Every inch of me was frozen in place.
Laughter—but this wasn’t from Silas. He was still looking at the rosebush.
That’s when I realized that we werelookingat Silas from the eyes of whoever this memory belonged to.
Holy Hour.
Was itme?Was I in the garden with him?
Whywould I be in the garden with Silas in the dark of the night? Because nobody else was there, just him. Nobody moved but the steam—and him.
The view shifted, moved up toward a canopy made of metallic and plastic leaves, and apples that had little lights on the stems like miniature fireflies.
A second later, it shifted again—and by the sound of it, whoever this memory belonged to was jumping.
Hands came into view—and my heart almost burst right out of my ribcage.
Male hands. Notmyhands. I was twelve-hours certain that those were not my hands.
“Stop that.”
The view shifted again, and Silas was now looking our way.
More laughter, and another jump, another view of those hands trying to reach the apple.
“Reggie—stop it.”
Reggie.
Gasps all around the room—could have been me, too.
“Oh, c’mon, Sy. I just want to see what’s inside.”
Reggie, Reggie, Reggie.
Time’s Teeth, this was Reggie’s voice and this was Reggie’s memory.
It felt like I just shed my skin and nothing was keeping me on the ground anymore. I was suddenly floating—inside that projection, together with the two of them.
“Nothing good, I assure you. This whole thing’s just a mask.Stop,” Silas said, and when Reggie looked at him again, he’d come closer.
It should be impossible that I knew exactly what he looked like, because I didn’t. Hair dark blond and sleeked back, the tips touching his shoulders. Eyes intense, dark, brows thick and narrowed naturally. He was tall, with a lean build that the long black coat he wore did nothing to hide, and he looked likesmokesomehow. Even though his skin was awfully pale in the dark, when he stepped closer, it seemed his feet were gliding over the cobbles, his every movement smooth.
“But what if I can find something nice for you inside? It can’t bebad,can it? Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been allowed here at all.”
Unmistakable. That was Reggie’s voice, and he jumped again to try to get the apple.
He finally got it, touched the butt of it just slightly, and the apple broke from the branch and fell.
“Reggie!”
Silas sounded perfectly panicked, but Reggie was laughing again, his eyes moving from the apple laying innocently on a patch of grass, to Silas who’d come almost all the way to him and had a hand over his eyes now as he sighed.
“See?” said Reggie. “You’re all worked up for no reason.”
Silas smiled. It hurt me everywhere at once, as if I suddenly had a body and it was being pierced by a million needles.
My cheeks were wet, too, and I didn’t understand why I was crying. But I blinked fast to get rid of the tears because I didn’t want to miss anything.
