Olivia's POV
Because of the thick darkness, I can't see the ceiling above me no matter how much I strain my eyes. It's already past midnight, yet there's still no sign of Samuel; not since he punched Lucien in the middle of the café.
No more than five seconds tick by before I can't stand the boring silence any longer. I throw the thin sheet off my body and scoot off the bed. Without bothering to put on socks, I make my way to the kitchen, which turns out to be just as dark as the rest of the house. I flip the light switch on. The single lamp hanging from the ceiling flickers to life and I'm forced to squint until my eyes adjust. Then when I finally get a good look at the room, I stop.
For a second I think it's Samuel who is sitting at our kitchen table. It turns out to be the other Guardian with unlimited access to our house, though.
"Eliza?" I eye the Guardian as she plucks a white petal off the bouquet of daisies positioned in the middle of the kitchen table. "Where's Mom?"
"What do you think?" Eliza doesn't bother to glance at me, let alone stop destroying the flowers. "She took her sleeping pill, so she's been out for about two hours now."
"Then why are you still here? Are you staying over? Because if you are, I'd suggest the empty couch in the living room. It's a thousand times more comfortable than the kitchen chair."
"Guardians don't sleep."
"Then why are you still here?" I move over to the chair across the table and sit down.
"None of my charges are up to anything interesting, so it doesn't matter where I stay."
"But why our house? Can't you go to a beach or an empty hotel room to relax?"
"We can't teleport to anywhere other than our charges' sides." Eliza finally looks up from the flowers. "How's your head?"
Instinctively I reach to my forehead where a white bandage is hiding underneath my bangs. The rough material scratches the tips of my fingers, but what matters is that my head isn't throbbing anymore.
"It's fine." I drop my hand back onto the table. "Have you seen Samuel?"
"Nope." Eliza plucks yet another petal, and we watch it float side to side further and further down until it reaches the table's top. "Why? Are you two fighting?"
"No. It's nothing like that."
"You sure he's not angry with you for hurting your head again?"
"He doesn't even know about this." I point at my forehead and then lean my head against my open palm. "He hasn't been back since yesterday morning when he attacked another Guardian. You should have seen him. One moment he was fine and then the next he punched the daylights out of Lucien. But I have no idea why."
"Who knows." Eliza shrugs. "Maybe it's because he discovered that the Guardian is connected to his past human life."
"But you said you can't remember your human lives."
"We aren't supposed to. Not in the beginning." Eliza removes her hands from the partly destroyed flowers and leans her back against the chair. "I think the longer we stay as Guardians the more likely we are to remember bits and pieces of our past."
I lean forward with my ears perked up. "Do you remember anything?"
"Of course." Eliza closes her eyes. "One of my charges is actually the reincarnation of someone from my human life."
I open my mouth to ask her who the person is when another voice beats me to it.
"Why are you awake?"
I stiffen at the familiar male voice. Every fiber in my body wants me to turn around, yet I fight my own instincts and keep my eyes trailed on Eliza. After all, the moment I look at Samuel I know he will notice the bandage hidden beneath my bangs. And once he catches sight of it there will be no way for me to get out of a lecture on my impulsive nature. Since Mom already had her turn a few hours ago when I entered the house with a blood-covered forehead, I'm in no mood for another round.
"Good luck," Eliza whispers and then closes her eyes. A second later, she disappears out of the kitchen.
With only Samuel and me left, the chances of him not noticing the bandage turn even slimmer.
"I should go back to bed." I shoot up from the chair while keeping my eyes focused on the floor. Who knew so many crumbles were scattered around our kitchen?
I make it past the table's edge when Samuel grabs my hand and forces me to stop. "Sorry."
The moment the apology slips off his tongue, I stop trying to make a clean escape. But I still keep my back to him.
"I'm sorry for disappearing like that," he continues. "I promised to stick by your side, but I couldn't be in the same room as Lucien. Not without killing him."
"What did he do?" I ask.
Although Samuel tugs on my hand again, I remain facing away from him. Maybe, just maybe, I can avoid him seeing the bandage until morning when I'll be more inclined to listen to whatever lecture he decides to gift me with.
"I think he killed me."
"What?" I whirl around. "He killed you?"
"Yes. He struck me with a stone on the spot where my scar is." While mentioning the scar, his eyes flicker to my forehead and I can pinpoint the moment he catches the white color peeking from underneath my bangs. "What the hell?"
Before I can open my mouth, he sneaks his hand underneath my hair and lifts my bangs. This gives him a perfect view of the white bandage stretching over most of my forehead.
"I have some good news." I sweat his hand off my forehead and hide the bandage underneath my hair again. "I remembered that the driver from the accident wasn't a man. It was a woman."
"I told you not to do anything reckless, yet the moment I leave, you dive headfirst into danger."
Instead of congratulating me for bringing back another memory, Samuel grabs my chin and pulls me forward until my face is two inches away from his. His burning eyes make it impossible for me to look at anything other than him.
"What did you do? Run into another wall? Beg someone else to smack you with the stupid book?"
"You're wrong." I try to shake my head, but his grip prevents me from doing so. "The driverâthe womanâambushed me at the bus stop."
"What?"
His hold on me loosens for a fraction, and it's enough for me to add a necessary step of distance between us.
"It was dark, so I didn't see her coming. She tripped me and then banged my head against the asphalt. This then caused the memory of the driver to resurface."
"What do you mean banged your head?"
"How can I explain this? She tripped me, so I ended up on my stomach. Then she sat onto my back and grabbed the back ofâ"
"Stop." Samuel raises his hands and grabs both of my upper arms.
Instead of shaking some sense into me as I expect, he pulls me into his warm chest and wraps his arms around me. I freeze for a second, not expecting this. Then with a deep exhale to calm my racing heart, I lift my arms and wrap them around his torso.
"Aren't you going to start lecturing me about how I have to stop digging up my memories?"
"No." Samuel tightens his arms around me. "You need to remember who the woman is, so I can make sure she never comes near you again."
"She demanded that I stop digging into the accident. She even threatened Mom."
"Don't worry. I won't let her get close to you again."
With a content sigh, I allow my body to relax against his. Who thought I would ever feel this safe while wrapped in the cocoon of Samuel's familiar scent?
"Have you told the police?" Samuel moves one of his hands from my back and rests it on the back of my head.
"Yes, I gave my statement to officer Wright at the hospital. The doctor on call said I need to rest, and both Mom and officer Wright took his words quite literally."
"Then why aren't you resting?" Samuel pushes me half a step away from him, but before I can react, he grabs my hand and pulls me out of the kitchen.
"I couldn't sleep," I say. "What are you doing?"
Samuel leads me down the dark hallway and into my just as dark bedroom. The moment we enter, he switches on the light and closes the door with a soft click.
"We're going to sleep."
While he heads to my bed, I freeze beside the door. Did he just say we're going to sleep? We, as in both of us? In my bed?
***
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Much love
- E