“My sweet. Calm yourself. You are making a scene.” He tries to placate me with that soothing tone of his. “There is no one here by that name.” I let go of him and step back. Everyone steps back even further as I turn, my hand on my mouth, the other on my stomach. I am going to be sick. I try again to get back to my 2013 but it doesn’t work. I am stuck here in her body, as this definitely isn’t my own, without my two beloved boys. And what about everyone else? Do I not have them either? Is Lincoln here? X
ane? Cade, even?
“Aefre?” Constantine says again, putting a hand on my shoulder.
I open my mouth to ask about the others but get interrupted.
“Is everything all right here?” A small rush of relief goes through me, as despite the Italian, I recognize the voice.
I spin towards him and smile, “You’re here.”
Epilogue
Miami, USA, 2013 - Aefre
I wake up in an unfamiliar bed with cotton sheets. White cotton sheets. Ergh. Is this a hotel? I peer around in distaste. How on earth did I get here? And where is here?
“Aefre. You’re awake,” Constantine says to me in English, which is odd, as he strides towards me in an unfamiliar suit and sits next to me on the bed. He drops his mouth to mine with a quick kiss. I blink at him and kiss him back with a deeper kiss, which he responds to after a slight hesitation. At least he is here. He peers at me before he says, “Your husband called, he is running late, but everyone else is here. They want to see you. Can’t even go a day without your company.” He chortles and stands up.
I frown at him. “My husband? Everyone?” I say in English as he talking to me in the language.
He tilts his head and frowns. “Are you well, my sweet? Did you have another dream?”
Dream? “No, I am fine,” I say. “Give me a minute?”
“Of course. I like your accent. Decided to go with a change after a thousand years?” he says with his perfect smile.
What does he mean a change in accent? I have had a perfectly cultured Italian accent, which I find quite charming, especially when talking in this language, for as long as I can remember. Whatever is going on, I seem to be somewhere that is not my world. I smile at Constantine who doesn’t appear to be my husband, but someone else’s, as I notice the ring he wears, but it is not the ring I gave him. I say again, “A minute, please.”
He is looking at me curiously and says, “We will be in the sitting room.”
I nod as he closes the door. The first thing I notice then, is that my own rings are all different. And I have no markings on my arms. I peer over my shoulder and see that I have the Dragon on my back. I look again at my hands. Well, not my hands. Long black nails that go with the, I squint at it, five-carat black diamond engagement ring and black diamond wedding ring. I have a ring on my thumb which on closer inspection appears to be the one made of Faerie Silver and the blue diamond is on my right ring finger. Wherever I am, it seems I am not married to Constantine but to some other man who is running late. I wonder why Constantine has given me this ring, what I think of as my centuries-late engagement ring, to wear on my right hand. I quickly get out of the bed and get dressed. Pulling on a smart black pantsuit and white shirt from, well, that’s a good question. I look at myself in the mirror. I look like me. The only difference is my posture. I pull myself up to my full height as I slip on the shoes left by the dresser. Hm, Louboutins.
I pick up the phone on the bedside cabinet and see that the date and year is the same. The time says 7:45 PM. The damn thing is locked with a passcode, but I am pleased to see that the lock screen is a photo of myself and Constantine. Well, what I can only imagine is another me and her Constantine. Somehow, it appears, I have switched bodies and lives and time with another me.
I always wondered if alternate universes exist and apparently, they do. Seems she has the power to move through the space-time continuum. I certainly don’t but I try to get back to Italy and my time anyway and failing as I expected. I will just have to sit this out until she finds a way to switch us back. I look out of the window and I don’t know where I am. Well, I suppose I should go and face this 'everyone' he spoke of. Whoever they might be. Should I mention that I am not theirs? One doesn’t know the proper protocol for something like this. I decide to wait and see.
I exit the bedroom, and ‘everyone’ turns to stare at me. Hm, quite the crowd. I take them all in one at a time, starting with Constantine.
The End
Read on with Switch: The Forever Series, Book 7 & The Other Switch: The Forever Series, Book 7.5
Switch
The Forever Series, Book 7
By Eve Newton
Copyright © Eve Newton, 2013
Copyright © Eve Newton, 2017
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.