“Okay…” He waits.
“I think you might have some of my memories inside your head,” I explain again, now that he’s listening. “I think Monarch might have put them in there to protect them.”
He rubs his hand across his face, taking it in. “How would he do that?”
“I have no idea.” I shrug. “I thought maybe you knew something about it.”
“I don’t, but you might.” He touches his fingertip to my temple. “It’s just locked away in here.”
My skin tingles from his touch. “Or maybe it’s in your head.”
“Here’s a thought.” Sylas’ sudden closeness is disrupting. “Maybe someone has the gift to extract memories and place them inside someone else’s head.”
I spin on my heels and he’s right behind me. He’s pulled the hood of his black jacket over his head and his hands are tucked in his sleeves. But it’s not easy for him to be out in the open grayness of the afternoon. His skin is red, sweat dews his forehead, and his strength is weakened.
“Like Emmy,” I suggest. “Or did you already know that.”
He presses his lips together. His gaze elevates over my head, past us and to Ryder.
I gape at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Don’t listen to him, Kayla,” Aiden cautions. “He’s just messing with your head.”
“No he’s not. He’s telling the truth.” I lower my voice. “Does she know she can do it?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” He steps for Ryder, coughing from the light.
I push him back. “I’ll get it out of her. You go back in the shade.”
He grins impishly and winks. “Don’t be too rough on her, Kayla. Even as a human, you could still take her any day.”
I start to smile, but hastily erase it. I advance toward Ryder and Aiden falls into step with me.
“You two seem to be getting along,” he notes with disapproval. “I guess you don’t regret your decision to leave us then.”
“I had to leave, Aiden.” I sigh, avoiding his eyes. “At the time, Emmy seemed like my only option to get my memories out of my head.” I let out a huge breath, stop, and face him. “But it turned out I could get some of them out on my own, and without harming myself. But not the important ones. Those are the ones Monarch locked away in your head.”
“I told you we’d find a way.” He frowns. “I knew I had some of them in my head and together we could put them all together. I was just waiting for you to catch up.”
“You could have just told me. It would have saved us a lot of time if you did. But instead, you were always lying to me.”
“You lied too,” he retorts. “We both lied, but I lied to protect you, Juniper. I care about you more than you realize.” He points a finger at Sylas with an ache in his heart. “And way more than he does.”
“Aiden.” I calm my voice. “The fact of the matter is, I don’t really know either of you, so I have to decide things for myself. At the time, I thought it was best to leave. But I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I hate to break up your little moment,” Ryder interrupts. “But Aiden and I need to get back to the hillside before dark.”
Aiden keeps his eyes on me, even when I look up at Ryder. “Is there any way to extract a memory and hide it in someone else’s head?”
She pulls a disgusted face. “What kind of stupid question is that?”
“The kind you need to answer.” I square my shoulders, preparing to beat it out of her if I have to.
“She doesn’t know anything,” Aiden assures me. “I know Ryder better than anyone and if she knew how to do it, she’d tell me.”
“Exactly,” Ryder sways her head with attitude.
I clasp her wrist, feeling her lie pulsing through her veins. “No, she knows a hell of a lot more than you think.”
“Kayla.” Aiden swats my hand away. “Knock it off. You’re acting like one of them.”
I miss my fighting skills. I know just the right places to hit them and they’d fall over and take a light nap without any permanent damage. But I don’t have the strength anymore.
Ryder side swipes me and we tumble to the sand. A swish and Sylas is beside us. He takes a punch at Aiden while Ryder flips us over and crunches her knuckles against my cheek.
My jaw pops loudly. I groan, clutching my cheek.
Ryder grins. “I’ve wanted to do that ever since the day you showed up.”
Her fist dives for my face again, but I block it and put all my strength into shoving her back, even going as low as digging my fingernails into the back of her hand.
“Ow,” she whines, wincing. She punches her free hand at me and I snatch hold of it. I inhale, summoning any inner strength lingering in my human body, and overturn us. Her back hits the ground and she lets out a groan.
“Ryder,” I try to reason with her. “Just tell me. No one has to get hurt.”
“The only person who’s going to get hurt is you.” She tries to bite my hand and that’s when nice Kayla goes away.
I slap her face hard. Her cheek stings red and my hand throbs.
Sylas appears, grinning from ear to ear. “Nice.” His head is still tucked under his hood and his fingers are shielded by his sleeves. Behind him, Aiden lies in the sand, hands slack to the side, mouth parted, eyes shut.