Page 56 of The Stone Initiation
CHAPTER24
CAMERON
You never know when the last time you’ll see someone will be. Like the last time I saw Romi. We were sitting on the couch, feet up, popcorn bowl between us, getting ready to watch a selection of old movies he’d managed to get his hands on.
I’d never seen a movie before Romi introduced me to them. We didn’t have a movie player. I still couldn’t believe that acting had once been a profession, and that there’d been a whole industry around making stories into film. Romi said they probably made movies in the city, that they probably still had actors, but here in the Rim we made do with books and whatever had been left after the exodus.
At least we still had publishing presses and writers and the news was on three times a day.
“I’ll be gone a few weeks this time,” Romi said taking the popcorn bowl from me as the title credits began to play.
I hit pause and twisted my body to look up at him. “How many weeks?”
“Four…Maybe six.”
My heart sank. “Oh…”
“But when I come back, I’ll have two weeks off, and guess what?”
“You’re going to spend it with me?”
He grinned. “Nope.You’regoing to spend it with me. I’ve met someone and I want you to meet her too.”
“Wait, you have a girlfriend? You’re actually going to introduce me to another gargoyle?”
He shook his head. “No. Miranda is…She’s not a gargoyle. She’s human.”
A human? He was seeing a human despite what he knew his father…our father would say about it. “Romi, are you sure you want to do this?”
He smiled, his eyes taking on a dreamy look. “I’ve never been so sure in my life. I love her, Cam, and I know you will too.”
We’d talked and watched movies and eaten way too much, and when he’d said goodbye, I’d had hope in my heart. Hope that he’d become a larger part of my life now that he was in love with a human. Hope that maybe I could become more a part of his.
But none of that was to be.
And in my shock and grief over Romi’s death I’d completely forgotten about the woman he’d planned to introduce me to.
Poor Miranda. She’d never know what happened to the male she fell in love with.
I lay in bed pondering, running that memory over in my mind and looking for clues. Anything else that might give me an idea of what his mission had been those weeks, or who this Miranda was. But I came up blank.
Thoughts of Levi filled my mind. I’d told him I was leaving but not when. I should have left him a note. Something to soften the awful goodbye. But then, what would I have said? It wasn’t like I could promise to come back to him. And poor Derek. I’d created him and left him to fend for himself. This trip. Being here…It had to amount to something meaningful or else I’d have hurt them both for nothing.
I had class in an hour.
Time to get up.
I showered quickly then hurried into the bedroom to dress.
A mug of coffee sat on my bedside table. “Hello? Ghost?” Nothing. I grabbed a post-it and scrawled a note to the spirit.
Thank you so much for the coffee, wanna hang out? Cam x
I stuck it by the mug, pulled on my clothes, then downed the drink before heading out.
* * *
Touron,Sharniza, and the twins were already in the kitchen finishing up breakfast. Touron pushed a plate of bacon toward me, but I shook my head. I didn’t have much of an appetite this morning.
