Page 57 of Asher Black (The Five Syndicates)
any ingredient—it’s all
yours. Make your dream
cake or favorite lasagna
without the mess.
Dozens of apps—Lucy’s Lab, Adventures for Lucy, Lucy’s Kitchen, and so many more—are all named after me and catered towards my interests, mostly things about me I’ve only mentioned briefly since I’ve known him. I can’t believe he remembers all these things about me.
There’s an app of a virtually sold out Madison Square Garden arena meant for getting rid of stage fright. I mentioned my stage fright to him once in passing. Another app is intended to teach me to play the triangle. I barely even remember telling him that I can’t play any instruments?
?“Not even the triangle,” I said, at the time. It has never been brought up again.
Just like the subjects of most of the apps. It’s alarming and flattering that he’s been paying so much attention to me, to the things I tell him and the things I don’t.
My God.
He did all this for me.
But he also trapped me here.
How should I feel about this?
I’m not sure, but I do know my heart is racing a marathon a minute, and when I glance up to thank him, he’s already gone.
Like the enigmatic ghost he is.
Chapter Seventeen
It is curious that
physical courage should
be so common in the world
and moral courage so
rare.
Mark Twain
An hour later, I’m skiing down some slopes in Athens at full speed with Xavier trailing closely behind me. I can’t actually see him, since I have the glasses on, but I can definitely hear him, shuffling furniture around so I don’t blindly hit anything.
He even has thick, cushy pillows in each of his hands for when I’m about to walk into a wall. He sticks them in front of my face, and I’m met with a face full of pillow plushness instead of a face full of wall.
I’m midway through my Olympic-worthy jump off a ski lift when I hear, “No way, girlfriend. What in the world are you wearing? I don’t ever want to see those gloves and those hideous glasses again.”
“Tommy!” I shout, whipping off the glasses and throwing them at Xavier’s face.
He catches them.
Barely.
“Expensive prototype,” he says.
I shrug. I’m not in the mood to be gentle with Asher’s things when he trapped me here. I’m in the mood to get the Hell out of this building, and my ticket out has just arrived… yet, I find myself gently taking off the gloves and setting them down carefully on the coffee table.
Xavier lifts a questioning brow at my change of pace, but I ignore it. I don’t know what to tell him. So, maybe I am grateful for Asher’s gift and don’t want to ruin it. So what? I turn quickly away from Xavier’s inquisitive eyes and envelope Tommy in a hug, squishing his pudginess into my eager arms, which are far more toned than they used to be, thanks to Xavier’s training sessions.
