Unknown L (Book 1)

~~ It's An Ability, Not Puberty ~~

All of a sudden she was thrown away from the portrait with one last image imprinted in her mind. It was a simple image, her parents staring down and they had so much love in their eyes it caused a lump in L's throat. Somehow she knew it was a memory, not just an image lumped in with the rest, and that it was one of hers. She was remembering her parents, she knew she was looking up at them through her own eyes.

How she had a memory of her parents when she was only a baby at the time, she didn't know but she knew in her heart that it was real. Where had it been all this time? Anyone who saw the way the couple looked down at L, couldn't argue with how much they loved her, and neither could L. She couldn't deny how they felt and a small piece of doubt, she wasn't aware she was still holding onto, fell away.

She felt her heart swell as it raced faster but something wasn't right. She could feel herself back in the room but her eyes weren't open. She could hear muffled sounds but they were far away. Someone was moving nearby but she couldn't make out who it was or what they were doing.

She was in some kind of trance, feeling so many emotions and thoughts coursing through her mind and body. She tried to open her eyes but they wouldn't budge, it almost felt like a dream but she was fully aware that it was happening. It was the strangest feeling, as though she was floating across the surface of water.

L was starting to relax on the current when everything went black. Her eyes shot open suddenly and she sat bolt upright. Her eyes took some time to adjust and she was surprised at her surroundings. She was back in Edra's spare room, back in her makeshift hospital bed and someone was standing by the window looking out into darkness.

There was nobody else in the room and it took L a few seconds to recall what had happened in Edra's bedroom. She sighed and settled back into the pillows, suddenly inundated with memories and emotions that she was too exhausted to push away. Bryce turned away from the window when she sighed and he arched a brow, his face somehow looked more flawless than usual.

"How are you feeling?" He asked tentatively and moved to sit on the chair by the bed.

"I feel... fine, I think. How long was I out this time?"

"About thirteen to fourteen hours, but from what I hear you're lucky it wasn't much longer."

"What happened?" L had the vague recollection that he had come into the room at some point during the madness.

Bryce rubbed the back of his neck, "It's a bit of a long story. Are you sure you're up for it right now?"

L nodded, "Yeah, I want to know what happened to me. That was one of the worst experiences I've ever had."

"That's not surprising," Bryce started and he leaned towards her. "Edra played a risky game. She cast a spell on her bedroom and baited you to go in. The magic is meant to be a sort of awakening, to bring out anything you might be hiding, that could literally be anything. Emotional baggage, possible secrets, latent powers, and in your case it was meant to bring out whatever is blocking your abilities. From what I saw, it brought out a lot more than that."

L scowled and sat up again, "Edra did that on purpose?! How could she?" L was angry but not just at Edra, at herself for being baited into it and also for not listening to Robbie. "You saw something? What did you see exactly?"

Bryce moved to push her back down but must have thought better of it. Instead, he clasped his hands on the edge of the bed.

"She did, but I don't think she meant to cause the things she did."

He seemed to be trying to make her feel better but when he realised that wasn't working, he continued.

"I saw... bits and pieces, pictures mostly but I didn't understand the story behind them and I don't need to. That was your business, nobody else's to pry into. I will say though, it was hard to watch, you kept writhing around and shouting. Robbie and I tried our best to stop it but the only way for that to happen was for the spell to reach its resolution. Watching you pass out, I assume it managed to do something?"