Shadow of the Sun (Timeless #1)

Chapter 29: Revenge

Another dreamless night passed, and I wasn't quite sure what that meant. Did the Sight fade when the one who gave it to you passed? That worried me. Andrew had stayed with me again, and he was a complete gentleman, even though that wasn't exactly what I wanted. It was amazing how much my life had changed within a few days. The fleeting thought of going back to work in the Fishbowl was kind of surreal. After everything, would I ever go back to the life I once knew? Would I even want to?

Special arrangements were made for Abelie because of the circumstances surrounding her death. For a whole day, I wandered through the house—my parent's house—while I traced my fingers along their belongings. I soaked up everything I could. This was where Abelie spent her time with Aiden and with me when I was a child. The feel of the floor beneath my feet and the smell in the air made me feel like this was home. It smelled like Abelie's perfume: roses and vanilla. I couldn't remember anything, but I knew this place. Each room was extravagant and distinctive. Some items were old and priceless and others were more modern. You could tell she had been collecting trinkets for centuries. They especially liked old paintings of angels, which almost made me laugh.

The sun flooded down like liquid into the room from the window high on the wall, but then a cloud passed over, and it turned dull and gray. When I looked up, I couldn't see through the dew built up on the glass. Little rainbows shimmered through the water droplets as clouds passed, and the light faded in and out.

My feet dangled from my perch at my mother's bed. It had a large canopy with wrought iron metal that twisted up and connected over my head. I had a family photo in one hand and the phone in the other. My life felt torn between who I was and who I was becoming. It hurt when I thought about my family back in the States, especially Jenna. At the same time, my heart was still trying to put all the pieces back together after losing the life I never had, the life I had almost returned to. In the photo, Aiden looked so human with Abelie and me in his lava-cracked arms. We looked happy, like a family should. I was young, of course, with long golden curls cascading down my back. There was so much love in their eyes, even in my father's, which were nothing more than flames.

The door squeaked when Joseph pushed it open, and he strode toward me. The bed sank when he sat. "Who you gonna call?"

I snorted. "That line is never going to be usable again."

He cocked his head, smiled. "Yeah, I guess not." He shrugged. "But really, who are you going to call?"

"I thought about calling my sister, Jenna. But I don't know what I would say to her."

"Probably not a wise idea," he said. "At least not yet. I made a call to the FBI this morning."

"Oh," I said, looking up at him. I bit my lip, an automatic reaction when I was nervous. "And what did you say—what did they say?"

"Honestly, I had nothing. I told them not to ask." He chuckled, tugging at his collar. "I mean, it isn't like I can tell them I went through a portal and ended up in Italy—even if I do work in Paranormal Investigations. My boss would ask me how many hallucinogenic mushrooms I had eaten."

I burst out in laughter, the first real sound of joy I had made in several days. He smiled back, face creased with confusion.

"It's—" I tried to speak through the fit of giggles that had overtaken me. I would take in every happy moment I could get because I knew it wouldn't be this lighthearted for long. "When I first found out there were angels, like real, live angels, I thought someone put hallucinogenic mushrooms in my coffee. The whole day I was questioning whether I was losing my shit."

After reigning in my insane outburst, I asked, "And they just said"—I tried to imitate a haughty man—"'Sure, Special Agent Carter, just come on back home'?"