of death and pain buried deep in the metal box in the back of my brain. It was too big of a temptation for anyone to be faced with let alone this girl who had a weird sort of eagerness to her face as she held her hands out to me.
I stared down at them. “I’m not touching your hands.”
“Why not?” Dharma asked, cocking her head to the side dreamily. “Afraid of what I might find?”
“Not for me, for you.”
“What’s the problem here?” A shadow fell over the two of us and the rest of the class quieted to see what the commotion was about.
“She won’t do the assignment.” Dharma told Dex, throwing me completely under the proverbially bus.
I glared at her. “Not won’t. Can’t.” My eyes jerked to Dex’s. “I’m not that kind of mental.” I struggled with an explanation. “I can’t read minds.” I waved a hand at the others in the room. “Move things without touching them. That’s not what I do.”
Dex squatted down next to the two of us and fixed his gaze on me. “Azazel believes you belong be in this class. Are you what she claims you are, or do you want to tell her that she’s wrong?” There was a hint of accusation in there that had nothing to do with the class and everything to do with our little encounter in the courtyard the other day.
I gritted my teeth, knowing I wouldn’t get anywhere with that boobed up bitch, I snapped, “Fine. Let’s do this.”
“Good.” Dex stood and walked a short way away, but I could still feel his eyes on us.
Locking eyes with Dharma, I slapped my hands into hers, flinching against the pain of her death. Wings. Feathers. Swords and spears. Just like all the others. If I’d learned anything from Professor Rufus today, it was that history had a way of repeating itself and it seemed that the Nephilim in this school were just a few short years away from that very lesson becoming real.
Chapter 9
Dharma seemed a bit less eager to get into my mind than before. Good. She should be.
The fact that she was probably going to poke around where she wasn’t wanted was bad enough. Now that I had her death in my mind, she just very well might find out more than she bargained for. To be fair it would all be Dex and Azazel to blame.
Dex for being a dick.
Azazel for thinking she knew best when she didn’t really know me at all. Neither did my dad for that matter but they were about to find out very soon.
But first…
“Think of a single memory in your mind.” Dex’s voice went over the room instructing us but keeping his focus on me. The touch of his gaze caused an itch between my shoulders. Something I couldn’t shake no matter how much I tried.
“The more you narrow down the memories the easier it will be for your partner to extract it from you.”
“What exactly are we supposed to be doing with them once we have them?” A student near Dex’s looming form asked.
His lips quirked up at the question. “Don’t worry about that today. This is just practice. None of you will actually be to accomplish the task just yet.”
“But what if they do?” I couldn’t help but prod. A part of me happily giddy at the annoyance that covered his face.
“You won’t.”
“But what if they do?” I countered once more. “Shouldn’t they know what to do with it before we get to that point? I mean, I don’t want my memory just dancing around in her brain for the rest of time.”
“Gah, no.” Dharma made a disgusted face.
“My point exactly.”
Dex rubbed his face and clenched his jaw. “If you are able to successfully extract a memory, the memory will be transferred to this.” He held up a small clear box with an ornate clip keeping it closed. “These are memory boxes.”
The class giggled.
“Not those ridiculous ones that humans make filled with junk.” Dex held the box in his hand, showing it around the room. “It is made from glass from the silver city itself. Nothing can break it and no one but the owner can open it.” His eyes landed on me as he finished.
Ignoring his look, I turned back to Dharma. “Don’t go poking around. You won’t enjoy what you see. Stick with the fluffy memory I’m going to bring to the front.”
Dharma’s hands squeezed mine, her gaze narrowing. “I don’t need your help.