Amara – Reunion

Author's note: this is from Seraphina's point of view

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I wanted to run away, but Duke was emerging from the water and walking toward me. His toned body was caressed by the droplets that slid over his slightly tanned skin and my legs refused to budge.

"Come on, Sanya…", he coaxed me. "I know you have a swimsuit under those clothes."

"How do you know that?", I asked breathily as he was only a step away from me now, and his impossibly blue eyes kept me locked in a spot.

He smiled smugly and reached for the back of my neck. I held my breath as he touched the string of my bikini top that was sticking out of the collar of my t-shirt and a drop of water fell from his fingers, sliding down my spine and making me shiver.

"Today is raft-making and considering that the competition ends with us riding on those rafts, it's expected that everyone has a swimsuit on.", Duke responded, and I knew that he enjoyed my flustered expression.

"I'm not good at swimming.", I admitted. I could float, but I guessed that didn't count for much in this situation.

"That's OK.", he said like it's not a big deal and I believed him. "I will teach you. Come…" He took my hand and tugged me toward the water.

At that moment, as if watching a movie at five times the speed, I remembered that this is the part where I will follow him obediently. The water will be freezing, and he will hold my hands and teach me how to swim. We will come out of the water and sit on the rocks, and chat until the sun and the breeze dry us off.

"Thank you for teaching me…", I will say at some point to what he will respond: "My pleasure. From now on, whenever you swim, you will think of me." He seemed to be happy about that.

When we return to join our classmates, the teachers will scold us for missing on the whole raft-making and punish us with no dinner. In the evening I will hear a knock on the window next to my bed and Duke will sneak in the food he stole from the kitchen. I will ask him how he could climb the second floor of the bungalow where the girls' rooms were because there are no ladders and the walls are bare, not providing any leverage, but before he could answer, my roommates will scream that there is a boy in the room, and he will disappear leaving me regretful that I didn't thank him for the food.

I wondered, how can I remember these things?

Normally, when memories come in my dreams, I don't know what is coming, yet when it happens, the events are accompanied by a feeling of familiarity. This was different. I could actively recollect events and move through them at will. Also, what would normally feel like no more than a few seconds, now it felt like hours.

I was exhilarated as my memories flooded with experiences that were lost in my subconsciousness.

There was a scene of me and Duke having lunch on a lawn behind our high school, and him telling me that he will go to the University of Cambridge after high school. I knew that his grades were stellar and that he will be accepted to wherever he applied, but the fact that we will be separated hurt. To say that I will miss him would be an understatement. My grades were at the top of the class as well, but my parents didn't allow me to apply to any University outside London because they didn't want me to stay in dorms; they can control me only if I'm close by. If not for the clause in the trust that my grandmother left me, which requires that I attend school, my parents would probably lock me in the house, or abandon me completely.

"It's only one and a half hours long drive from the Imperial College. We will stay in touch.", Duke assured me.

"Promise?", I asked, and my heart tightened as if knowing that it will not happen.

I didn't want to hear Duke give me a promise that he will break. It's not that I doubted his sincerity, but I knew that we could see each other only during classes and school-organized events because my parents kept me on a tight leash. Me and Duke going to different Universities meant that I will not be able to see him, but I couldn't tell him how heartbreaking that was because I had no right to hold him back.

Somehow, I knew that the last day of high-school was my goodbye with Duke and I remembered that I cried a lot when I reached home.

Is it possible that is how things ended between us? Is that why I never dreamed about Duke beyond high school? No. I refuse to believe that. There are still many gaps in my memory and then there is the hug on the terrace in Paris, and he told me that he misses me; that would not happen if things between us ended.

I was still on the lawn, next to Duke who was assuring me that he will call me every day, and I didn't want to listen, so I forced my mind to move away from that point in my memory.

I found myself in a room, in front of a grand piano, watching my fingers moving gracefully over keys as Liszt's Liebestranum No. 3 filled the space. Immersed in music, I remembered that I was a klutz in many aspects, but playing the piano was not one of them.

The loneliness surrounded me as desolation swelled within me and my chest tightened. It was difficult to breathe.

I inhaled forcibly as my eyes fluttered open and I saw a blurry image of Aldus sitting on the sofa and observing me. I wondered if I'm still dreaming, but this scene was unfamiliar, so unless I was seeing the future, this was real.

"You are back already?"

My voice was raspy, and Aldus stood up and poured a glass of water from the jug that was on my bedside table.

Aldus handed me the glass of water and wiped my cheeks with the back of his palm. It seems that I was crying.

Aldus watched me as I took sips of water and he didn't mention my tears, to which I was grateful.

"Already? I returned two days ago."

I choked on water. "What?"

"I was out for two days and I returned two days ago so… How are you feeling?"

I gaped at him in confusion, and it took me some time to react. "You are saying that I didn't move from here for four days?"

'How is that possible?', my mind exploded. 'What about food and water and… oh, I forgot that I'm immortal.'

Aldus didn't think it was strange. "It happened to me more than once while I was learning to control my ability. Do you feel any different?"

I exhaled, unsure how to respond to his question. Am I different? "I remembered many things. My name was Sanya Bogdan, I attended Imperial College in London and… I know how to play the piano."

"Good. I hope you can play something for me after dinner. I am good with violin, maybe we can do a duet."

"Maybe…", I said with a smile. Doing something with Aldus always brought me a sense of satisfaction.

"I was able to freely move through my memories.", I said. "It was not a dream where I would just passively observe. It still felt like I'm watching the movie through my eyes, but this time I had a remote control in my hand, and I could move forward and backward as I wished. The images and sounds were vivid like I was there. I could experience sensations such as touch, temperature, and scent."

Aldus nodded faintly as he listened. "It seems to me that you found a way to peek into your subconsciousness."

"Do you think that this is something that can evolve further?"

Aldus shrugged, indicating that he is not sure. "Not many people can access their subconsciousness. This is your ability and only with trial and error you will test its limits. There is a chance that you will never reach that state again, or maybe you can access it naturally, and maybe it expands where you can see the future. Only by persistently trying, you will find your answers. You need to decide how important this is to you."

I already had a fairly solid understanding of my past, so additional information was not very pressing. However, there was another thing that needed to be addressed… "I'm not sure if I made any progress with pheromone control."

"There is only one way to find out…", Aldus said and gestured toward the spiky device that was on the bed, next to me.

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