Eighteen
Perhaps it was my exhaustion, or perhaps it was the fact that all the mystery, shadows and questions surrounding Chase were finally removed, but I managed to sleep without being woken by nightmares of the past. I opened my eyes to find that my world had not magically fixed itself while I was sleeping, though I didn’t feel quite as awful as I felt before I fell asleep. Chase was gone, but I wandered around until I found Gaius in an indoor greenhouse up another flight of stairs. As if sensing I was in desperate need of a distraction, he put me to work.
“Is this the right one?” I ask, holding up a large jar of clear liquid and walking between the rows of plants toward Gaius. He’s kneeling on the ground beside a prickly bush with dark blue thorns.
He looks up. “Yes, that’s the one.
