Alexandria was up to her neck in a warm, foaming bath, and she thought surely this was what Heaven felt like. The bathtub was the largest old clawfoot tub she had ever seen, and it was the most beautiful as well. Its delicately carved feet were silver or pewter, she was not sure which, and the handles and faucet matched. Someone had added a high-tech mat to the bottom that could be adjusted to produce a current and jetted spray, essentially turning it into a sculpted Jacuzzi.
She had been lying there long enough to have wrinkled fingers and toes, but Alex did not care at all. There was no way she was getting into fresh clothing, or the bed’s clean linens later on, with sweat and the smell of horse all over her. And the bubbly bath was making her muscles feel so good.
Alex closed her eyes and thought about all she had learned that day. Auras, sword fighting techniques, what riding really felt like, and communicating with animals. And she had been kissed – really kissed – for the first time in her life. It had been the best New Year’s Day she had ever had in her twenty-one years.
She reflected on her conversation with Ganymede and his advice that she should begin meditating on the power within her. Alex draped a hand on the edge of the tub and looked out of one of the bathroom’s large windows. Snow had begun to fall after all, steady and thick, blanketing the ground once more that she and Eimhir had flown over earlier. Alex looked down at her wrinkled fingers and concentrated on what lay beneath that skin.
She closed her eyes and felt the blood coursing through her veins and the cells that made up her muscles, organs, and skin. Everything about her had some of Ganymede within. Alex felt her way through each part of her body, taking stock of all her internal components, and she was amazed at the sheer ingenuity of how seamlessly all of a human’s parts worked together to keep a person alive. She studied herself down to the last molecule. God is an amazing engineer, Alex mused silently to herself.
Then she studied the plating and armor that Ganymede had given her. It reminded Alex of the way the Roman army of Caesar’s day would lock their scutum, or shields, together in a pattern to protect the soldiers marching behind them. Only this defense was far superior and blanketed each building block of her body seamlessly.
Alex slid down into the water and let it engulf her so that she was weightless and suspended, free of gravity. She had seen Sabina all but bound atop her mount that day, not letting gravity control her movements, and Alex felt certain that she was the one who had taught Sabina how to do that.
Hmmm, she thought, she had slipped again and thought of herself rather than Arianna when she thought of the past. But this past was hers as well. It really did not make sense to Alex how it could be so. Yet, standing on that cliff with Kronis and feeling the power of the love she had offered him, as she tried to bring him in from the cold and shelter his soul, was enough to convince Alex that she and Arianna could be one and the same. Somehow, she would find a way to bring the past and present together, she told herself.
She could use these talents and abilities to help so many. Alex remembered a comment Ganymede had made in her parents’ garden then, about how a long time on this earth could wear on a soul. Could she do that, Alexandria wondered. Could she be here for hundreds or thousands of years, trying to help humans without interfering to the point of changing their destinies and their desires?
She thought back further to the night Ganymede had visited her in Egypt when she was a child. He had told her how different her brothers would seem to her if he changed but one or two things about their personalities. How wrong it would be to play God, Alex thought. How cruel.
Then Alex recalled Arianna’s words to Kronis about the constant struggle she, too, faced to not give in to the power within. She might have wanted to sway human behavior in a different direction, but she fought her own internal battle to stop herself from overwhelming humans’ minds and compelling them into choices only she approved of.
Alex’s mind wandered to all of the despots and leaders throughout history who had maimed, destroyed, and murdered entire groups of people. All of the genocide and pain inflicted by people filled with hate and venom, like Hitler and Pol Pot. Would she be able to stop herself from hopping a plane to some of the regions in Africa that still knew great conflict and annihilating those who would destroy their own, she wondered? God help her, Alex could see that this was going to be a very emotional journey and one that she hoped she was strong enough to see through.
Alex heard Ahadi’s voice calling her, and she rose up in the tub to answer her. Ahadi was just opening the door and sticking her head in when Alex’s head broke through the surface of the water.
“Alexandria, you are well?” she asked, looking around the bathroom.
“Um, yes. Why? Did you think I wasn’t for some reason?” Alex knew that Ahadi would not normally walk in on someone in the tub if she did not have cause for concern.
“Mr. Campbell called upon me to come in and verify that you were safe and sound. He has been calling you for many minutes, but you did not answer. But you are well, I see, so I will tell him you are just finishing your bath. I will see you at dinner.” She smiled at Alex and took her leave.
Alex wondered how long she had been underwater. The water was very cool now, almost cold, and she was beyond wrinkled. Alex sat up the rest of the way and pulled the tub’s plug. She got out and dried first her body, then her hair, and finally pulled on some warm trousers, her sweater and shoes before leaving the watercloset.
When she entered her bedroom, Jack was standing in front of one of the windows watching the snow fall. He turned as she came out and watched her walk over to him.
