Exposure, part three

    I had to struggle with the wave of rebellion that rose in my heart just then. I couldn't. I just couldn't. My heart was my last retreat, my fortress, when every other defense was breached. Would I ever be able to hide away there again after Minka had snooped around? I turned my head and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I was staring directly into the face of...the void. Except, for once, Harbley was there. All at once I knew that he was in full agreement with me about this assignment. This wasn't just a guess.
    I knew.
    I might not know anything else about him besides his name ant that it was hard to see him, let alone know him, but in this time and place, we were in perfect accord. I just...knew.
    He nodded slightly, and suddenly, my mind was flooded with images. Well-dressed children barred the way in a castle corridor, taunting and throwing old stinky food and wads of filthy paper at me. Four boys held me down, one to each limb, while a fifth kicked me in the ribs. Their faces were ugly with contempt, but their hatred could not completely hide their fear. I was their demon, their bogey man. Three times their size--a loathsome monster to measure themselves against, to defeat. And when they were finished, they swaggered off congratulating themselves on their courage and strength.
    I lay on the cold stones, covered in their spit and my own blood. I prayed that no one else would notice me. For awhile I drifted in pain, too exhausted and disheartened to attempt to stand. I don't know how long I laid there in a daze, but all at once I snapped back to the present.
    The corridor was utterly silent, lit by only one failing light. But the single bulb was enough to reveal a shield of mirrors suspended in the air above me.