Samuel's POV
"You!"
The shout of recognition doesn't come from me. It comes from Olivia as she waves with a wide smile at the unexplainably familiar boy, who just entered the café.
"You're only fifteen minutes late today," the old hag of a café owner says as she and the boy reach the table where Olivia and Nick are still sitting. "This must be a record."
She sets a cup of coffee in front of Nick, while everyone remains focused on the boy standing a step away from Olivia.
"I can leave and come back later." The boy shrugs.
"Insolent brat." The old hag shakes her head at him and then turns to Olivia. "I don't think you two met yet, but this is my grandson, Hugo."
The boy's eyes first flow over to Olivia and then to Nick, but then he snaps them back to Olivia and then a second later back to Nick. His bushy eyebrows rise further and further up as he continues to look in between them.
"Hugo," Olivia says. "That isn't such a long name."
"Do you two know each other?" the old hag asks.
"We've met," Olivia nods, "but he didn't tell me either his name or that he's your grandson. He only said that his name is too long for him to tell me."
"Too long my ass. He was just being his usual lazy self." With a huff, the old hag makes her way back to the counter, while muttering something underneath her breath.
I turn back to the three humans at the table beside mine and notice the quick nod Hugo and Nick share. Without a doubt, the two know each other, which makes me wonder if this is the reason why I find the boy familiar? Have I met him while in Nick's presence?
"Why didn't you tell me you work here when I gave you the flyer?" Olivia asks.
"Too much to explain." Hugo shrugs and looks around the café.
For a second his eyes meet mine, but it's enough for me to feel like someone just punched me in the gut. The café around me disappears and I find myself staring at what looks like an older version of Hugo. He must be at least nineteen years old. What is even odder are the old clothes he's wearing. They're not just out of style; they're clothes one sees in human history books.
"Move out of my way," the older Hugo says through gritted teeth.
With a mocking bow, I turn to the side and watch him as he marches down what looks like an empty shore. Without stopping, he walks into the rocky sea and doesn't stop, not even when the water rises up to his shoulders. He ignores the waves that lift the water higher and higher and keeps going forward until all that is left is his floating head.
"Let us go," someone beside me says, but I continue to keep my eyes focused on the older Hugo, who is swimming toward what looks like a big rock. "Come on. Let us leave him here."
I'm just about to turn to the male standing beside me when the sea disappears and I'm back inside the café. I snap my eyes around the room and relax only when I find Hugo standing behind the counter next to the old hag.
I rest my elbows on the table beside me and lean my head against my open palms. What I just saw felt so real that I know it isn't just my imagination. It's something that really happened, which could only mean one thing.
It was a memory of my past human life.
"Are you okay?" Olivia asks.
I look up to find her gazing at me with worried eyes, but I just shake my head and focus my eyes back on Hugo. As Guardians, we aren't supposed to remember our past human lives, which makes the memory nothing but a brief anomaly. Yet despite knowing that, I find myself wanting to know more. I want to know what I did to deserve this punishment. And apparently the boyâHugoâis part of the key that could help me figure out the truth.
He, after all, seems to be the reincarnation of someone I used to know.
*
Olivia's POV
"Got it," Nick says into his phone while holding the door open.
I slip past him out of the café, and he follows right behind me. We stop a couple of steps down the sidewalk, where I wait for him to finish his call.
"Nothing," he says as he hits the end button. "There's still no lead on the bastard you described."
My shoulders slump, but then a second later I straighten back up. Just because the police haven't been able to find the driver doesn't mean anything is over yet.
"What time is it?" I ask.
Nick glances at his phone. "Quarter to five. Why?"
"It means I still have an hour and fifteen minutes before Samuel arrives." It has, after all, been three days since Samuel's last visit, which means my turn will be up today. "I can't let the time I have left go to waste."
"Who's Samuel?" Nick squeezes his hands into the pockets of his jeans and scrapes the tip of his red sneaker against the asphalt. "He your boyfriend?"
"What? Definitely not." I snort at the thought of Samuel being my boyfriend. "He's more like a stalker. But he turned out to be one of the good guys, so don't worry."
"Stalker?" Nick pulls his phone back out of his pocket. "I'll call my old man again."
"No." I cover his hands on the phone with mine to prevent him from dialing officer Wright's number. "I didn't mean like a literal stalker. It's just what I call him because it annoys him. Anyway, thank you for calling your father for an update, but I'm in a hurry right now. I'll see you around."
Before Nick can open his mouth, I spin around and skip down the street in the direction of the intersection from the accident. Fifteen yards away from the intersection, just at the edge of the park, my eyes catch a familiar figure sprawled across the wooden bench. I hesitate for a second and then make a beeline for the lying boy. He is once again lounging on his back, with his hands stretched behind his head and his eyes firmly shut.
"Hugo?" I wait for a moment and then nudge his rib cage with my finger. "Wake up."
"Go away," he groans without bothering to open his eyes.
"I already finished my shift, so Ramona is now waiting for you."
Hugo mumbles something incoherent but opens his eyes and shifts into a sitting position. "I've been seeing you here a lot lately. You live nearby?"
"No." I turn around and point at the intersection across the park. "I was in a car accident there a few weeks ago and I've been coming back to try and figure out what happened."
"Wait. Are you the oneâ" He stops and shakes his head. "I got to go."
"What do you mean if I'm the one?"
"Never mind." He stands up. "Abuela's waiting." With a single wave, he heads in the direction of the café.
While I'm left staring at his back, I can't help to notice that I have never seen him move so fast before. Because I already have something else I need to do though, I push him out of my mind and head over to the intersection.
Once there I stop at the edge of the sidewalk and take in a deep breath. It has been a week since my promise to the Head Guardian that I would find the Guardian responsible and yet the only memory I have recovered is the one with the driver. Everything else is still a blank hole.
I take in another deep breath and grit my teeth. Who cares about my fear of crossing the road where there is no crosswalk. I have to do this.
Just when I'm about to lift my foot off the sidewalk, an eerie tingle brushes against the back of my neck. I whirl around, yet all I see is an empty park and a suburban street where a few people are strolling around. None of them, however, are paying me the least bit attention.
Yet for some reason, I still feel like someone's watching me.
A loud honk of a car causes me to snap my eyes back to the road. Ten feet to my left a sleek black Sedan rolls to a slow stop. The tinted window of the passenger seat buzzes open and to my surprise, a familiar head pops out.
"Mom?" I blink at Mom's ever perfect hair and then at the fancy car she's in. It takes me a second to realize that not only have I seen this car before, but that I have already ridden inside it as well. It's Anya's car.
"My motherly senses were right." Mom narrows her eyes at me and then waves me to come closer. "What are you waiting for? Get in."
Without another second to waste I move to the car's back and slip into the right backseat. The moment I enter the vehicle my eyes bulge. A seat away from me sits a familiar guy with shoulder-length locks and with an amused smile playing on his lips. Our eyes meet and I realize where I have seen him before; or more importantly who he is.
He is Anya's Guardian and I just looked directly at him.
***
Please, remember to vote and comment if you like the chapter.
Much love
- E