I go ahead and paralyze her?”
“Wait until she starts to panic or act irrational. Doing so now will just make her extra angry.”
That seemed reasonable. “Well, one thing I won’t do is ignore her,” said Will. “That’s what you did with me and it was terrifying. I thought you were just waiting for me to die.”
“So wise for one so young,” said Arrogan sarcastically. “What do you intend to do instead?”
“I’ll stay with her and talk to her in a soothing voice.”
“I’m sure that would have worked well with you,” said the ring.
“It’s better than leaving me lying there like a piece of wood while you go about your business,” replied Will angrily.
“Really? Let’s think this through. Imagine you’re back there again, burning up inside, panicking, and now you’re paralyzed and can’t do anything. Meanwhile, I’m sitting beside you, a compassionate look on my face, talking to you in a calm, soothing voice. ‘Don’t worry, Will. It will be better soon. Trust me, Will. The pain is just a gateway to a new life.’”
Will grimaced. “All right, you’ve made your point. That sounds horrifyingly creepy.”
“This is all for the best, Will. It won’t hurt forever,” continued Arrogan in a saccharine tone.
Will shivered. “Enough. You’re going to give me nightmares.”
Selene’s head popped around the edge of the door. “Has anyone cleaned the roof lately? I think I saw some dead leaves up there yesterday.”
Their roof had a steep pitch and it was made of slate, which meant it rarely needed cleaning. When it did, Will usually just used a spell, rather than risk someone climbing up, which could damage the slates—or the climber. “I’ll take care of it,” he told her. “You don’t need to be climbing up there.”
Her face was flushed and damp with sweat. “I don’t mind. I need to do something anyway. I can’t sit still.”
“Pick something else.”
“I’ll wash the floors.”
“You mean mop the floors, right?”
She shook her head. “No. I’ll get a rag and a bucket so I can go over them more thoroughly.”
Will had gotten into the habit of using Selene’s Solution, the spell she had created, to clean various rooms every day, so he knew quite well how clean the floors were. “I don’t think that’s necessary. I just—”
“They’re dirty!” she hissed, and then she disappeared.
Will started to get up and follow her. “She’s lost her mind,” he muttered.
“Don’t chase her,” advised Arrogan. “When she gets truly desperate, she’ll come back to you. I don’t think it will be much longer.”
His prediction turned out to be spot on. Twenty minutes later, Will heard a crash and a bang. Running down the stairs, he found Selene in the entry hall. The pail had been turned over, or perhaps flung, since it was some ten feet away. Water was everywhere, and Selene’s face was red and flushed with tears of frustration when she looked up at him. “I can’t do it, Will. I’ve been trying. I know this isn’t helping, but nothing else is working either. I can’t control it.”
He gave her a sad look. “This is just the start. You still have hours to go before you reach the end.”
Her eyes widened. “I’m dying, Will. If it is going to take much longer, I won’t make it. I can’t!” She jumped to her feet, face frantic.
Will caught her with a source-link and quickly paralyzed her, then he caught her in his arms as she started to fall. Lifting her carefully, he made his way up the stairs and took her to the bedroom where he laid her gently on the bed. The sight of her terrified eyes rolling back and forth as she silently pleaded with him almost undid him. He kept his gaze away from her face after that. For the first time, he understood why Arrogan had seemed so cold and uncaring when Will had gone through the same thing.
It wasn’t that he didn’t care enough to look at me; he couldn’t bear to see the fear in my eyes. He knew what I was going through, Will realized. Everything made more sense now that he was on the other side of the process. He walked to the other side of the room, where he couldn’t see her face, where she couldn’t see him, and took a seat.
Selene might think he had left her, but he was only a few feet away. There was no question about reading at this point. He was sick with fear. With the source-link active, he could sense her