Chapter 142

Are you there?

The mental query woke Avion from his slumber. For a moment, disorientation gripped him. Blinded, he couldn't immediately tell where he was. His fingers groped and felt the cotton of sheets.

He didn't have to stretch far to locate the mattress edges. A narrow bed. He sniffed. The faint aroma of dust. No noise or hum of machinery. Recollection returned as his sluggish mind put the pieces together.

I am in Adam's house. The spare room to be exact. The spot he'd returned to after their meeting. He was abed, where he caught some real sleep, something his broken body needed too much of these days.

But forget his location. The whispery touch against his thoughts came again.

Did I imagine you? Have I finally lost my mind?

He sent back a message, thinking it, not saying it, and really hoping it wasn't he losing his own marbles. I'm here. Is this. . .One?

You're there! He couldn't mistake the happiness in her exclamation. I wondered if you truly existed.