promised the others she wouldn’t tell him, but she was a terrible liar. “What I said is true. I don’t remember anything. None of us do.” Clearly on some level, Selina did.
“But you suspect?” he persisted. He stared at her intently, his pale green gaze penetrating.
“I suspect all sorts of things.” The questions were starting to make her defensive. “They kidnapped us for a reason, but they sure as hell didn’t explain it to us.”
“This isn’t an accusation, Nikki.” He reached for her hand, then sighed and lowered his arm. “I’m trying to decide how much to tell you.”
Okay, what did that mean? She backed off her emotions and simply asked, “How much to tell me about what?”
“What they did to Selina.”
This wasn’t how she’d expected the conversation to go. He was supposed to grill her with questions, not offer information. She saw compassion in his eyes now, and pity. It was the pity that frightened her most. “Tell me everything.”
“When I fed Selina energy back on Cretz we were in a hurry so I wasn’t able to insulate my mind as I would have ordinarily. I inadvertently saw things I did not have permission to see.”
Now her heart was pounding for an entirely different reason. “What did you see or sense? What did they do to her?” What had the Cretzians done to all three of them?
“Her energy no longer feels human or not entirely human. Unless she was a hybrid before, I believe the Cretzians manipulated her DNA. They likely augmented it with their own or some other similar species.” His gaze was still warm and compassionate, but the rest of his features revealed nothing.
She had already figured out this much. “How long is this list?”
“She has memories of the procedures, so she was conscious for some of it. That could explain her outburst.”
“Don’t stop now. You’re on a roll.” Nikki already knew most of this, but it was still hard to hear. He was confirming the worst of her fears.
He rubbed his jaw, looking uncomfortable as he turned his face toward her again. “I sensed fissures in her mind, the sort either preceding a psychotic break or left behind by one. I’m sorry, Nikki, but her condition will probably get worse, not better.”
Her throat was too tight to speak, so she just nodded.
“I’m not a healer and my contact with her was brief. I could be wrong.”
He wasn’t and they both knew it. Selina’s outburst alone was proof of how close she was to a total breakdown. “Can you help her?”
“As I said, I’m not a trained healer. However, my mother and aunt are. We can have one of them assess her when we arrive. If that’s what you’d like, of course.”
She wouldn’t hesitate. The Sarronti had advanced technology as well as magic. There was simply nothing to equal it on Earth. Still, the decision wasn’t hers to make. “It’s up to Haley, and she’s going to be furious that I told you about any of this.”
“You didn’t tell me,” he reminded with a gentle smile. “I told you.”
“I doubt she’ll see it that way.”
They lapsed into silence as Nikki thought about what he’d told her and wondered what he’d sense if he touched her mind. She was thrilled that she couldn’t remember exactly what had been done to her yet not knowing was its own sort of torture.
“Has Selina exhibited any abilities that she didn’t have before?” he asked casually.
Her eyes widened, giving her away.
A hint of annoyance entered his tone as he asked, “Is it just Selina or is it all three of you?”
“I’m sorry,” she forced the words past her dry throat. “I should have told you.”
“You don’t know me. I understand your wariness, but I can’t help you unless you trust me with the truth.”
The cat was out of the bag. Refusing his help now was counterproductive. “All three of us have abilities now, but each can do different things.”
“Are you or Haley suffering from nightmares or mood swings?”
Nikki shook her head. “Selina seemed fine too until the last time they took her. Whatever they did then really screwed her up.”
He nodded, his expression contemplative. “I would be able to tell you much more if you’d allow me to intentionally scan her. One rushed interaction with Selina’s mind didn’t give me a lot of information.”
“I don’t think Haley will allow it,” she said firmly. “Selina is already so traumatized.”
He held up both hands as he turned back around. “The offer is open, and