I stayed curled on the cold stone of the courtyard for what felt like hours, but it could not have been more than a few minutes. My arms were wrapped so tightly around my knees that my fingers had gone numb. The golden light inside me flickered wildly, sending random spikes of heat and nausea through my body. Every time I tried to breathe deeply, another flash would hit me, another memory that was not mine, another scene of me using the girls with a cruelty I had never possessed.
Liora, Kaia, and Morgana stood a few feet away, watching me with growing alarm. None of them dared come closer after I had shouted at them to stay back.
Then it happened.
The world tilted again, harder this time.
A voice that was not mine spoke inside my head, low, smooth, and mocking.
Why are you fighting this? They loved it. They begged for it. You should be thanking me.
My body jerked upright without my permission.
For a terrifying second I felt like a passenger in my own skin. My legs straightened. My shoulders squared. My hands unclenched and flexed at my sides. The panic was still there, screaming in the back of my mind, but it was suddenly muffled, distant, like someone had thrown a thick blanket over it.
Liora took a hopeful step forward. "Alex? Are you okay now?"
My mouth moved. The voice that came out was mine, but the tone was colder, sharper, laced with amusement I had never felt.
"Oh, I'm more than okay," I heard myself say. "I was just taking a little nap. Did you miss me?"
Kaia's eyes widened. "That's… that's the voice you had last night."
Morgana's posture changed instantly. She shifted into a defensive stance, purple eyes narrowing.
I tried to scream, to tell them it was not me, but my body would not obey. My legs started walking toward them on their own. A cruel smile stretched across my face.
Liora froze in place, confusion and fear mixing on her delicate features. "Alex… stop. You're scaring us again."
My hand reached out and gently cupped her cheek. My thumb brushed across her lower lip. The touch was soft, almost tender, but I could feel the hunger behind it, the dark satisfaction that did not belong to me.
"You were my favorite last night," my voice purred. "So small. So tight. The way you cried when I choked you while I came inside you… delicious."
Liora whimpered and stepped back, tears spilling down her cheeks.
I fought with everything I had. I screamed inside my own head, trying to force my body to stop moving. The golden light raged wildly, clashing against whatever was controlling me. For one horrible moment the two forces fought for dominance, and my body jerked like a puppet with cut strings.
Then, with a violent lurch, I regained control.
I dropped to my knees hard, gasping, vomiting nothing but bile onto the ash-covered ground. My hands dug into the dirt as I trembled violently.
"It's still here," I choked out. "It's still inside me. It talked. It moved me. It wanted to hurt you again."
Morgana stepped forward, her voice low and dangerous. "Whatever that was, it is getting stronger. You need to tell us everything you remember from that alley. Now."
I looked up at them through tear-blurred eyes. Liora was shaking. Kaia looked ready to fight something she could not see. Morgana's expression had turned cold and calculating.
I had no answers to give them.
All I had was the growing terror that the next time that thing took over, I might not come back at all.
And somewhere deep inside, I could feel it.