Bonds of Time

Chapter 7

 "Caitlin." Ice is shaking my shoulder. "You awake?"

"Hmm?" I open my eyes a slit and find her sitting at the end of my bed. I roll over in the opposite direction and stick my face in my pillow. "Time's it?"

"How do you feel?"

"Fine, I guess." My words are a little muffled. "Had a weird ass dream but other than that, I'm good. Why're you in here? The alarm didn't go off yet."

"Caitlin." Her voice is soft. "You weren't dreaming."

"Um, course I was." I sit up reluctantly and look down at myself, I'm wearing a tank top and jeans. Definitely not sleep wear. Or, not my sleep wear, anyway. "Unless I wasn't?"

"What do you remember?"

"nothing."

"Think about it." she says. "Breathe. And think."

"Well... IóI broke up with Marco. I feel a little bad about that by the way. Should I have waited at least until the end of the school year? We only have a few days."

"After that."

"I mean, I guess that's where I ... I guess I couldn't be dreaming. Because it happened right after Marco left. He drove away and I turned to head to the restaurant. Oh God, the gig!"

"Focus."

"Okay, right. Sorry. So then I started feeling weird. That's when I texted y..." And I slowly continue recapping from there. By the time I'm finished, I'm out of the bed and pacing. My bare feet are silent on my thick carpet. And Ice is still sitting on my bed, motionless.

"So you are meeting on Saturday?" She asks some seconds after I'm finished. "Was it a request or order?"

"Um, I'm not sure..."

"But she said you were meeting''" She's talking to herself. "She could just order you about or find you whenever... Wonder what her game is."

I don't comment on that. She wasn't talking to me anyway. But then I remember about something else.

"Um... and something else... you really started to freak me out over there. You were acting so..." I search for the words. "Cold, I guess."

"I know." She says, I watch her twist her fingers together. "I'm sorry. I was just reacting."

"Yeeah." But it felt like it was more. Then I think about the last thing Amira said, or would it be thought, to me: I will give time for her to form some story to you. And then I will give you truth. I hadn't told Ice about that part. I decide to keep it that way and instead ask something more pressing. "So what am I going to do?"

"Well, first we have to figure out what she wants with you. It's going to take a bit of work to break the bond she has... I wish. Oh well, no matter."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What, Ice?"

"It's nothing important right now, Caitlin."

I will give time for her to form some story to you.

"What."

She sighs. "I was going to say that I wish I knew how exactly it happened. What was the link she used to get to you. And I was going to ask if you felt anything. If you had any ideas on how it may have started. Did she gain control of you when she touched you or before?"

I look down. "IóI don't know."

"I know." She says. "That's why I said never mind."

Her tone, unaccusing and sweet, makes me feel like an idiot. Seventeen years with her ... we developed together for nine months in the same person, for God's sake. And some chick comes, and possesses me! and all of a sudden I'm questioning everything? I just became that girl. The one in books and movies that I hate so much. The one that is so susceptible to the charms of the villain that she starts questioning everything that's already good and established. And she, Amira, is definitely the villain.