“I told you feeding isn’t necessary,” said a deep voice from behind Franco.
Gia strained to see and could barely make out an unfamiliar man standing at the edge of the illuminated area, half cast in shadow.
“How could I pass up a taste of the magic given to her by thefoolwho thought he could steal my wife?”
There was a heavy sigh. “Hypnosis will be enough to control her. Now that you know the spells, you can cast them through her. Command her magic as you command her voice, her body, but you must get her to repeat the spells. She must call on her magic, and you must tell her to do so.”
“Yes, yes. We’ve been over this.”
The man continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, sounding dangerously bored in the face of Franco’s short temper. “Once you’re adept at hypnosis, you can prep her and issue nonverbal commands, causing her to act out predesignated spells with nothing more than a wave of your hand or snap of your fingers.”
She? Were they talking about her? Magic wasn’t real. But then why couldn’t she speak? If this were a dream, why wasn’t she waking up?
“Salvator, bring in the first subject,” Franco ordered.
A door opened and closed behind Gia, and her heart skipped. The sound of footsteps echoed through the room, andFranco slowly rotated her chair, the legs scraping along the concrete floor.
Salvator emerged from the shadows, dragging a man Gia had seen among her father’s friends. At least, she’d thought it had been among Franco’s friends. She must have been wrong because the man was bound and bruised.
“My father will skin you alive for this,” the man spat, struggling against his bindings.
Salvator kicked him in the stomach, and he doubled over. “This better work, boss.” He kicked the man closer to where Gia sat. “Nabbing this little shit just started a war.”
“One we will win.” Franco put a hand on Gia’s shoulder. “It will take everyone a while to figure out it wasn’t the Russians who took poor Rosco’s son. And by then, I’ll have the support I need to take over. Once Rosco is out of the way.”
Salvator nodded.
“You’re deluded!” the bound man yelled. “You don’t know what you’re up against. You’re no one. Disposable grunts. You can’t overthrow my father.”
“I can if I have magic.” Franco’s hand tightened painfully, and his face filled Gia’s vision. “Look at me.”
It was an odd request. She already was.
Her father’s eyes flared orange once more. “Find the power within you, harness it, and repeat after me.”
A string of nonsense words followed, and Gia was overcome with the sense of something swelling inside her.What is that?What didthe power withinmean?
She repeated the words as she’d been told.
Before Gia could get a handle on the sensation swelling in her gut, something within her burst forth. She couldn’t see it, and would have thought she’d imagined it, but somehow, she knew it was real. It felt alive, this invisible thing, as it twisted to the shape of words her father had chosen.
The man on the floor screamed so loud, Gia’s ears rang.
After a moment, he stopped, his voice hoarse as he whimpered.
“Excellent,” Franco said, and Salvator smiled.
Tears streamed down Gia’s face. Had she…?
“Look at me, Gia,” Franco commanded, and she obeyed. “Find the power within and repeat after me.”
It happened again. And again. Terrible things befell the man on the floor each time. Blood ran from his eyes, his nose. He turned ashen, cuts appearing on his skin out of nowhere.
Gia wanted desperately to look away. To run. To stop becauseshewas doing these things. That living, pulsingthinginside her was doing it, guided by the words her father put in her mouth.
Gia could hardly see through her silent tears as the man finally died. Her mind was anything but silent. It had never been so loud, and Gia didn’t think she’d survive it.
“Now, Gia.” Franco crouched in front of her. “It’s time to forget.”
