PROLOGUE
Ethan poked his headaround the corner of the alley;his gaze instantly dartedto the diner across the street again. Light pooled from the streetlights,itspilledacross the road and sidewalk, illuminating the cars parked along the street. Light from the diner blazed out of its big, plateglass windows. The woman that had captured his attention was sitting in one of the booths, her blond head bent over the tableas she read through something. She looked oddly familiar. Biting on his lower lip, his brows knit together as he studied her more carefully. He knew he had seen her somewhere before, that he knew her somehow, he just couldn’t rememberwhere orhow.
He pulled his head back and leaned against the cool stone wall. He closed his eyes, searching his memory for any hint of who she might be. He had been doing the same thing for the last five minutes, and it was proving to be a useless endeavor.
“What are you doing?”
He jumped in surprise, his eyes flewopen as Mike and Jack stepped out of the shadows of the ally. “Don’t do that!” he snapped.
They grinned happily at him as they exchanged amused glances. They knew he hated it when they cloaked their presence from him and popped out of nowhere to try and scare him. It often worked. The thing that aggravated himthemost was that he couldn’tdo it to the;that he could notcontrol his powers as well as they could, and they knew it. “So,what are you doing?” Mike asked again, his blondeyebrows drawn questioningly together.
Ethanscowled at them as he glanced around the corner again. “I was looking at that woman in the diner.”
Their eyes widened as they stared at him in shock.“Ah hell,” Jackfinallygroaned. “Don’t tell us you’re going to turn into yourmother andfather!”
“Hardly!”Ethansnorted, the thought alone madehis stomach turn. “She looks familiar, but I can’tplacewho she is.”
Mike and Jack exchanged a glance before Mike poked his head outof the alleyto look. “Where?”Ethan leaned around him and pointed to the small, pudgy woman in the diner window. Mike frowned thoughtfully, then his eyes widened in surprise, and his mouth dropped open. “It’s Kathleen!”
“What?” Jack demanded, shoving his waypastthem. “Wow! It is!Crapis that what we’d look like now?”
“She seems to have aged pretty well,” Mike said thoughtfully. “She’s got to be what, forty seven?”
“How old are you dumbass?” Jack retorted sarcastically.
Mike scowled at him before turning his attention back to the diner. “Forty seven,”he muttered.
Jack smiled triumphantly at him before turning his attention back to the diner.“There you go. Well, I guess she doesn’t look that bad. I’m just glad we don’t look like that. Wrinkles,” he said with a shudder.
“Shut up Jack.Ethan, go over thereand talk to her,”Mike commanded.
“What?”Ethandemandedas heroundedon himin surprise.
Mike nodded toward thediner;his short blond hairwastussled as it fell around his face.“Go over there.”
Ethan stared at him incredulously. “Yougo over there,” he retorted.
Mike and Jack looked at him like he was an idiot. “We knew Kathleenincollege, if she sawthe way we look now,she’d probably have a heartattack,” Jackexplainedslowly, as if Ethan were dumb.
Ethan was jolted as he suddenly rememberedexactlywho she was. Kathleen had been his mother’s best friend in college, but he hadn’t seen her in over fifteen years.He glanced back at the diner in disbelief.“What amIgoing to say to her?”
“Just go over there and see how she’s doing. I’m sure your mom would like toknow. Now, go on,” Mike encouraged.
Ethan scowled at him. “I’m a little tooold for you to be ordering around.”
“You’re not that big yet, now go,” Mike replied with a brightgrin.
He would havestayed and argued with them, but he knew that it was pointless. They always won, and besides, he was more than a little curious to see how she was doing. He left the alley, jogging easily across the rain washed street to the diner. The bellabovethe door rang as he entered and the smell of human foodinstantlyassaulted him. Wrinkling his nose slightlyin disgust, he glanced down the line of booths to the middle-aged blond sitting in one of them. Her short blond hair had been pulled into a ponytail, and strands of it had fallen free to curl around her small, heart shaped face.
For a moment he was unable to move as he stared at her. She was not the woman that he remembered. This woman had lines around her mouth and eyes, her forehead was creased, and her skin had begun to sag around her neck and chin. There were strands of gray streaked throughout her hair. This is what his mother should look like, he realized with a start. The thought was incredibly sad, and more than a little frightening. For the first time he truly began to realize his immortality.
“Can I help you?”
Ethan blinked in surprise as he was pulled out of his reverie. A pretty waitress stood before him, an admiring gleam in her dark brown eyes as she openly surveyed him. He returned her smile without thinking. She grinned at him and moved a little closer, the menus in her hand brushedagainst his chest. “Would you like to sit?” she askedsoftly.
“Oh, ah no,” he replied, casting a glance at Kathleen as he recalled why he was here. “I just came to see someone.”
Her mouth pouted prettily as she took a step back. Ethan brushed past her, instantly forgetting her existence as he made his way toward Kathleen. He hadn’t seen her since he was ten years old, and he highly doubted that she would remember him, but he might as well try and talk to her. Besides, Mike and Jack would be pissed if he went back with nothing, and he didn’t feel like dealing with the two of them. He also knew his mother would love to hear about her old friend, ifKathleendidn’t remember him, so what? It couldn’t hurt to talk to her, and he was fairly certain that she would remember everyone else in his life.
