the first gentle wave after a storm at sea.
My mind runs back to the only picture I have of my parents, locked in a drawer I rarely open, hidden in a box so I don’t have to look at it unintentionally.
I shrug, lowering my eyes to the space between me and Tabitha as if my memories may be carved on the white marble bench. “I was born with the gift, but it started manifesting when I was about two. I couldn’t stay out for too long, or my nose would start bleeding, my lungs shrinking. And I would start screaming in pain when someone close to death walked past me. It felt like I was dying with them.”
Galen shifts closer to me, close enough to brush my shoulder with his.
“That is the pain all Rogues experience when they grow up not properly trained,” he mutters.
“And why they could become a danger to others. And themselves,” Tabitha adds.
But above all the words she’s speaking to me, one screams louder in the back of my mind—again.
I shrink, removing my hand from under hers and folding my fingers on my lap.
“What else?” Galen asks, but there is no urgency in his tone.
“I began to isolate myself, and my parents never objected because not having me around people was a relief. Until—Roden sensed me and sent Popplewish to take me away from Horigos to start my new life in Libera.”
I study Tabitha’s face for reassurance that my answer is exhaustive enough, and that I don’t need to dig deeper, but she struggles to hold my gaze until she averts her eyes completely, searching for Galen’s instead.
Realisation whacks me.
I whip my head towards him. “What does it mean? Again…”
His eyes dart across my face, then to a point behind me. To Tabitha. And back to me.
“I need you to think deeper, Sof. Do you remember ever seeing pictures of you as a baby? Do you remember at least one of your childhood friends?” he asks, pivoting a little on the spot to face me better.
He’s so close I can smell lemon and soap permeating his freshly cleaned shirt. I close my eyes, trying to dig deeper—to find that door I locked and forgot about—to barge inside my past.
But there is only a quiet, motionless ocean of emptiness, and the more I try to remember, the more my stomach twists into a knot.
