The moonlight turned everything silver—ancient walls, sleeping cats, closed tavernas. Lee hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours but had no fatigue, only a fantastic energy that made her skin vibrate in a weirdly pleasing way. Her mouth was dry, her pulse visible at her wrists. This was what she’d been missing—this electric aliveness.
Lee walked fast, her coat flying open, hair streaming behind her. She was magnificent. She was exactly who she was meant to be—not dulled by medications. This was her true self: wild, intuitive, connected to frequencies others couldn’t hear.
The city transformed as she walked along Pireos Street. Modern Athens peeled away like old paint, revealing layers of history.She reached the ancient cemetery of Kerameikos and jumped its fence, her nightgown catching briefly on a metal spike.
The archaeological site was sacred. Broken marble columns studded the tall grass, and gravestones carved with scenes of farewell shone. A statue of a mourning woman seemed to turn toward her. Lee moved deeper into the ruins, past excavated foundations. The herbal scent of fennel and wild thyme mixed with the dusty smell of ancient marble.
“Regan?” she called softly.
She climbed onto a broken column, standing among relics, feeling holy. Night air filled Lee’s lungs, and she spread her arms. The Acropolis glowed in the distance, its clean columns echoing the shattered ones around her.
Lee waited, every nerve lit. Any moment now, Regan would appear—step out from behind a pillar, rise from the marble foundations. They would embrace. Lee would say,I see the world you see.
But nothing moved.
Finally, Lee stumbled back to the ground, her foot tearing on a sharp edge of marble. But the pain in her foot was outside of her and she could be outside the pain.
Regan was not here.
Lee scrambled back over the fence. The city hadn’t changed. Buses hissed, voices floated from a late-night kiosk. She continued to walk, eventually reaching a massive nightclub housed in a converted mansion. Heavy bass drew her close. She approached the entrance in her torn nightgown and overcoat, foot bleeding. The bouncer looked her up and down.
He stepped aside. Of course he stepped aside.
She was Lee Perkins.
She belonged everywhere.
Lee pushed through the heavy doors into strobing lights, acrushing crowd, air thick with smoke and sweat and something chemical-sweet. Bodies pressed against her. She moved deeper into the club, hearing a hundred hearts beating, knowing she would find her sister. She would solve everything. She was invincible.
Lee could finally see the secret world.
41
Regan & François
My love, I am headed to the airport. I can’t believe I will finally see you! This was all so sudden. I wish I could bring the girls.
That will come with time, my love. We need to meet, just you and me. Are you certain you don’t need me to pay for the room? I am very frustrated with my accountant.
I have paid. I told the girls I would be gone until Sunday. We will have four days together if all goes well with my flights! The hotel looks beautiful.
It is a special place with wonderful beaches. My colleague has a villa nearby.
I left the note you suggested, but I’m a little worried. I think they would have understood if I had told them I was meeting you.
Do you want to cancel? If you don’t love me, just tell me now.
No, I don’t want to cancel!
Hello?
François?
I’m sorry. You are right, the girls will be fine. I didn’t tell them anything, I promise. Please come and meet me.
François?
I will text as soon as I land. I love you.
