Day in the story: 6th December (Saturday)
I appeared inside the Lebens’ training hall and was greeted by Nickolas, barely suppressing a yawn. He wore his training gi, his ginger hair tousled and ssy.
“Hello, Alexa. You’ll train with today. Dad’s busy,” he said.
Of all days for Dam to be busy, it had to be today, great.
“Let’s get going, then,” I replied, jumping back and pulling a card to throw at him.
Beco the fire and the card ignited into a fiery flat surface. It didn’t change to tal - again. Why did it only work when I was the one under attack? My mindset should have been the sa either way, shouldn’t it?
Nick charged at , faster than usual, then leapt with one arm cocked behind him. I dodged, but he landed lightly, rebounded and launched himself at again, finally throwing the punch.
I blocked with a crossed-arm guard. It hurt. His strength was boosted along with his speed. I let the attack slide off my arms, shifted to the side, grabbed him at the elbow, spun around his back and used his montum to throw him off balance and onto the floor.
My instincts scread to jump on him and pound him into the floor, but that wasn’t today’s goal. Instead, I grabbed three more cards, wedging them between the fingers of my right hand like claws and slashed at him just as he was getting up.
He shrugged it off, the cards were normal, unchanged. Then he ducked under my follow-up and snapped a straight punch into my stomach, sending sprawling backward.
As I stood up, I noticed how distracted he seed, which was unusual. Normally, Nick would be quick to comnt on my moves, especially new tricks, but today his mind was clearly elsewhere and if I was being honest, so was mine.
“If you want to say sothing, Nick, say it,” I told him, brushing dust from my clothes.
“You think I do?” he answered, brushing off his gi with a tired look.
“Yes. First thing, I made a scene on your date. Second thing, you’re dating my friend, so I figured you’d want to get sothing off your chest.”
“I didn’t know you were in any way connected to Sophie,” he replied, moving closer and sitting cross-legged, then motioning for to do the sa. “That was a pure coincidence.”
“I believe you,” I said. He was not the type to sche behind my back. “What about the date?”
“Do you really want my opinion?” he asked, leaning back on his hands and fixing with a steady gaze.
“Yes.” I ant it. Nick was one of the most reasonable people I knew. His opinion was worth hearing and a true artist should always value another perspective.
He paused for a second, thinking, then spoke carefully. “I think you were right…but you acted wrong.”
“What? What’s the difference?”
“You were right to stand up for your principles and they’re good ones, in this case,” he said. “But the way you did it hurt soone who ant you no harm. He was just trying to follow a custom, a tradition. So even if your principle was right, the way you applied it was wrong.”
“Agreeing would have been dishonest, Nick. How could that possibly be the right thing to do?”
“Dishonesty, in my opinion, isn’t inherently wrong if it causes more good than harm,” he said.
That was true and I knew it. I’d been dishonest myself, even with people I cared for and trusted deeply.
“I agree with you in principle,” I admitted, “but I decided I want to build this relationship on total honesty.”
Nick sighed. “I’m sorry, then, for making up a cover story about our eting. I assud you wanted to keep this part of your life hidden.”
Ouch. That stung, but it was fair.
“No, you were right,” I said. “I didn’t tell him about magic or cri.”
“Then were you being honest for his sake,” Nick asked, “or for your own?”
He hit harder with words than with any punch.
“Can’t it be for both?” I protested. “He’d know exactly where I draw the line. That should be good for both of us, right?”
Nick shook his head slowly. “I don’t know, Alexa. It seems to honesty isn’t really the issue here, though I could be wrong. And I’d understand if you don’t want to talk about this with , of all people.”
“I don’t mind, Nick. Then what is the issue?”
“Trust,” he said plainly. “It seems very hard for you to trust people. You don’t trust Jason and he feels that. That’s what’s hurting him, not your honesty or dishonesty.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand how it’s so easy for you to trust people. Is that sothing coming from your Domain? Do you trust ?”
Nick considered for a mont. “It’s probably one of my Domain’s perks, yes,” he admitted. “And yes, I do trust you, in so capacity.”
“So capacity? Isn’t trust supposed to be absolute?” I asked. To , it felt binary: either I trusted soone or I didn’t.
