I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is there a point to this history lesson?”
I knew what he was trying to do. He’d said once that knowledge alleviated fear. Well, it wasn’t working.
He smiled and held up a finger. “Did you know that Galveston was the first city in Texas to have electricity and telephones?”
“No, and I’m not sure I really care.”
“It was also one of the busiest ports in Texas. It was a really big deal compared to Houston back then.”
I reclined my seat back and closed my eyes. “You sound like Ms. Mueller, Alden.”
Spook gave up pulling on her leash and sat at his feet.
“Why don’t you come out here, and I can tell you about it on the beach.”
I opened my eyes when I heard him pull on the latch. “Not a chance. I’ll listen to your historical fun facts from the safety and comfort of the car, thank you.” I pulled the door closed again.
He leaned down and looked into the car. “Come on, Lenzi. The beach is fun.”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
Alden stared out over the placid Gulf waters and leaned back against the car again. “Happy things happened here too,” he said.
“I’m not staying in here because I’m Rose, Alden. I just don’t like the beach, that’s all,” I said, putting the seat back up.
“I didn’t say anything about Rose. Let me show you a memory. It’s a pleasant one. You’ll like it.” He leaned down and looked in at me. “Come on, Lenzi. It’ll only take a moment.”
He knew I couldn’t resist seeing memories of the past. I held out my hand and he took it.
“I can’t leave my body out here on the Seawall. Scoot over.” I shifted over toward the center of the car and he opened the door. He sat on the seat with me and pulled me up onto his lap. Spook leapt onto the floorboard at our feet. Alden shut the door.
My body thrummed with the energy he was transmitting. What had happened to “this is wrong” from last night?
“This is a little too cozy, don’t you think?” I remarked.
“You’re absolutely right.” He patted the driver’s seat. “Come on, Spook. Three’s a crowd.” The dog jumped up onto the driver’s seat. “Better?” he asked with a grin.
“Um, you said—”
“Shhh,” he interrupted. “I’m only going to give you a memory. Contact helps. Ready?”
I nodded.
“Out,” he whispered. I braced for the pain that always followed. It wasn’t bad this time. Not bad at all. Since he wasn’t in his body, I relaxed against it, enjoying the contact.
Okay?
“Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s see it.”
Rose was walking down the beach with Alden. She wore a long, brown dress with a high lace collar and a funny-looking hat with a purple ostrich feather. Her hair was pulled up under it. Alden had short hair. He wore a suit and held a hat. Her arm was linked through his.
“We look weird.” I giggled.
Yes, we do. Watch.
“Well, not ‘we.’ I mean you and Rose.”
Right. Just watch.
Rose grabbed Alden’s hat and took off running, which must have been difficult in the sand in that long dress and uncomfortable-looking pointy shoes. He laughed for a moment before chasing her. Her hat flew off, and he grabbed it up easily from the sand as he closed the distance between them. She ran a few feet out into the water before Alden caught her, and they both fell into the surf. Alden held her hat out of the water as they continued to laugh at each other. He placed it gingerly on her wet head. Giggling, she pulled his hat out of the water and put it on his head, dumping water on him.
The memory stopped.
“Wait a minute. I want to see more,” I whined. I loved this memory. Seeing the playful side of Rose almost made me like her.
Nope. I have to retain some of my mystique. I just wanted you to see that at one time, you loved the beach. It’s one of the reasons you asked to be assigned to the Texas Coastal Region.
“C’mon, Alden. Let me see more.”
We’re out of time. I’m exiting now, okay?
Almost painlessly, he exited and came to life. Contact really did help. He squeezed me before he opened the door, gesturing for me to get out.
He called Spook out and locked the car. “I want to be sure we don’t make the rep wait.”
“What will he be looking for?” I asked, turning to face the Gulf so that the wind didn’t blow my hair across my face.
“Anything odd about you—or me for that matter—that would keep you from doing your job. I guess for now, until we are caught up on points, you might want to not reveal the amnesia. We don’t want them to think you might not be able to keep up. It would help if you acted a little more confident. Rose was very self-assured.”
