the heck was I supposed to know? I never knew anything.
“Because Aislin had to use magic on us to get us out of there,” he said.
“Oh.” Now I was catching on. “And if I’d been wearing the necklace, then the sugilite would have blocked her magic.”
He nodded. “So I took it off of you while we transported back here.” He reached for my hand, but I pulled back, and he frowned. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just trying to give you your necklace back.”
I quickly snatched up the necklace, the metal warm against my palm. “Thanks.” I wrapped it around my neck and fumbled with the clamp. If what he was saying was true, then I wanted the necklace on at all times.
“Want my help?” A playful grin played at his lips.
I shot him a dirty look. “No. I got it.” The last time he had “helped me,” we ended up kissing. And that was the last thing I wanted right now…I think.
It took me awhile, but I finally got the clamp on the necklace hooked, the chain now secured around my neck. It was then that a sudden thought occurred to me. “Alex.”
“Hmm…?” He had been watching me struggle to put the necklace on and seemed a little distracted.
“What happened to the memoria extraho?”
“Aislin and Adessa destroyed it,” he told me. “After we got back, they used some kind of spell on it that took its magic out of it.”
“So now it’s just a rock?”
He nodded.
Well, I guess that meant there was one less thing I had to worry about. Although, how many mind/memory/emotional erasing things were out there, I had no clue. But with everything I’d seen lately, I was guessing there might be more.
Alex suddenly shifted the subject. “Why don’t we go get you something to eat? You’ve been out for almost two days. You’ve got to be starving.”
“I’ve been out for two days?” I asked with astonishment.
He stood up. “Yeah, it was the longest nap ever.”
I got to my feet. Even though I still had a ton of other questions, I was also very hungry. Besides, I wasn’t sure I wanted him to be the one to answer all of my questions. Although, there was one thing I was dying to know—I had to know right now, even though thinking about it made me sick to my stomach.
“Okay, but I have one more question.” I paused, taking a nervous deep breath. “With my emotions…I mean, am I…is it okay for me to have emotions?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t anything right now.” He looked at me funny, and I had the urge to bolt for the door as the fear raced through me that he might suddenly whip out the memoria extraho and wipe away my mind. “For now,” he said, “we’re not going to do anything. Not until we know what’s going on.”
I was in no way, shape, or form relieved by what he said. “For now?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything else. He just turned away, calling over his shoulder. “Let’s go get you something to eat."
I glared a fiery glare at the back of his head, suddenly wishing I possessed pyrokinetic powers. I refused to go through this again. Get left out of the loop. Be given vague answers. I’d find out what I wanted to know, before it was too late. I’d get to the truth, whatever the cost.
Before going into the kitchen to get something to eat, I decided to go upstairs to change out of the pajamas I was wearing. Alex had told me, when I’d asked him if there was something else I could wear besides pajamas, that there were some clothes Aislin had picked out for me up in the room I’d woken up in.
As I dragged myself up the stairs, I thought about everything I’d just been told. It felt like I hadn’t been told anything really. Like always, I had a huge list of unanswered questions roaming around in my head. And I was worried. Worried about whether or not Alex had told me anything truthful. Worried about why the Death Walkers had just up and left. Worried that Alex would suddenly decide I wasn’t supposed to feel anymore and try to take my emotions away from me.
I reached the top of the staircase and let out a heavy sigh. Lost. Was lost considered an emotion? Because that’s how I felt.
I was half out of it, consumed by my thoughts, as I opened the