“I don’t see it that way,” Nick said. “I decided to trust Malik with knowledge about the world. I trusted him with my family’s ho location and my phone number. I’ve given him my help and I’d do it again, because he hasn’t given any reason to regret it so far. But would I trust him with my life in a fight? No, I don’t know what he’s capable of and I know he froze before. Would I trust him with a mission of utmost importance? Also no, because I don’t know how he’d handle it.”
He paused to let that settle.
“In my mind, Alexa, trust is built out of small blocks. You put down one, then another and another, until eventually you have sothing solid with no holes in it, an absolute trust. But to reach that point, you have to lay down the first brick. Otherwise how could you ever test if it holds?”
Wow. He was a much deeper thinker than I’d ever given him credit for. That taphor was even a bit artistic, almost poetic and made more sense than my own rigid view of trust.
“I didn’t see it that way before,” I admitted. I’d trusted Sophie for a long ti before even considering telling her about my criminal life or magic. Jason was trickier. I was intimate with him and I’d told him fragnts of my past, but only because the consequences of sharing them didn’t really matter to . I hadn’t trusted him with anything that could truly hurt if misused. Nick was right.
“I trust you, Alexa,” Nick went on. “I trust that what I just told you, my thoughts, you won’t use them against . I trust you in a fight, because despite your crazy attitude, I know you wouldn’t abandon . I might be wrong on both counts, but I’ve decided to build sothing with you. Whether it holds or breaks is up to both of us.”
“Thanks, Nick. I’ll think about it,” I told him, exhaling. “I just… grew up in a world that wanted to hurt from all directions. That’s why it’s easier not to expose myself.”
“Certain difficult things are still worth the effort,” he said gently. “Trust is one of them, but it’s never easy, because once you start to build it, the other person can just break it.”
Which, I realized, was exactly what I’d done to Jason.
“Damn, man,” I said, half-laughing, “you’re a warrior, a cook, a science nerd, an influencer and a philosopher?”
He laughed at that, eyes brightening.
“You say that like you aren’t a hundred things yourself,” he replied with a grin. “I just try to pick goals that are worth pursuing.”
“I kind of assud that since your Domain is cooking, you’d be all about food and nothing else,” I said. “You surprised .”
Nick chuckled. “First of all, thanks. Second, my Domain is Culinary Excellence, not just cooking, though it’s close enough. But even then, Alexa, preparing food is about more than just the food. It takes patience, it ans gathering knowledge, it demands building community to share it with and it teaches attention to detail. And besides, people aren’t one-dinsional, right?”
I smirked. “Does it also require a bit of poetry?”
He laughed again. “If you want to be an excellent cook, then sure, so artistry helps.”
“Okay, man. Thanks for the pep talk. Now stand up, I want to kick your ass.”
“That’s very artsy and creative of you.”
“Funny much, Leben?” I shot back. He smiled, settling into a ready stance. “One last thing, I kind of robbed you of your secret with Sophie.”
“I figured that might happen,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t mind. I’d have told her eventually.”
“You would?”
“Yes,” he confird. “You shared your secret with her, didn’t you?”
I tilted my head, curious. “How do you know? Did she say sothing?”
“No, she didn’t,” he replied. “I just connected the dots. They were a bit more obvious after I knew you two knew each other. She’s wearing a very peculiar necklace that looks like part of a crystal core. You know anything about that?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I made it to help her beco Awake.”
“If she’s constantly that close to your Domain, even a small part of it,” Nick said, “it may change her over ti, Alexa. Especially since there’s living shadowlight inside, with an intent.”
“Change how?” I asked. We still stood ready, tense, but unmoving.
“I have no idea,” he admitted. “We have a similar crystal fragnt in this house, just a lot bigger. My parents used to place it near , to influence , to make more compatible with the soul core.”
“How much bigger?”
“About the size of a large fist.”
“Well, this one is just a small chip,” I pointed out. “Besides, Sophie already has a bit of artistic nature.”
“Those changes might be subtler than just boosting creativity,” Nick warned. “Your soul core carries more traits than you’re aware of.”
“I’ll talk with her about it. Could your mom make her that magic-awareness potion instead?”
“Yes,” he nodded, settling it.
I was itching for a fight again. I snapped into a battle stance, drew a card and flung it at his feet. It whistled through the air and stuck in the concrete ground. He twitched, shifting his foot back. Then he roared and flared with green and orange shadowlight before launching toward like a charging bull.
I danced aside in a few quick steps, grabbing cards as I moved. I threw them in a blur, two found their mark, lodging in his flesh. He ripped them out and tossed them away, already healing. The other three stayed flimsy and papery. Forty percent success. Not enough. I had to do better.
