Embers & Ice

Chapter Thirteen

"If you show me another picture of this girl, Jenny, I’m going to strangle you.”

Jennifer Smart bit her lip and clicked out of the photo viewer on the computer screen. Eli sat back in the swivel chair, his face in his hands. A long sigh fell out of his mouth.

“I’m sorry Eli, I thought that one of these might jog your memory.”

“Why do you think showing me pictures of this girl will help me remember her? Why is she so important, anyway?”

“Because–” Jenny stood and walked over to the tray of coffee, pouring herself her sixth cup and ignoring the buzz throughout her body. “That benefit was the night you met. Hunter told me all about you when she visited me in the hospital. You went to Prom together.”

“Remind me again how this happened? How did I suddenly fall so in love with this girl, I mean she’s not my type at all. Guys fall all over her at school. We’re nothing alike.”

Jenny turned off the computer and put a hand gently on his knee.

“A girl like Hunter needed someone like you. You were a nice change. Trust me, Eli, Hunter would have done anything for you.”

“Then where is she? Does she think I’m dead or something because that freak put me to sleep and took away my memories?”

Jenny fiddled with her fingers. I am so not the right person for this conversation, she thought.

Eli stared up at her through narrowed eyes for a long time. “Did you ever see a man while you were asleep?”

Jenny’s heart started beating fast. She thought the figure was just part of a dream. In a hollow voice, she whispered, “You saw him too?”

“I saw something. It was a man I think, but he flickered… I never got to see his face. That’s when I woke up. I thought it was just my imagination.”

Jenny wiped her hands down her face. None of this makes sense. I’m healed, Eli has no memory, and we both saw the same figure just before we woke up here in the lab. Could it be an angel, or was it just… a dream?

“I don’t know who it was Eli, but I think that’s what brought us back. You have no idea how completely rare it is that we survived cryonics; it’s near impossible to recover all emotions and mental characteristics. If you ask me, Joshua just barely got by with us. But,” she added in a small voice, “he feels terrible about it.”

“Are you guys in love or something?”

Jenny looked at Eli and laughed. “Not even if hell freezes over.”

“Then what’s his deal?”

Jenny really didn’t want to attempt to describe Joshua’s deranged actions to someone who hardly knew him at all – even she couldn’t say she understood Joshua – but the poor boy was helpless without his memories.

“He… he loves Hunter. More than anything. But there’s a part of him that isn’t exactly human. It comes with his powers.”

“Right, the… ice thing. Doesn’t that freak you out? I mean if it weren’t for that door, I’d be outta here in two seconds flat.”

Jenny looked at the door, wondering if she would leave as well if she got the chance. She definitely wanted to when she woke up, but she was afraid and knew nothing. Things had changed.

“I guess everything’s complicated now,” she said to him. “And-”

Eli’s hand whipped up suddenly. “Do you hear someone?”

Jenny froze, listening. Sure enough, muffled sounds were coming from the other side of the door.

“Joshua’s home,” she sighed. “I hope he has take-out.”

“No,” said Eli in a whisper, “Jenny. There’s more than one voice.”

“What?”

“Shh!” Eli got to his feet and lightly crossed the room. He waved her over, and Jenny shakily followed. “Listen.”

With her ear pressed against the steel door, she could just hear soft male voices coming from the room beyond.

And neither of them were Joshua’s.