by Paige Watson
“Yes, but the powers he stole won’t last forever. He isn’t a true consiliarius; which means since he wasn’t made into a consiliarius by God, his powers are limited.”
“And that’s why he’s after the rest of the members of the Concilium,” I said.
“Exactly,” Conrad replied.
“This is all starting to make a lot more sense,” Caroline stated. “But how come Evey isn’t a princess or a president somewhere right now?”
“When the Concilium finally discovered what Aden was up to, they decided that she would be best protected by living out her life as a regular person. Marie and Guy were reborn as her parents. Kit and Mickey were reborn too, so they could watch out for her; they all became her family.”
“Why weren’t you in my life until a few days ago?”
“Well, for the past couple centuries you lived a normal life each time you were reborn. I was there to protect you too. For most of them, we were married and allowed to live our lives together, but then you started remembering everything.” He took another gulp of his coffee before setting the mug back on the table. “In order to protect you, the Concilium took away your past memories. You had no recollection of who you were or who Aden was. They thought you would be safest if you couldn’t remember anything, and it worked for a long time—”
“1926,” I whispered, before he could finish his sentence.
“What?” A look of confusion spread across Caroline’s face. “What happened in 1926?”
“In 1926, all of us were living in New York. Marie and Guy raised Evey as her parents. Kit and Mickey owned a small restaurant that we all worked at. Evey and I started dating when she was seventeen and just two years later I bought a ring and was going to propose to her. On the night I was going to ask her to marry me, she started remembering everything. She remembered the Garden of Eden, Aden, and me.” He turned his eyes down to the table and began running his finger along a groove in the surface of the oak table. “The Concilium thought I triggered the return of her past memories, so they forbid me to have contact with her.”
“But that’s horrible!” Caroline exclaimed.
“I didn’t want to give her up, but I also knew keeping her safe was more important. That’s why I left and moved to Los Angeles. I would visit with the rest of the secundae from time to time and I would even watch Evey from afar, but I couldn’t be with her.”
The look of pain that was written on his face was unmistakable. I haven’t been on a date since 1926. His words from the diner rang in my ears. I watched with a heavy heart as he stood up from the table, carrying his mug to the coffee pot. He set the mug on the counter and stood with his back to us for a moment. He had been in love with me for the past 500 years. I couldn’t even begin to imagine everything he must be feeling. I wished I could remember everything that happened between us like he did. I pushed my chair back and walked over to him. He turned, facing me. I could see years of sadness in the depths of his blue eyes. I grabbed his shirt in my fists and pulled his face to mine. I may not have been able to remember the 500 years we had spent together, but I could sure make up for lost time. His arms were around my waist, squeezing my body to his. I opened my mouth up to his, kissing him more passionately. He lifted me off the floor and set me on top of the counter in front of him, his mouth never leaving mine. I
leaned my hand on the counter to brace myself and knocked his mug on the floor. It shattered against the ceramic tile, spilling coffee everywhere. The sound pulled us from our daze. I looked over and saw Caroline sitting at the table with her mouth open.
“I feel like I was just watching The Notebook in person.” My entire body burned like I was being touched by a soul. “I think I hear my phone ringing upstairs. Yeah, that’s it alright, I better go answer that,” she said, grinning at us. The house was completely silent, no phone was ringing. Before either of us could utter a word, Caroline ran upstairs, leaving the two of us alone.
“Don’t get down just yet, you’ll get cut,” Conrad said, looking at my bare feet.
“Sorry, I broke your mug.”
“It’s not a big deal. It was worth it.” He bent down, gathering the pieces of the mug. I handed him a paper towel and watched as he cleaned up the coffee. Then he took my hand, helping me off the counter. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.” Still holding my hand, he led me up to his room. He walked over to the bed and bent down to pull a long box out from under it. The width of the box was only a couple inches. Immediately I found myself trying to guess what was inside it. He took the object out of the box, and I couldn’t help but notice it looked like a picture frame of some kind. It had been carefully wrapped up in a piece of cream cloth, and he handled it with extreme care. I watched with curiosity as he set it on top of the bed and drew the cloth back. I sucked in a deep breath as I looked down and saw my own eyes staring back at me.
“Do you remember the painting from history class?”
“Yeah,” I said, unsure of where this conversation was going. I moved closer to the painting, scrutinizing my own image. I was sitting in a high backed chair with my hands folded in my lap. My dark auburn hair fell in soft waves past my chest. The deep gold brocade of my dress seemed to glow against my fair skin. The pendant hung delicately around my neck and a jeweled crown rested on my head. I could recognize the similarities between this painting and the one from the book: the dress, chair, crown, and position were all the same.
“But the other painting doesn’t look anything like me.”
“Like I said, you paid artists to alter your appearance.”
“Oh,” I replied, reaching out my hand to touch the gold frame that encased the portrait. “So we really do look the same every time?”
