“Exactly. Your life will just be beginning.” Aurelie had never feared growing older. It was a privilege to live a long life, one her parents had been denied. “Now, you’re a strong, handsome,youngman. Where are you?”
He took in a deep breath through his nose and released it slowly. “I’m in a garden.”
Aurelie shifted and Des cracked one eye open. “Really?”
“It’s the first thing that came to mind.”
“Hmm.” Aurelie resettled. “All right, you’re in a garden. Where is this garden?”
“Behind a cottage.Mycottage, I think.”
“Curiouser and curiouser. What time of year is it?”
“Early autumn. It’s warm, but there’s a hint of fall in the air. The first leaves are just beginning to turn.”
“It sounds lovely.”
“It is. You should join me.” She could feel his heartbeat beneath her ear, slow and steady, content.
“Speaking of, is anyone with you?”
He was quiet for a long moment. “No, but I can hear someone moving around the cottage. Clattering, in fact.”
She felt a grin tug at the corner of her mouth. “Clattering?”
“Yes, and giggling. It’s the cutest sound in the world. There’s a dog next to me. A very large, tough-looking dog, of course. And I can smell a cake baking. It’s slightly burnt, but I’ll eat it anyway.”
She batted his arm, annoyed he wasn’t taking this seriously, but also grateful that he had included her in this fantasy. “All right. When I’m not busy giggling and clattering, what am I doing?”
“You’re in your laboratory. Right here, at the university. You’re a science professor, and occasional inventor,” he added, once again cracking an eye open to see her response. “And your uncle is so delighted you’re nearby he doesn’t say a word.”
It was all so perfect, she felt the bittersweet sting of tears in the back of her eyes. “And Mephisto?”
“Here, in this very room, keeping it cockroach free. And preferably staying far away from our cottage.”
She turned to look at Des.
He opened both eyes and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “What’s wrong, love?”
“I want it. Everything you said. Why can’t we have that?”
He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. “Who says we can’t?”
Everyone, she thought. But she didn’t respond, and when he finally brought his mouth to hers, she let herself believe, if only for a moment, that the future was theirs to create.
When the morning came, Aurelie found herself alone on her sofa, and the absence of both Des and Mephisto was a dull, throbbing ache she recognized as the deep loneliness she’d felt right after her parents died. Everard was supposed to arrive at ten for the completion of the portal. There was nothing left to do but get dressed and wait.
Aurelie put on her simplest dress, a plain black wool one that seemed fitting for today, which had the heavy, sobering atmosphere of a funeral. The temperature had dropped once again, refreezing all the melted snow into a treacherous sheet of ice. She nearly fell several times on the way to Uncle Leo’s cottage. She lit a fire and prepared tea, but the warmth of both couldn’t reach her today.
By nine, she was growing anxious, pacing up and down the halls with nothing to do. She wished Everard would hurry up and arrive so she could get this horrible day over with. She had forbidden anyone else from coming—had ensured it, in fact—and yet she couldn’t help wishing that someone would rescue her from this terrible mess she’d made for herself. At nine thirty, when shecouldn’t stand sitting still anymore, she went outside to wait for Everard by the gates.
On a whim, she checked the postbox. A single letter was wedged inside, damp from snow but fortunately still legible. She was so relieved when she saw Professor Sheldrake’s shaky handwriting that she nearly wept.
But as she scanned the words, her relief quickly turned to a thick, cloying horror that crawled up her throat like a scream.
Aurelie,
I can only pray this letter finds you in time. It’s my fault, of course. I gave you free rein when I should have harnessed you like the reckless child you are. Please, if you are reading this, stop everything you’ve put into motion before it’s too late.