“I’m sorry if I scared you, Jack. I was underwater for a little while thinking about things. I guess I didn’t hear you calling me.”
He put one arm out, offering her the chance to step into his embrace if she so chose, and Alex did not hesitate to step forward and soak up his warmth. They stood there silently looking out of the window together in companionable silence for some time, each with an arm around the other.
“What were you thinking about while underwater for so long, Alex?” he quietly asked.
“Oh, you know, the usual stuff. Inner armor plating, indestructibility, how an immortal can help without overtaking mankind, flying with a horse… Just a normal day, all in all.” She smiled, still looking out at the snow.
Jack leaned down and kissed the top of her head, inhaling afterward. “You still smell like the wind out there from our ride earlier.”
“I did wash my hair tonight, though.” Alex started to explain that she did not know how that could be possible, but he inhaled again.
“It stuck with you somehow. You looked really happy and carefree out there today. Like someone your age should. Hang on to that.” Jack was quiet for several minutes.
“I was worried,” he said softly, breaking the silence.
“I know, but I’m okay. Apparently, I can hold my breath for a really long time, though I wasn’t even aware I was doing it.”
He pulled back a little and looked down into her blue eyes, which looked so relaxed at that moment. “No, Alex. No apologizing, remember? It’s me who has to adjust to the changing landscape here, not you. You’re not doing anything wrong. So far, I’d say you’re right on target. I’m trying to not let my worry get in your way.” He started chuckling and shook his head.
“Hell, I almost knocked your bathroom door down, but thought better of it and got Ahadi. I’m glad I did. I think if I trust in this more and stop trying to fit it into the reality I know, I’ll be less troubled.”
Alex nodded her head. “Sounds like a good plan, Mr. Campbell. Are you hungry?”
His eyes took on an altogether different look, and then he smirked at her. “Yes, I am, Miss Groaban. Let’s get you down to the dining hall while all’s as it should be.”
Alexandria had an inkling of what Jack was alluding to, so she pulled away and made h
er way in the direction of the door to her bedroom. She started to give him a smart little comment, but lost her balance and caught herself by grabbing an old quilt stand that was near the foot of her bed.
Once her hand touched wood, Alex was no longer in the room during her time, but in the far distant past. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows, and she heard music from somewhere below in the castle. It was the same tune she had heard earlier when she collapsed that day. What was the piece, she asked herself?
Alex started for the door, hoping to run downstairs and find out who was playing it, when she heard a cough behind her. She stopped and turned around cautiously. At first, she saw no one, then realized there was a man out on the balcony with his back to her.
“Hello,” she called out, but he did not turn. He leaned forward and rested his arms on the railing, looking out over the estate below. He was tall, she could tell that, and he had chestnut brown hair, she thought. He seemed slightly in shadow despite the bright sunlight.
Alex looked around and noticed a letter on the bed, so she walked forward to look at it, hoping it would give her a clue as to what time she had arrived in and who he might be. Just as her fingers made contact with the parchment, she was thrown backward with such force that it knocked the wind right out of her.
She registered out of the corner of her eye that the man was turning, but he was fading away. Alex felt the familiar tug back to her own time.
“Who are you?” she whispered, but no answer came.
“Hey,” whispered Jack. “Welcome back.”
“How long this time?” Alex asked, knowing he understood her meaning.
“Just about five minutes, actually, so not nearly as long as all the others I’ve seen. Where’d you go?” He had laid her on the bed while she was unconscious, and he was sitting on the edge looking down at her, waiting for her response.
“I was here, actually, in this bedroom. But I think it was quite a long time ago. There was a piece of parchment on the bed, and I was trying to look at it. There was a man on the balcony, and I was hoping if I could look at it, then I’d know who he was because he wouldn’t turn around when I called out to him. He seemed lost in thought.”
“When I touched the paper, I was thrown backward somehow, and it took the breath right out of me. I think that’s why I came back so quickly.” Alex noticed the crease in Jack’s brow at her last statement. “What?” she asked, wanting to know his concern.
Jack shook his head. “Have you ever gotten hurt in a memory or a vision before, Alex?” he asked quietly.
His question was a sound one, and she thought back through her earliest visions in which she was always a silent spectator, then the transformation they had undergone since she had called on Ganymede at Christmastime.
“Not that I can recall. Though I never felt what I am feeling now because I always seemed off to the side of the visions. Now that I’m seeing true memories associated with Arianna, I’m experiencing things first hand.”
“But the man you saw from a distance didn’t hear you this time?” Jack asked, trying to get an exact accounting from her.
“No, he didn’t. What are you thinking, Jack?”
“I’m just wondering if any of the others here have considered that you can be injured while your mind is somewhere else. I mean, if you’re hurt there, what does that do to you here?”
