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Jasmine
“OF COURSE,” I SAID. Why didn’t I think of that?
Oh, you did, Cari’s mind voice contained hints of a smirk, but her expression remained flat. Multiple times. At least, you attempted to think about it. Your friends did as well. I had to stop you. I reached into their minds through you and made them not think about it. I promise this was the last mind meddling I had been doing.
Why did you do it? I asked.
If you knew I was the weapon, you would have come to kill me instead of saving me.
Why do you think I won’t do that now? I asked.
I am in your mind, she said. You won’t.
I won’t, I agreed gruntingly. But don’t do this ever again.
I won’t, Cari replied.
“You are the weapon?” Fiona asked, taking a step back. “Is this a trap?”
“No,” Cari replied. I saw a flicker of sadness passing through her and knew that she was offended that Fiona might think so. “If you came to save me like you promised, I will not harm you. But if you try to ‘destroy’ the weapon as you’ve been planning to, I’ll be happy to deliver you all to the queen without giving it a second thought.”
“We won’t,” I replied. “But why couldn’t you have left on your own? You are free to walk around in the castle, it seems. Why not just leave? Why did you need us?”
“I’m not allowed to walk around the castle,” Cari replied.
“What?” I asked. “How did you get out tonight, then?”
“I didn’t,” Cari replied again. Before I could ask anything else, she took a few steps toward me.
She raised her hand and touched me.
But then again, she did not.
“You’re not here?” I asked, staring at her finger that seemed to be pressed against my arm. I felt nothing.
“No,” she replied. “I just thought you would need a guide inside the castle.”
“Where are you?” Kieran asked. “And why is there no one inside the castle?”
Cari turned to Kieran. There was a shadow on her face as though she didn’t like him.
“I’m using all my strength to make this happen. Everyone is in their rooms, sleeping or thinking they’re sleeping. Most are just staring at the ceiling because it’s complicated to make someone sleep instead of turning them into drooling idiots.”
“Where are you?” I repeated Kieran’s question.
“I’m below you,” Cari replied. “In the dungeons...”
“How do we get you out?” I asked.
“You’re gonna have to figure that out on your own,” she replied. “There are stairs behind that door.” She pointed. “But I don’t know how you will pass through the walls.”
“We’re sort of good at that part,” I said, giving Dearen a tiny smile. “Just show us the way.”
Cari nodded. She seemed relieved to hear that.
We followed her as she went to one of the doors. We left the mirror room behind her and entered a stairwell. It was dark here too, but I could still see my way as we followed Cari down the stairs. When we reached another level, Cari did not stop. It seemed the dungeons were buried deep within the ground, and I realized that the castle had only two floors because most of the structure was built underground, into the mountains.
Brigid was the only one who did not seem to need any caution as she took one step after another.
