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“What?” I croaked. “What is it?”
“Pain. I felt your pain. You were hurt, but you stopped me from reading.”
I pulled my hands away, and Luna looked unsettled as she pushed the cup of tea toward me, encouraging me to drink. “Just a couple of sips. It will help calm your nerves.”
I looked at the tea. It was late. I should have left by now. But I thought about returning to Lucian and how angry he would be. I needed something to calm my nerves.
I brought the cup to my lips and took a sip, and it was awful. I coughed and choked it down, and Luna watched intently. The second and third sips weren’t any better, but I managed to get it down.
My head started to buzz, and I felt slightly intoxicated.
“Let it take you,” Luna’s voice drifted into my thoughts.
My body caved in on itself, so heavy in the chair, I didn’t think I could move. I didn’t want to either. When Luna took my hands in hers again, there was no protest.
It felt like I was on the outside looking in. Like I was floating above and watching the entire event take place as she tried to read me. It looked as if she were torturing herself, but she was paralyzed at the same time. I tried to understand what was happening when Luna blinked and came out of the trance-like state, her face fractured and her body obviously still in distress.
“He can’t hurt you anymore.”
The tea and her words left a bitter taste in my mouth. “What do you mean?”
“You know.” She released my hands. “The one who is dead. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
I wrapped my arms around myself. “How did you know that?”
Her eyes fell to the table. “It’s a curse. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
I shook my head, unable to accept it. This didn’t make sense. Nothing about it made sense. “Fortune tellers aren’t real.”
“Some aren’t,” she agreed. “But I am.”
“Then tell me about my future,” I insisted. “Not the past.”
She closed her eyes again, and the name that she breathed was so intimate it made me burn with jealousy.
“Lucian.”
“What about him?” I demanded.
“He is your flame. He will win your heart, and then—”
She clutched at her chest, and her eyes snapped open, her features painted with horror.
“And then what?” I urged.
She stood and took a forcible step back, visibly shaken. “This was a stupid idea.”
“What did you see?” I pressed.
Her eyes met mine, and there was so much sadness there it terrified me. “Nothing that can do you any good to know. You are right to believe it isn’t real.”
Her body grew weak as she slumped back into her seat with heavy eyes. “I’m very tired now. We need to rest.”
But I couldn’t rest. What she said shook me. She knew something, and I needed to know what it was. Before I could press her any further, a sharp stabbing pain ripped through my gut as I doubled forward, and my mouth began to water.
I was going to puke. And Luna was out cold. I dragged myself outside of the camp trailer just in time before I spewed the contents of my stomach onto the ground. But it didn’t end there. I continued to heave until nothing came up, and all I could do was curl into a ball and lie in a puddle of my own sweat. I didn’t know what was happening, but the flashbacks that came were the most intense I’d ever had. Closing my eyes didn’t help. Nothing helped. There was no way to block them. I could only embrace them.
“Put on the dress,” Ricky said.
My stomach hurt as I looked at the pale blue dress with white lace. It was pretty and new, and so were the shoes and ruffled socks. I liked the dress, but I didn’t want to put it on.
“Put it on,” Ricky snarled.
I curled into myself and shook my head, and his hand exploded across my face, my skull vibrating from the force of it.
“Put on the goddamn dress, or I will put it on for you.”
There was no point in arguing. He wasn’t lying. He would put it on for me, and it would hurt. I picked up the material and pulled it over my head with shaking limbs. I felt like I was going to throw up, and I knew when the man got here I would. Ricky would really punish me for that, so I asked to go to the bathroom, but he said no.
He stayed until I put on the socks and shoes, and then he forced me to sit on the bed and wait. When he disappeared, I squeezed my eyes shut and wished I could be somewhere else. But Birdie was so small, and I didn’t know how I would take care of her. I promised her that someday we would leave. We would run away together, and I wanted that now more than anything.