“Well, when I fell, I came back here pretty quickly, so maybe I cannot be hurt while my mind and soul are traveling.” Alex sat up on the bed so she could face him. This was the closest she had been to his face, for when Jack was standing, he was much taller than she. Alex reached up with one hand and used her fingers to trace his worry lines away.
“Let’s talk to Archimedes and John about this once dinner is over. I’m supposed to have a lesson tonight to help me shield my thoughts, remember? That should be a good time to go over our concerns. Okay?” she encouraged.
He nodded slowly in agreement. “Sounds like a good plan, Miss Groaban,” he said, speaking her earlier words back to her.
His eyes lowered to her lips, and it was all the encouragement Alex needed. She leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his lips and then slowly leaned back to look into his eyes. Jack growled low in his throat and reached forward, cupping the back of her head in his hand, pulling her to him once again. This time he would not settle for a chaste kiss.
“Are you trying to be coy, Miss Groaban?” he whispered against her lips, smiling.
“Maybe just a little. I’m new at this remember?” she whispered back.
He deepened the kiss until she was completely breathless. It was only when Jack heard her whisper his name that he pulled back and took in Alex’s passionate expression.
“We had better stop. Everyone downstairs will know exactly what we’ve been up to if you go down looking like this.”
Alex was pleased to note that he sounded out of breath too, and his lips looked very pink.
“I find I rather like kissing, now. But just you, Jack,” she confessed.
His eyebrows rose with her statement. “I’m glad to hear that, more than you know.” His eyes searched hers, and then Jack gave her one last quick kiss before he stood and offered Alex his hand. “Come on. We still have about fifteen or twenty minutes before we eat. You can use that time to walk around and see some more of this castle. And I will use that time to get myself back in line.”
Jack grinned at Alex like a schoolboy who had been caught skipping class, and she laughed at his smile.
Alex and Jack wandered through the first level of Aeoferth Hall for the next twenty minutes, playing a game Jack invented with her emerging abilities. They would pause outside of a room, and he would ask her to tell him what the room was used for and if there were any immortals inside. If someone was there, he wanted to know how many and who it was.
Jack had only one rule: no touching anything. He did not want her to fade away on him again. Alex decided not to remind him that she did not seem to need to physically touch an object any longer to trigger a memory or vision. She decided it was better to hold her tongue, though, and play along.
Alex picked out all but two of the rooms’ names or functions, but in all fairness, the two she incorrectly named had changed purpose since she had last been there. She counted all Nephilim correctly, and though she did not know everyone’s aura initially, once Alex associated their color spectrum with their name and face, she knew she would not forget them again.
Heath caught up with them in the pool room to lead them on to dinner. Alex narrowed her eyes at Heath and pretended to scold him for not telling her that there was an Olympic size salt water pool housed at that end of the castle. He laughed at her surprise.
“Oh, come on, Alex. What was it before?” he asked, trying to push her to remember.
She looked around the large two-story room which had Roman murals painted on the ceiling, intricate tile frescos on the walls, and life-size marble sculptures standing equidistance between immense stone columns. The supports ran from floor to ceiling down both sides of the room. The end of the room was a solid expanse of windows, and the bottom of the windows were doors so that fresh air could be allowed in. Key elements of the pool room reminded her of the ballroom. There were also benches along the walls and loungers for relaxing in between laps.
Alex inhaled the salt water smell and remembered that once there was the aroma of fresh water in the room. She closed her eyes and saw Arianna swimming with nothing on, gliding through the water at a leisurely pace. She swam over to the edge and folded her arms under her chin. She was looking off into the distance as if she was talking to someone with her mind and not her voice. Alex turned in the same direction, but the edges of the memory were so out of focus she could not tell who was there.
She saw a cloth, reminiscent of a modern towel, sail over her head coming from the area she could not make out. It landed squa
rely on Arianna’s face. Her peals of laughter brought a giggle to Alex’s lips. She opened her eyes to find both Jack and Heath standing before her, each holding one of her arms. She grinned gratefully at them.
“I’m good, thanks,” Alex said, pulling out of their hold. “It was a Roman bath, wasn’t it?” she asked Heath.
His eyes searched hers momentarily. “The finest I ever saw. I always thought that if any of the Caesars ever glimpsed this place, we would have a full-scale invasion on our hands. Back in the day, you diverted a small stream and had it constantly feed this pool. The water stayed fresh and cool, and it was well circulated,” Heath reminisced.
“Well, it still looks beautiful. I’ll be in this soon enough,” Alex proclaimed.
They took their leave of the room and headed to dinner together. When they entered, Alex and Jack were warmly greeted and placed in the same seats they had occupied the night before. There was so much food and such a wide variety. Food to satisfy the meat eaters, the vegetarians, and the vegans in the gathering. There were Kosher and Halal dishes and food from almost every continent.
