Flashback ( PDFDrive )

She didn’t know how—not with the monster down below, waiting.
It would hurt her this time. Somehow she knew that. And she wasn’t
ready—not yet.
But then a soft blue breeze trickled through her mind, scattering
the shadows like dandelion seeds. Slowing her racing thoughts.
Steadying her breath.
Until there was only silence.
And rest.
• • •
Hours passed—or maybe it was minutes.
It might’ve even been days.
Then the darkness thinned and there were voices again. Two of
them. Calling her name louder and louder until she forced her eyes
open, groaning as a blast of light burned into her brain.
The world shifted into focus, and she realized she was staring at the
ceiling of the Healing Center, with a bruised, weary Dex leaning over
her and a boy next to him with black hair and silver-tipped bangs.
“It’s about time,” Tam said, then winked one of his silver-flecked
blue eyes. “Leave it to you to find a completely new way to almost die.”
“Sadly, he’s not exaggerating,” Elwin agreed as he leaned in
between Dex and Tam. His dark, wild hair was even more rumpled
than usual, and his eyes looked bloodshot behind the huge iridescent
spectacles he always wore while treating patients. “Bullhorn screamed
his head off when he saw you, and then he insisted on lying by your
side—which pretty much gave me a meltdown, just so you know.
Especially when you wouldn’t respond to any of the elixirs I gave you.
But when Tam called the shadows out of your blood, your system