“Oh, great. He’ll see right through me.”
He looped Spook’s leash over his arm and took my face in his hands. “You are powerful, Lenzi. You are the Speaker. He’ll only see who you are.” He gently pressed his warm lips to mine.
“Wait a minute! You said we couldn’t do that!”
“No. That was nothing like what was going on last night. I kissed Rose like this all the time.”
“No way. A kiss is a kiss, Alden,” I said, frustrated he was breaking his own rule.
He laughed. “Lenzi. If you think that was anything like last night, then we weren’t in the same room.”
I glared. “Cheater.”
He chuckled.
For a moment, an image flickered through my mind. I closed my eyes and concentrated on recapturing it. The perspective was as if I were standing on the beach below us. The Seawall wasn’t there and loads of long, skinny bathhouses on stilts littered the beach. To the left, where the Hotel Galvez currently stood, there were only wooden buildings. This had to be how Rose remembered this spot trying to push its way into my conscious mind.
I opened my eyes with a jolt to current-day Galveston.
Alden touched my shoulder. “What is it?”
Before I could answer, he closed his eyes. “A Speaker is getting close. Maybe the rep is a Speaker instead of a Protector. That would be a lucky break. He won’t feel your nervousness. Oh, yeah . . . he’s real close. This is good, Lenzi.”
“How do you know it’s a he?”
“His soul doesn’t feel like a girl’s.”
A handsome African American man in his early thirties was approaching us from the west. He looked out of place on the seawall in his suit.
“Four thirty-eight?” he called as he came near.
“Yes, sir,” Alden responded, holding my hand. He had amped up the sedative effect of his touch, thank goodness. I needed it.
“Thanks for meeting with me.” He shook Alden’s hand, then turned to me. “I finally get to meet the famous Rose, Speaker 102.”
No doubt, Alden felt my fear skyrocket. He increased the current and gave my fingers a squeeze before letting go.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, shaking the man’s hand. “And you are?”
He smiled. “I apologize. I’m Speaker 956. You can call me Phillip.”
“Nine fifty-six,” Alden repeated. “You’re a pretty young soul to abandon the role of Speaker for a job like this.”
Phillip shrugged. “This is only temporary. My Protector was lost last year. I’ll go back next cycle when she returns.”
Alden shook his head. “Sorry, man. Exorcism?”
“No. Vehicular homicide. It happened in this region, actually. We came down because we were assigned a case by the IC. The Malevolent hangs out at some cemetery around here, swearing vengeance on the South. Calls himself Smith. Bad dude. Killed her by possessing a truck driver, who ran her down. He has a thing against women, I guess. Kept raging about some lover who double-crossed him. But then, this is your region. You probably know more about him than I do.”
Alden took my hand again. “Yeah. He’s been around awhile. We’ll get him, eventually.”
 
; Phillip returned his attention to me. “So, Rose. You were gone a long time, huh? What happened?”
Alden responded to my jolt of fear with a squeeze and more calming current. Thank goodness the IC didn’t send a Protector. The charade would have ended right here.
“I have no idea what happened. It’s irrelevant, I guess, because I’m back in action.”
He tilted his head. Obviously, he wasn’t convinced. “So, you’re a bit behind in the numbers. You’re barely over ten points a day. Is something going on?”
It took everything in me to fake a smile. “You’ll have to ask Alden about that. I thought he was on top of things.”
“It’s totally my fault,” Alden confirmed. “I’ve bogged us down. I’ve got a little sister this time, and I’m still living with my parents. I’m only seventeen and quite restricted. I’ll overcome it.”
I could tell by Phillip’s demeanor and facial expression, he wasn’t buying it.
“Rose, you have no theory as to why you didn’t return for a century?” Phillip asked.
On the brink of panicking, I stood up straighter and tried to make myself into the picture of confidence. Like Rose in the wedding memory. “I don’t have a clue what happened. The last thing I remember was climbing up onto the roof of our house with Alden and somehow ending up in the water. Nothing after that.”