He swung wide and I ducked under his arm, jabbing his ribs. My knuckles slamd into his cage, but he braced his back foot and smashed a southpaw hook into my guard. He followed with his right shoulder, bulldozing off balance, grabbed by the waist, hoisted over one broad shoulder, then pivoted and slamd into the wall.
I wheezed from the impact, pain flaring along my back as the plaster cracked. He didn’t let up. Hands braced against the wall, he drove a kick into my stomach, once, twice, again. My breath left in ragged gasps.
“You okay?” he asked, finally stepping back.
I pulled myself upright, arms wrapped around my gut, knees tight against my chest. “You won this ti,” I admitted. “You were stronger, faster and caught in a spot I couldn’t escape, I’d be dead in a real fight. That sucks.”
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“Wouldn’t you just teleport out?”
“Maybe, if I had the wits to do it. I didn’t even think of it. It should be instinct by now, but it isn’t.” I sighed, frustrated.
“Don’t worry,” Nick said, easing down to sit beside , his broad shoulders against the cracked wall. “You’ll get there.”
“What about you, Nick? How far are you from advancing?”
“I feel like I’m very close now.”
“You decided on the soul mark you’ll improve?”
“I’m going with Embodint. I’d be able to change parts of my body, not my whole body like my father can, but still, that sounds amazing. I can’t wait.”
“How exactly does that work?” I asked. “You just need to eat a small part of sothing to change, right?”
“Yes, but if it’s only a small amount, it gets digested quickly unless I magically preserve it first, that’s what my mom trained to do. Once it’s fully digested, I can’t use it anymore.”
“What would happen if you ate part of a human? Like, a hair or sothing?”
He looked at , appalled. “I… have no idea. You can be really gross sotis.”
“Aren’t you curious, even a little?”
“I wasn’t. Now I am.”
“Do you think your dad ever changes into your mom, you know… to have lesbian sex after eating…”
“Fuck,” Nick blurted, actually swearing for the first ti I’d ever heard. “Please, don’t make think about that.”
“I bet it’s a possibility.”
“Alexa, I’m warning you. My patience has limits.”
I laughed. “I’m sorry. My mind just… wanders, even into dangerous places. It’s both a gift and a curse.”
“I can see that now.” He sighed, then stood up and dusted off his gi. “Want to train more?”
“Sex with a shapeshifter must be a wild thing,” I finished the thought, standing up and catching the blush on his cheeks, first ti for everything.
“I need to warn Sophie,” I teased.
“Don’t you dare say anything,” he shot back.
I laughed again. “You’re easier to unbalance than I thought, Nick. I just had to find the right string to pull.”
“Okay, I’m done for today.” He threw his hands up in defeat and walked off.
Still grinning, I portaled back to my Domain. I would take that small win every ti.
**********
I waited outside Jason’s apartnt, dressed casually in black jeans, a warm jacket, a red scarf and a hat with a pompom. I hadn’t told him I’d be coming, but I decided ands had to be made, fast, if I wanted to salvage anything.
“Not the best ti,” he said as he opened the door. That wasn’t what I expected. I thought he’d be angry, maybe fuming or telling to go to hell outright, but not just ‘not the best ti.’
“Who’s that, honey?” A woman’s voice ca from inside and Jason sighed.
“Don’t tell … I didn’t warn you.” He opened the door wider. If he were cheating, I figured he’d be more embarrassed or scared. But the woman who stepped forward, black-skinned, impeccably dressed, with green eyes just like his and long black hair, was most likely his mother. Fuck. If he was cheating, it would’ve been easier.
I stepped inside. Ti to play.
“Hello,” I said, slipping off my jacket to reveal a colorful blouse beneath and sothing even more eye-catching closer to the skin, hoping to catch Jason’s attention. But the mont had shifted; the blouse stayed on.
His mother approached like a hawk sizing up a fat mouse.
“Oh, hello dear.” She scanned from head to toe.
“This is Alexandra May, Mom. She is my,” Jason hesitated, glanced at , “girlfriend.”
“Oh, is that right, boy?” she addressed him sharply, then turned back to . “Very nice to et you. I’m Josephine. I may not look it, but I am Jason’s mother, you know?” You know, I got the feeling Jason had picked up so of that from her.
