“Guess this means you don’t think I’m dark now?”
Bryan looked at me for the longest time, studying me, seeming to memorize everything about me as if this was the last time he’d ever see me. I feared the truth in that assumption.
“I came to wish you luck.”
That didn’t answer the question. I stared at the sink until I recovered from the avoidance. “Well, thank you for that.”
“Katy.” He placed his hands on my shoulders, squeezing gently. “You don’t have to be scared. Everything is going to be okay.”
I locked my gaze with his through the reflection. “How can you say that? How can you stand there, look at me, and tell me everything is going to be okay? And how do you do that so convincingly that I believe you?”
He turned me to face him, resting his arms on my shoulders and pulling me close. I rested my head against his chest. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to not underestimate the prophecy.”
“But I’m not the prophecy, not anymore.”
“You’ll always be the prophecy to me.”
I melted at the words. He was so good at centering me when I needed it most. I definitely needed it now.
“Does this mean you’re no longer scared of me?”
“I was never scared of you.”
“You wouldn’t touch me, Bryan. You backed away from me. You had fear in your eyes. All that adds up to you being scared of me.”
“Clay reminded me what happened, that the darkness took over and forced you to do what you did. He also reminded me that I was the one who stopped you from completely losing control. I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I do know I’ll get through it if we stick together. That’s how I know you’ll get through this. We are a team, the five of us. We will get through this as long as we stick together.”
I threw my arms around him and held him tight, allowing my own fear to consume me. I had to let it out or I’d never get through this. Maybe if I faced it head on, it wouldn’t beat me when I was out on the field getting the tar beat out of me by Council members.
“I’m scared, Bryan.”
“I know. I am too, but not for the reasons you think.” He held me close when I tried to push away to look into his eyes. “Everything is changing. Rob’s a member of the Council now. Leo’s leaving. Clay is interning for the very school he’s always complaining about. I want to get into alchemy, but if I can’t get my head on straight, I’ll never pass the entrance exam.”
“I’m worried about you, about your memory. My mom’s memory spell went too far. You’re forgetting key things. Pretty monumental things, in fact.”
“The things I’m forgetting are all bad, if that helps.”
Bad. Trevor had begged me to protect him from the bad. Could he have meant bad memories? Did he want me to cast a memory spell on him like my mom had done on Bryan? Would I go too far and accidently wipe all his bad memories instead of those focused on what’d happened in that warehouse? What sort of life would that be? You couldn’t experience the good unless you had the bad to gauge it against. It kept the balance. It kept a person sane. Without both good and bad…
Well, hell. When it clicked, I really wish it hadn’t. As much as I didn’t want Bryan to have to relive any of those bad memories, we had to get my mom to reverse the spell.
I held his stare for as long as I could before breaking the peaceful silence. “Bryan, you know we have to get them back, right? We have to reverse the spell my mom put on you to mask your bad memories.”
He blew out a long breath before slowly nodding. “Yeah, we do. I don’t like these holes in my thoughts where memories used to be. They’re there, I know they are, but it’s like I can’t access them.”
“The spell is blocking you from remembering them. Once we break it, they’ll all come back at once. It’s not going to be easy.” I took his hand. “But I’ll be there with you.”
“Me too, bro.” Rob appeared in the bathroom doorframe and shoved his hands in the pockets of his slacks that made up half his uniform. “If Clay and Leo were here, they’d say the same. We’re family.”
I caught sight of a green blazer in Bryan’s hands much too small for his large frame. “Is that for me?”
“Figured you’d like to wear your house colors today.” He held it up.
I’d rather not have to wear the creepy dude’s schoolgirl fantasy uniform at all. There was no logical reason why the male students at the academy got to wear classy slacks and the females were forced to wear a miniskirt that barely covered the curve of their ass. At least the sweaters and blazers didn’t make us look as if we should all be wearing pigtails and starring in a Britney Spears video.
Thanking him and accepting the blazer, I slipped it on and checked the fit in the mirror. I didn’t hate it. It tapered at the waist, so I didn’t look like a box. The shoulders were a little snug, but I’d deal. It was so much better than the yellow and pulled the green out of my hazel eyes.
“It’s as good as it’s going to get,” I told the mirror and snagged each of their gazes. They both studied me right back. No words were spoken. No words were needed. I was about to be tested for dark magic. We all
