The True One

Chapter 3

Verity

Alek would make a great prosecutor. He shot question after question at me, most of which I couldn't—or wouldn't—answer. Where did I go? Has this ever happened to me before? If so, was I outside?

"Wait, what?" I hadn't said a word each time he lobbied an inquiry my way, but that last one seemed odd. "Why would it matter if I was outside?"

"So, it has happened before."

"Did I say that? No." Irritated that he had dodged the issue of the outside world's significance, I pushed him away. Dizziness struck, and I willed myself to stay upright. I would stand on my own two feet if it killed me.

"Okay, walk me through it," he said. "Why did you come out here in the first place?"

"Why did I..." I had completely forgotten my motivations. "Oh, your plate."

"My plate?"

"Yes. My father wants your dinner plate so he can run a load of dishes. Shit, that should have taken me two minutes. He probably thinks I'm out here either making out with you or murdering you."

Alek took a step back, his expression dark.

"That was a joke, Alek." I wondered which of the two options made him more afraid. "You should relax the muscles in your forehead or you're going to develop irreversible creases."

With effort, he forced smile. Still bad for wrinkles. "I'm a bit sensitive about jokes involving my murder."

"I suppose that's fair. You're super jumpy for a bodyguard though."

"You really just came out here to get my plate?"

"Yes, but it's my turn to be the questioner now. Let's start with this one: why did you ask me where I went? I didn't go anywhere, which you should know because you were right next to me the whole time."

"Yeah, I was right next to you." He motioned to the patch of grass I assume he'd been standing on during my... ordeal. "But you? It was like you were in some sort of trance. Wherever you went in your mind, it was far from here. I called your name a million times, waved my hand in front of your face, gave your shoulders a squeeze."

"You what?" My cheeks heated as I imagined his hands gliding over me. A little more upsetting was the thought that if I was in a trance, I'd have no control over what happened to me. I was completely defenseless. "I don't remember any of that."

"Really? Nothing at all."

"No. Unsettling, isn't it?" I brought my phone out of my back pocket and began frantically texting Flora.

"What are you doing?"

"Minding my business." I shut off the screen. "Hand me your plate. I'm going inside."

As I turned away from him, another question popped into my mind. Fuck, I should have addressed this one immediately. "Alek, if I was in a trance for, how long did you say it was?"

"About thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes." I faced him again. Thirty minutes of me alone with him, with no memory of what transpired. "That's a long time for someone to be nonresponsive."

"I agree."

"Good. So, if we're on the same page about that, then I'm sure we also agree that if we came across someone in the situation I was in, we would call for an ambulance."

"Well..."

"Why aren't there any ambulances here, Alek?"

"Do you want me to call one?"