Eileen Lepetit

CHAPTER 20 My intention of sending Lucas to the living room is a good one but, in the end I don’t do it. Not because I have no self-control - which I don’t - but because we are both too exhausted and fall asleep before either one of us means to. I realize this because when I wake up in the middle of the night, Lucas is beside me, fully clothed as he is a knight. It isn’t Lucas’ presence that wakes me up, though. It is a disturbance, a feeling that something just isn’t right. I feel like I have had enough of that for a lifetime, but I know better than to think that just because I finished off Eoin, I am finished completely. The disturbance comes in the form of a sort of tugging, a pull that reaches through the dark, sleeping household and the empty shop. Something - or maybe someone - wants my attention. I glance at Lucas. I could wake him up, but after everything I have done, I doubt there is a situation that I won’t be able to handle. Better to let him have a few hours of peace. Slip...

CHAPTER 19 The aunts are significantly less bossy now that I have killed a Ripper and brought down a building. They are also grieving the death of their sister. In the end, they are simply helpful and accommodating, creating stories that cover up the bizarre events of the day that have been witnessed by many. Before they leave, they instruct us to go to bed as normal and to expect that Nana will pass away in her sleep of a cardiac event. They will phone it in for us, pretending to be Miranda. In the meantime, my grandmother’s endless sleep continues. Lucas follows me upstairs. “Do you want to see her?” he asks. “I can go with you if you’d like.” I shake my head. “She isn’t there anymore,” I answer. “Just in here,” I put a finger on my forehead, “and here.” I move my finger to my heart. “And somehow I think if I need her, she will be with me.” He nods and we find ourselves standing awkwardly in front of one another in the dark hallway. “Come to my room,” I finally say, taking his hand....

CHAPTER 18 The sign on the shop door is flipped to Closed but the place is packed with people. Lucas reaches out a hand to open the door for me, but I tug his sleeve, stopping him. Inside that store is everyone I love, minus one: Nana. She is there, not asleep, but dead. I will never see her or hear her voice again, never be able to ask her advice or push her away and pretend I don’t want it. There won’t be anyone to take my side against Miranda, to let me know - kindly - when I’m being a bitch. Most of all, the one person who provided me with pure, unconditional love is gone forever. I can’t go in there. Not just yet. Lucas looks down, understanding. He takes my hand and leads me to a frozen bench a few yards up the block by the bus stop. “I’m sorry about your grandmother,” he says, gently rubbing my cold fingers. I nod, the tears and snot starting to flow again. “I just...I feel like as long as I don’t go in there, it won’t be real, you know? Like maybe the vision I had was just a ...