AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s a very small circle.”
Small, but suddenly not as cozy as I’d like.
His fingers tapped on his track pad. “Will you talk to me about your … symptoms?”
I searched his eyes. Trusted what I saw. “I started seeing rips, but apparently everyone else with the time gene does, too.” He nodded confirmation. “My energy levels are insane. I don’t need to sleep or eat. I do, out of habit, but it isn’t necessary. All my senses feel sharper. And I heal really fast. Insanely fast. I can also hold any form I change into a lot longer. Things like my vocal cords and hair color have always been either impossible or complicated. Not anymore. No effort at all.”
“Show me.”
I thought for a second, and then morphed into Zoe Saldana à la Star Trek.
“James T. Kirk who? Spock who? Bring me a sexy Samoan.” I slipped back into my normal skin. “Are you okay? You kind of look like you swallowed your tongue.”
“Fine. I’m fine.” He rubbed one hand over his face, picked up a pencil, and started scribbling in his spiral notebook.
“The possession, or whatever, isn’t connected to my transmutation ability. It’s new, part of the Infinityglass thing.” I tried to sound casual as I asked the next question. “Do you have a theory on how the Infinityglass part of me kicked into gear?”
He tapped the eraser end of his pencil on the vanity. “It could be … hormonal.”
“Excuse me?”
“That wasn’t meant as any kind of insult; it’s just a known trigger for some people. Usually, it’s puberty.” Dune gave me the once-over, and then started scribbling in his notebook again.
“Yeah. I passed that a long time ago.”
“Obviously.” He wouldn’t look at me. “Or the genetic stressor could be an object or a million other things.”
o;You have symptoms beyond the ripple sightings?” I asked. “Besides the possession?”
She nodded but didn’t elaborate. “Any answers I get from her now will have to be bargained for, and it’s not worth it.”
“She knows what you are, and she won’t help you? How could a mother do that?”
“Because she wants something from me.” Hallie picked up her toast. “She always does. I don’t know what it is this time, and I don’t really want to find out. It won’t be good. It won’t be loving, or in my best interest. Nothing she does ever is.”
“Then don’t get answers from her. Get them from me.” It was the boldest I’d been about the Infinityglass since the night at Lafitte’s.
She exhaled. “I’m ready when you are.”
“Then let’s take it upstairs.”
I put my plate in the sink and exited the kitchen, leaving her with a curious expression and a mouth full of toast.
I set up my laptop, an external drive, and notebook on Hallie’s vanity.
It was the first time I’d actually been in her room. A confection of pastels, it was huge and relentlessly neat, with toe shoes hanging from pegs on the wall. I didn’t understand why she needed so many different pairs. There were also wigs and tutus.
She had every game system known to man, including a couple of throwbacks, like an Atari console and a Sega Genesis. A tall wooden shelf held hundreds of movies in various forms, Blu-rays, DVDs, even some VHS tapes. I tapped one and raised an eyebrow.
“Not everything has been released in the most modern formats. If you think that’s a lot, my digital collection would blow your mind.”
“I collect music the way you collect movies.” I opened the minimized window on my laptop screen and showed her.
“Seven thousand songs?”
“My physical collection would blow your mind. It’s a sickness. But I like to read, too.”
“So do I. Real books. When I was younger, my dad used to take me to the bookstore on Saturdays. Garden District Book Shop at first, but then Octavia Books.” Melancholy sneaked into her voice. “I could spend hours in that place; it was so open and full of light. They even had a pet dog that lived in the store. Those were the good old days.”
