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A couple of the giants moved toward the young couple, probably to try to get the girl to shut up, but Mab held up her hand.
"No," she purred. "Let her watch. Let it be a lesson to her - and everyone else here tonight. "
Mab held out her hand, and elemental Fire sparked to life on her fingertips, hissing and crackling with evil intent. I could see the glow of the flames through the crowd, and once again, I felt the invisible waves of her power pressing against my skin. I couldn't tell for sure, but I got the impression that Mab smiled before she bent down.
And then she started torturing Dubois.
I couldn't see everything that was going on, but I didn't need to. I didn't want to. Dubois's screams let everyone know exactly what was happening to him - and just how much it hurt.
The stench of burning flesh filled the warm spring air, reminding me of the night that a Fire elemental had done the same thing to my mother and older sister, how she'd burned them to death. My stomach roiled, and bile coated my throat. For a moment, I thought I might vomit, but I managed to swallow down the bitter liquid that choked me. Other people in the crowd didn't manage to do the same, turning to the side and retching up the food and drinks they'd just downed.
Fletcher put his arm around me and held me close, trying to tell me that it was okay, that he was here with me, that we would get through this, but there was nothing he could do - for me or Dubois.
But the worst part wasn't the stench or the memories or Dubois's pleas for mercy or the heat of the elemental Fire scorching my face. No, the worst part was that through it all, I could hear his daughter screaming - screaming for her family just like I had.
"Daddy! No! Daddy! Daddy - "
The dream abruptly faded, and my eyes snapped open, although I could still hear the faint echo of the girl's screams in my head - Salina's screams.
For a moment, I wondered what had pulled me out of the vivid memory, but then a creak sounded in the corner, and I realized what had woken me up.
Someone was in my bedroom.
Chapter 16
My hand slid underneath my pillow and curled around the knife there. I also reached for my Stone magic, ready to use it to make my skin as hard as marble for when I leaped out of bed and -
"Gin?" a soft voice whispered in the darkness. "Are you awake?"
Eva. It was just Eva. Although she should have known better than to slip into my bedroom unannounced in the middle of the night.
I let go of the knife and sat up in bed, shaking off the last bit of the dream. Eva perched on a rocking chair in the corner, her knees drawn up to her chest and her feet resting in the chair seat. She had her arms wrapped around her knees, hugging them in, as if that small motion would protect her from all the big, bad, scary things out there - things I imagined looked a lot like Salina to her tonight.
"Eva?" I asked. "What are you doing in here? You should be in bed, trying to rest. "
"I heard you talking in your sleep," she replied. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. "
I shrugged. "I had a bad dream. I have them quite often. You know that. So why did you really come in here?"
Eva didn't say anything. The moonlight peeking in through the curtains illuminated the whole room, painting everything a soft silver. Even though she was curled up in the rocking chair, Eva still looked like a princess straight out of a fairy tale, her black hair gleaming, her blue eyes luminous, her porcelain skin pale and ethereal.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked. "About Salina? And what you think happened back then? Because downstairs, you looked like you remembered things a lot differently than Owen did. "
"I don't think anything," she said. "I know exactly what happened. It's not a figment of my imagination or a nightmare or some story Phillip told me. It's the truth. "
"So tell me about it. Let me decide for myself what's real and what isn't. "
Eva shivered and hugged her knees in even closer to her chest. "I don't remember a lot from that time. I was only four. Most of my memories are just hazy flashes of Owen and Phillip, the house we lived in, some toys I had, things like that. But when it comes to Salina, everything is crystal clear, and I can still remember what happened like it was yesterday. "
She gave me a bitter smile. "Even though I was a kid, I could always tell she never liked me, and I felt the same way about her. But I had Owen and Phillip, and I was happy enough, even if I missed Cooper when we moved out of his house. "
"Until . . . "
"Until one day when Salina had on a new dress or maybe a necklace, I don't remember exactly what it was, but she wanted to show it off to Owen. But he'd promised to play dolls with me so he told Salina he'd look at whatever it was later. Salina never liked being ignored, but I remember glancing up at her at that moment and realizing that she was staring at me with this . . . look on her face. It was just . . . evil. "
Eva's voice dropped to a whisper, and it took a few seconds for her to regain her composure and continue.
"That night, Owen and Phillip went out. As soon as they were gone, Salina grabbed my arm and hauled me into the bathroom. She said she wanted to give me a bath, but I knew better. She never paid me any attention she didn't have to. I kicked and screamed and tried to get away from her, but of course I couldn't. She stripped off my clothes, forced me into the tub, and turned the water on, filling it all the way up to the top. . . . "
