Space (Laws of Physics #2)(15)

I also saluted and stepped in front of Allyn once again. “Hey, what’s going on? Why are you here?”

“I called you and left a message. I invited a few—” A gust of wind filled the small structure, pushing Leo forward such that he had to use his free hand to brace himself against the door.

Just before he righted himself, I noticed movement behind him. Another man—a big one by the looks of him—was walking toward us along the path. My stomach tensed. A shivery—yet hot—spike of awareness shot up my spine to my neck. And my heart . . . my heart.

I licked my lips, my eyes wide on my brother. “Leo. Is there—is there someone here with you?”

“Why don’t you come inside? I’ll explain everything.”

I grabbed his arm. “Explain now.” Why is my heart beating so hard?

It was like that moment in the sensory deprivation chamber, I was hot and cold and clammy everywhere.

Leo shook his head, giving me a look of mild exasperation. “Mona, it’s freezing and you’re doing that whispering thing. I can barely hear you. Let’s go.”

He easily pulled out of my grip, turning for the house and lowering the shovel, and I reached for him again. But before I could grab my brother, the new person emerged from the dark and snow, and entered the little halo spilling from the funicular structure’s overhead lights.

I stopped.

I think even my heart stopped.

I know my forebrain stopped, or was—at the very least—broken.

It was . . .

He was . . .

He looked . . .

How . . .?

“Abram.”





3





Magnetism





*Abram*





“Abram.” Leo stopped upon catching sight of me. Most of his face was in shadow, but what I could see looked relieved. “Good. Hey, so I guess I will need you to take the funicular down to the garage level after all.”

I nodded, my attention moving beyond him to the two women. The one on the left must’ve been Mona’s friend, Alan. My eyes sought the one on the right.

Huh.

She was shorter than I remembered. Memories are tricky that way, always trying to make the past bigger, more important, more interesting and relevant and meaningful. But memories were so seldom reflective of reality.

And yet, I had to concede that she was just as beautiful as I remembered, even though all the color had leached from her skin. Mona looked like she’d just seen a ghost. This filled me with a perverse kind of satisfaction, because she was staring right at me. I was the ghost.

Even wan, she was still extraordinary. Those honey colored eyes of hers were wide with surprise and her pretty pink heart-shaped lips were parted slightly. The delicate line of her jaw, the gentle point of her chin, the subtle indent just beneath her cheekbones, it all made me want to hold her face in my palms, push her hat off, thread my fingers into her dark hair, tilt her head back, and—

“My sister didn’t get the messages I left earlier. Thanks for your help. I know it’s freezing.” Leo lifted his voice over the howling wind. “I want to get the girls settled, make introductions, you know.”

“Not a problem.” I shoved my hands into my pockets, lest they get any ideas, and gave Leo another nod. But my attention remained fastened to the genius astrophysicist who continued to gape at me. I didn’t remember her looking at me that way during our week together, nor during any of her interviews, and I wondered if this was a new expression for Ms. Mona DaVinci.

Had she ever been unpleasantly surprised before? Had she ever come face-to-face with a mistake? Leo had once told me Mona never made mistakes. What did that make me?

The opposite of a mistake is intentional action.

I felt my lips curve into a bitter smile at the thought and blinked, moving my carefully bored glare from Mona to her friend. Leo had said the friend’s name was Alan, so I’d been expecting a man. Obviously, this Alan wasn’t a man. For some reason, the discovery relaxed the tension around my ribs somewhat. I wouldn’t think too much about that, if I could help it.

Alan was also staring at me, her lips also parted, but she wasn’t looking at me like I was a ghost. She was looking at me like she knew who I was, and she was a fan. Great.

Sighing, I dropped my attention to the pathway and moved toward the ski lift house, or whatever it was called. Despite Leo’s shoveling, the large slate path was quickly refilling with snow. The old guy down at the garage level would definitely need help. That’s what I would think about.

Eyeballing the doorway blocked by the two women, I hesitated before walking slowly forward. Mona’s friend wasn’t a big person, but I was. Unless she wanted to press herself flat against the wall, there was no way we’d both fit in the tight hallway. Thus, it was no surprise when, at my approach, Alan scrambled out of the way, stepping around Mona and onto the much broader path.

The friend wore a wide, shy smile as my gaze flickered to her. I gave her a single head nod in acknowledgement. I’d learned the value of keeping an air of detachment. Fans preferred the myth that I was inherently aloof to any version of truly knowing me. Who was it who’d said, “Better to shut your mouth and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt”? These days, that was basically my mantra.