He grabbed my half-eaten plate, muttering, "Note to self, the runt likes grapes," before leaving me alone with Silas.
Silas reached for the puzzle, lifting the lid with careful movements, trying to soften his rough nature. I could tell how difficult it was for him. As he flipped the box, hundreds of small pieces tumbled out, in every color and shape imaginable. So many pieces… so many options.
Then it happened.
The same thing that had happened during my escape.
The same thing that often, more frequently before captivity.
A picture entered my mind at once, each piece rearranging in my brain and clicking into place. I could see the finished puzzle, in the same way I could see the escape map. I began working immediately, already knowing where each piece belonged. I visualized the fits before my hands could reach them, snapping the puzzle together as if following instructions only I could see.
Time blurred while my attention narrowed to the task. My hands struggled to keep pace with the speed at which my mind assembled the image, the puzzle already complete in my head long before it lay finished on the table.
When it was fully assembled, I took what felt like my first full breath since I had started. A small smile of accomplishment tugged at my lips. The image on the table showed a puppy sitting in a basket.Cute.
I looked up and met Silas’s stare.
His mouth hung slightly open, brows furrowed in disbelief. “What the hell was that, little mute?”
My eyes went wide.
Had I upset him again?
I looked past him to Knox. He had reentered the room at some point and leaned against the wall, watching me just as closely. Fear flashed through me.
“He’s not mad, runt,” Knox clarified quickly. “He’s impressed. How did you do that? It takes me days to put together puzzles that are this complex.”
I shrugged.
Silas moved fast, forgetting to soften his movements this time, and it startled me. He swiped a hand across the puzzle, scattering the pieces and breaking the image apart.
“Again,” he said. “Do it again. I’ll time you this round.”
Knox nodded in agreement and took a seat beside his brother.
I looked down at the scattered pieces. Immediately, the picture formed again, every piece already in place in my mind before my hands could reach them. I worked quickly, fingers moving on instinct.
Suddenly, I finished assembling it again.
“Holy shit,” Silas muttered. “That’s a five hundred piece puzzle.” He glanced down at his watch. “It took her thirty-two minutes.”
Both alphas’ comms went off at the same time.
“Boss, the shrink is here," Officer Yuri said.
“Send her in, Yuri,” Silas ordered sharply. Before he left the room, he disrupted the puzzle again. “Let’s show the doc. She’s going to want to see this.”
I had nearly finished assembling it for the third time whenDr. Hampton entered the room. She didn’t interrupt, simply watching and tracking my hands with focused attention.
When the final piece clicked into place and the image of a puppy in a basket appeared once more, she sat beside me.
The doctor pulled her chair closer, notebook resting on her knee. Her voice remained neutral and clinical and always, but there was a glint in her eye that hadn't been there before.
“I’m going to ask you some 'yes or no' questions,” she said.
I nodded.
“When you look at a puzzle, do you see individual pieces first?”
