The Golden Bond

Chapter 38

Summer was slowly creeping into the more northern regions of the continent, and so was William. William White was returning home. Tired, alone, devastated and with such an immense feeling of failure that he'd never felt before in his life. He'd been driving for 16 hours straight already and his eyes were beginning to close, so he decided to take a break and stopped for a coffee. The rest area with a little restaurant was only occupied by a couple of cars, most of the travellers were inside. William got out of his car and breathed fresh air – at least as fresh as it could get by the side of a motorway. He stretched a little then walked into the restaurant. He ordered a strong coffee and sat down at the bar. As he was taking off his jacket, his shirt sleeves moved upwards a little and his eyes – as they had done several times since last night – fell upon the red bracelet he was wearing around his left wrist. Sofia's present, with the message Be safe.

Yes, I am safe, thought William, despising himself again. In fact, he couldn't bring himself to look in the mirror since he'd visited Sofia in prison. The further away he was from Italy, the more he wanted to just turn around and go and get her, no matter what it would take. But he couldn't. The Master's regular checks on him and his inner moral compass spoke out against any unorthodox ideas. In the end... he wasn't sure whether Sofia would ever speak to him again at all, let alone go anywhere with him, even if it was home. She was proud and because he'd refused to help her, she would now try to help herself. He was sure of that. Sofia didn't give up, not even when she was as badly off as she was now. She was strong and persevering. Sometimes she even seemed to be stronger and more stubborn than he was. His thoughts were interrupted by the phone.

"Where are you, William?" asked the Master.

"About 120 miles away from the headquarters, sir. I'll be there in about two to three hours, depending on traffic."

"Good," the Master replied, "report to me as soon as you arrive. We have some interesting news."

While William was finishing his coffee and setting off on his journey again, the Master, Gabriel was sitting in his office pensively. He was thinking hard about what had just happened and what it could mean to the Lux Club, especially in these uneasy days when they were totally losing the battle against their Umbra counterparts.

In his thoughts, he wandered to Eve again. She was the ultimate surprise, he didn't want to get ahead of things but if the following days proved it, her memory might become a valuable source of information. It seemed like she'd forgotten everything, but that wasn't really the case. Thousands of memories were flickering through her head, like satin ribbons weaving through one another until they created a ball which was difficult to untangle. That was why it seemed to her that she'd lost her memory. The ribbons were still there and what was more interesting, they were in two colours. Eve's own memories were olive green, fine and solid. But then there were other ribbons in the colour resembling dark crimson blood and they certainly didn't belong to the young agent. It took a while for the Master to figure out whose they were and as he began to unravel them one by one... for a moment, the expression on his face resembled his old acquaintance Valentina's when she realised the meaning of the old prophecy. Charismagicians showed their emotions only very rarely. They were trained in self-control since early childhood. Therefore any display of a genuine emotion was often a symbol of something truly extraordinary.

Eve was sitting on her bed quietly with her eyes obediently closed while the Master held her temples with his palms. She didn't know what he was doing, but she trusted him. The old man made her feel at peace, as if she had actually known him for years. When he came to her and asked her if she'd allow him to touch her for a moment, she didn't feel strange or frightened like it might be logical to. On the contrary, she nodded straightaway and although she didn't know it, she gave him access to her mind.

The Master explored the crimson threads and when he unravelled one of them, a familiar face appeared before his eyes. The face belonged to him, the kidnapper, the reason why Eve was now lying exhausted in a hospital bed. Ferdinand Franz. The young crook from the Umbra Club, aprofessional sonand Adam's sidekick. The man who'd hunted Eve down on a motorbike, drugged her and then literally burgled her head – to what extent the Master hadn't even been able to imagine. He'd heard about such cases, but he'd never encountered anything like that in real life, until today... Theories and textbooks said that if one subject was very strong and another one extremely weak or totally committed, and if they had an intense contact, a phenomenon called intertwining could occur. Something like a bridge could be created in the minds of both subjects. This bridge enabled fluent movement between the two minds – going through memories, using them and seeing current decisions, trains of thoughts, dreams, desires, secrets and in fact anything that it was possible to hide from the world behind the walls of one's own skull. It wasn't the same as a bond or anything like that. It was actually almost impossible to explain, but the reality proved it was possible.

The Master was walking through the olive green ribbons looking for the moment when Ferdinand managed to break through Eve's shield. It took him some time due to the many knots and turns, but finally he found the memory. What he saw surprised him. Ferdinand was leaning over Eve and in the moment when the drugs and injuries took complete control over her, Ferdinand had moved his lips closer to hers and kissed her.

That's it. This is when it happened, the Master thought and froze for a moment. The boy was an idiot. In fact, he was just a trained mercenary, following his own interests. But there was something... something very instinctive inside him and although he wouldn't have thought of it, a desire attracted him to Eve that was deeper than simple physical lust. She allured him with her magic, as if the precondition to create a bridge had always been there. When he kissed her, he had unknowingly let her inside his head.

Neither him nor her knew anything about it at all, up until now. Eve, because she'd lost her memory and with it had also temporarily lost her training and skills. Ferdinand didn't know about it because Eve wasn't rummaging through his head yet. The crimson ribbons were quietly resting in the deep corners of her mind, waiting for her to discover them with her wise inner sight.

When the Master knew enough, he let go of his protégé and left her to rest. It didn't seem like her memory wanted to come back, but the doctors asked him to be patient. They asked the Master to give her time, slowly acquaint her with her previous life and remind her mainly of the positive and important events. Ben promised that he would take Eve to her apartment the following day and if she was okay, he'd also show her around the Club too. It was high time for Eve to remember. The thing was, if she managed to get back to her old self, she'd be able to get to the very pit of the dragon's stomach – into the mind of the man who answered directly to the powerful Master of the Umbra Club – without anyone noticing it.

Gabriel finally returned into his office and phoned William. Then he thought for a long time and searched for references about the bridge. When he'd looked up from one of the books after a long period of time, he sensed a familiar energy. Only now it was somewhat darker. A few seconds later, there was a knocking on the door.

"Come in, William," he said and focused his eyes back on the paragraph from the book that he'd been reading.