Page 109 of Total Exposure

The panic sets in as she reaches for both doorknobs and pulls them open to reveal a man. Standing tall and still in the middle of the room. Hands clasped in front of his body. Uncertain smile on his face.

But I have no idea who the man on the other side of the door is.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, my. Evangeline.” I turn to see Dr. Lucinda Chatwell off to my left, walking towards me with her arms outstretched. “You look so… different. So beautiful.”

She pulls me into her, grabbing both my hands and kissing me on the cheek as I awkwardly embrace her back.

“What’s going on?” I ask again. “Who’s this?” I ask, motioning to the man in the room.

“This is my partner. Ixion said you were ready to leave the house and you wanted to meet Jordan before you left.”

“What?” I shake my head and blink my eyes, like I’m dreaming and just need to wake up. “This isn’t Jordan. I know him. I’ve been watching him all week. In the gardens next to the house and at the coffee house for lunch.”

“What?” They say it at the same time.

“Jordan. This isn’t—“

“What are you talking about?” Lucinda asks. “This is Jordan Wells, my partner. He’s the one who found Ixion. That’s the name of your watcher. Ixion Vanir. When he called me last night he said—“

“He called you last night?” I ask. “And he set this up?”

“Yes,” Lucinda says. “What’s wrong? Why—“

I tune her out as all the puzzle pieces all into place.

X. Ix. Ixion. My watcher. My stranger.

He was the one meeting me all week. It was him in the greenhouse. It was him in the coffee house. It was him the whole time.

“Where is he?” I ask.

“Who?” Lucinda asks. Jordan just stands there looking as confused as I feel.

“Ixion,” I say, trying out his name. He wanted me to look at him last night. He wanted me to see him. And I said no. I wanted to stay blind. “I have to go,” I say, rushing back the way I came. The woman who took me to the private tea room is blocking my way, also wearing an expression of confusion on her face. I push past, then weave through the tables and people—all the while Lucinda is calling my name.

But I don’t turn back. And I’m not running away, either. I’m running towards something.

Ixion.

This is why I had such a bad feeling all morning.

No. No. No. No.

I push through the front door and run to the car, Lucinda follows me out, calling my name, but I slip into the backseat and tell the driver, “Take me home. Right now. Quickly! Quick!” I say it again when he looks at me in confusion. Lucinda opens the door, but I put up a hand and stop her from getting in. “No,” I say. “This is not over yet.” And then I push her back, close the door back up, and lean into the front seat. “Drive! Now!”

I chew my lip as we weave our way through downtown traffic, the familiar gut-wrenching, all-too familiar fear I’ve known for the past ten years overtaking me again. I need to get inside. I need his eyes on me. I need… him.

He can’t leave me like this. He wouldn’t.

But when I get to the house and rush through the front door, the first thing I see is the missing bulb up in the chandelier.

He’s gone.

I had a chance to know him. Really know him. And I turned him down.

And now he’s gone.