Page 46 of Fighting My Demons

“Will you tell us now?” Xavier asks, leaning against the bed frame and propping his elbows on his knees.

“When I was a teenager, I destroyed a headstone on a grave. I didn’t want to; it was a stupid dare. Apparently the house was haunted, and it turns out they were right. It followed me for six years before one day, it just stopped. He went away,” I tell them.

Xavier’s brows pull together before his eyes dart to Latham. I feel him shrug behind me, and I wait for laughter.

They think I am crazy.

“I know how it sounds. No one believed me back then either. For a time, I even thought I was crazy. But It felt real.”

“Felt real, like it could touch you?” Blaine asks, and I nod.

“He always touched me. Not sexually, but he would watch and caress, or I don’t know. He touched me. I don’t know why,” I admit.

Maybe I am crazy.

“What is it?” Blaine asks.

“Nothing, I am just wondering if maybe it was all in my head. Hysteria or something.”

“It wasn’t. I could taste another presence in your blood. Whoever it was, they blocked me from accessing your memories,” Latham says.

“My memories?”

“Blood sifting. A sip of blood, and we can see every memory you have. It didn’t work on you?” Xavier asks, looking at Latham.

“I only saw her memories from meeting us,” Latham says.

“Wait, all of them?” I ask, horrified.

“Maybe you should try. The magic felt familiar to me for some reason,” Latham says.

“I could try,” Xavier says, his eyes darting to my face.

“You want to see my memories?”

Xavier nods.

“How much can you see?”

“Every living memory you have. It is extremely invasive, Bella. I will see everything from the moment you took your first breath, even the memories you don’t remember,” Xavier explains.

I shake my head. “No, I don’t want you to.”

“Everyone has embarrassing memories. You don’t have to be ashamed or scared. We won’t judge you. And I will sift looking for anything that stands out, not invade each one,” Xavier says.

“No, no, please. They are mine,” I tell him, and he sighs.

“When she is ready,” Blaine says, and Latham nods, pressing his lips to my cheek, and I let out a breath.

“Is it because you don’t want us to know why you and your brother changed your name?” Latham asks.

“Brian doesn’t know me as Arabella,” I admit, and I see their confusion as they look at each other.

“What do you mean? He is your brother?” Xavier asks.

“He got home afterward. He thought I was Isobella. If he had known, he would have killed me, so I didn't correct him. I pretended to be her. Isobella was my identical twin sister,” I tell them.

“You’re a twin?” Latham says like the thought’s never occurred to him.