"I saw it all. I saw Thomas go to Maurice for advice on Ana Ramirez, but Maurice had already written him off as a bad prospect. He let him go with vague words of looking it up and getting back to him."
-0-
"I saw her burn. I heard her screams, screams that sounded so much like laughter…"
"Hmmm. It is interesting… Could be a number of things. Including a hallucination of your part…. You did experiment with all kinds of substances, didn't you? Not just hashish but opium… The poppy packs a lot of power."
"I tell you that I saw her burn!"
"Well, I will look further into it. I will get back to you in a day or two."
-0-
"Thomas left, confused, he was remembering all the drugs he had experimented with along with Ana. Maybe he had imagined it. Maybe it was just a bad dream…"
"But Irina knew better. She knew what Ana Ramirez was, same as I did. And she found a way to let him know it. She sent the world 'phoenix' into his mind and let him think of a trove of books left by their father that had not been catalogued yet, as they saw little value in them.
"So, he dug into the books and invisibly guided by Irina he learned what Ana Ramirez was, and what plans she had for Lilah…"
-0-
"As for myself, I struggled to get through. I could barely move my fingers, but I could still move them. I began to tap. Three short, three long, three short… Again, three short, three long, three short."
-0-
"S.O.S." Heather shouted. He is tapping S.O.S!"
"He is in trouble."
"I have to go, then." Heather said. "We already know I can go back.""
"Better get some information first." Romney turned to me. "Tap one for yes, twice for no, understand?"
One tap
"Are you caught?"
One tap.
"Do the family know what you are?"
Two taps.
"Someone else?"
One tap.
"Does he plan to kill you?"
Two taps.
"He has imprisoned you?"
One tap.
"Where?"
No taps.
"No. of course not. We have to do it letter by letter. Does it start with A?"
Two taps.
"B?"
Two taps.
"C?"
"One tap.
"Thus, they finally learned that was caught inside a crystal, and that the crystal was in a cave, Eventually Heather decided she knew enough, and went herself into a trance."
-0-
"And so, I found myself in Zayda's body, clutching a desiccated severed hand, and next to me the body of Titus." Heather said.