“Let me tell you the full story, and then you can finally understand how you ended up in this mess and what is going to happen next.” Sue sat back, as though she was settling in to hear a story and not be the one to tell it. “I’m going to tell you the whole truth about who you really are.”
“I’m what you humans would call an ethereal being. My people decided to test out a variety ofgiftsthat we could possibly bestow on humans we deemed worthy.”
“Worthy?” Callie was stunned, and she was half-convinced this woman was crazy.
“Anyway, I started watching you while you were still in London.”
“But I’ve never been to London.” Callie’s mind was reeling.
“Oh, Mary. I remember the first time I saw you. It was a rainy day. You shared your umbrella with someone in a lower class than you. A horse drawn carriage came barreling towards both of you, and you put yourself in harm’s way to save your lady’s maid.”
Sue picked up the notepad she wrote her notes in. On it weren’t words. Callie’s heart sank; it was a drawing of a sphere with lines streaking off in every direction. There was something oddly familiar about it.
Why does that look so familiar?Callie thought, staring at what looked like a ball of light.
“I followed you onto the boat to ensure you were worthy.” Sue bobbed her head. “That was a tough trip for both of us. After we arrived in America, I told myself I would watch you all the way to your final destination.”
Callie scrunched her eyebrows in concentration.I don’t remember any of this, but why does it all seem so familiar, like a story I read a long time ago?
“I came close to giving up on you until I saw you help a woman in need by giving her some of your own precious clothing. It was selfless and kind. It surprised me, honestly. I decided then that I would help you. I remembered you had told me on the boat that you wanted a different life. So, the gift I decided to give you was the power to switch. Once. With one person.” Sue held up a single finger and waved it at her.
Callie watched Sue carefully, trying to determine if this was the truth. She knew her mother had died in childbirth when she was born as Jane. She knew her mother was unhappy, but why would her mother want to escape her life as a wife and mother?
“So my mother was gifted this ability?”
“Not your mother, you. That was you, Mary. When I thought you passed away in childbirth, I was surprised that you hadn’t used the gift to escape out of your life. I could never have dreamed you would actually sentence your own infant daughter to die in your place and take her life.”
“That’s impossible!”No, I was Jane first. Mary was my mother! I was Jane first.
“Itispossible. Now, I was only able to figure all this out when I heard rumblings about people being able to switch places with people.” Sue brushed a rogue hair out of her face. “I asked around my group and no one besides me had ever given a power like that.” Sue stood again and looked into the mirrored window, her back to Callie.
“I went to New Orleans and interviewed a man who shot and killed two people in a park. He raved about how his real name was Darla and that the original gunman had switched places with him.” She turned back to face Callie.
Callie’s face grew hot. The memory of pulling the trigger on Richard’s body—and hitting poor Doug—hit her like a ton of bricks.It seemed like the best decision … for me. Technically, I killed the evil gunman who was in Richard’s body and I just sped up Doug’s impending doom with his conscription to the Army.
Sue continued when Callie remained silent. “Then, about sixteen years ago, I felt a half-life take place. The power was still tethered to me somehow, which meant you were still alive. I knew I had to find you, and it took some time, but I finally found you thanks to the destruction you left in your wake.”
Sue clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Your list of victims is long: first, your baby daughter Jane, then Abigail, granted that one was truly an accident, because you forgot about your former life since you started over in Jane’s infant body. But then Theresa? You sent her to be killed by train robbers. Should I continue?” Sue gathered her hands behind her back and tilted forward on her toes.
“No, I’ve heard enough. Some of them deserved what they got.” Callie spoke through gritted teeth.
Sue raised her eyebrows. “Really? So, Abigail deserved to switch into your sickly body and die? Her whole life was ahead of her. She was innocent.”
“It was an accident! And I said some of them, Richard for example. He betrayed his fiancé, who ended up being me. I would have been happy if he hadn’t betrayed me, and it’s possible I would have stayed as Theresa.”
“Really?” Sue lowered her chin to her chest and pointed a finger lazily at her. “You? Miss ‘I’m afraid of dying, so themoment death is near, I switch with the closest warm body?’” Sue scoffed. “I don’t believe it. Your history proves that the moment your life gets hard, you want out.”
Callie shifted in her seat. “Like I said before, I thought it was a gift, something magical and meant for my use at my discretion.”
“Okay, Mary. Whatever you need to tell yourself to help you sleep better at night, go right ahead. But it doesn’t change the facts. You sentenced a lot of people to an early death that they weren’t destined for, starting with your infant daughter Jane.”
“No, I was born as Jane. Mary was my mother. We’ve been over this already.”
Sue pinched the bridge of her nose with her right hand and waved her left hand in the air in large circles. “Mary, we’ll keep going at it until you remember: your mother Catherine, your Father, Gregory. You were born in London. You were betrothed to Eduard.”
She’s lying, Eduard is my original father,Callie thought as she watched Sue.
“You were forced to move to America, you married Eduard, and you had a farm with horses. You were pregnant when we met by the stream, and I officially introduced to you my true identity.”
