Hitting the end call button would have been a herculean task, so I was grateful when Elodie did instead. I fought to push down the swell of emotions, offering Joanne a weak smile as she stepped out the door and through the barrier I’d run into, the magic shimmering.
“I’m glad to see your familiar is finally a man again,” she said, nodding to Oswald. “I told him time and time again that love conquered all, but he never took me seriously.”
His eyebrows drew together. “Because it never made any fucking sense. I already loved Freya and it hadn’t done fuck all for me.”
She laughed. “She does tend to save herself, doesn’t she? I’m glad you found another love to sacrifice yourself for. I can’t say I entirely saw it coming, even when I met Nolan.”
“You had an inkling,” I stated, knowing I was right.
Her attention came back to me, warm brown eyes twinkling. “Well, I can’t deny that. I get inklings about all sorts of things. Like what you came here for. Memory manipulation is dangerous magic to play with, Freya.”
“I have no choice but to do it.”
“There’s always a choice, but I understand why you personally wouldn’t see the other options as viable.”
“Can you tell me if I’m strong enough to pull it off?”
She regarded me for a few seconds, then reached out to brush her fingers across my arm. The touch made me shiver, magic pulling at me for a split second. The sensation was unfamiliar. Joanne’s magic didn’t often leave a trace, her abilities so innate she didn’t have to consciously use them.
“You’re much stronger than the last time I saw you,” she mused. “And your bonds are stronger than I’d anticipated they would be. You’re growing quickly, Freya. Your pack’s bond is strong too, despite how rare it is for a pack bond to form without a decision being made to create one.”
I glanced up at Emmett, then over to Oswald. We’d chatted about the pack bonds, but hadn’t been sure of what was going on.
“Pack bonds used to be extremely common, you know,” Joanne continued. “They’re much more natural than the way people do things now. Omegas only taking one mate is a preposterous disservice to themselves and the Alpha population, and even when they do take multiple it’s often Alphas who don’t know each other well. There’s infighting and disputes and no balance. Our world needs balance again. Oh, dear, I could talk about that all day, but I know it’s not why you’re here.”
“It’s good to know,” I said. “Does having a balanced pack make us more likely to get back the two pack members I’ve lost?”
She nodded. “Of course it does. I have confidence in you being able to pull off what you desire to do, but be aware it won’t come without a cost.”
I stiffened, as did Emmett. Nolan and Oswald were putting their attention into watching our surroundings for danger, though they were listening as well.
“A cost? What kind of cost?”
“I can’t tell you, dear. You’ll have to find out on your own.”
When Joanne said there was a cost, she could mean anything from a couple bumps and bruises to one or more of us moving onto the next life. It didn’t give me a good feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Can you give me advice on how to do the memory manipulations, then? It’s not something I’ve done before.”
“That I can. I advise you pick up a trinket to help you connect with whomever you steal memories from. A keychain of carneliclase crystal would do the trick. It’s a darker cousin of a stone called carnelian here on Earth. There are plenty of places to pick some up, but only in Zemterra I’m afraid. Based on your history, I believe you’ll need it to push your mental capabilities to the next level. Once you’re inside someone else’s mind, it’s a completely different experience than what you’ve done before with poor Emmett and plenty of others.”
Emmett rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, the other still touching me. She smiled at him and he was put off, as people often were the first time they met her. The things she knew were things she shouldn’t be aware of at all.
“You’ll need a firm grasp on your bonds if you’re going to pull yourself back out from someone else’s head,” she continued. “If your love isn’t strong enough to pull you out, you could be lost. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of witches losing their minds after trying this when they weren’t ready and weren’t grounded firmly enough in their reality.”
“I’m confident I’m grounded in reality,” I said. “Pretty damn confident, in all honesty. Caspian and Shan are going to die if I can’t do this, and it doesn’t get more realistic than that.”
She gave me a sad little smile. “Don’t rush in too confidently, dear. Sometimes a harsh real life is exactly what causes people to lose against the pull into the memories.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m not going to lose myself.”
I reached out for Emmett, wrapping my fingers around his bicep and clutching him. He leaned closer and Joanne watched our interaction, seeming pleased by it.
“Your confidence reminds me of myself when I was much younger. Going into someone else’s head is no small feat, and that’s coming from me, someone you know does it often. I nearly fell prey to the downfalls once, in my early days. Ah, well, I’ll stop lecturing you and give you this.”
Joanne produced a scroll from one of her deep apron pockets, handing it to me. The paper was old and worn, clearly only held together by magic. Touching it made me tense, the magic feeling the tiniest bit ominous.
“What is this?” I asked, not unrolling it. Doing so out in the open would be stupid.
“Ancient knowledge. You can’t go into someone else’s head with no guidance.”