his every word. Sadly, everything he'd said I had already figured out.
"The man Lexis saw jump inside Rome's body, well, we think he was a memory eraser."
"That would explain why I lost some of my memories, too," Cody said.
I stopped pacing for a moment and gaped at him. "You don't remember the man, but you do remember me."
Two damn days had passed since Rome had woken up and looked at me like I was a strange horned alien. Two damn days of John promising to learn more, to provide me with new information but getting nothing. Finally, I'd called this meeting because - my hands fisted at my sides - Rome had been released.
Physically, he was fine and yeah, he'd been quite vocal about getting back to work. But had he come home to the woman he was supposed to cherish for eternity? No! He'd remained on the premises to be close to Lexis. God Almighty, that still hurt.
"Besides that," I added through clenched teeth, "Rome remembers Lexis." The way they'd comforted each other those first few moments after he'd woken up...my hurt sharpened around the edges, slicing me so deeply I knew I'd bear the internal scars for eternity. "Why doesn't he remember me? " From the corner of my eye, I saw Lexis peer down at the floor, perhaps hoping to hide her smugness.
Lately, she wore it like a cloak.
Tanner, bless his heart, looked ready to bitchslap her.
"Belle, listen to me." John's eyes were like lasers as they pinned me in place. "I've spoken with him at length. I think the memories of you were somehow tangled with his memories of the man who attacked him and when one was taken, the other was dragged along for the ride." My stomach twisted into itself, squeezing, churning. "No way. No damn way that's what happened.
One, there's no reason good enough to make me believe every single memory he had of me was tied to that case. Two, memories or not, Rome should feel something when he looks at me. Something besides disdain, that is." More than not remembering me, he seemed to hate me and I didn't know why. If I was a stranger to him, why show me such hostility?
John splayed his arms. "Fine. You're right. I was grasping, trying to buy time to sort this out before you cause some kind of disaster."
"You want to avert a disaster? Give me something helpful!"
A moment passed before he said pointedly, "There's only one sure way to find out what really happened."
I knew that. All I had to do was find the man responsible and ask him - before I burned him alive. Or froze him. Or buried him in a mound of dirt. Maybe a combo of all three. The nice thing about having power over the four elements was that I had a smorgasbord of choices when it came to torture.
Rome would not like these thoughts, young lady. They're violent, and that isn't like my sweet baby Belle.
Uh, what was my dad doing inside my head?
Didn't matter, I supposed. I need you, Daddy. I wanted to crawl into his lap and rest my head on his shoulder like I'd done every time a boy had broken up with me in junior high (not that I'd had many boyfriends back then, ugly duckling that I'd been). He was a big teddy bear and when his arms were wrapped around me, I felt invincible. Not helpless and alone and tormented.
"I'm sure you've already done this, but if not, send a team back into the warehouse," I told John. "Have them search every inch and bring us everything they find. A scrap of paper, a twig, doesn't matter. We need everything." Dr. Roberts, the scientist who had infected me with my superpowers, had hidden his
"magic" formula on wooden floor planks, the ink invisible until I'd frozen them, causing some sort of chemical reaction. If he'd taught me anything, it was to dig beneath the surface. I'd use my powers on every grain of dirt brought to me if necessary. Anything to help Rome.
John glared at me. "What am I? An idiot? Of course I've already sent a team to the warehouse. They're bagging and tagging every speck of dust as we speak."
"Good."
"I wasn't done. Furthermore," he continued, "we'll see if I allow you to go through the evidence. You're not objective where Rome is concerned, and let's face it, your abilities have been more unstable than usual lately."