Flashback ( PDFDrive )

She started with Gethen’s taunts, letting his horrible voice flood her
mind—and she could feel the monster lift its head. But the beast
didn’t get up, staying put through each of the other haunting voices
that Sophie let join the punishing chorus. Until she dredged up the
one she’d buried the deepest.
Sophie, please—stop!
The second her sister’s terrified voice rang through her mind, the
monster was thrashing and kicking—and so was she.
“It’s okay,” Fitz told her, taking her hand again. “Just breathe.”
She was trying. But the monster fought back, clawing and scraping
against her consciousness.
“Breathe with me,” Fitz told her, setting the rhythm—and she clung
to his hand like an anchor as she let their breaths fall in sync.
Slowly, steadily, the beast skulked back to the shadows.
“The good news,” Elwin said, sounding a bit shaken as he flashed
an orb of light around her, “is that I don’t see any damage. So you are
getting stronger. And hopefully these readings will help Lady Zillah
find an answer.”
Sophie hoped so too.
But until then, she had to stay far, far away from that memory—
even if it killed her to be so close to the truth and leave it buried.
“You okay?” Fitz asked as she chugged her medicine with
trembling hands.
She nodded.
But she must not have been very convincing, because Fitz checked
on her again before she went to bed that night.
Are you sure the sedative will be enough to keep the nightmares away? he
asked.