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I smiled grimly. One of the problems with implanting a sole memory or belief was the fact you could never account for all the questions that might provoke the wrong sort of answer. Or right one, as it was in this case.
Evin didn't know me, despite his belief to the contrary.
"There's a few years' difference between us," I commented. "Which probably meant we would have run in very different circles."
And there were other reasons we might never have met - reasons I couldn't remember right now, thanks to whoever had meddled with my mind.
"But the pack isn't that big and you're my sis - "
"Evin," I said softly, "I'm not. That's a belief someone has planted in your mind."
"What?" He looked at me like I was crazy.
And very possibly, I was. After all, I was just going on instinct here, and it had sometimes led me very far astray.
"Look, someone has seriously messed my memories. It isn't just the tablets. Someone with telepathic abilities has erased - or at least contained - not only the knowledge of who I am, but where I lived, what I did, and who I loved. It's probable that someone has snatched pieces of your memory, too, just to make it easier for you to project the lie."
"You're wrong. I know you're wrong." He stared at me for a moment, confusion bright in his eyes, then said,
"Even so, I can't have been lying all that well if you've seen through it."
"The whole situation felt wrong, Evin. It wasn't just your lying." Although that didn't help. "Did you ever meet with any of them?"
"No. There was a meeting arranged, but they didn't turn up. Contact after that was always via the phone."
"Then how did you get your instructions about me?"
"Text, mostly."
"So they told you nothing about my real identity?"
He shook his head and rubbed a hand across his face. "This is all so fucked up."
He had that right. "Tell me what you know, and maybe together we can unfuck it."
He snorted. "You and what friggin' army? There's more than one damn person behind all this, I know that much."
"Oh," I said, my voice soft and flat, containing very little in the way of anger and yet all the more deadly because of it, "I don't need an army. I can do plenty of damage on my own. Trust me on that."
His gaze was a weight I could feel, but I didn't bother meeting it. He said, in a voice that was soft yet filled with sudden wariness, "Just who the hell are you?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out." I glanced at him briefly. "Whoever did this to me is going to pay, Evin. And while I don't think you're involved more than peripherally, you had better believe that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get whatever information you have. So talk, or I'll make you."
He believed me. The brief flash of fear across his features was evidence enough of that. "Lyndal - my soul mate - was snatched in Melbourne about a fortnight ago. I was told to go to a warehouse in Richmond and wait for instructions - "
"Melbourne?" I interrupted, once again feeling that sweep of familiarity. I worked there. In Spencer Street, at -
somewhere. I bit back a growl of frustration and added, "That's in Victoria, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Lyndal and I were holidaying down there. I went to the warehouse and waited as directed." He stopped, and frowned. "You know, I did lose time in that building. Is it possible for someone to tamper with your memories without them even going near you?"
"A trained telepath could stand in front of you and make you blind to their presence," I said. "How much time did you lose?"
"Just a few minutes. I just remember looking at my watch and thinking it was odd."
I nodded. "What happened after that?"
"I went back to our hotel and found a folder waiting in our room. It told me about you - the Hanna London you - and said that I was to be your guard. And if I went to the cops - or spoke to anyone at all about it - then Lyndal was dead meat."
