The Wind and the Horizon (Book 2 in the Starborn Series)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Later that evening, Marina showed May and Em to a spare bedroom and told them to make themselves comfortable.

"I'm going to make sure Myles is actually in bed," she said, watching as the girls surveyed the room. "Marcus and I are at the end of the hall - last door on the left. Knock if you need anything."

She pulled the door closed behind her with a soft click. May listened to her retreating footsteps until they disappeared up the stairs to the floor Myles' bedroom was on. Down the hall Marcus, Marina's husband, had already retired for the night. In the quiet, the house felt like a trap and May's unease resurfaced once more.

Though Em had already collapsed into a full sprawl on the bed, May felt too restless to join her. She began to pace, pausing at the window. Her hand hovered at the closed curtains. A paranoid, anxious part of her brain begged her to peek out, but she was stopped by the memory of Marina asking them to stay out of sight. Reluctantly she pulled away and wandered back to the door. She checked for a lock and, when she didn't find one, dragged an old wooden chair from the writing desk in the corner and wedged its back beneath the handle.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Marina or her family; May had simply learned not to get too comfortable.

"I wonder how much longer the others will be," May wondered aloud, examining her makeshift blockade with a satisfied nod.

It took her a beat to realize Em wasn't listening.

When she glanced over, May saw Em's gaze trained on the ceiling. Her expression was one of deep and troubled thought. May sank gently onto the mattress beside her and laid a soft hand on Em's shoulder.

"Babe?" she inquired quietly. "Are you sure everything's okay?"

Em blinked, looking at May as though she had forgotten she was in the room. "What?"

"I asked if everything was alright."

Biting her lip, Em rolled her face onto May's hand and pressed her cheek into its warmth. "I don't know. I guess so."

But May knew her better than that. She laid down next to Em so they were face to face.

"Talk to me."

Em cringed; she knew it was pointless to protest.

"It's about Audrey," she admitted without looking May in the eyes. She had never been comfortable talking about her past life with May more than was absolutely necessary.

"What about her?" May hoped the inquisitive cadence of her voice didn't give away the flutter of panic in her stomach.

"I think..." Em squinted, thinking hard about what she wanted to say next. "I think I'm starting to forget her. Well, not her exactly, but her memories. Her feelings. I didn't realize it until we got here and now I'm wondering how long it's been going on."

"What kind of things are you forgetting?" May asked. She had a hard enough time reconciling the fact that Em was host to two lives worth of memories.

Em frowned. "I forgot Marina has a kid. And yet I remembered she's a computer engineer. It's weird."

"That's awful," May said, stroking Em's silver strands back from her face. She combed her fingertips gently along Em's scalp and watched her features relax into the sensation. "What do you think is causing it?"

"Probably just time to be honest," Em admitted, closing her eyes. "When they first brought me back, Welkin told me it would take a while to settle into being me. But even they had no idea what that would look like. Maybe in time I'll forget about Audrey altogether."