by Lotta Bangs
Maggie would ’port our major luggage home so we wouldn’t be burdened with more than a take-on bag each. Most of us were quite happy for her to ’port them wherever they wished to go, but the idea of instantaneous transfer made me nervous; I preferred to travel the conventional slow way.
The Louvre had impressed me greatly, especially the da Vincis.
It was difficult to get close enough to have a good look at the Mona Lisa in her climate-controlled bulletproof glass case. Besides the tourists, there were dozens of painters cluttering the floor, with their folding chairs and easels, trying to copy the world’s most famous portrait. I never understood how they could see enough of it to do that. Perhaps it was simply being in the painting’s presence that was the attraction.
The Virgin and Child with St Anne was the painting which I liked best. It touched something deep inside me. Though unfinished and faded, it had a sweetness and spontaneity lacking in most of the others which were very overworked.
So many people had retouched and ‘freshened’ the paintings over the centuries after regular cleaning had removed more than just dirt and cracked old discolored lacquer. Investigation had revealed that the Mona Lisa had originally possessed eyebrows and lashes. None of the depicted people had those anymore and most of the pictures looked very stiff, static even. It was only Leonardo’s technique of applying many translucent layers of pigment over a pale undercoat to give skin a glow that had saved his pictures and allowed them any life now.
Some paintings had been taken off their original wooden panels and transferred to canvas because of borers; one had later been returned to another wooden panel. Don’t ask me how that would work. All I’m sure of is that it wouldn’t benefit Leonardo’s brushwork any.
I’d searched out some other Renaissance works at various places, but Leonardo was my favorite. He had definitely been ahead of his time.
Some of the sculpture too, I liked. Some works I just glanced at; others I would stare at for hours. Paul never complained of waiting with me, though his tastes and preferences were probably different to mine.
Chapter 30
The Devastating Blow
Lorna and Emil accompanied Ron, Colleen, Paul and me as I revisited my favorite art works. Then we just strolled along the streets absorbing the ambiance of this great city. We planned to eat in some little restaurant before heading to the airport.
Colleen suddenly laughed and pointed to a really way-out evening dress in a shop window. I believe it was the salon of some avant-garde designer who hoped to shock his way to fame.
The garment didn’t even appear to have been fashioned to fit a female figure. It certainly wouldn’t have stayed in place without yards of Hollywood tape.
As we gawked I heard the screaming roar of violent acceleration, and immediately raced towards Paul even before I had fully understood that the silver gray sedan was heading straight for him, though it would hit Emil first as he was closer to the kerb.
Paul continued walking ahead, involved in his conversation with Emil, completely oblivious to the death hurtling towards them.
Lorna and Ron further back, were out of danger. They heard my running and stepped aside to give me space.
Paul had been only thirty feet ahead of me.
Time stood still as I flew towards him, terror and my genetic enhancements providing me inhuman speed. Yet it seemed to take forever.
The driver turned his head towards me, startled, then simply vanished.
The bastard knew how to ’port.
I hadn’t looked directly at him, but I had seen his face. I would know him again.
I almost tore Emil’s right arm off as I wrenched him out of the path of the rocketing vehicle, and threw him back over my head, while stretching to reach Paul who had moved a little further forward, still blind and deaf to his danger.
He was out of my reach.
Time had run out. I couldn’t save the man I loved.
I threw a futile punch at the car as it hit him and ploughed into a stone wall.
I was thrown backwards, crashing down on top of Emil.
I leapt up again, grabbed the front of the smoking concertinaed car and heaved, flipping it back onto its roof, exposing the bloody mangled flesh that had been Paul.
Or had it?
It was a human body with Paul’s configuration and unique coloring, wearing his clothes, but Paul’s spirit had never resided in this unliving meat. I could not be mistaken about that.
I pulled up the left arm which had been caught under him. My ring wasn’t on his finger.
I turned him onto his back. He wasn’t wearing a breather either.
This wasn’t Paul at all. In fact it was nobody. This thing had never been alive, though it was certainly dead now. And it wasn’t scented with Paul’s distinctive toiletries.
I staggered as I felt Paul’s kiss on my forehead, his hands on the sides of my head, smelled his scent in my nostrils. I smiled and reached for him, but there was no-one there.
I’d think that through later.
Finis
Author’s Note
Thank you for downloading and reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved writing, expanding and rewriting the books.
I have offered this book for free.
If you enjoyed it, please do me the courtesy of reviewing it at the distributor sites, so other readers will also be attracted to my series. As with eBay sellers, eBook authors cannot survive without good feedback.
* * *
The preceding version, Getting to Galen, had been rather rushed to get it published before Reacquaintance and the rest, which I had been intermittently revising, reworking and editing for ten years.
Getting to Galen was an afterthought, a brilliant one. I had originally visualised the series as being written from Mag’s/Ro’s viewpoint, but when she disappeared, I needed to continue the story from Taj’s point of view (POV).
Taj proved so fresh, exciting and fascinating that I wanted to write her backstory. There was a problem with an under-age romance. Today’s publishers are strict about not allowing under-age sex to be eroticised. I completely agree with that, but I wasn’t sure of my ability to write that sensitive part of Taj’s story convincingly at the time, so I just left it out as too heartbreaking for her to think about after her lover died.
Because I had divided the series into two streams from each protagonist’s POV, I kept to that system for the other books of the series and it continued growing more and more unwieldy.
So I stopped all work on the series and spent a year reading books on self-editing. I also edited for others as I’d learnt that finding errors or confusion in other writer’s stories, helped me to recognise those in my own work.
Finally, I began rewriting to fit the omitted romance into Getting to Galen, planning to add another 30-40 pages to the book before amalgamating my two POV streams.
I had to detail and expand Taj’s martial arts history. One thing led to another. I ended up with an additional 500 pages of Taj’s story, with many new characters and storylines and it is still developing further.
There was so much new material, Approaching Galen had to become a trilogy, and even so, didn’t cover as far as Getting to Galen had. Several of the original chapters ended up in what will be the fifth or sixth book of the series.
Now that it is chronological the story has become tighter. The new characters and events fit in seamlessly and enrich the whole.
I’ve changed the series title from the original Fragments for Taj’s stream and Silent Waiting for Ro’s POV. Now it’s all The Power of Love, which is more accurate as love is the guiding force throughout, as well as the catalyst for all the growth and changes.
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I’ve been very pleased lately to have regular popularity surges almost every week, as another reader praises my books on Twitter, Facebook or other social media.
That is gratifying, but it would help me so much more if satisfied readers reviewed my
books at Goodreads and the distributor sites, to catch those browsing.
I really would love some feedback, so please review or email me at [email protected].