Page 23 of One Last Step

I stay in bed, but I don’t sleep for a long time.The clocks continue to bray and squeal and chime and ring and boom for nearly an hour.When they stop, the noises echo in my ears for another hour.It seems to be taking Elena longer to stop them tonight.

Only when they finally fade am I able to sleep.

***

I wake an hour late the following morning.Sophie and Elena are already eating breakfast when I arrive at the dining room.Elena smiles at me and gestures to a plate with a sort of pancake on top that appears to be made with more eggs than the American version.It’s topped with fruit and cream.

“Eiertatsch,” Elena explains.“I made one for you.”

I smile and thank her, then pour myself a cup of coffee and sit down to eat.Sophie looks down at her plate and pokes at the remains of her own Eiertatsch.She refuses to look at me.I assume she’s mad at me for interrupting her and Luc the night before.

Luc!

I flinch and ask, “Where is Luc?Is he still in bed?”

“He went home,” Sophie says morosely.“His dad had to come get him early this morning because he had to get to the bank by seven.”

So that’s why she’s so upset.She didn’t have a chance to explore the museum with him like I said she could.

That brings me to the next unpleasant thing I must do.I open my mouth to explain to Elena about the journal, but Sophie snaps her head up and gives me a pleading look.

I press my lips together and sigh.“I see.I’m sorry the two of you had to cut your playdate short.”

“It wasn’t a date,” she says, blushing and turning beet red.“We’re kids!”

“A sleepover, then,” I reply with a lot more irritability than her comment deserves.

The lack of sleep is affecting me now.I drink deeply from my coffee mug and start eating my food.

Elena looks between the two of us anxiously.She tries to smooth over the tension by saying, “Sophie loved going out to Old Town yesterday.Maybe you can take her to one of the secret passages later.”

I frown.“Secret passages?”

“They’re tunnels that rich people used to use to evacuate when the city was attacked,” Sophie explains.

She doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about visiting them, but that’s probably just because she’s angry at me right now.Elena tries again to enliven the mood.“But it’s so much fun!You can take a tunnel all the way from Old Town to downtown.And then you two could take the tram to the lake and see the boats.”

Sophie stands abruptly and stalks to the elevator.I really should correct that behavior and make her clear her plate and ask for permission, but I’m just so tired.

And I need to address this issue with Elena.When the elevator door closes, I look at Elena.“Elena, is there a reason you didn’t tell me Luc was spending the night last night?”

Elena blinks.“What?”

“I don’t mind watching Luc as long as you and his father are comfortable with it, but I wasn’t expecting him to be here.If he is to be under my care, even for a few hours, I need to know about this.He could have gone missing or gotten hurt, and I would have had no idea.”

“But I did tell you.I told you yesterday afternoon.”

I frown.“No, you didn’t.”

“I did,” she insists.“I told you that Lukas called me and asked if Luc could spend the night here.You told me that was an excellent idea, and you couldn’t wait for the two of them to spend more time with each other.”

“I… I did?”

Have I had another dissociative episode?This isn’t good.If I can’t trust my own senses, then I can’t know if anything I believe is real or if my mind is playing tricks on me.

Elena frowns, “Are you trying to make a joke, Mary?”

Before I can reply, the elevator opens again.Sophie is there, accompanied by a strange woman.

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