What impressed Alex were the portion sizes of the offerings. While the selections were vast, there were not great quantities of anything. It was as if those preparing the food had made specifically what they knew would be consumed, and did not make enough to waste. Dessert was a welcome treat because Alex had been craving chocolate all day, and she was offered a small chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream on the side.
Jackson turned and looked at it in amazement. “You gonna eat that whole thing by yourself?” he asked incredulously.
“What? It’s not so much! Besides, you should know I’m always hungry. Wallace and Conner say I can eat them under the table!” Alex laughed. “Did you want some of this?” she offered.
“Not a chance. That would take me a month to run off.”
“Okay,” she said, shaking her head, “your loss.” Alex proceeded to devour the entire dessert, one scrumptious bite at a time.
Once Alex was finished with her meal she told Jack she was going to mingle. He nodded and sat back in his chair so he could see her. She went to as many immortals as she could, talking and making sure she connected with each one. Their names and auras were becoming rote memory to Alex. She laughed at some of their stories and found that she could actually interject an occasional fact, impressing her friends greatly.
After an hour and a half of talking, Alex moved over to where Archimedes sat. She asked him if it would be a good time to convene in the library for her training, and who would be involved. He assured her it was a perfect time, and that he, Benen, Sabina, Nikolaj, and E-We would assist her that night.
“Can I ask John to come as well? I had another vision this afternoon after I left the library, and it was equally as strange as the one I traveled through earlier in the day. I’d like his input,” she said.
“But of course, Alexandria. Nothing is set in stone. You can bring along whomever you so desire.”
She nodded her thanks and moved on to John to ask him to join them if he would, and explain why he was needed. Finally, Alex made her way back to Jack and told him they were headed to the library.
“We’ve got just a few minutes. I want to step up to my room to go to the watercloset and grab my phone,” Alex said.
“Yep, gotcha,” Jack answered, and got up to follow her.
Alex was quick in the watercloset, snagged her mobile from its charger, and headed back to meet Jack in the hall. He had detoured into his room as well, but he was back out quickly, and they began to head downstairs. However, Alex stopped briefly on the second landing and sat down. Jack had gotten just a few steps ahead of her, but he turned quickly, scanning the hallway looking for a threat. My, he was quick, she mused to herself.
“Alex?” he started to inquire, but she held up her hand to reassure him.
“I’m fine, Jack, honestly. I just wanted a moment before we joined the others. I have a feeling this is going to be really intense and I… Well, I just wanted a moment.”
She looked very vulnerable at that moment to Jack, and he wanted to take Alex in his arms as he had done while she cried herself to sleep the night before, soothing her while the demons passed by. He sat down beside her instead and took her hand in his, giving her what comfort he could. His thumb traced a circle on the inside of her palm, absentmindedly.
“You know, when I was in Afghanistan on my final tour, we had to go into this small village where we knew the Taliban were hiding in the homes of the citizens, using people for cover,” he said quietly.
Alex was astonished that Jack was telling her this, and she looked closely at his face to see if the recollection would be too much for him to relive.
“We had a few main targets we were after, but my unit was tasked with protecting the local people, while another unit went after the few bad apples. It was not the safest of missions, but I was glad to take it. I thought about my little brother the whole time. And I thought that if someone came into my town, into my home, and used my brother as cover, I would be praying that someone like me was on the other end of the rifle coming in the door. I knew that my men and I would use restraint and actually take a look before we did anything rash.”
“I used their eyes, Alex. They say the eyes are the gateway to the soul, so I made damn sure I looked into people’s eyes before I decided their fate. We saved so many, and found those few bad apples we were looking for.”
“You can do that too, you know. Look these Nephilim in the eye, see into their souls and decide just how much or how little you’re going to give them. Luckily, they’re all good to the core, but a few are going to have to play the bad guy tonight to awaken this ability in you. It won’t matter what they try to pick or take from you in training tonight. What you give or receive is entirely up to you. Your memories are your own, your choices are your own, and you can share them at your pleasure.”
“Remember, use your eyes and the rest will follow, okay?” Jack ended his almost reverent remarks with a squeeze of Alex’s hand.
“Thank you, Jack,” she whispered, afraid to upset the fragile atmosphere he had created around them. “I’m glad you were there, too. You probably saved lots of innocents that might otherwise have been hurt or killed. Now who’s amazing?” Alex smiled at him.
He leaned over and bumped her shoulder with his. “Oh, I don’t know about amazing. Just careful and cautious. Ready to give this a try?” He looked at her expectantly.
“I’m ready,” she said and nodded.
Jack slowly stood and gently pulled Alex up, then continued with her down to the library.
Chapter 18
Immortal Reborn - Arianna's Choice Page 22