Thank God Alden had shown me that memory.
“You’re not living on the coast right now. That’s out of character for you,” Phillip asserted.
“I have no control over where my mother in this cycle lives. Alden and I plan to move here once we are no longer considered juveniles. We’ll present ourselves as a married couple again. That was always the most convenient arrangement. I love it here. That’s the reason I requested the Texas Coastal Region cycles ago.” I smiled at Alden, feeling a bit more natural in my role. “I appreciate your concern. The numbers won’t be a problem.”
Phillip studied me for a moment. “They asked me to evaluate your Protector for reassignment if he’s holding you back.”
“If he doesn’t get his act together, I’ll take you up on that. But, really, Phillip, I’ve invested too many years in him to train another one. Plus, Alden and I work well together. We both know our limitations and avoid situations that would reduce our productivity. We always have. That’s why we had the top score three cycles in a row.”
Phillip lifted his eyebrows. “Okay, then. I’ll suggest that the reassignment not be initiated. I think it would be detrimental to split up a partnership with a track record like yours. Obviously, you’re just off to a slow start.” Phillip shook our hands. “Best of luck to you both.”
We stood still, not talking, while he crossed the street to the Hotel Galvez.
Once he was out of sight and the charade was over, I slumped down onto the top step of the stairs that led to the beach. Maintaining that kind of stoic confidence when I was terrified was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Spook licked my face and wagged her short tail.
A blue four-door Dodge Ram pickup parked behind Alden’s Audi. “It was a Speaker!” Race shouted as he got out of the passenger side. “He took the bait. I felt him change from doubt to admiration. Whatever you guys did worked.”
“Lenzi did it. You should have seen her. She was fantastic!” Alden announced as he hugged Maddi, who had come around the front of the truck. I sat up straighter. Alden’s approval was as calming as his touch.
Maddi laughed. “Well, I wish I had seen it, because I felt it. She was totally freaked out. It made it hard to concentrate on the other one. She was so panicked, I thought for sure she was blowing it. God, Alden, I was certain you guys were dead.”
Alden put his arm around my shoulders. “No. She was brilliant. Sounded just like my Rose.”
TWENTY-THREE
I stared over the railing of the patio at the surf. This restaurant on Seawall Boulevard was made of several old houses that had been smushed together to form one large structure. Below the patio was a row of sparkling motorcycles, all parked perfectly parallel to one another on a diagonal. It looked like a Harley ad.
Spook barked at a seagull and trotted back and forth across the deck, enjoying her freedom from the leash. Dogs weren’t officially permitted in the restaurant, but the manager of the Spot would look the other way if the dog stayed on the patio and was well behaved. Alden snapped his fingers and pointed to the floor. Spook fell silent mid-bark and lay at his feet.
Maddi and Race sat together on the bench across the table from us. Their western garb was so flamboyant they might as well have been in costume. Maddi was wearing another cowboy shirt with mother-of-pearl snaps down the front, and she had a rustcolored suede jacket with long fringe dangling from the arms and across the back. Race wore a matching shirt and jacket, minus the fringe. He had on a large turquoise bolo. Both wore black felt cowboy hats. Alden’s gray pullover was invisible by comparison, but his looks made him stand out every bit as much. I found it hard to keep my eyes, or hands for that matter, off of him.
“How did you find us, Maddi?” I asked.
“We knew the meeting was on the seawall at noon near the historical marker. Your transmissions were so intense, though, we probably could have found you even if we hadn’t had the exact location.”
I wasn’t sure if this was reassuring or troubling.
The pager the girl at the counter downstairs had given us when we ordered went off, letting us know our food was ready. Maddi stood.
“Helena will run you around enough when she emerges. Let me and Alden get this,” Race suggested.
Maddi smiled and sat back down.
“I guess Helena is your Speaker,” I said after the boys left.
