Olivia's POV
The sixth time Samuel appears at my side, I'm not surprised anymore. Instead, I ignore his sudden appearance and continue to hop down the side of the small park.
"Why are you back here?" he asks.
It's been three days since my first visit to the accident site, which means that Samuel has completed another full circle with his charges. And yet I still don't remember a single detail about the cursed night; even after the hour I have spent at the intersection.
"Isn't it obvious?" I keep my eyes on the dull gray asphalt to make sure I don't stick my crutches into a hole and end up falling onto my butt. "I was bored, so I came here to see if today my memories would be more inclined to cooperate."
"Were they?"
"No. I still don't remember a single thing." I glance at him to find him focused on the street in front of us. "Aren't you going to ask why I was bored? Probably not, but I'll still tell you. You see, both you and Eliza haven't been around these past three days, so I haven't had anyone to address my unanswered questions to. Like for instance, how do I distinguish Guardians from humans? I mean, is there a special feature I need to look for?"
No matter how many seconds I wait for his answer Samuel refuses to turn toward me. In fact, with the way he has his lips pursed into a tight frown and his eyes focused straight forward, I get the feeling that he's not even listening to me.
This is why I move the crutches forward into an unusually wide step and use them for support to move forward. Then when I'm the tiniest step in front of Samuel, I swipe the left crutch to my side and position it directly underneath Samuel's feet. Just like during our second interaction in front of my house, he falls flat onto his face.
"The crutches are an amazing weapon, don't you agree?" I smile at him but hop a safe step back just in case.
Samuel lifts himself onto his elbows and glares up at me. "What was that for?"
The fall caused his thick front hair to move to the side, which provides me with a rare glimpse of his pale forehead. Once again the old thumb-sized scar on the left side of his forehead immediately catches my attention.
"What happened?" I point at his forehead. "Who was angry enough to smack you over your head?"
"None of your business." Samuel swiftly arrays his hair, so they once again cover his entire forehead, and then raises into a standing position. "Why trip me?"
"Because you were being an ass. I asked you a question, yet you weren't listening to me."
"I heard you." He narrows his caramel eyes at me. "There's just no point in you knowing more about Guardians."
"I disagree. I believe there's a reason why I'm able to see you. And the only way to find out what the reason is, is for me to learn more about your kind."
"That makes no sense."
"Yes, itâ" I turn back in the direction we were headed before when I catch sight of a woman pulling a young boy against her hip.
While the boy doesn't even glance in my direction, the woman is looking at me with wide eyes. The protective way in which she wraps her arm around the boy's shoulders and makes sure they are as far away from me as the sidewalk allows, makes me guess that she thinks I'm talking to myself.
I wait for the flush of embarrassment to heat my cheeks, but nothing of the sort happens. This is why, without sparing another thought to the woman, I turn back to Samuel. "It makes perfect sense. You're just too stubborn to see it."
"Aren't you embarrassed?" Samuel nods at the woman and the boy, who are now hurrying to get away from me. "She thinks you're crazy."
"Not at all." I shrug and wave at the woman when she turns around to glance at me. "I don't know her, so who cares about what she thinks of me."
Samuel shakes his head at me. "I don't care what you do around humans, but you can't let other Guardians know that you're able to see us."
"That's why I want you to tell me how to differentiate Guardians from humans." I move in the direction we were headed before and Samuel wordlessly follows me.
When we reach the end of the street where it meets the main road, I pull a set of wireless earbuds out of the pocket in my sweats. "How about this? I'll put the buds in, so it'll look like I'm talking to someone on the phone while you explain to me how I can tell who's a Guardian and who's a human."
Samuel doesn't say anything, which I take as a silent agreement, so I stuff the earbuds into my ears. While I'm busy making sure the buds are settled in, Samuel steps onto the main road and begins to cross the three lanes. I first look left and right to make sure I can safely follow him and then turn back forward. Despite the coast being clear though, I find myself unable to lift the crutches off the edge of the sidewalk. No matter how hard I glare at my feet they refuse to budge.
"Olivia?" Samuel stops in the middle of the road and turns back to me.
I glare at my feet to move, but then give up after a few seconds of their stubborn stillness. With a sigh, I move the crutches away from the edge of the road and start to hop in the direction of a crosswalk over a hundred yards to my right. Ever since I woke up in the hospital I discovered that I'm unable to cross the road where there is no crosswalk to guide me to the other side. And despite not remembering the accident, I'm sure it has something to do with it.
"What are you doing?" Samuel calls out from the other side of the road. "The bus stop is back there."
"I know." I wait until the approaching car stops, so I can finally cross the road.
Seventy-three hops later, I stop beside Samuel who is looking at me with raised eyebrows. Wordlessly we head back to the spot where he crossed the road, and where the bus stop is located.
We don't need to wait long before the bus arrives. When it's my turn to enter, I grab both crutches with my left hand and reach up to the door handle with my right hand. I use it to pull myself onto the bus and then hop a step over, so I can pay my fare.
Asking Samuel for help would have been the easiest option, but I already know what he would say. He would, of course, explain to me yet again how he's not allowed to interfere with my life, which includes me getting onto the bus.
I sit onto a double seat close to the back of the bus and scoot over to the window, so Samuel can sit beside me. Because I'm still wearing the pink earbuds, I allow my eyes to travel around the rest of the passengers.
"Now, can you finally explain to me how I can tell us apart?" I ask.
A couple of teenagers sitting in the seat in front of me turn around and look at me. I point at my earbuds, which causes them to wordlessly nod and turn back around. I, on the other hand, glance over to Samuel, who is sitting with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Just this once." He turns his attention to the rest of the bus in front of us. "You need to look at how the surrounding people are acting."
I follow his gaze to the middle of the bus where a trio is standing close to the middle door. While the only man in the group and the woman standing next to him are chatting with each other, the third woman, who is standing a step away from them, is mimicking the couple's conversation with exaggerated squeaks. However, no matter how far heavenward she rolls her eyes, no one, not even the couple beside her, ever glances in her direction.
"So, what?" I turn back to Samuel. "The people whom everyone ignores are Guardians?"
"Yes." He nods. "You'll also never see a Guardian in a hurry."
"Isn't there some other way to tell us apart? Like some kind of badge on their clothes."
"No. There's never been a need for a distinction. We instinctively know who's a Guardian and who's not."
"Well, that sucks."
The rest of the ride I spend observing the surrounding people and trying to tell who's a Guardian and who's a human.
"Seven," I say when I stand and use the nearby chairs as support, so I can reach the bus's back door. "I counted seven Guardians."
"Eight," Samuel says from right beside me.
I turn back around and look for the Guardian I missed when the bus stops at the stop near my home. The back door opens and I'm about to rest my crutches on the sidewalk below when I feel something nudge me in between the shoulders. I lose my balance and begin to tip forward.
All I can think about is what a nasty fall this is going to be.
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- E