Olivia's POV
"Did you just—" Anya's Guardian begins from where he's sitting on the left back seat of Anya's car, looking directly at me.
Before he can finish his question, I snap my eyes to the front of the car. "Hi, Anya."
My heart is trashing against my ribcage, while I pray that the Guardian will take me glancing at him as a coincidence and not as a sign that I can see him.
"Hello, Olivia." Anya meets my eyes through the rear-view mirror. "I hope you don't mind, but your mother has once again invited me to dinner."
"Not at all," I assure her and then scramble through my brain for anything that might draw my attention away from the Guardian sitting beside me. Then my eyes land on the small black rectangle underneath the rear-view mirror. "Love the dash camera. It looks high-tech."
"I guess." Anya shrugs as we begin to move forward. "It's just something every car dealer claims I need to have, so I've had it in the last few cars I've owned."
I'm barely able to hold in a snort at the last few cars part. Mom and I don't even have a single car, and here Anya is probably switching cars like I do socks.
"What were you doing at the intersection?" Mom turns around and pierces me with narrowed eyes. "You said you found a job, but that looked more like slacking off to me."
"I already finished my shift at the café. I just came here to see if something changed today."
"Changed?" Anya asks.
"Don't get me started." With a loud sigh, Mom turns back to the front. "Ever since she remembered that asshole of a driver, she's been determined to remember everything else that happened on the night of the accident."
"And I had a perfect plan for today. You see, I realized that I've been doing this all wrong. I've been standing at the edge of the sidewalk, thinking that it was enough to bring back my memories. But what I actually need to do is go onto the road."
"Don't you dare," Mom glares back at me. "I don't want you to be a nuisance to the cars driving through that intersection. And stop going back there. The cops will find the man you described, and he'll fill us in on what happened."
"As if he'll tell the truth." I snort and turn to the window beside me while ignoring the Guardian's burning gaze I still feel on me.
We spend the rest of the ride with a soft lullaby playing on the radio until Anya stops the car in our front drive. While Mom and Anya get out on each of their sides, I notice the Guardian scooting over to my side the moment I open the door. For a second I consider slamming the door in his face. Then with a sigh, I climb out and leave the door wide open for an unnecessarily long time. Only once the Guardian gets out as well do I close the door.
"Olivia."
I snap my eyes to the front of the house, where Eliza is making her over to me.
"Why is the stuck-up woman back here?" she asks.
Instead of answering her, I cough loudly and turn my eyes over to Mom and Anya, who are already making their way to the front door.
"Why are you acting as if she can hear you?" The smooth voice belongs to Anya's Guardian, who is still standing a step behind me. "Do you make it a habit to talk to your charges?"
Instead of following Mom and Anya inside the house, I crouch down and pretend to retie my shoelaces.
"Who are you?" Eliza asks.
"I'm Lucien. Now that you know me, mind telling me why you're acting like you expect your charge to answer you?"
I feel a pair of eyes penetrate the back of my head, so I shift my position and move to tie the other shoelace.
"Beats you. She's not my charge."
"If you're not her Guardian," Lucien asks, "who is?"
"Me."
The familiar voice causes me to snap my head around. Samuel is standing at the edge of our lawn and when my eyes meet his, he begins to make his way closer to us. Though, what I'm more focused on is the fact that he isn't supposed to be here for another half an hour.
Because of Lucien's presence, all I can do is watch the way Samuel's muscles flex when his eyes land on Anya's Guardian. I expect Lucien to start with his questions again, but all he does is motionlessly stare back at Samuel.
With the side of my eye, I catch Eliza as she motions for me to follow her, so I turn away from the two male Guardians and head toward the front door.
"What's going on?" I ask Eliza when I reach her side.
"How am I supposed to know?" She glances back at the two Guardians. "Maybe it's love at first sight."
I'm about to respond when Mom's voice catches my attention.
"Be more careful," she says, and it sounds like her voice is coming from the kitchen. "It's dangerous for a woman alone at night, especially in clothes like yours."
