“Say it,” Mak commands. He can’t look at her. “Say it!” Mak yells, which doesn’t scare her at all.
Aita averts her eyes from me as she confidently crosses her arms in front of her chest.
“I told my sister Remy is here,” she says briskly.
“So?” Briston doesn’t care about this information.
“She shared it with others,” Aita admits.
“You were warned, Aita,” Briston says angrily.
Aita doesn’t seem too displeased about the turn of events and her eyes dig into mine.
Kenichi shakes his head. “Aita . . .” then he says something in Japanese that is obviously reprimanding.
“Per usual,” Beckah quips.
Then Sassi enters, her phone at her side and her shoulders tight with frustration, caring nothing about the heavy faces. “We need to talk,” she informs everyone.
This calls them immediately to attention. Her voice needs no more than a gentle hum to display her relevance. It takes only the behavior of those around her to tell me that she is the best of the best, a woman who has earned the respect of everyone in her path.
“Covey—” she begins, but Mak raises a hand to stop her.
“Aita, leave,” he commands.
Aita’s eyes grow with rage. “I am your wife. I belong here.”
“You’ve proven you can’t be trusted.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Aita cries out.
“Prove it,” Peter spits at her.
Aita speeds out the door, so Sassi continues once she’s out of earshot. “Covey has decided Remy’s return is out now and he doesn’t like it. The media and social media are challenging everything—Navin could simply turn on a television to find out anything he wants. So, Covey has convinced the Prophets and the Powers that we should be given no longer than tomorrow.”
“What?” Briston raises his voice.
“Apparently Covey had a secret meeting with Master Niya. In fact, I’ve been told from my sources that he’s spent the last few days meeting with everyone personally.” Sassi throws her phone on the chair next to her. “He’s gotten his hands on everyone.”
Kenichi nods. “Gyre first. Then Covey and the Prophets.”
Sassi’s eyes spin to Arek fast and it catches my attention. “Gyre?!”
Arek doesn’t say anything. Finally, Briston speaks up.
“Hypnosis is our only option.”
Everyone’s hesitation sends panic through my veins. “How long will it last?” I ask suddenly.
The room is silent until my father walks to me. “We have no time and you’re remembering too quickly.”
“How long will it take my memory?”
“We don’t know,” he finally answers.
“You would rather risk that I never have my memory come back?”
Kenichi speaks up. “You have no memory of the Cellar. If you did, this would not be a fight—”
Mak interrupts his father, seemingly afraid that I might take offense, “We get one chance to stand in front of the Powers and beg for time. One chance. And they will know if you have your memory back. There is no hiding that.”
“I’ll lie! I’ll pretend.”
Kenichi growls and tosses a hand at me like I am an idiot as he walks away. “Ephemes . . .” he whispers.
Arek comes close, “Willow, you’ve met someone before that you just didn’t trust right away?”
“Of course.”
“You knew inherently that I was there to help you.” He looks at me inquisitively, so I nod. “All of us have had years to perfect what we know from those we’ve never met. I can tell you what their thoughts are or whether they’re lying, whether they have good intentions, all before they speak.”
Years on this earth with nothing but time, I think to myself. It is amazing what these men and women have done.
“Ephemes have a very narrow understanding of fellow humans. Even those they’ve known for years. This doesn’t happen with Velieri. Do you understand?” Arek digs deep—it’s almost as though I can sense him within my thoughts.
“There is no lying to the Powers?” I ask as I watch everyone wrestle with what’s next. “There’s no lying to you?”
“No,” Arek answers truthfully.
