Shadow of the Sun (Timeless #1)

Chapter 20: The Clock is Ticking

The angels gawked at me. Andrew's eyes burned into mine, the color of melted treasure. His expression was one I couldn't place. Astonishment? Shock? Disbelief? Ehno and Lucia had their faces practically plastered to the glass walls, staring intently at my face. The flashing yellow lights made the whole scene look surreal and dream-like.

Andrew opened his mouth, then closed it after a few seconds of silence. That was okay. I was still trying to comprehend everything that happened in my dream. I was a bit faint and sat on a stool at a table, leaning over the countertop for support. A few remaining tears dripped from my jaw to the stainless-steel table. I jerked back. The two small droplets were tiny beads of liquid gold. I brushed at my face, and my fingers came away wet with golden tears. "Wha—what?" I stuttered.

"You're an angel," Andrew whispered in awe.

"I'm a..." I trailed off. Images of my dream slammed back into my consciousness. Bam, bam, bam. One by one: Abelie, Aiden, the Divine Library, the Ladies of Light, the Soul Stalker, the prophecy...

The prophecy!

"I'm a hybrid," I realized aloud. I checked over my skin for the charcoal color of a Shadow. There were only bruises, most of them already a faint yellow. If I had a mirror, I would have searched my eyes for the fire blazing behind them.

No, no, no. This was too much. All too much. I couldn't handle this. I gripped the table for support as the room swayed at a funny angle. Was the table always tilted sideways or was I leaning that way? Each passing second felt weirdly sluggish as the room shifted.

"She's going down," shouted Andrew, as if I were a felled tree. "Catch her."

Before I slipped into unconsciousness, the ground swirled up toward my face. Then everything was black.

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Warm fingers were on my face. "Please wake up," murmured a soft tenor voice. "Gabriella, please."

Without opening my eyes, I asked, "Did I faint?"

"Yes. How do you feel?"

I blinked. The lights still flashed, and Joseph's face was cast in shadows. "I feel...Well, I'm not sure if there's a single word in any language that could describe how I feel." I couldn't believe I fainted. How embarrassing.

He let out a breath. "I was worried."

"We all were," said Andrew.

I sat up, a little too quickly. My head went all swoopy on me. "Is Karen here?"

"No," several people answered at once.

"Thank Gods." I sighed and leaned against a leg of the lab table.

Andrew's eyebrows winged up.

"Don't trust her," I said.

"I don't understand," Lucia said. "She's your Guardian, of course you can trust her."

I looked straight at Ehno, whose brow was wrinkled, and said, "I know who gave me the Sight, and now I know why."

"Who?" he asked.

"My mother."

"What?"

"Your mother?" Andrew parroted.

Lucia stared at me in complete disbelief. "Angels can't have children."

"Maybe you knew her?" I shrugged. "Abelie?"

My words were met with silence. Knowing silence.

I stood—again with Joseph's help—and approached the cells. "Do you?" I asked. "Know her, I mean."