Trifecta: Ice [Complete]

Ch 25: More Data

I trudged down the hall after Doctor Alexi and into one of the back bedrooms.  The bed was pushed up against the wall and had a number of papers spread across it.

There were two chairs and she sat in one and I sat in the other while I waited for her to indicate what I should be doing.

She picked up a clipboard.  "So, Elise, tell me exactly what happened, from the very moment of the curse until this moment."

I paused and began describing what I had experienced as evenly as I could, although the curse was insistent on stabbing at me when I said the wrong thing. She took quiet notes and made humming sounds, occasionally stopping me to ask for further clarification.

Finally, Doctor Alexi picked apart my story from every possible angle.  The curse had assaulted me so repeatedly that it had almost become a low hum of fear that I that I did my best to ignore while I stuttered out responses.

Doctor Alexi was relentless.  She would not let me stop without properly answering.  I felt tortured and drained by the time she was done with wringing every scrap of subjective data out of me.

I could have left at any time.  She was neither my master, nor a member of the pack to which I was enthralled and I did not have to obey her in the slightest.  If I had gone to my father and complained, he would have put a stop to my suffering at once.

The curse had been pushing me to leave.  I could feel it almost as if it consciously did not want to be removed.  I fought the obsessive desire to flee and I tried to remind the magic that my master wanted me to do this, but it remained unconvinced.

Still, I stayed where I was and answered all her questions until she was satisfied.

She was scanning her notes silently.  I could see them from where I was still shaking in my chair, but they looked like unfathomable hieroglyphs to me.

They apparently meant something to her, though.  After long moments of silence she muttered under her breath.  "Surely there are laws governing magic.  Just because we haven't clearly defined them yet doesn't mean that they aren't there..."

The ice of the curse gnawed at the nape of my neck.  I tried to ignore the feeling while she continued muttering to herself.

Besides the magic fear, I felt awkward just sitting there.  I wondered if I should just leave or interrupt her and ask if she was finished with me.  I sensed she would not be pleased if I chose the latter option and broke her train of thought.

"Determine the parameters..."

I decided to sneak away, but at that exact moment she snapped her eyes to me.  "In all the old stories I heard, the person inflicted with the curse felt overwhelming guilt."

I shrugged.

"From the scant information that has been gathered, other thralls wallow in their shame at what they did wrong."

I considered.  "I-I know I was stupid for sneaking off to the f-fight," I agreed.

"You know, but your guilt is little more than an afterthought.  I think there's something here."

"Wh-what?"  The curse was not happy in the slightest and I shook with terror not truly my own.

"I don't know.  Did you not hear my explanation that I'm not carrying around a magic bag of answers earlier?"

"I h-heard."

"Every book and movie has some scientist wandering around who just has the exact right configuration of experience and information just waiting to be put together like pieces of a puzzle."