Ouroboros 3: Repeat by Odette C. Bell Page A

shrugged her shoulders. ‘I feel nothing,’ she lied.
    ‘ Has it ever communicated with you non-verbally? What do you see in your visions?’ another doctor asked.
    ‘ The destruction of Remus 12,’ she answered flatly, realising there was little point in lying about that.
    ‘ Have you ever witnessed anything else?’
    She didn’t answer.
    Almost immediately, Carson walked over to her, reaching a hand out as he did. He had such a loving look on his face that Nida wanted to jump up and accept his hand.
    But she didn’t.
    She waited until he made it over to her and gently touched her shoulder. ‘Hey, I know this is all a little confronting. But everyone is here to help. You’ve got to tell everyone what you know, so we can finally save you. So we can finally get back to normal,’ he added softly as he smiled down at her.
    So they could finally get back to normal.
    Her and Carson.
    Yes. Her and Carson. They would get back to normal, but this wasn’t normal.
    ‘I just want you back,’ he smiled again, taking a small breath as he did.
    Yes. She wanted him back too.
    ‘And you know I’d do anything for you, so just tell them what you know,’ he leaned down, and, without waiting, planted a kiss tenderly on her cheek.
    It should have sent tingles escaping all the way into her jaw and neck. But it didn’t.
    Instead she just locked her gaze on the floor past Carson’s side and she focused her mind.
    The fake Carson had claimed he’d do anything for her. Well, she would do anything for him.
    The real one.
    And that’s why she sat there and she controlled herself.
    ‘I don’t understand,’ she forced herself to say in a falsely pathetic tone, ‘what is it you’re after? What exactly do you need to know?’
    ‘ Where the entity is. What it feels like when it takes control. Just anything you know, anything,’ Carson added as he leaned down and kissed her again.
    She instinctively shrugged away from his grasp.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, ‘I’m just confused.’
    As soon as she admitted to that, Carson pulled closer, running his hand down her back reassuringly.
    In other words, he tried to distract her.
    Because that’s what he was—a distraction. Every time she appeared to waver, he would draw closer and closer.
    But he couldn’t distract her.
    Yet maybe she could distract him.
    She suddenly pushed to her feet, locking a hand on his wrist as she did. ‘Carson, I’ll tell you everything. Of course I will. But what exactly do you need to know?’
    ‘ Just how it feels.’
    ‘ How it feels to what?’
    ‘ Access the entity,’ he finally admitted.
    ‘ Access the entity,’ she repeated, smiling up at him as she did.
    ‘ We need to know everything about it, Nida. Everything. Whatever it has told you, whatever it has shown you. But most of all, how you managed to access it.’
    She blinked her eyes closed, and when she opened them, Carson was right there before her.
    He cut such an imposing figure. He was broad chested, tall, and strong. Yet his expression was so divinely calming, that despite his build, he appeared cherub like.
    As if she could trust him completely.
    ‘Come on, Nida, tell us. Then this will all go away,’ he promised.
    And he was likely telling the truth.
    As soon as she told the Vex what they wanted to know, this simulation would likely end.
    Then perhaps her life would end soon after.
    She wasn’t going to give up though. Instead, she nodded her head. She reached a hand to Carson. ‘Why do you need to know how to access the entity?’
    ‘ Because that’s how we’ll finally free you,’ he said immediately. ‘That’s how we’ll send it back to its own time. You know that, right? You remember, don’t you, Nida?’ as he asked that, a fog descended on her mind.
    It was almost as if someone were trying to force memories right into her brain.
    It didn’t work.
    She simply let the fog drift past her.
    ‘So, come on, Nida, tell us,’ Carson asked once more.
    She considered