The Burning Shadow (Origin 2)

“I was thinking about after you gave me the serum that healed me.”

“Oh.” Surprise flickered across her face. “What about it?”

I poured my juice. “Luc brought me to you in June?”

Brows knitted, she nodded. “Yeah. Around the end of the month.”

“How long … did it take for the serum to work?” I took a sip to wash away the dryness in my mouth and throat.

“It took a couple of days for the fever to break and then a week or so for you to completely heal,” she said. “That’s when I told you about … Evie.”

“And then what?” I asked, my grip slippery on my glass. “I’ve been trying to remember that summer before I started school, and all I have are these vague recollections of reading books and watching TV, but nothing concrete. It’s like when I try to think of who I was before I was given the serum.”

“It was the fever and most likely a side effect of the serum.” She placed her travel mug on a coaster. “It did some damage to your short-term memory.”

She’d never mentioned that before, but I wasn’t sure if that meant anything. “What did I do that summer? Was I just out of it?”

Mom placed her hands on the granite as her gaze seemed to sharpen. “What did—?” She wet her lips. “What did Luc say you did?”

Ice dripped down my spine, stiffening my body. “Luc didn’t say anything.” That part wasn’t really a lie.

“Then why are you asking about this?”

“Because Zoe just pointed out that no one saw me until I showed up at school, and I remember that day. I remember the days leading up to that—back-to-school shopping and stuff—but I…” I swallowed hard. “I can’t grasp on anything before that.”

Was that relief that I saw loosen the features of her face or was I just being overly suspicious? I wasn’t sure, but she sighed heavily as she tucked back the hair that had fallen forward. “You were recovering, Evie. You weren’t really out of it, but you needed time to recoup and time—”

“For me to become someone else?”

She flinched, and I was torn between feeling bad and not feeling guilty at all. “Yes. There were days when you were perfect, but then you’d have no idea who you were. You weren’t Nadia. You weren’t Evie. You were just a shell of a girl. You needed time, so I kept you here.”

I stared at her, my juice neglected. That made sense. Sort of. I doubted that after such an intense fever, I would be up and about, fully turned into the carbon copy of Evie, but …

“Is that what’s bothering you?” she asked, her gaze searching mine. “I know Zoe probably didn’t mean anything by talking to you about this, but I really wish she were more careful.”

“About what?”

“About making you worry about things that don’t really matter.” She came around the island, stopping before me. “And you’ve obviously been worrying about it if you’re up this early to talk about it with me.”

I looked away. “Why?”

“Why what?” She cupped my cheek with her cool hand, guiding my gaze back to hers—to brown eyes that were familiar but weren’t real. Contacts that hid who she truly was.

“Why did you give me Evie’s memories?” I asked. “Why did you do that to me? Why didn’t you just let me become me again?”

“I told you. I’ve asked myself that a million times, and I—”

“You missed the real Evie.” I pulled away from her. “That wasn’t fair to me.” My lower lip trembled as I took a step back. “At all.”

“I know.” Pain sliced across her features. “Trust me, I know.”* * *All day Tuesday, I kept expecting April to pop up at school, but she didn’t, and no one seemed to be talking about her absence. Yet. Zoe and I both knew that wasn’t going to last long.

And neither was keeping James in the dark.

“All I’m saying is just that y’all have been acting so weird,” he was telling us as we trudged up the short hill that led to the parking lot.

“Who has been acting weird?” Zoe squinted as she dug around her bag for her sunglasses.

“All of you. Every last one of you.” James pointed at me and then at Zoe and then in front of him. “That’s me pointing at Heidi, who supposedly has mono.”

“What do you mean supposedly?” I shared a look with Zoe. “You sound like people don’t come down with mono.”

“I have literally never met someone who has had mono at our age.”

Zoe snorted. “That doesn’t mean people don’t get it all the time. She got it from Emery,” she said, and I raised my brows. “Those two make out all the time.”

“I don’t care what any of you say. Each of you has been acting strange since…”