"Don't worry about me." Anya's voice follows. "I've been taking self-defense classes since I was a child."
Instead of following their voices, I make a beeline for my bedroom. I leave the door wide open for Eliza to join me, however, the female Guardian walks right past my room and heads in the direction of the kitchen. She obviously finds Mom and Anya's conversation more interesting than me.
I throw my bag onto the bed and plop my butt onto the mattress when Samuel enters the room. He stops at the open doorway and eyes Lucien while he walks past my room. Only once the other Guardian is out of sight does Samuel close the door.
"What's going on?" I ask. "Why were the two of you looking at each other like that?"
"Don't know." Samuel runs his fingers through his hair. "But I feel like I know him."
"He's a Guardian. Surely you've run across each other before."
"No." Samuel turns his eyes to the only window inside my room. "I feel like I'm supposed to know him. Just like with that boy Hugo."
"Hugo? What do you mean?"
"I remembered an older version of the boy walking into the sea. And it didn't feel made-up. It felt like a real memory."
"You said Guardians don't remember their past lives." I sit up.
"I know." He digs his fingers deeper into his hair. "This isn't supposed to be possible."
Without another second to waste I march over to my desk and lift the Encyclopedia. The thing is staggeringly heavy, but that doesn't stop me from carrying it over to Samuel and then shoving it into his hands. He barely manages to grab a hold of it before I let go.
"I need you to whack me over the head with the book," I tell him.
"What?" Samuel glances at the book now in his hands and then back at me. "You insane?"
"It's been a week since my promise to the Head Guardian and I still don't remember much. Now even you're starting to remember things you're not supposed to remember. This means I'm obviously not doing enough."
"You've lost your mind." Samuel pushes the book back to me, and this time I'm the one who barely has enough time to grab it.
"No, I haven't. We're running out of time, and we both know that me getting hurt has helped before."
"It didn't work the last time you tried." He points at my forehead, where a small bump is still hiding underneath my bangs.
"That's because I didn't hurt myself enough. I tried running straight into the door but then flinched at the last moment. It's why the injury wasn't bad enough. So, the only way for me to really hurt myself is for you to do it."
I shove the book back to him, but this time he isn't quick enough. He doesn't have a good enough grip when I already let go of the book. This causes the book to fall to the ground and land there with a loud thud. Instead of only hitting the wooden floor, it also lands on Samuel's toes.
"Ah!" He groans and leans to the side to take the weight off his injured foot.
"You said you aren't human." I accuse him.
"I'm not," he hisses and hops over to my bed where he sits on its edge. "Guardians might not be able to get physically hurt, but we still feel pain."
"Oh." I pause for a moment. "Then you should have caught the book before you hurt yourself. All I asked you to do is a simple favor. We could've been done by now."
"I'm not hurting you."
"Please." I move away from the book and closer to him. "I promise you won't regret it."
"No." Samuel shakes his head.
"You have nothing to lose. Please." I move even closer to him and crouch, so we're on the same eye level. This makes it impossible for him to look away from what I hope are my pleading eyes. "If it doesn't work, I promise not to hold you responsible. You'll walk away blame-free."
"I'm not going to hurt you."
We are close enough for his breath to tickle my skin when he speaks, but I push the sensation out of my mind. Right now getting my memories back is more important.
"We both know I can keep bothering you until you're angry enough to hit me with the book. So, why don't we skip me being annoying and you just whack me with the book?"
I search his eyes for any sign of defeat when suddenly he sneaks his hand behind my head. With one swift push, he nudges my head forward, which causes my lips to land against his. I try to pull away, but this only causes him to pull me closer. The action is enough for me to lose my balance and I go falling forward.
We land on my bed, with me right on top of him. I'm finally able to pull away from the kiss, but the moment I prop myself onto my arms I find myself staring into his dark eyes.
And for some reason, I'm unable to look away.
***
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Much love
- E