I Have an Invisible Stalker (Guardians #1)

Chapter 20

Samuel's POV

"You!"

The shout of recognition doesn't come from me. It comes from Olivia as she waves with a wide smile at the unexplainably familiar boy, who just entered the café.

"You're only fifteen minutes late today," the old hag of a café owner says as she and the boy reach the table where Olivia and Nick are still sitting. "This must be a record."

She sets a cup of coffee in front of Nick, while everyone remains focused on the boy standing a step away from Olivia.

"I can leave and come back later." The boy shrugs.

"Insolent brat." The old hag shakes her head at him and then turns to Olivia. "I don't think you two met yet, but this is my grandson, Hugo."

The boy's eyes first flow over to Olivia and then to Nick, but then he snaps them back to Olivia and then a second later back to Nick. His bushy eyebrows rise further and further up as he continues to look in between them.

"Hugo," Olivia says. "That isn't such a long name."

"Do you two know each other?" the old hag asks.

"We've met," Olivia nods, "but he didn't tell me either his name or that he's your grandson. He only said that his name is too long for him to tell me."

"Too long my ass. He was just being his usual lazy self." With a huff, the old hag makes her way back to the counter, while muttering something underneath her breath.

I turn back to the three humans at the table beside mine and notice the quick nod Hugo and Nick share. Without a doubt, the two know each other, which makes me wonder if this is the reason why I find the boy familiar? Have I met him while in Nick's presence?

"Why didn't you tell me you work here when I gave you the flyer?" Olivia asks.

"Too much to explain." Hugo shrugs and looks around the café.

For a second his eyes meet mine, but it's enough for me to feel like someone just punched me in the gut. The café around me disappears and I find myself staring at what looks like an older version of Hugo. He must be at least nineteen years old. What is even odder are the old clothes he's wearing. They're not just out of style; they're clothes one sees in human history books.

"Move out of my way," the older Hugo says through gritted teeth.

With a mocking bow, I turn to the side and watch him as he marches down what looks like an empty shore. Without stopping, he walks into the rocky sea and doesn't stop, not even when the water rises up to his shoulders. He ignores the waves that lift the water higher and higher and keeps going forward until all that is left is his floating head.

"Let us go," someone beside me says, but I continue to keep my eyes focused on the older Hugo, who is swimming toward what looks like a big rock. "Come on. Let us leave him here."

I'm just about to turn to the male standing beside me when the sea disappears and I'm back inside the café. I snap my eyes around the room and relax only when I find Hugo standing behind the counter next to the old hag.

I rest my elbows on the table beside me and lean my head against my open palms. What I just saw felt so real that I know it isn't just my imagination. It's something that really happened, which could only mean one thing.

It was a memory of my past human life.

"Are you okay?" Olivia asks.

I look up to find her gazing at me with worried eyes, but I just shake my head and focus my eyes back on Hugo. As Guardians, we aren't supposed to remember our past human lives, which makes the memory nothing but a brief anomaly. Yet despite knowing that, I find myself wanting to know more. I want to know what I did to deserve this punishment. And apparently the boy—Hugo—is part of the key that could help me figure out the truth.