“If I ca at a bad ti,” I started, but she cut off.
“No, not at all. Jay seed a bit down. Maybe your presence will cheer him up a bit?” Her cheerfulness felt… forced, maybe a little probing. Was that a subtle question disguised as kindness?
“Mom, you wanted to check if I’m okay, you did. Can I talk with Alexa in private now?” Jason said, clearly uncomfortable.
“You’ll get your chance. But I’d like to use mine too.” She was quick to shut him down. He didn’t like it.
“Co, Alexandra, sit with . Tell about yourself.”
I took a seat at the kitchen counter. She sat opposite, while Jason sighed and slumped down next to . At least he was still on my side, right?
“I study at Long Island University, like Jason, but I’m studying art.” I started.
“Art?” She sounded surprised, or maybe just acted surprised. “Is there any money in that?” What a stupid question.
“Plenty,” I answered smoothly. “The art itself, well, jobs after graduation are hit or miss.” I added, “Fortunately, I was smart enough to already land a good one. I work as an art appraiser for a prominent benefactor, Mr. Phillip Penrose. You might have heard of him?”
That seed to impress her a little, after her initial disappointnt. She probably had never actually heard of Phillip, but I guessed she’d play along. Rich people love money, but they love knowing important people even more.
“Of course I know about Mr. Penrose!” she said, clearly putting on a show.
“Yes, I thought so. He deals exclusively with very important people and Jason said you and your husband are top of the food chain.” I added, careful to phrase it as delicately as possible. “Of course, he put it more politely, but hierarchy is what it is, right?”
“Of course,” she answered.
“I mostly et with prominent clients like yourself to appraise the art they own, find buyers for their pieces, or locate specific works they’re searching for. It’s difficult but rewarding work. And I study art mostly to improve at that.”
“That’s good. For a mont, I feared you might be so poor artist wannabe.”
“Mom…” Jason interjected.
“No, definitely not that,” I said with a laugh. “Though I do paint myself.”
“Anything I might have seen?”
“No, not yet. I’ve focused mostly on the business side, but I plan to show my work to the world one day.”
“Good. I like your spirit, girl.”
So far, so good. I might have defused the situation.
Then she dropped the bomb.
“So, do you love my son?”
FUCK. Is she a demon? A witch? Why the hell would she ask that now, after everything I’d worked for here?
“It’s… too early to call it love, but I find myself thinking about him more and more, every other day.” I answered honestly.
“Oh, that’s a sha, you know?” She tilted her head, eyes sharp. “Jay told not long ago that she is in love with his girlfriend. Was it Alexandra, son?” Damn, she was being cruel, both to and to Jason.
“Yes, Mother. I love Alexandra.” He said it through clenched teeth. Was he angry at her? At ? Maybe both.
“And yet, she doesn’t love you back.” Her voice was cold, cutting and suddenly I felt like I was being pushed out of the room.
“It’s between and her, mother,” Jason shot back.
“Is that why you’re so angry?” she pressed.
“He is angry,” I said instead of him and that seed to annoy her. “I an, I think Jason is angry because of . We had a fight yesterday and I ca to apologize because I was wrong.” I turned to Jason, hoping he’d understand. He didn’t look thrilled. Yeah, I really hurt him this ti.
“See?” She turned to her son with a mocking smile. “Seems I always bring about a positive change. Thank you for coming to your senses, girl.”
After that stupid remark, I decided this really wasn’t the best ti.
“I’m also sorry for disturbing your conversation earlier,” I said, rising from my seat. Jason stood up as well, worry clouding his eyes.
“Children, children, Alexa, stay, please,” she waved dismissively. “I’ll be going after all, since my son seems to be completely delusional about how the world works anyway.”
What was this even about? Us together? This woman was terrible. I understood far better now why Jason wanted to cut ties with her.
“Mother,” Jason said firmly, “I understand you pay for my education and standard of living, but if you won’t let use those resources to build sothing on my own, then I want you to take them all back. I’ll start from scratch instead.”
“I hope you’ll reconsider,” she sniffed, then looked up and down, sothing sinister flashing in her eyes. “Or maybe Alexandra here will put so oil back into your head.”
“Excuse ?” I shot back.
“Jason will tell you what that ans, or not. His decision.” She stood, gathered her things and with a final icy smile added, “It was nice eting you, Alexandra.”
Then she swept out of the apartnt without another word.
