She was executing her plan the other day in the kitchen, spiking the soup with a drug that would cause major damage to the nerves. Sheba never thought that James would sneak into the kitchen for food in the middle of his study. Thus, he witnessed what she was doing.
James was initially confused by what she was doing, so he asked her about it. However, Sheba panicked. She tried to lie to James. Alas, James was a smart boy. He did not believe what she said, and he decided to tell his parents about it.
Sheba became frantic, and she quickly ran after him to stop him. James was a child, after all. He thrashed in her grip and screamed. Sheba pinned him down, but he kicked her in response, making her stumble backward.
At that moment, Yennefer and Jones returned. That was how they watched Sheba lose her balance and fall into the deep well. Perhaps Sheba had knocked her head on her way down and passed out, for she sunk without even getting the chance to scream.
Jones and Yennefer hastily tried to save her, but it took them forever and a day to get her out of the well. By then, it was too late. Sheba was dead.
James never expected that to happen. His father beat him terribly despite how he tried to tell him again and again about what he saw. Ultimately, they found evidence of his aunt’s attempted poisoning in the kitchen.
The loss of her sister and the revelation of Sheba’s plan broke Yennefer. Her mental breakdown led to a terrible period of illness, and she was in a coma for half a month. When Yennefer woke again, she was no longer quite the same.
The trauma made her manic. She would act exactly like her younger sister, Sheba Thompson, whenever she was in one of her episodes. That year, James had been thirteen.
From then on, every time his mother had her episode, she would see James as her enemy and hurl insults at him. James was depressed for a while, but in the end, he decided to become a psychologist to save his mother from her mental illness.
After countless research and visits to various famed doctors, he finally figured out that his mother’s illness was probably borne out of her connection to her twin sister.
His mother, Yennefer, was unable to process the traumatic incident, so another alter identity was formed in her, and that identity was her sister, Sheba. Moreover, Yennefer mimicked the fear Sheba felt before the latter’s death.
That was why she subconsciously assumed her sister would deem James as an enemy. Every time Yennefer had her episode, she would go on and on about killing James. James was on the verge of breaking down after witnessing his mother’s episodes.
Yet, he never gave up. He continued visiting various countries for his mother. As a matter of fact, he started becoming superstitious. When he heard that there was an ancient shaman in Alendor who could control episodes like his mother’s, he decided to bring his mother to the shaman.
The truth was that they had gone to Alendor a few years ago, and they had found a supposed shaman to treat Yennefer.
Perhaps subconsciously, Yennefer knew that if the entire family would be affected if she continued to have these episodes. Perhaps the ceremony really did have a psychological effect. In any case, Yennefer’s condition stabilized after that trip.
The shaman was close to death on their second trip to Alendor. After visiting the shaman, the family stayed for the shaman’s funeral. Then, they planned to visit Alendor’s grasslands to see the wildlife.
No one expected an accident to happen. To protect his parents, James shot the thugs dead. The scene shocked Yennefer and triggered her memories of her sister’s death. Unsurprisingly, her condition worsened again.
