Flashback ( PDFDrive )

drag her fears to a place where they become actual physical pain.
Maybe that’s a better metaphor. Not a bridge, but a bully, preying on
her trauma.”
“Sounds a bit like a monster,” Magnate Leto noted, with a
meaningful glance at Sophie. “But the question is: How do we tame
it?”
Lady Zillah shook her head. “We don’t. I can do nothing. And the
echoes resisted Tam’s attempts to soothe them.”
“And I’m not trying again,” Tam added from the shadows.
“You shouldn’t,” Lady Zillah agreed. “Not until you’ve overcome
your own trepidation. The echoes won’t respond to someone timid—
someone doubting themselves. They want someone confident.
Relentless. The person who commanded the shadowflux.”
“But I didn’t command it!”
“You did. You showed it you were more determined, more
resourceful than it could ever be, and it bent to your will in response.
You must find that part of yourself again for the training we have
ahead—and I’m not letting you back out of that, in case that’s what
you’re thinking. If anything, the strength of these echoes proves how
vital this power may someday be. There’s greatness in you, Tam. But it
will never amount to anything unless you embrace it.”
Tam looked away.
Linh crossed the room to stand beside him, whispering something
in his ear.
“Okay,” Edaline said, breaking the silence. “So . . . how do we fix
this?”
“We wait for the echoes to fade,” Lady Zillah told her. “That’s all
we can do.”