UNEXPECTED QUESTION
THE DRINK IN MY HAND IS DOING LITTLE TO RELAX ME OUT
here on Daddy’s yacht. I thought getting away from the island might help clear my head, but it’s not.
Don’t get me wrong, few eighteen-year-olds get to relax on yachts or feel the need to escape from their private islands. I should be grateful for what I have. But there is a downside to having those things in my life.
I have no friends. Literally. Unless you count Daddy’s security detail, and I don’t think I do. Besides, there is only one that matters to me: Elijah. I’ve only been daydreaming about him since I was eight years old when he was first hired.
Yes, he’s that much older than me, but it doesn’t matter.
I’m mature for my age. I’m different. I finished my schooling at the age of eight and have since learned another dozen or so languages as Daddy and I travel. I’ve also earned a Ph.D.
in Theoretical Physics.
I’ve done more in my eighteen years than many do in their lifetime.
And yet… I just feel like something isn’t right.
UNDERSTANDING
ELIJAH HAS A HARD TIME CONCENTRATING AS CELIA TELLS HIM
all that she has learned from Avalyn. His head still hurts and his eyes are sore. He’s also hearing things differently and seeing things differently. The world is… more, somehow. He can’t quite put his finger on it, but he feels like he’s now experiencing everything in detail. The past seems like it was muted and blurred.
“She says we’re destined to save humanity and the universe,” said Celia.
He blinked and tried to refocus on her. “I don’t understand,” he said.
She nodded at him and picked at the food on the table in front of her. It was some kind of pastry with a creamy yet savoury centre. He thought it was tasty, even though he was unused to such a combination. They had not once been served meat, and he was beginning to think it wouldn’t happen.
Still, given how he’d been feeling, the food he’d had had been more than plentiful for him.
He was more concerned about Celia. The minute they’d found themselves in this place, Blara, or whatever it was called, she’d changed. He couldn’t quite place his finger on that, either, but she almost seemed to come out of her shell.