Chapter 9 – Azaria
AZARIA
Light.
Hands lifted me.
Standing? Falling?
The room. Stone table. Him across from me.
The Truthteller.
His voice. Asking.
Words blurred. Couldn’t separate them.
Did—
Have—
Were—
I stared at the disc. Warm. Pulsing.
Truth.
Didn’t know what that meant anymore.
He asked again.
My voice answered. Cracked. Distant. Wrong.
He leaned forward. Studied my face.
His features slid away. Wouldn’t stay still.
More questions.
I tried. Nothing connected.
The stone flickered.
He stopped. Looked past me.
Shook his head.
“Her mind is fractured. I can’t determine truth from false in this state. She needs to recover before the interrogation can continue.”
Recover.
The word didn’t land.
Hands pulled me up.
Walking. Being moved.
Light faded.
Different cell. Not the Black Cell.
Gray here. Shadows. Light under the door.
I could see my hands.
I sat.
Time passed. Didn’t.
Food appeared.
Didn’t remember eating.
Didn’t remember not eating.
Fractured.
Recover.
I wasn’t fractured.
Was I?
My hands shook.
Eris sat beside me on the bench.
You’re all right, he said quietly. I’m here.
He wasn’t real. I knew that.
He stayed anyway.
Quinton’s voice somewhere. Far away.
Azaria.
Memory or now?
Couldn’t tell.
The cell. Isolation.
Not the Black Cell.
Good.
Wasn’t it?
I closed my eyes.
Opened them.
Gray light. Shadows.
I could see.
Sitting.
Lying down.
Sitting.
A voice at the door.
Didn’t turn. Couldn’t.
Stillness was easier. Safer.
If I stayed still enough, maybe I’d disappear.
The silence was full of voices I couldn’t place, and memories I couldn’t hold, and time that wouldn’t stay.
I closed my eyes.
Let it blur.
Fractured.
Yes.