Jason looked shell-shocked for a mont, then turned to with a sorrowful expression. “I had warned you, didn’t I?”
“You did,” I admitted, “but I wanted to et with you and I felt like I shouldn’t postpone it.”
“That’s… nice to hear,” he replied, though his voice carried hesitation.
“I ca to apologize for how I handled the bill. I could have, I should have, found a thousand better ways to handle it, but instead I chose the worst way to declare… my independence.”
He nodded, but I could tell he was waiting for more.
“I also haven’t been forthcoming with you,” I continued, “and that’s a deeper issue, the one that breaks you, like you phrased it.”
“I’m sorry about that,” he said, exhaling, tension leaving his shoulders. “I was angry, I didn’t really an that you were broken. I just feel like you only show … curated parts of you, you know?”
That was fair. Completely true, but it had to stay that way, at least for now.
“Yes, I know,” I said. “I thought a lot about it last night, when I was scrubbing toilets and cleaning floors.”
“What?”
“Yes,” I went on, a little more vulnerable than I ant to sound, but that was probably good for the mont. “I started a new job yesterday. I couldn’t miss my first day, okay?”
“You clean toilets? What about all those art deals you were talking about a minute ago?”
“I do that too, but it’s occasional. My relationship with my boss in that world took a nosedive recently, so I needed sothing more stable until I find a new employer in my field. Zoe told about an opening with the company that cleans floors at Edge of Tomorrow.”
“The tech company? Zoe works there, right?”
“Exactly. I wasn’t thrilled about taking that particular job, so I… kept it hidden from you. I was a little ashad, okay?”
He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around .
“I’m so sorry, Lexy. I’ve been such a dick.”
Well, I was a big liar, but it is what it is for now.
“No, it’s okay,” I said. “You had every right to think what you did. I’ll try to be more honest with you, trust you more, but it’s not easy for , okay? Please give ti.”
“Of course,” he said. Then he leaned back a bit, a wicked smile on his lips. “So… are you really thinking more and more of , or was that just a show for my mom?”
“Unfortunately, I am, you moron,” I sighed, though it was true, otherwise I wouldn’t have co. “Also, I didn’t co empty-handed.”
I unbuttoned my blouse, revealing a pink, almost completely see-through lacy bodice underneath.
His eyes widened.
“I felt like a proper apology was in order,” I added.
He laughed, swallowing. “I accept the ands, but I want to talk a bit more first, before I get lost in the heat.”
“Sure.” I crossed my arms over the blouse, covering myself. “What about?”
“This job. Can you tell more?”
“I’ll be sweeping and cleaning two floors of the main tower. Nothing too hard and people there aren’t ssy. I’ll work Monday to Friday, 9 p.m. to around 2 a.m., so I won’t be able to stay over during the week. But I’m free on weekends, if you want.”
“That’d be great,” he said, but sothing was still gnawing at him.
“I’ll keep the cleaning job a secret from your mother, if we ever et again. Don’t worry.”
“Oh, I don’t care,” he said quickly. “You could have told her. I’m not ashad that you took that job, I admire you more for it. I’m ashad of myself, living off my parents’ money and then acting like a dick to you, when you’re working your ass off.”
“What was that thing your mom alluded to at the end?”
“Oh, that. Before you ca in, we were talking about working at my father’s practice after I pass the bar. He’d make a partner almost right away.”
“Which you don’t want.”
“No. I hate the idea,” he sighed. “You see, I’ll finish my bachelor’s in Criminal Justice next year, sa course Peter takes, then I still have three years of law school and a bar exam ahead. That’s four more years. I think my parents are realizing I want to cut ties with them, so they’re tightening the grip with all this partner talk. My mom also ntioned internships and tutoring at my father’s firm, even so associate work.”
“And she thought I’d talk you into it?”
“I don’t really know what she thinks,” he shrugged, “but brace yourself, no white person works at my dad’s company and both my parents are proud of that. They say they’re empowering Black people, but… honestly, I think they’re just racist.”
“Are you sure? Maybe they really just want to uplift people in their community? Benefit of the doubt?”
He sighed again. “Maybe. It’s just easier for to ignore that kind of thinking, I can have white, Hispanic, Asian, Black friends, anyone I want, that’s what matters, right?”
“I didn’t know it bothered you that much.”
“Let’s just forget it, okay?” he said, rubbing his temples. “I’m fine, now that we cleared the air. I don’t want to get lost in talking about society all of a sudden.”
