-46-
I was basically humoring Nam by this point. The conversation had ceased making sense a long time ago. I was just biding time, trying to come up with a plan, but so far, no dice. All I could do was pray that he wasn't coming up with a plan of his own. Perhaps we could just stay in a stalemate until someone else came along to save us.
Or me. I wouldn't mind leaving Nam behind, at this point. He was starting to get on my nerves, with his crazy talk about supporting the Queen.
I stared at his new device. "What's that supposed to do? And don't tell me it's supposed to help me remember, because if you've had that all this time, so help me, I'll..."
"Chill. It's okay. Yes, it's for your memory, but I was only going to use it as a last resort here in the cave, in case your memory really was gone and didn't come back, which it obviously hasn't. I didn't want to use it earlier because I didn't know if I wanted you to remember everything all at once. First there was the problem of using the device without arousing suspicion from the others, and if I did manage to use it without anyone noticing, chances were that you, with your super brutally honest self, would then proceed to tell everybody what you remembered about yourself, me, and the Queen..."
"Why do you keep grouping us together like that? I'm not a part of your conspiracy with the Queen."
"Oh, yes, you are. Even if you don't remember."
Angry again, I stood, but Nam was ready. Instead of the body-wide pain the last device gave me, I was hit by the most awful headache. I had to sit down. So I did, and sat there, holding my head in my hands as I waited for the aching to go away.
During this time, Nam began making his way toward me, but he never made it. Out of the corner of my eye, as the pain continued, I saw someone with bright red hair emerge from the rocks and slam Nam to the floor. After a bit of fighting, the redhead knocked Nam out and kicked him into a corner, then came over to me.
"ALiCE?"
"Miyka'el?"
Sure enough, it was Miyka'el. The red in his platinum blond hair was blood, a lot of it, but he seemed to be okay.
I, on the other hand, was still dealing with the worst headache ever.
"You okay?" Miyka'el asked.
I shook my head. "Is Zale okay?"
"Zale?"
"Nam... I think he pushed him over the edge."
"Of the cliff?" Miyka'el went to investigate, and jumped back in surprise as Zale reached up from the side of the rock.
"A little help here? I've been hanging for awhile," Zale said.
Miyka'el obliged.
They stared at Nam, then over at me.
I looked at Zale, wondering if he had heard everything Nam had said, about me being a part of the conspiracy and all that. He refused to meet my eyes, but it was impossible to tell if he was mad at me or ashamed at himself for not being able to save me.
I pulled myself to my feet and waited for the headache to ebb away. I thought it was, but I could've just been kidding myself, hysterical from the pain. I looked at Nam.
"What do we do with him?"
"Leave him," Miyka'el said. "I don't want him around."
Zale looked at me. "Me, either."
I nodded. "Maybe the Queen will send someone to get him. Let's go make sure Zione and Aurick are okay."
Miyka'el led the way over the pile of rocks, and I held back a bit to talk to Zale.
"So..." I began.
"I heard," Zale replied. He looked at me. "Did it work?"
"What?"
"The other device. Do you remember?"
I shook my head. "Just a bad headache." I frowned. "You think he was telling the truth? You think I was... part of that?"
"I don't want to believe it. But who knows, you could be lying to me about it right now. I certainly didn't think Nam would lie to me about it, and look what happened."
I wanted to defend myself, but couldn't. How could I really know what side I was on?