I couldn’t believe I was doing this. After all those times I had sworn never to help this man ever again, here I was following him down the hallway, doing exactly what he said. Just a little longer. I just needed to see my friends. I just needed to know that they were alive. That would give me the hope I needed to fight Alexander. We could work together to bring him down. Yes, I needed to keep my eyes on the prize. And I just needed to cooperate with Alexander for a tiny bit longer. I’d just keep on telling myself it was almost over. I slowed my pace as the hallway became narrower. I felt the guard behind me nudge me forward.

  “Now, you’d better keep your word, Alexander. I do this operation and tell you all that I know, then you let me see my friends,” I said firmly.

  “Yes, I’ll keep my word.” His voice sounded much more cheerful today. Had something happened. Or was it just that I had agreed to work with him? “Right this way.” He took my arm and led me into the operating room. I had been here many times before. There was a nurse waiting for us. Like the guard, she carried that same lost, bewildered expression in her eyes. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity shoot through my heart for them.

  “What is the purpose of this surgery again?” I asked.

  “To make sure that the Adamantine is still healthy and to test a theory of mine.”

  “What theory?”

  “It’s hard to explain.” He nodded to the nurse as she took my arm.

  “Come along. I’ll get you ready. Y-you won’t want any painkillers, right?” Her voice shook as she spoke, and she wasn’t meeting my eyes. She wasn’t scared of me, was she?

  “She’ll be awake for the surgery,” Alexander added. I wasn’t sure if I should find that a relief or not. On one hand, seeing yourself cut open while Alexander stared at you was never a pleasant experience. But then again, I did want to know what was happening to me. The last thing I needed was for some change effect me, without having any idea why.

  “Right."

  It wasn’t painful, but the sensation was something I would never get used to. I watched as the knife slid lightly across my skin. I did my best to not wiggle or fidget as the nurse gently tugged the cut open. I fought down the sickness. I closed my eyes, only for a moment. I opened them to examine the cut. There it was, the part of me I hated the most. Small and round, with a rough- looking texture white as snow in the blood. The Adamantine was so small, no bigger than a chicken egg, but it was the source of all my power. Alexander’s eyes seemed to glow as he watched.

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  “W-what are you doing?” The nurse tugged at it, and I felt something snap inside of me.

  “It’s alright. It can be removed and reattached easily; no harm will be done if it’s only for a little while. It can reattach anatomically on its own,” said the nurse.

  “What if it’s removed permanently?” I asked.

  “Then this one will die, and a new one will grow back inside of you.”

  “That’s happened before. This isn’t the one you were born with,” Alexander said. I didn’t remember that.

  “Really? When?”

  “You were very young at the time.”

  “Why did you remove it?” I asked. There was a long pause. Alexander didn’t answer. Instead, he leaned forward and took the Adamantine carefully from the nurse. He held it to the light and looked over it carefully. I flinched. I could hear his thoughts! What? I-I could only hear people’s thoughts if we were touching. How was this possible? Was it because he was examining the Adamantine? I closed my eyes as he raised a knife to it. That was the worst mistake I’ve ever made, he was thinking. I was so sure it would work, but not only did it fail, it ruined me, he was thinking. An image came to his mind. My stomach lurched. So, he had once tried to attach this Adamantine to himself. And it had been very, very unsuccessful. Do not throw up, do not throw up! “I-I’m going to be sick!” I burst out

  “It’s almost over,” the nurse whispered. I gritted my teeth and waited. I opened my eyes. The Adamantine was being set back in place. A fresh, jolting wave of dizziness hit me. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt so vile.

  “Wait.” Alexander raised a hand as the nurse went to stitch up the wound. My stomach was spinning.

  “P-please, what is it? Hurry up!” Nobody moved.

  “Cover the wound,” Alexander ordered the nurse. She obeyed.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. That is particularly true for you, my dear.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My theory was right; the Adamantine responds to discomfort and trauma; the way you can make it stronger is to convince it that you are about to die.”

  “I-I don’t understand! Please, stop, I’m going to throw up!” Still, nobody moved. Alexander just leaned back and smiled. I couldn’t hold it back anymore; I lurched forward, eyes squeezed shut. I swear, this would be the last time I ever did anything for him. My heart kept on racing long after that was over. Even just lying in bed and crying softly, I felt it thundering in my chest. Never, ever again. All I needed was my friends. Everything would be easier after I had them with me. I sat up and wiped my eyes dry as the door opened. There stood the same guard from earlier that day.

  “I have been instructed to take you to see some of the other prisoners,” he said. What a surprise. Alexander had kept his word. I got up to follow him. What if this was some kind of trick or cruel joke? I couldn’t help but wonder as we walked along. Was this just something Alexander had set up to frighten me with. If the Adamantine really did respond to negative emotions and it was those that made it even stronger, that explained a lot of things Alexander had done to me over the years.