Dr. Marquette pressed the button again and my power vanished. The collar's crystals dug in deeper, punishing me for using the energy she'd temporarily granted.
"That's how this works," she explained as I gasped in pain. "You heal when we allow it. You suffer when we don't. Cooperation means less suffering. Resistance means agony."
"This is torture."
"This is training. You'll learn quickly that obedience brings relief and defiance brings pain." She gestured to guards. "Take her back to her cell. We'll try again tomorrow with something more complex."
They dragged me back and locked me inside. I collapsed on the floor, shaking from pain and exhaustion and the horror of what I'd just done.
I'd used my healing power to help The Covenant. To heal one of their soldiers so he could go back ou
