marry him. You don’t even have to keep it. Just enjoy it for a little while.” She drapes the pendant around my neck and fastens the chain in the back.
I feel the heaviness of the pendant settle on my chest. I usually hate necklaces, but the weight is comforting and familiar. I try not to think about the circumstances the last time I wore it.
“It looks pretty on you,” Kat says, standing back to admire her work.
“Thanks,” I say, feeling the outline with my finger. So many strange things have happened the past few weeks that it’s getting hard to keep track of them all.
“Grab your bag,” she says.
“Why?”
“We need to show this to Drew at the shop. He’ll be able to tell us more about it.”
I already know more about the pendant than I ever wanted to. More than he’ll ever be able to tell me. “No. I don’t want to go out. I just got home, and it’s been a really crappy twenty-four hours—”
“Bull,” Kat says, pulling me to my feet. “The last thing you need is to stay in here moping all day. We’ll just go to the shop for a few minutes, then you can come right back and curl up in bed for your own pity party. If you won’t come, then let me take it.” She holds her hand out and looks at me.
I put my hand on the pendant. It took so long to get back to me that there’s no way I’m going to let it out of my sight.
Kat puts her hands on her hips. “Drew’s going out of town tomorrow, so we don’t have a lot of time.”
“I’ll go,” I say finally. “But we have to come right back.”
“Mom, we’re going out for a little while,” Kat calls as we walk down the hall.
“Not so fast,” Mom says, walking out of the kitchen. “You’ve been gone all night, Griffon’s been here looking for you.”
“I know,” I say, trying to look sorry. “We sort of had a fight.”
Kat loops her arm through mine. “Come on, Mom. You remember how it is. I just want to take Cole up to the shop to get her mind off things. She’s been through a lot this week.”
Mom signs. “Take your phone,” she says, looking at me. “I left at least five messages last night.”
“Nicole?” she says, her voice rising. “You do have your phone, don’t you?”
I feel around in my pockets, but it’s not there. “Yeah. Somewhere.” I grab my bag and look through it, but I don’t see it there either. “I had it last night,” I say, as she stares at me. “I sent you a text, remember? I must have left it at Rayne’s.”
“Nicole Ryan, if you left your phone on the bus again, we’re not replacing it.”
“I didn’t leave it on the bus,” I say. “I told you, I had it last night.”
“Well, use Kat’s phone if you’re going to be long.” She walks back into the kitchen, mumbling to herself.
The sun is peeking out from behind the fog as we walk around the corner to where Kat parked her car. The unexpected warmth is nice and I lift my face to it, feeling a tiny bit better for the first time today.
“So what’s going on with you and Griffon?” Kat asks as we approach the car. “Is it so bad?”
I hesitate. Telling Rayne what’s going on is one thing. Telling Kat is something else. “Yeah,” I say. “It actually is.”
“Listen,” she continues, unlocking the car doors. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, but maybe you should give him another chance.” She plucks a parking ticket from under the wipers, reaches across my seat, and stuffs it into the glove compartment with over a dozen others.
I fasten my seat belt and stare through the windshield. “He basically lied to me from the minute we met.”
“About what?” Kat says, starting the engine.
“It’s complicated.”
“Fine,” Kat says with a sigh. “Don’t tell me. All I know is, it seems like he really likes you. And I don’t want you to screw up a good thing.”
“I know,” I say. I have to keep pulling my mind away from how rough and sad he looked just now. I run my finger over the silver chain. This necklace is a constant reminder of how he betrayed me in both lifetimes.
“I don’t know,” Kat says, merging into traffic. “I think a necklace like that would inspire a lot of forgiveness on my part.”
After a few minutes of silence, we pull into the tiny employee lot in the back of the store. As I open the door, I tuck the pendant into my shirt, feeling more secure with it hidden from view.
We walk in through the back, past covered racks of clothes and boxes stacked to the ceiling.
Francesca smiles at us as she wraps up a purchase for a customer. As soon as the woman leaves, she walks over to us. “Katherine, so nice to see you on your day off,” Francesca says. She smiles at me. “And you brought your sister back to see us.”
They air kiss each other on both cheeks. “Is Drew around?” Kat asks. “I have something he’s going to want to see.”
“He’s in the office,” Francesca says, turning to watch another customer come in the front door. She waves her hand in our direction. “Go on up.”
We walk upstairs to a loft area, and Kat knocks on a closed door. I can hear the low mumble of someone talking on the phone.
“Hey!” Drew says, pulling the door open. He motions us in the tiny room. “I’ve got to go,” he says into the phone. “I’ll ring you back later.” He snaps the phone shut and smiles at us. It’s hard not to miss Kat’s reaction as he turns his attention to us. If she were any giddier she’d float up to the ceiling, and I wonder if this whole rushing-to-see-Drew thing is really about the pendant or just an excuse to see him again. “What can I do for you lovely ladies?”
“Listen,” Kat says, laying a finger on Drew’s forearm, a totally unnecessary gesture that I’m sure we all notice. “You need to see the pendant that Cole just got.” She bumps me with her elbow. “From a guy.”
Drew looks at me expectantly. “Oh? A guy?” He raises his eyebrows in a way that’s both amused and vaguely condescending. He’s probably a little older than Francesca—maybe twenty-two or twenty-three, and the fact that he sees me as just a kid is obvious from his tone.
I glance at Kat, hoping she’ll drop it. “It’s no big deal.”
“No, but it’s really cool,” Kat says. “I think it’s an antique, and we thought you might be able to tell us something about it. Maybe you could use it as a model for a new line. Something Egyptian and gothic.” She turns to me. “Drew’s stuff sells out almost the minute we get a new piece in.”
Drew smiles at her, acknowledging the compliment. “I’d love to see it. I’m always looking for new inspiration.”
They’re both looking at me expectantly, so I sigh and reach for the chain, wishing she’d never seen it in the first place. As I pull the ankh out of my shirt, Drew gasps, and all the blood seems to drain from his face. He reaches for it, and as his fingers brush my skin, I feel the same unmistakable vibrations I’d learned to detect with the others, a flash of overwhelming emotions.
Drew is Akhet.
I search his face, trying to find a connection, but as he regains his composure, it’s as if a heavy curtain comes down and the vibrations go from sharp and pronounced to dull and faint.
“Allison,” he murmurs. Slowly he brings his eyes up to meet mine, their clear blue color marked with pain and questions, but somehow familiar. I hold his gaze as jolts of electricity race up my spine. Drew knew Allison. There’s no question that somehow we were connected five hundred years ago.
“It’s Cole,” Kat says, looking from me to Drew, a questioning look on her face.
“I’m sorry?” Drew says, as if he’s just remembering she’s in the room.
“Her name is Cole. You called her Allison.”
Drew clears his throat. “Yes. Sorry. Cole.” He turns back to me. “This pendant. It’s … it’s fantastic,” Drew says, running his fingers lightly over the ruby. “Where did you say you got this?” His voice is no more than a whisper.
“It was a gift,” I say clearly, feeling more in control. I glance over at Kat, who’s just staring at the two of us, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open.
“I would love to see this again,” Drew says, letting the cross drop back to my chest. “To do some sketches.