“You mean each time we are reborn?” I nodded my head as I waited for him to continue speaking. “Yeah, we look the same; it makes it easier on us to look the same each time we are born. Especially the first time you come back, because there isn’t as much of an identity shock as there would be if you were still you but looked differently.”
“That makes sense. How did you get the painting?”
“You gave it to me as a gift,” he said, moving closer to me. “It hung in my room when I lived in the castle.”
“So, you’ve kept it all these years?”
“Yeah, it’s gone pretty much everywhere I have.”
“I wish I could remember.”
“I know.”
“Did I ever have something to keep with me?
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I gave you the painting as a way to remember me or have a part of me with you, but did I ever have something of you to keep?”
“Yeah, it was our secret actually. I had the painting, and you had the necklace.”
“This was from you?” I asked as if I hadn’t heard him right. My hand instantly closed itself around the pendant.
“You sound surprised,” he answered with a smirk.
“I just wasn’t expecting it is all.”
“Because I was a poor soldier?”
“No, that’s not what I meant,” I answered, feeling all the blood in my body rushing to my face.
“It’s ok to think that. My family and I were destitute. We barely had enough money to buy a loaf of bread before you saved us.”
“I didn’t save you, you helped your family.”
“Yes, but you took care of my ailing mother and sister. You provided us with a place to live and gave me a way to take care of my family by being one of your guards. There isn’t a day that goes by I’m not thankful I met you.” His hand reached out and rubbed the back of my arm. “The necklace was my mother’s. Her side of the family had come from money at one point in time, but she gave it to me to give to you.”
“Why?”
“Because you were so kind to us.”
“I’m honored to wear it.” I turned to him and gently wrapped my arms around his neck. “And I�
��m really glad I met you too,” I said, softly pressing my lips to his cheek.
After we had separated from each other, Conrad went to the bed, picking the painting up and gently propped it up in the chair by the dresser. We went downstairs and found Caroline sprawled on the floor in front of the television. I looked at the screen and saw she was watching the news.
“What’s going on?” I asked, sitting next to her.
“They are talking about the diner,” she said, turning her head to look at me.
“What are they saying?” Conrad came and stood behind us. A picture of the diner flashed across the screen.
“They are saying that there was a gas leak, and the entire diner burned down.”
“Did they say anything about Mickey and Kit?” I could hear the panic in my own voice as I asked the question. Not a second after I had spoken, a bulletin at the bottom of the screen, flashed declaring that two bodies had been found inside the diner. They hadn’t identified the bodies yet, they were waiting on dental records, but we didn’t need them to know who they were. Dread filled my body as I realized I would never get to see Mickey and Kit again. Caroline jumped up, running for the bathroom. Conrad and I could hear her getting sick. I covered my mouth with my hand, feeling as if at any minute I would need to join her in the bathroom. Conrad went to the kitchen and filled a glass with some water. He waited for Caroline by the bathroom and handed her the glass when she emerged.
“Thanks,” she replied, taking a drink. They both walked back to the living room and seated themselves on the floor beside me. I grabbed the glass from her hand and took a drink.
“They’re dead,” I said out loud and not to anyone in general.
“Oh my God,” Caroline replied. “I can’t believe it.” A lone tear trickled down her cheek, mirroring the one that was falling from mine.
“We have to find the nearest consiliarius and warn them. Then, we have to find the head of the Concilium and tell them what’s going on. They have to help us stop Aden,” Conrad announced.
“Do you know where to find them?” Caroline asked, wiping her hand across her face.
“Guy said it was in the field. Do you know what he was talking about Evey?”
“No, I don’t know what he means. Maybe he got mixed up. I mean it was right before—” I said, leaving the rest of my sentence unfinished.
“No, he knew what he was saying meant something to you. You just have to think about it,” Conrad added.
“I don’t know. There seems to be so many things running around my head right now. I’m just trying to make sense of it all.”
“It’s ok. Just try to relax and think about it. I’m sure it will click and you’ll remember.”
“You seem to have a lot of faith in me,” I said, picking at a string that hung off the bottom of my jeans.
“When you spend a couple centuries with someone, you know what they are and aren’t capable of, and you’re definitely capable of figuring this out.”
“Hey Conrad,” Caroline said, looking over at him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Can you teach me how to fight?”
I glanced in her direction just to make sure that I had heard her right.
“You want me to teach you to fight?”
“Yeah, I mean this horrible man is after Evey. He’s sent tortured souls, who knows what else he will send. I want to be able to help in any way I can.”
“Ok, what do you want to learn?” He stood to his feet and helped both of us up from the floor.
“I want to learn how to fight like Mickey and Kit did.”
“Ok, I can teach you what they knew. I’m going to get some of the weapons from the barn out back. We can see what weapon works best for you and I’ll teach you how to use it.”
“Ok,” she answered, pulling her long hair into a ponytail.
“What about me?” They both stared at me as if I were speaking a different language.
“You’ve been trained how to fight,” Conrad answered.
“I have?”
