“So,” he said, slipping into the leather rolling chair across from me, a smile brimming across his lips. I noticed the armrests of the chair had been punctured, like someone had stabbed their fingers through them again and again.
Had I felt so confined in here the last time?
The walls looked much closer than I remembered. He hadn’t turned on any more of the lamps, so we were sitting in the dim light from a single bulb hanging from the ceiling.
I squirmed in my seat, trying to surreptitiously do a scan of the room. I pulled my hair up, then tugged it back down again a second later.
“There’s no need to be nervous, Cella,” he said. Was it just me, or did his fingers clench around the pocket with his key ring in it?
“Actually, I’m quite happy you decided to come over,” he said, running his thumb over his lip. “There’s still a lot of ground we need to cover.”
As my eyes ran over him, everything about him seemed too perfect. The tone of his voice, his mannerisms, his hair, clothes. All perfectly placed and considered. None of it authentic, none of it real. And yet it had all been perfectly set. The perfect trap to draw me in.
Well, two could play at that game.
I flashed him a blistering smile. “Definitely.”
He stood up, traced his finger across the table, drawing closer to me.
He put a hand on mine, and I fought the urge to flinch. “Your brother would have wanted this for you. He believed in what we’re doing here, too.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He slapped his hands against his sides, standing up from his chair. “But I’m getting ahead of myself. You wanted coffee. Sugar?”
“Sure, but—” I shook my head. This wasn’t the first time Basile had mentioned Aaron. How did he know him? And what did he mean, he believed in what they were doing here? Had Aaron known about the Reality Paradox, too?
Basile smiled, and the light from the single bulb above his head cast eerie shadows on his face.
“All in good time,” he said, walking out of the room, keys jingling as he went.
My phone dinged, a text from Max.
How is it going? Need backup?
I shoved the phone back in my pocket. I might have imagined it, but I could’ve sworn that the corner of Basile’s mouth lifted, just a smidge, when I put it away.
He’d set the perfect trap. I knew I should be looking for the book, but another thought entered my mind. I was so close now that my fingers shook. So close to discovering everything I wanted. Each time we’d spoken, I was drawn to him as though to a heady cup of wine, clinging to every intoxicating word.
And yet.
Basile dangled my brother’s ghost in front of me like a wriggling worm. Part of me couldn’t help but fall for it, but another part didn’t appreciate the manipulation. And this new revelation … was it just more of the same? Or did he actually know Aaron?
What did Aaron have to do with the Reality Paradox?
My Christmas mug pulsed in my pocket, the last gift my brother had given me. Sometimes phantom notes drifted up from it, like the ghost of Aaron’s beating heart. I held it close.
And I realized that, in my heart, I knew what Aaron would’ve wanted. Aaron was a kind, generous soul. He cared for others over himself. If he knew there was a way that I could help someone else, someone like Dani, he would’ve wanted me to. I could just imagine the look of disappointment on his face if he knew I’d ignored a chance to help Dani and Luce.
And given all the strangeness lately, all my questions piling up one after another, I knew that, to uncover the truth about all of it, I needed this book.
My eyes shot toward the kitchen. I could hear Basile rooting around in the cabinets, the coffee pot boiling.
The only question was how much time did I have left?
I jumped up, my shaking hands rummaging through the drawers of his desk. I searched for hidden spots on the shelf, but where would you hide such a huge book in this tiny room? My heart pounded in my ears. At any moment, he could come back. What would he do if he saw me poking around his things?
“Did you say you wanted sugar? All we’ve got is stevia,” he called, his footsteps walking back this way.
