Winter's Edge

Chapter 26 - Garden

Abby

AFTER twenty-four hours, Lena's wounds had healed quite a bit, but her memory hadn't come back.

She was much more pleasant now that she didn't remember the past that made her so angry all the time. It was nice. But the newness of the situation began to wear off and life became normal again. And so back to work we went.

Ian and I passed through the door from the East Passage into the beauty that was the gardens. The ceiling bore a sheet of fiber-optic cables more than anywhere else in Winter's Edge, and the walls had an elaborate, life-like painting that made us feel as if we were in the Italian countryside, next to a thick forest. Real trees made up the edges of the painted forest, giving it a very authentic feel. Channels of water ran back and forth through the massive room underneath wooden structures which held our plants off the ground. Water cycled up from the ground to the plants, then back down into the water channels again where different species of fish swam playfully below. All in all, it took the prize for the most majestic aquaponic farm I'd ever laid eyes on.

I handed a large black bin to Ian, and we headed to one of the many rows brimming with vegetation. He was a little more quiet than usual, but it wasn't completely out of the ordinary. Ian tended to get lost in his head from time to time.

"What are you thinking about?" I plucked a squash from a vine and placed it in his bin.

He shrugged. "Not much. Just thinking about what happened to Lena. Wondering what it would be like to lose my memory. I can't imagine how scary that must be. Or if it's scary at all. It's hard to tell from her reaction."

Just then, Emma hobbled up with her cane. "Mind if I join you two?"

I gave her a brimming smile. "Not at all."

Ian smiled and rested the bin on the garden's wooden frame, then pushed out a hand. "I'm Ian."

Emma looked at Ian, wrinkling her aged, already-wrinkled face even more. "Have we met before?"

"I don't think so," he said.

"I'm Emma." She shook his hand. "Good to meet you." She kept eying him. "Where are you from?"

"Bennett."

Emma's brow rose. "Is your last name Sharp?"

Ian cocked his head with a frown. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Emma's from Bennett, too." I smiled at her. "She's been with us quite a while."

Emma was a little shorter than me, with long wavy white hair and more wrinkles than a Shar Pei. "I used to give you free egg custard pies at the diner when you were about five years old."

"Weird," he said. "I don't remember you, and I never forget a face—literally."

"Well, I didn't always look like this." Emma gestured at me. "I used to look more like her."

"I don't think I was alive when you looked like her." Ian snorted a laugh.

Emma got a clever look in her eye. "How old do you think I am?"

Ian's eyes narrowed. "You couldn't be a day over thirty-five."

Emma snickered. "Cute. But you're closer than you think." The edge of her lip curled up. "I was seventeen when I last saw you. I'm only thirty years old now."

Ian looked at me, incredulous. "No way." He took a closer look at her. "You do look familiar. What's your last name?"

"Gray." She smiled. "Emily Gray."