The first several entries of my father's next journal are boring. Then I find myself turning the pages quickly, as my father recalls his near-death experiences with 'the evil' as he calls it.
"Anything helpful in there?" Sebastian asks.
"You tell me," I shrug. "What does a reflection do? What's its purpose?"
"A reflection can be used for many things. It can be used as a window into the past, it can be a window to the soul, and it can be a window into the future. It all depends on who opens it."
"How would I open one?"
"Honesty works pretty well," Samuel interrupts. Coming over to join us.
Sebastian shifts in his seat to remove his arm that I hadn't noticed was resting behind my head.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny," I roll my eyes.
"To open a reflection, you simply take it into your hands, and state your intentions. Whether it be with your mind or your mouth."
"That's all there is to it?" I frown.
I thought there would be much more to it than that.
"Here, I'll show you," Samuel offers.
I watch as a circle of what looks like black smoke, no bigger than a quarter, appears out of nowhere. Hovering over his hand. It grows to about the size of a door, and then he grabs hold of it from the sides. Stretching and molding it into the shape he wants.
Grabbing my hand, Sebastian forces me to touch it. Only, I'm afraid. I don't know what touching it will do.
The three of us are engulfed in a bright light, and when it dissipates, we're no longer in my room at the girl's home. I don't know where we are. I've never been to this place before.
"Where are we?" I asked.
Suddenly, fear spread throughout my body. Across the street, getting out of his Chevy truck, is Michael and my six years old self.
"You were a cute kid," Samuel teases.
"If you go through a reflection, can you change certain things if you wanted to?"
"Yes, but that change sets in motion other changes. And sometimes not for the better." Sebastian warns.
After looking both ways, I race across the street thinking maybe if I can stop the reflection from taking Michael, he won't die. And Deborah won't have to give me up.
"Angel, no!" Sebastian shouts. Snatching me back onto the sidewalk. "Changing events that have already happened is forbidden."
"You mean to tell me I have the power to save someone's life right now, but I can't?" I scoff.
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm telling you. If you alter the past to save his life, it could be you who winds up dead instead. Need I remind you that he's about to attack you. If you spare his life... who knows what mother's daughter might go missing because of it. Michael is a predator, and the world is better off without him. Trust me."
I know Sebastian is right, but I want back the only mother I've ever known. The bright light shines again, and I try to break free from Sebastian's hold, but he has a tight grip on my wrist. Moments later, we're back in our room. And I'm upset.
"It's better off this way, Angel." Samuel assures me.
"His death is the reason I lost the only mother I've ever known," I sulk.
"Deborah had a choice," Sebastian replies. Offering me a kind smile. "And she chose wrong."
Again... he's right. But I don't want to hear it. Slinking down onto the love seat in my room, tears pour from my eyes, and I cry until I eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.
Sometime later I'm awakened to the smell of pizza.
My favorite.
And I follow my nose to a plate sitting in front of me well before I open my eyes.
"That's not weird at all," Sebastian raises an amused brow at me.
"Whatever," I wave him off. "I'm starving."
"Traveling through reflections usually have that sort of effect."
Wait...
The fog in my head clears, and my memory snaps into place. Bring sorrow with it. And robbing me of my hunger. Shoving the plate away, I slink backward into the loveseat I'm sitting on and sigh.
"In order to replenish your strength, you must eat," Sebastian pushes the plate back over to me. "Eat."
"I'm not hungry," I sulk.
"You literally just said you were starving," he points out.
"Yeah, well, a lot has changed since then."
"That was ten seconds ago. What could've possibly changed in ten seconds?"
"Everything," tears cloud my eyes.
Sighing heavily, he sets the journal he's reading down on the coffee table between us and leans over it to take my hands into his. A jolt of electricity traveling from his fingertips to my skin. Followed by a heat that radiated in my heart, warming me with a feeling I can't quite put my finger on. Only, I always felt this way around him.
Especially when we touched.
And judging by the slight gasp of air he just sucked in, I'd say he feels it too. But he's better at ignoring it than I am.
"Want to talk about it?" Sebastian asks. Giving me his undivided attention. Those pale blue eyes of his delving into mine.
"Most of my life I've been thrown away. And when I found Deborah, I had so much hope. Hope that I finally belonged. Hope that I would finally have a family. That I would finally have a-"
"Mother," he finishes my thought for me.
Hearing him say the word releases the tears I've been holding back for what seems like forever. Because having a mother is all I've ever wanted.
Someone to love me unconditionally.
Moving to the seat next to me, he pulls me into his arms and holds me.
"I lost my mother when I was young. Like you," Sebastian confides. "And I don't know which is worse. Having a mother and then losing her... or never having one at all. But I vaguely remember my mother. And normally, I would rely on my father's pictures of her to remind me of what she looks like. But since being sent here, I haven't been able to do that. And now her face is a blur."
"What happened to her?" I asked.
"I don't know. I was too young to remember. And my father has never spoken of her since. He refuses to. Any time I bring her up he just... changes the subject."
Oddly enough, Sebastian sharing his own experience comforts me. Even though his relationship with his mother is as tragic as my own. Because it means he understands my pain.
As if I needed more of a reason to like him...
"We are damaged souls... you and me," I smile warmly at him.
"That we are."
With my eyes fixed on his, his intense gaze triggers something deep inside me.
Calls to it even.
Like some part of me is familiar with him. And slowly the two of us come together like magnets. Our lips gently pressing together with a tenderness that takes my breath away.
Well... before Sebastian leaps from the loveseat like it's on fire. Over the arm of the sofa and landing on his feet with the grace of a cat. Raking his hands through his hair, he mumbles something unintelligible, and sighs heavily.
"Is something wrong?" I ask.
"You mean, other than the fact that we can't get within feet of each other without our lips colliding?" He scoffs.
"It's not a problem for me. I enjoy kissing you," I boldly tell him.
And the heat that flares in his eyes is enough to make my great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother, whoever she may be, turn over in her grave. Clutching her pearls.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to say things like that to me?" He levels me with a look that tells me 'I'm treading on thin ice'. "You do realize I'm older than any relative you might have record of, don't you? Courting me would be like courting a ninety-year-old man."
"As long as you still look like that, you could be a thousand years old, and I'd still want you."
His cheeks flush red and he blushes.
Never thought I'd see the day...
Normally Sebastian is in the one in control and I'm the bumbling idiot in the room. I'm all here for this new change of pace, though.
"Angelique, we are still off limits to one another. Kissing you and giving in to whatever this is between us... it won't lead us anywhere good. And I've made enough mistakes to last a lifetime. I won't add you to that list."
"What if I'm not a mistake?" I raise my brow at him. "Everything happens for a reason, right? What if your being here with me, and what's happening between us isn't an accident?"
"Then it is a cruel joke. Because I most certainly cannot have you. As you cannot have me."
"But-"
"No buts," he cuts me off. "Back to your father's journals. We are seriously running out of time."