Flashback ( PDFDrive )

nailed the breath control trick on the first try.
It helped that breath control had been one of the skills she’d
excelled at while they attended Exillium. But Alvar’s trick of wiggling
her toes did make it easier to distract herself.
And when she made it twenty minutes in the ice basin the next
afternoon, she was feeling pretty proud of herself.
But the skill of the day was darkness vision—a skill she’d failed at
when she tried it at Exillium. Too many nightmares had lurked in the
shadows—and that was before they had claws and teeth.
Keefe cut the lesson off as soon as he felt the spike of fear.
Sophie didn’t argue.
She could feel the monster stirring—hear the whispers that would
roar if she let the memories take over.
“Remember, Krakie’s got your back,” Keefe told her as she lay still,
letting Elwin check for signs of setbacks. “And so does Fluffy,” he
added, pinning a Prattles T. rex next to the kraken on her bandaged
hand.
“Dude, enough with the cutesy pin names,” Ro told him.
“Never!” Keefe said, adding a verminion he called Cheeky. “You’ve
got this, Foster.”
But she didn’t.
They’d stopped the lesson in time to block any pain or damage. But
they’d also proven the monster was alive and well.
Even with all the progress her shattered bones had made.
All the strength Sophie had discovered during her lessons.
All the waiting.
All the elixirs and blurry sedatives.
All the distractions.