The Rise of Lydia Rowe ↠ Jasper Hale (ON HOLD)

[2.10] learning

BREAKFAST WAS AN AWKWARD AFFAIR. There was a clear tension between Adam and Johanna, which Lydia figured came from Adam's complete absence over the last eighteen years. There was even some tension between both of her mothers, likely due to Johanna keeping what she had assumed might be happening to Lydia a secret. The tension made her feel awful, though she tried to remind herself the whole dying-then-undying thing wasn't necessarily her fault. Still, silence enveloped them all, their thoughts too numerous and heavy to even attempt small talk.

After they all finished eating, Adam asked, "Would you like to take a walk with me, Lydia?"

Lydia figured he wanted to talk more about phoenix stuff without freaking her mothers out even more, and probably give her mothers a chance to talk in private. After a moment, Lydia nodded. "Sure."

Once she put on a pair of sneakers, she met her uncle at the back door. They bid Tracy and Johanna goodbye as they set off into the forest behind Lydia's house.

They walked in silence for a while, one that wasn't necessarily awkward but wasn't comfortable either. She barely knew the man walking beside her—all she knew about him came from the few stories her mother told her while she was growing up and the cards he sent on holidays. He was practically a stranger to her.

She hoped that would change soon enough.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Adam finally murmured, breaking the silence.

"Too many to count," Lydia admitted softly.

"I'll answer them the best I can," Adam offered.

"Okay," Lydia said, trying to pick a good question to start. She glanced down at her bare arms, then up at the snow-covered trees above them. "Am I ever going to get cold again?"

Adam laughed a little, seeming surprised that that was her first question. "The coldest place I've ever been to was Greenland in December," he told her. "It was about negative fifty degrees, but it didn't affect me. It won't affect you, either."

"Wow," Lydia said. "That's convenient, I guess."

Adam nodded in agreement. "It is."

"How old are you?" Lydia asked.

"Chronologically I'm forty-four," Adam told her. "But I haven't aged physically since my eighteenth birthday. I hope I've aged mentally, though I can't be sure of that."

Lydia let out a small laugh, glad the situation hadn't taken away her sense of humor. Sobering up quickly, she asked, "So, whatever it is about us that makes us come back to life after we die, it also keeps us young forever?"

The look on Adam's face was distant as he nodded.

Lydia studied her uncle's expression for a moment. "Is that why you stayed away from my mom this whole time?"

Adam met Lydia's eyes. "I couldn't... bear to watch my baby sister grow older than me while I stayed this young forever. It's selfish, I know, but... it hurts to see how she's gotten older, and I still look like this."

"I'm guessing you didn't voluntarily tell her about... all of this?" she asked.

Adam shook his head. "The two of us were home alone when it happened to me. She was twelve at the time, and neither of us knew what was going on. I'd been sick for a few days, like you, but I downplayed it to our parents as best as I could—we couldn't exactly afford an extended stay in the hospital at the time. From what Jo told me afterward, she'd walked in to see if I wanted something to eat and my body was as stiff as a corpse. Before she could freak out, my body lit up. We had to tell our parents I'd been playing with a lighter and that's how my bed turned into a pile of ash."