Chapter 728: Blood and Memory
Chapter 727: Blood and Memory
"Meet? Meet?" Josiah said, then he turned in Sophia’s direction. "Meet with who?"
Sophia frowned. "Victoria," she said. "How do you contact her, or how does she contact you?"
"She speaks," Josiah said. "I hear voices sometimes. I know it’s her. It must be her. It is her."
"Did you not meet with Victoria before you came here?" Orion asked him. "She has only given you two instructions, right?"
Orion was confused. According to what Josiah said before, he met with Victoria before coming to the pack and from what he understoodthat happened twice. Josiah also claimed Victoria had not given him any further instructions, and that was not a lie—at least he didn’t react, so it could not be a lie. But even at that, there was something he couldn’t quite place.
Things were a bit confusing.
"Two," Josiah muttered.
Right before their very eyes, the man who had stood upright seemed like someone who had been transformed and taken on another shape. Like he was different from the man they had seen before.
"Two," he repeated again.
Then he nodded. "Yes. That’s it. It must be two. Yes, two instructions. The first day I left the pack... yes, that’s it. That’s when she told me what to do. Yes, that’s it. That must be it."
Orion’s frown deepened.
*Orion,* Noctis called out immediately.
"Yes?"
*Everything Josiah says is going to be true no matter how confusing it is because he is convinced it is true. Your ability would not work in this situation,* Noctis told him.
"Then what can we do? We need information, and we cannot get it from him at all, especially if he’s like this," Orion said.
*I may be wrong, but I suspect Victoria did something to this man the same way she did somethingto Sophia. At this point, I think Sophia would be better at interrogating him.*
"Why? What if he..."
*We both know that before Josiah raises a hand, Sophia will likely kill him. She is not that weak, Orion, though I understand the need to protect her.*
Noctis paused, and then he continued.
*Remember the shrine? Madam Tyler did some rituals to help Sophia detect if whatever her mother used on her had traces of black magic. My point is, what if the same was used on Josiah? Black magic, I mean.*
"But how does Sophia come in?" Orion asked. "It’s not like she can..."
*She can,* Noctis interrupted him. *Sophia’s gift doesn’t just center around her seeing visions. She can also detect traces of it. Perhaps whatever her mother did interfered with it before, but I am almost certain she can do it right now.*
The dungeon was quiet except for Josiah’s ragged breathing. The torches flickered, casting long shadows that seemed to reach for the walls like grasping hands. Brynhild had not moved from her position, her
gaze still fixed on Josiah’s direction with the patience of a predator.
Orion was about to speak again when he noticed Sophia stepping into the cell.
She signaled for him to come to her, and Orion sighed, stepping away from Josiah, who was still muttering under his breath.
"Shorty," Orion said immediately he reached her.
"Let me help," she told him.
"Sophia..."
"Listen to me," she said, interrupting him. "I’m not being reckless. There’s a reason I stepped in here to meet with you. Whatever Josiah says right now, I suspect it’s the truth because he believes it so, isn’t it?"
Orion nodded. His jaw tightened.
"And that’s where I come in. Neoma told me we could help. Whatever ritual Madam Tyler did in the shrine to help me detect whatever black magic was used in my hair... it helped me. What if it was used on Josiah too? What if I can detect it?" she asked him.
The words hung in the air between them. If Victoria had marked Sophia with black magic, why not others? Why not the man she had turned into a traitor, a man so desperate to save his family that he would believe anything?
Orion sighed. "How are you so fucking in tune with Noctis?"
"What?" Sophia asked him.
"Noctis told me the same thing."
Sophia smiled at that. "See why Noctis could be more handsome than you are?" she asked him.
"Handsomeness has nothing to do with it," he told her.
"I know," Sophia replied. "But anyway, Orion, let me help. This affects all of us, and if I perhaps have an ability that could help make this interrogation smoother, then wouldn’t it be better I use it?"
Orion was quiet. He could see the determination in her eyes, and he had to admit he liked it a bit too much. She was not the same woman who had arrived in Nirvana months ago, broken and uncertain. She had grown. She had fought. She had survived.
And she was right. If she had an ability that could help make things easier then it was better she used it.
"Fine, but I’ll stay in the cell with you," he told her.
Sophia nodded.
"Do you have any idea what you’re going to do to detect it?" Orion asked her.
Sophia shook her head. "None at all, but I trust Neoma. She’ll help me."
Orion nodded, and then he walked back toward Josiah with Sophia in tow.
"So... it seems we are going to be doing this a different way," he said.
Josiah’s head snapped up, and he stared at Orion with those same wide eyes. There was something broken in them, something that had been cracked open long ago and never allowed to heal. Victoria had poured poison into those cracks, and now the man before them was a maze of truth and delusion, impossible to navigate without a guide.
Orion then nodded to Sophia, and she took a deep breath.
"Neoma," she called out. "It’s time to help."
*Move closer, Sophia. Take his hand in yours, then use a dagger to cut his palm. We need his blood for this,* Neoma told her.
