章節 29: Chapter 29

"So now where do we go?" Zephyr asked. "Did you even have a destination in mind?"

"Not particularly," Lysandra laughed. "Sorry. I just wanted to tell you about what happened yesterday."

"That's it? You got me up before sunrise so you could beat me over the head with the knowledge that you've talked to that super attractive Memory Recoder?" Zephyr teased. "Thanks a lot, Liss. Best friends forever."

"Well, actually, I really just wanted to get out of the house," Lysandra answered, training her eyes on the road. "Ismene pretty much threatened to lock me in last night, so..."

"What? So you think I want to travel with a fugitive," Zephyr said.

"Of course." Lysandra grinned.

"You've really done it this time," Zephyr sighed. Almost as soon as she had finished saying it, her hands flew to cover her mouth. "Oh, Saints! Lysandra, have you talked to Nereus?"

Lysandra grimaced. "No. He knocked on my door last night, but I was . . . um . . . asleep."

"You mean you were pretending to be asleep," Zephyr said. "Lysandra, I'll never understand you. You hate the man you're supposed to be engaged to, you turn away the other one who's probably madly in love with you, and then you totally ignore the brilliantly attractive guy who randomly approaches us in the middle of a café."

"Okay, for the record, he didn't approach us 'randomly,'" Lysandra said, throwing her hands up. "I already knew him. And also for the record, I . . ." She trailed off.

Zephyr shot her a confused look. "Go ahead. Finish your sentence. We're still on the record."

"That was it," Lysandra said quickly, trying to cover. "That was the end of the sentence."

"You liar," Zephyr countered. "Come on, Liss, it was for the record. I wanna know."

"I don't know, okay?" Lysandra burst out. "Something... happened between us. But I don't really know what it was. I don't know."

"Wait," Zephyr said. She stopped walking in the middle of the street and faced Lysandra. "Something. Between you two. Tell me you're not kidding."

"No - no. Forget I said anything."

"Forget you said anything? No freaking way! If you're involved with that Memory Recoder guy - hell, I don't even know what his name is." Zephyr rubbed her hands over her face. "Can you please explain this to me?"

"I wish someone could explain it to me," Lysandra said. "I mean, I was with him yesterday, and we were talking about our memories and . . . and he sort of . . . kissed me?"

"Sort of?" Zephyr asked. "Why didn't you tell me about that? Are you crazy?"

"Yes," Lysandra said. "No. I - I don't know. Can we not talk about this?"

Zephyr laughed. "Lysandra... You're so helpless when it comes to relationships. Just go with it, okay? That's my advice for you. Don't freak out. It's completely normal."

"It doesn't feel completely normal," Lysandra sighed.

"It will, I promise. So how about I go home and go back to sleep, and you go to see your Memory Recoder, and you can tell me about it later." She grinned. "As soon as you tell me his name, that is."

"It's Cale," Lysandra breathed. At the mention of his name, she felt her breath hitch in her throat, a reminder of that time they had spent together, the memories and the words and the pain and the space they had shared.

Zephyr eyed her, as though she could sense Lysandra's thoughts. "Cale, then. I'll see you as soon as I can. Good night."

"It's morning," Lysandra reminded her, but Zephyr said nothing.

As her friend departed for her house and Lysandra turned toward the other side of the street, she realized she still hadn't heard Zephyr admit to forgetting anything else.

She showed up at Cale's studio a few minutes later, but he had a client already waiting outside his door. He instructed the man to wait in the main room and pulled Lysandra through the door to the back.

"Did you find anything out?" she whispered.

"No," he sighed. "No one knew anything. At all. Some of them even gave me strange looks. What about you? Did you find anything out from Zephyr?"

Lysandra shook her head. "No. She said she didn't think she had forgotten anything."

"But she remembered going to the Memory Recoder?"

"I think so."

"Maybe he didn't take anything," Cale thought aloud, glancing up at the ceiling. When he turned his gaze back to Lysandra, who stood shivering against the door frame, he murmured, "You should have a cloak."

"I forgot to bring one." She folded her arms across her chest.

"I'll get you one," Cale said. He disappeared around the corner, and when he returned, he held a dark-colored cloak in his hand. She lifted it over her shoulders; the warmth it gave off was immediate.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"It's no problem," Cale responded. "But I do have a client, and my sister is asleep in the next room, so I can't let you stay here. I'm sorry."

"That's okay," Lysandra said. "Anyway, I have somewhere to go."

"Good," he answered, in his gentle, low voice. Her shivers didn't come from the cold this time. "Will I see you later tonight?"

"I hope so," Lysandra answered.

"All right," Cale said. "See you then." He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, and within a second he had disappeared into the front room again.

Lysandra left the studio and stepped out into the streets of Oblitus again, where the sun was beginning to appear over the horizon.

She knew what she had to do.

She had to go see Simon.

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