He moved behind the kitchen counter and poured himself a glass of water.
“So,” he said with a grin, “you wanna stay tonight?”
“Yes,” I smiled, “if you’ll have .”
“Oh, I’ll definitely have you, especially dressed like that,” he teased, eyes dancing.
And honestly? I was more than ready to do so bad things with him, too.
**********
After my apology, I went ho and packed a batch of clothes, a spare toothbrush, so costics, soaps, everything a woman might need and wouldn’t find in a man’s house. When I arrived, I unpacked it all, hanging up the clothes in a closet Jason had cleared out for while he was “preparing” dinner, by ordering online and opening a bottle of wine. So skilled, this man, when it ca to cooking.
We ate, watched a movie and eventually fell asleep together in his bed. He was kind and caring, gentle with , but still I’d woken up in the middle of the night.
And here I was now, in a nightgown, in an apartnt that wasn’t my own, holding a glass of water that didn’t co from my kitchen, staring out the huge windows at the city that never sleeps below.
I noticed an opening on the roof of one of the smaller buildings, a shimr there, swallowing up the city light through the cracks. What did the Ideworld look like on the other side of that portal? Would I end up in the dreaded Mirrored City that Leben had warned about? With so many people pouring their dreams, hopes and nightmares into it all at once, it must be an outlandish place beyond imagining.
I was about to set down my glass and try to sleep again when soone stepped out of the opening. A woman, I thought, though it was hard to be sure from this distance. She was slender, definitely tall. She paused at the edge of the building, squatting to look down, observing sothing far below.
There was sothing wrong about her, maybe it was only a trick of perspective, a play of shadows, but her limbs seed too long, inhumanly long. Was she a shadow instead of a person? If so, how and why, had she crossed into our world?
Then, as if she could sense thinking about her, she turned her head directly toward and went perfectly still. The stiffness was too unnatural, too absolute and in that instant I knew, she couldn’t be human.
She rose smoothly, stepping onto the narrow wall that bordered the rooftop, balancing with the fluid grace of a model on a catwalk. Still facing , she jumped, higher than I could have managed even in my suit, planting her limbs on the opposite building’s wall to propel herself even farther, landing on the roof nearly level with my windows.
Could she really see ? What was happening? Was I dreaming?
That was when Jason shuffled out of the bedroom.
“Everything okay?” I asked, but he only slumped past , eyes half-closed, on autopilot as he went to the bathroom. I heard him pee.
I turned back to the other building, the figure was gone.
I scanned the rooftops frantically, searching every ledge, every shadow where she might have hidden, but saw nothing.
I collapsed onto the couch, staring out the window, half-expecting her to reappear at any mont. One minute passed, then two, then three, then ten and nothing.
Then I rembered Jason.
I walked over to the bathroom, listening for any sound, but heard nothing. Hesitant, I cracked the door open, hoping he wouldn’t mind. I’d seen him naked before, after all.
But what I saw made my breath catch in my throat.
Jason was standing completely still, his face pressed flat against the mirror, as if it had been glued there. His hands were braced against the wall on either side of the mirror, like he was trying to peer straight through it.
The surface of the glass rippled, shifting like water and threads of light danced across it, pulled inward just like the openings into the Ideworld.
A jolt of fear shot through .
I lunged forward and grabbed him, yanking him away from the mirror. We both crashed to the floor in a tangle, but I managed a final glimpse of sothing slipping away, lting back into the liquid-like depths of the mirror. A chill raced down my spine.
I turned to Jason, he looked unconscious, his breathing slow and even, almost peaceful.
Panicking, I slapped him a few tis, gently but urgently, until his eyes fluttered open.
“She will… love ,” he mumbled as he ca to.
“What was that?” I demanded, my voice shaking.
“Huh? Lexy? Where are we?” His gaze was hazy, unfocused.
“The bathroom,” I said, trying to keep calm. “You went to pee, but you weren’t coming back, so I checked on you.”
“Don’t rember,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Maybe I’m… sleepwalking?”
I sighed, trying to steady my breathing. Sleepwalking? That was a comforting excuse, but it didn’t fit what I had seen. This was sothing else, sothing that made my skin crawl.
I helped him back to the bed. He fell asleep almost instantly, breathing slow and peaceful, as if nothing had happened at all.
I on the other hand, didn’t sleep a single minute.
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