“Yeah, I taught you myself,” he said, looking at me. “You’ll remember how; the memory of the body seems to be keener than the mind sometimes.” He turned around and walked out of the house, heading to the barn.
“That boy would do anything you asked him to,” Caroline said, as we watched him through the windows.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that he has been in love with you for 500 years and he’s still in love with you right now.”
“But we hardly know each other,” I answered.
“Really? Because that’s not what it looked like this morning in the kitchen,” she grinned.
“Shut up!” I couldn’t help but join in her laughter. “I’m sorry. I completely forgot you were there.”
“Don’t worry about it. I feel like I could write a ton of dirty romance novels just from watching the passion in that kiss.”
Before I could say anything else, Conrad returned laden down with various weapons. He set down two different swords, an axe that had a skinny wooden handle about the length of my arm and what appeared to be a scythe.
“Ok, try picking up each weapon and swing it through the air to see how they feel.”
Caroline immediately went for the axe, closing both of her hands around the handle. She swung it a few times back and forth, slicing through the air with ease. “It feels a lot lighter than I thought it would. I really like this one.” I grabbed the smaller sword that had a gold cross engraved into the hilt, and Conrad grabbed the larger sword that had a slightly curved end.
“Let’s go outside and practice some things,” he said, opening the door for us. We walked to the side of the house and settled under the shade of a large elm. “Ok. Caroline, I’m going to swing my sword at you, and I want you to try to block it with your axe.” She looked a little nervous, but nodded her head that she understood him. He walked over to her and swung the sword down in a graceful arc. As his sword came crashing down, her axe flew upward through the air, meeting his sword with a loud clang. “Good,” he said with a smile on his face. “That was really good.” Caroline returned his smile, looking pleased with herself. They sparred back and forth for a while and as they practiced, day quickly faded into night. Once she had a good feel for her weapon, Conrad taught her how two counter-strike. Then it was my turn. Since he was convinced I would remember how to fight, he decided we should go straight for the sparring, in hopes that it would jog my memory.
As my hand held my sword, I felt beads of sweat accumulate on my palm. Conrad was a formidable opponent, and although I knew he would never hurt me, I was still nervous. Maybe it was the look in his eyes. I had noticed the look at the diner when he stabbed his knife through the woman’s throat; it was completely predatory. It made me instantly realize I never wanted to be the person receiving it, and out of instinct I tightened my grasp on my sword. However, I didn’t have any more time to think about it, because he lunged toward me with his sword outstretched. My body knew what to do. I rolled out of his way, blocking his sword with my own. Every time he attacked, I defended myself, knocking away his blows and countering with a few of my own. He guided his blade in the direction of my head, but I ducked out of the way. My leg swung at his feet, causing him to become unbalanced. Then, I kicked him swiftly in the chest. He fell back onto the grass, and I moved to him, knocking his sword out of his hand.
“See, I told you your body would remember. It’s just like riding a bike,” he grinned. I reached my hand out to him, helping him from the ground.
“I think you were going a little easy on me.”
“I guess we’ll never really know for sure,” he winked.
“Wow, Evey. That was pretty insane.”
“I don’t even know how I did it really. It was like my body just knew what to do,” I said. I felt a deep grumble in the pit of my stomach. It had been a long time since any of us had eaten and it was now c
ompletely dark outside. “Let’s all go in and I’ll make us some dinner.”
Caroline went upstairs to shower while I started making spaghetti. I could feel Conrad’s eyes watching me as I chopped up vegetables for the sauce. I felt so paranoid I almost sliced my finger open with the knife. Once I finished, I threw the onions and peppers into the sauce and turned the heat up to let it simmer.
“Will you come try this?” I blew on the wooden spoon to cool the sauce, before holding it up for him to taste.
“It’s really good.”
“Really? You aren’t just saying that?”
“No, it’s really good,” he smiled. “I promise.”
“Ok good.” I returned the spoon to the pan and stirred the sauce again. “I have something else I want to ask you. I’m sorry, I know I keep having these questions, but there’s just so much that needs to be explained.”
“It’s ok. I think if I were you I’d have a lot of questions too,” he replied. “What’s your question?”
“What made you fall in love with me?”
“I think it’s almost impossible for anyone to be around you and not love you. You’re so kind and giving, you always think of other people before thinking of yourself.” He leaned back against the counter and folded his arms over his chest. There was still a ring of sweat around the neck of his red t-shirt, but it did nothing to detract from his appearance. “And you know how I said my mother and sister were sick when we met you?” I nodded my head, waiting for him to continue speaking. “Well they were still sick when we moved to the castle. You sent all the servants out of the room and you stayed with them for two weeks, nursing them back to health. You fed them warm broth, waiting on them hand and foot. I had never seen a queen, or royal for that matter, do anything similar before.”
“They did get better right?”
“Yeah, thanks to you. Cecily, my sister, became very fond of you. You used to brush her hair and sing her to sleep at night. I remember her asking me if you were an angel once.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her yes,” he smiled.