“Yes. I expect to be called into duty any day now. She always emerges when I’m barely eighteen. I hope she turns up soon. It gets boring just being a regular person.” She leaned closer. “So, you and Alden. Are you like . . . ?” She winked.
“No.”
“But you’re into him. I feel it.”
I stared out at the Gulf. “He’s into Rose.”
“You are Rose. You talk like you’re two separate people.”
“We are. I’m nothing like her, or at least so I’m told,” I said, staring down at the names customers had carved into the wooden picnic table.
Alden backed through the door with two plates of food and held it open for Race with his foot.
“If you gentlemen will excuse us for a minute,” Maddi said as they set the plates on the table. “Lenzi and I are going to the restroom.” Maddi grabbed my arm and dragged me through the door. We passed through a little dining room—a converted attic of one of the houses—and went down the stairs to the bathroom. She pulled me into the first stall, which was enormous, with a wooden double door.
Stunned by Maddi’s forcefulness, I stood against the wall waiting for her next move. Her face was red. It looked like she was going to beat me up or something. Built like she was, my prospects were grim.
She shook her finger right in my face. “I can’t believe you’re doing this again!”
I shook my head. “Really, Maddi. I don’t understand.”
“You’ve jerked him around for centuries. I thought maybe you’d be different this time. You got your wish. Don’t you see? You got your wish, and now you’re going to blow it again.”
I tugged at the bottom of my sweater. “What wish?”
“You really don’t remember anything.” Maddi held out her hand. “Give me your hand. I’ll show you.”
I put my hand in Maddi’s.
“Out,” she said.
I knew what was coming next. I braced myself against the wall as Maddi’s soul ripped into my body.
I’m going to give you a memory, Maddi said. I could tell you about it, but it’ll have more impact if you see it.
Images of Maddi and Rose sitting on a green velvet settee in a room that had dark wood paneling and a piano played through my head. Every inch of the place was deco
rated with pictures, paintings, and enormous potted palms. Ornate origami figures decorated every nook and cranny. Both women were wearing long, white linen dresses, and Rose had her hair loosely piled up on her head. Maddi’s hair was bobbed short. She was less muscular than in this current cycle. Rose was doing needlepoint. Needlepoint? Ugh. I didn’t have the patience to do needlepoint. One more reason to hate Rose.
“If a man like Alden expressed that level of interest in me, he would not have to ask twice,” Maddi said.
Rose set the needlepoint down, walked over to the piano, and ran her fingers over the keys. “Oh, Maude, you simply don’t understand. It is not like that between us. It never has been, nor will it be.”
“Why not?”
Rose fidgeted with the black pendant she wore at her neck. “It would not be prudent.”
Maddi looked angry. “Prudent or convenient, Rose? It’s easier for you this way, cleaner. No one gets hurt if no one takes a risk. Alden has loved you forever.”
Tears filled Rose’s eyes. “And I have loved him, as well. There has been too much history between us, Maude. Alden and I have too much knowledge of each other to change now. It would ruin us.” I was surprised when Rose began to cry. Evidently, she had a heart after all. “Oh, Maude. What a mess I have made of things! I wish I could just begin again. Start over fresh with no preconceived notions or mandates. I wish that I could forget everything about my past and just live again, seeing Alden for the first time through tender, open eyes. To love him the way he deserves to be loved. I’m going to approach the elders and see if such a thing is possible.”
The memory stopped. I’m exiting, Rose, Maddi said.
“Ow!” I groaned as Maddi’s brown eyes sparked with life and she gasped for breath.
“You got your wish, Rose, don’t you see? You must have gotten to one of the old fogies, and they must have delayed your recycling so you’d lose your memory or something. Whoever did it must have done it on the sly because it wasn’t documented, and believe me, the IC documents everything. I don’t know how it happened, but this is your chance. When I felt what your soul was transmitting for Alden at the coffee shop, I thought maybe you were faking the amnesia so you could get a fresh start. Now, I know it’s real. This is your chance to get it right.”