Page 110 of Avalon Tower

Fear cuts me down to the bone, but I force myself to shrug and give them a placid smile. “Fine. But how hard can it be compared to the real veil? It’s thousands of miles long and rises above the clouds and sinks under the sea. This can’t be more powerful than that. It’s all contained in the combat hall.”

Nivene turns to Raphael, scowling. “I thought she’s supposed to be intelligent.”

Raphael sighs. “Nivene, that’s not the way—”

“The entire problem is that it’s a smaller veil!” Nivene barks. Her words echo off the high ceiling. “The border veil is large, so it’s stretched thin. You’ve seen it yourself, I’m sure. When you look at how the veil is built, you can actually see the holes and weaknesses in its structure because it’s spread out so far.”

Tension weaves through the air, sharpening the atmosphere. She’s right. That’s exactly what I see every time.

“This one is condensed into a single room,” she hisses. “A force so powerful, it’ll disintegrate you if you step in it without your magic. Evaporate. We’ll send your remains back to your mother in a matchbox. Just dust.”

I feel the blood draining from my face. “Are you trying to scare me until I can’t think straight?”

“I’m trying to say,” she goes on, “you’ll need all your focus to disrupt it, okay? And right now, your powers are unstable because they’re powers. Plural. Fucked up.”

“Okay.” I still don’t know what she wants from me, but I now feel like puking.

Raphael is studying me closely, and his eyes seem to have more contrast than ever—the pale silver ringed with bright blue. His dark eyelashes lower. With the way he’s staring at me, I feel as if he’s reading all my secrets. Like he’s telepathic. Sometimes, I get the sense he knows exactly how much I think about him, and about every time we kissed. And about the way I felt wrapped in his strong arms as he healed me, his hand on my stomach.

Then, I’d felt safe around him.

Right now, I have absolutely no idea what he’s thinking, but the intense look in his eyes has my nerves fluttering. His unreadable expression often has the power to unnerve me.

“It’s fine, you two,” I say. “I know I need to suppress the telepathy.”

“But that doesn’t work, does it?” says Raphael coolly.

“That’s why I’m here,” Nivene says. “Sentinels don’t just disrupt veils. We disrupt magic in general. If you cooperate, I can sever your telepathic powers. For good.”

My stomach drops, and I take a step back. “Hang on.”

Nivene steps in closer. “Sentinels are surgeons. Professor Throckmorton discovered this technique a few years ago to remove power from Fey prisoners. Now, obviously, I don’t want to remove your Sentinel powers. But what if I can remove your telepathy? Granted, I’ve never tried it before, but I think it’s possible. I can already feel it inside you. Violet, isn’t it? It has a wild, frenetic energy. Give me your hand.” She holds out her palm. “I’ll see what I can do.”

My blood roars in my ears. I hadn’t realized until now exactly how attached I feel to the voices I hear, to this power. Or that my instinct tells me I need to keep it.

Nivene frowns at me. “I’ll guide you through it. Come on, we don’t have much time.” She shakes her palm. “Nia, take my hand.”

“I’ll be fine without your help.” I need to tell them what they want to hear, or they’ll rip part of me away. “I’ve actually managed to control my telepathy at this point. I don’t even sense it at all now. It’s suppressed.”

“You’re lying,” says Nivene.

“Nia,” Raphael says, “you must do this. Avalon Tower needs another Sentinel. This isn’t just for you. Lives depend on your Sentinel powers.”

My heart pounds against my ribs. My telepathy is a part of me. I’m not going to let them take it away. It was the power that saved me during that combat trial. And that mission? We never would have found the map without this skill. But that’s not what Raphael needs to hear, is it?

And I don’t really know how to explain it to him because it’s mostly just instinct.

I plaster a smile on my face. “Why bother with this when I’ve got it under control?”

“You told me that you don’t even like hearing those voices,” Raphael says. “Nia, I know this is not ideal.” He reaches out and touches my arm. His eyes are pleading. Warmth from his fingertips pours into me. “But if you don’t do this, I’m afraid you will die.”

I wonder how much that would bother him on a personal level versus just robbing MI-13 of another desperately needed Sentinel.

“Even I can’t disrupt the veil he’s conjuring there,” Nivene says. “Well…I probably can. I’m really good at this. But I’m not plagued with diametric magic, and I’m much better trained—”

“Nivene, stop,” Raphael says sharply.

Her nostrils flare. “Fine. Talk some sense into her. But better be quick because they’re about to start. And I can sense that her magic is more conflicted and erratic than ever.”