“Fiona?” asked Master Angeletti, tilting his head at me. Although stern-faced, there was an indulgence to his voice, as though he thought I might be intimidated by their presence. “What do you see?”

I swallowed, again paralyzed by fear of my past. As my silence persisted, the other Warriors began looking at me curiously. It’s an act, Sydney! I frantically told myself. You did it then, you can do it now. This isn’t re-education. You aren’t trapped, and Jill’s life is on the line.

Jill.

It was the thought of her name, the memory of her clear and innocent face that drew me back to life. I blinked and focused back on the screen.

“Evil, sir,” I said. “I see evil things that have no part of the natural order.”

And so it began. I answered in the ways Sabrina had prompted me, not that I needed much coaching. I just had to answer like I would have in re-education. I recited a cover story we’d come up with, about how my brother Fred and I had been attacked by a Strigoi one night and barely gotten away with our lives. I explained how we’d tried telling the authorities, but no one would believe us. We’d known the truth of the evil we’d seen and spent the next few years searching for help, until finally we’d met Sabrina and learned of the Warriors’ quest.

When the interview finished, the Warriors were smiling reassuringly, pleased with my answers. I smiled back, but on the inside, I was a mess. I could barely stop myself from shaking or losing myself to the memories of that terrible time. I gave Eddie an encouraging nod when I was released back to the waiting room with the others, and then I sank into a chair, grateful that no one seemed interested in talking to me. I was able to sit and space for a while, steadying my breathing and shaking off the memories. He returned a little while later, irritated by their line of questioning but overall relaxed.

“Psychos,” he muttered to me, keeping a smile on his face for the sake of the others in the room. “I stuck to the story, and they took it well.”

“Same here,” I said, envious of how easy it had been for him. He didn’t have the baggage I had.