“You are Asten.” My cheeks tensed briefly as I felt myself smile. “A handsome and brave warrior. One who sends my heart to the stars.”
There was a pause. “Ah, yes. When I speak, you will answer me truthfully. To do otherwise would bring you great sorrow. Do you understand?”
“Are you sure this is necessary?” I heard Ahmose ask. His voice sounded distorted like I was eavesdropping from underwater.
I never heard Asten’s reply.
“Tell me,” Asten demanded. “Who are you?”
I worked my jaw back and forth, my mouth forming words that seemed to be lifted directly from my mind. In a trancelike voice, almost unrecognizable to me, I said, “I am Lily.” A rumble echoed deep from my chest and I turned my head to the right with my eyes still closed and heard a silky, yet powerful voice announce, “I am Tia.” I sensed Asten preparing to ask another question but I wasn’t finished. I cocked my head to the left side and a third voice, one with a halting Irish lilt, said, “And I…am Ashleigh.” After the third voice spoke, something ruptured inside my brain, and if Asten hadn’t caught me, I would have hit the ground, hard.
When I woke, it was to the sight of Asten and Ahmose staring at me with concern but there was something else in their eyes, too. Something I didn’t think I’d ever seen before, not even when they’d faced a giant zombie army. It was pure fear. “What is it?” I gasped. “Have the jackals found us?”
“No. We are safe enough for now,” Ahmose answered softly.
I glanced around and saw we were atop a steep and narrow butte. The area we sat on was flat and just big enough for the three of us if only one of us slept at a time. Just behind me the vertical drop-off plummeted straight to the ground below and it appeared that this was true all the way around the formation. In fact, the only possible way we could have gotten to the top would have been to fly there. Dark forms circled our tiny perch far below.
“They’ve overtaken us,” I said.
“Yes,” Asten answered, “but that is the least of our concerns at the moment.”
“The least of your concerns? I’d say it’s a pretty big concern, especially since the Devourer likely knows where we are. What else could possibly be concerning you at present?”
Asten frowned and opened his mouth but seemed hesitant to speak. Instead, he looked to Ahmose, who furrowed his brow before finally saying what was on his mind. “How are you feeling, Lily?” he asked watchfully.
I folded my arms across my chest. “Fine. Considering everything. Why?”
“Where are you from?”
“New York.”
“What’s Dr. Hassan’s first name?”
“Oscar.”
“Why are we here?”
“To save Amon.” I threw my arms up. “What’s with the twenty questions?”
“We just wanted to make sure you’re you,” Asten said.
“Who else would I be?” I asked testily.
Ahmose sighed. “We did a spell on you and”—he seemed uncomfortable—“we discovered that you’re not alone in your mind.”
“What are you two talking about? You know I have Tia, too. Though she has been extremely quiet as of late. It’s like pulling teeth to get her to talk.”
“That’s just it, Lily. She has been quiet but now another voice is taking over.”
“Another?”
Ahmose nodded. “You’re still there, which is a relief, but there’s Tia and now…Ashleigh.”
“Hold on. Are you saying the fairy is in my mind, too?”
“The spell confirmed it,” Asten said. “We aren’t sure how it happened. Perhaps it had something to do with the tree?”
“Or fairy magic?” Ahmose suggested.
A humming sound started to fill my brain again. “No. No. This isn’t possible. How is this possible?” I started rocking back and forth, my arms clasped around my knees. “I’m going crazy, aren’t I? This happened to the other sphinx. She went crazy. Asked to be killed. What am I going to do?” Reaching out, I grabbed Asten’s arm and took hold of Ahmose’s hand with my other one, shaking them both. “You’ve got to help me. Isn’t there something you can do?”
Ahmose shook his head sadly. “We’ve never encountered anything like this before. What’s…disturbing is that there are times when you don’t seem to be aware that you’re not in control.”
“What?” I gasped. “Are you sure?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Asten said. “Do you remember…dreaming with me?”
“Dreaming? What specifically are you talking about?”
“There was a shooting star, a grassy hillside?”
“No.” I shook my head. “The last dream I remember was seeing Amon being tortured.”
Asten nodded curtly.