She exhaled silently and crouched down to the floor, sitting as she twisted, and lowered her feet into the pool. The liquid was freezing, its icy embrace sending shivers through her body. It was gelatinous; the shimmering specks were suspended in the congealed translucent fluid. She glanced up to the Councilmen as they began to slowly inch closer to the pool’s edge in silence. Jessop knew that the cold was intended to shock her system and ultimately weaken her mind—making it harder to conceal thoughts and memories from the Council. Hydo Jesuin really had thought of everything. She put her hands on the glass ledge and slowly lowered herself in, resisting the urge to hiss as the icy slush enveloped her.
The Hunters formed a semi-circle around the pool. She took a deep breath as she moved to the center of the tub. The liquid was hard against her chest and soaked her robe. Her dark hair began to travel slowly about her shoulders in thick black ropes, collecting the crystal flecks.
“Submerge.” Hydo’s low, tense voice carried around the room.
Jessop took a deep breath, then another, and with her third, she immersed herself. She kept her green eyes open and used her arms to force her body down. As soon as she was fully under, it seemed as though the unknown liquid came to life. With mystical abilities it tore around her, no longer slow and thick. It ripped through her robes and encircled her strong torso. It lapped against her back and attacked her eyes and ears, forcing a white-hot pain through her. The crystal flecks were shards of glass, tearing through her robe, ripping the linen and scratching her taut skin. She grabbed at the garment and ran her hands over her body, trying to wipe the specks away, but no matter how hard she fought, they clung to her. She struggled to stay under, to keep her eyes open despite the pain. Through the icy liquid, she saw their hands enter the pool, all of them showing her their palm, and the inverted F scar that was carved into each, and then—
Jessop is twelve years old and looking into the gray eyes of a teenage Falco Bane. He examines the charred marks under her eye and across her neck; her frayed hair and marred appearance…
She’s fifteen and someone is nursing bleeding wounds on her back. The wounds will scar, she’s told. She hisses as the ointment is applied, the cuts are deep—she was lashed hard. She bites her lip and dreams of vengeance. She bites her lip, and she sees the flames.
She’s seventeen, and intimately alone with Falco. The long silver scar runs through his brow, over his eyelid, down his strong cheekbone. His hands move over her slowly, trailing across her thigh, gripping her bare hip.
Jessop couldn’t breathe. She looked around the pool, her heart racing. The pain was otherworldly and the claustrophobia too much to bear. She felt trapped, as though the possessed liquid was somehow holding her down while her mind was forcibly lit up with a thousand memories, all of them being searched for something unique, something the Councilmen wanted to see. She closed her eyes and saw flashes ripping past her; faces, names, words, screams, and certain memories began to form but rippled into entirely different ones, ending in mismatched recollections.
Her skin sizzles under the hot wires and her neck is on fire. She’s eighteen, and her brand is nearly complete. And now she’s older—maybe twenty—she is fighting with a man… he attacks her brutally, she doesn’t waste time in her defense—she kills him swiftly.
Jessop clapped her hands over her mouth, silencing a scream. The unnatural fluid crept between her slender fingers, clawing through her thick lips and searching through her mouth. It felt as though a thousand knives were carving away the layers of her mind—of her sanity—in search for Falco.
She’s twenty-three and Falco is yelling, she’s crying. He throws a glass, it shatters against the wall, and with a swipe of his hand, shards are flying through the air.
Twenty-four and a dead woman lies on the floor between her and Falco. They are silent as the blood pools out between them. She watches as his gray eyes fixate on the lifeless corpse.
Jessop cried out and choked on the liquid as it cut her throat and tongue. She grabbed her face to fight the pain. She tried to keep her thoughts organized, reminding herself that she had survived worse. As if on cue, her body began to shake violently. She could feel her nails digging into her cheeks, tearing at her neck, ripping at her robe. She curled deeper down and into herself, tucking her face into her chest. She wished she could drown in this mystical pool, but it was not possible. This was a pool for torture, not death.
Falco is sleeping… she reaches over his broad body, her hand coming around the blade’s hilt, she is twenty-five, and finally ready to disappear into the night.
The liquid had filled Jessop’s throat, providing the sensation of choking as she swallowed large gulps. She knew she needed to emerge. With a forceful kick, she rose from the liquid, her hair flying back from her face over her back, sending a trail of crystals across the room. How gruesome the sound of her own guttural coughing was, her body fighting to expel the liquid and find oxygen, startled her.
And the Council, hands still in the pool, continued to try to read her.
“Sto—op—Stop!” Jessop coughed. But none of the men retreated.
“I—arg—can’t—brea—” she choked and still they ignored her. She tried to force herself towards the side of the pool, but her feet slipped on the slick glass. Her muscles ached and tears ran down her cheeks as her throat burnt with each hacking cough.
“WHAT IS THIS?”
The booming voice caused the Council to yield, allowing Jessop the moment she needed to catch her breath. The fluid immediately returned to its thick, gelatinous state and she trudged through it, her legs on fire until she reached the edge. She leant forward, coughing still as she pushed herself onto her toes and flung her weak arms out before her. Her fingers pulled at the glass floor with a squeaky cry, and she forced her diaphragm onto the ledge. As she had hoped, it pushed the liquid up her esophagus, and she threw up a mouthful of the vile fluid. It traveled unnaturally, with life, from the glass floor back towards her, sliding over the ledge and back into the pool.
Jessop ignored the horror and let her face rest on her extended arm. It took her a moment to realize her head was rattling because her entire body was shaking, covered in thousands of miniscule cuts. The remnants of her robe twisted around her. Through the distorted glass she could see her bare body, glistening under the trace remains of the material. She could see the linen was ripped to shreds. Few strips of the fabric clung around her hip and thigh as she shook violently.
The Councilmen moved away from the pool slowly. One came around the pool. “Kohl, how have you been released from the medics so swiftly?”
She recognized the voice immediately. It was Hanson Knell.
Jessop followed him with her eyes as he passed her, slowly trailing her gaze over them from her weakened position. Her head rolled between her tired arms, watching the Councilmen retreat from her as the young Hunter approached.
“Swiftly? They treated me with lasers yesterday. It’s been an entire night—how long have you had her in there?” he demanded, crossing the room. His hazel eyes fell onto her and he looked at her with such apology.
Jessop clung to the side of the glass ledge. She couldn’t believe his words—it had been an entire night? She had stepped into the pool minutes ago—how had night already passed?
“Time does pass differently in this room—you know that, Hunter Kohl. It is easy to lose track of the process.” This time it was Hydo Jesuin speaking.
The only thing that gave away the time-passed was the pain she felt in her own strong muscles. She could feel it in her limbs, the ache of survival, the hours that had gone by.
Jessop clawed at the glass floor but she was physically exhausted. She bit her lip as she struggled to push herself out of the pool. The remnants of the robe tugged at her legs as they fell from her, trailing down her calves and off her feet. The pain and cold rippled through her bare body. It felt as