“Oh, sorry.”
“Just kidding. Well, not really. But I’m not a ghost—they’re creepy. All that oooohhh and chain rattling.” The woman shuddered. “I’m just...fading.”
“Why?”
“That’s a story for another time. I’m Lea, by the way. Resident historian. Reincarnates often have a hard time accepting what they are, so Aerten thought it would be best if I talked with you as soon as you arrived, since my profession makes me at least a little bit familiar to you.”
A fellow historian. Someone who spoke her language, except that she couldn’t understand most of what was coming out of her mouth.
“Reincarnates? And who’s Aerten?” Diana asked.
“A friend of mine—the Celtic goddess of fate. She’s the one who prophesied the return of your soul to Earth. But she’s not allowed to leave Otherworld often, so she comes to earth only if she’s had a particularly interesting vision. I’m filling in just for this bit of convincing.”
The ground felt like it had dropped out from beneath Diana’s feet. Panic began to claw at her frayed, and hard-won, control. It pushed aside the fear that had been lingering at the corner of her mind and demanded answers to the ten things in Lea’s statement that she didn’t understand.
“Convincing? What, that I’m a reincarnate? As in, I’ve lived before?” That was ridiculous, but even so, her legs began to tremble.
The woman drifted to a plush chair behind the broad dining table that served as her desk, indicating that Diana should sit in the chair opposite. “Exactly. You were born Diana Laughton, twenty-nine years ago this past August. But long before that, your soul was born for the first time into another body.”
Diana was glad she’d taken the seat. “You’re joking.”
“Of course I’m not. You, Diana Laughton, are a reborn soul. A reincarnate. There are very few people like you. I’ve only met one other in my three thousand years of life.”
She had to be exaggerating. This was madness. She didn’t look a day over thirty. “Three thousand years?”
“Well, yes, but that’s enough about me. You’re the person of interest here. How could it be impossible that you are a reincarnate? Look at the tattoo on your wrist. You can feel it and see it with your own eyes, and it led you to this place, in a roundabout way.” Lea’s brow furrowed; her tone suggested she was thinking of the attacks on Diana, which were still a sore subject due to the fact that the bruises were beginning to appear on her arms.
“You sent those monsters?”
“Of course not. We sent your rescuer. Tea? You look a bit worn out, and a bit of tea helps everything.” A silver tea service appeared to her left. No poof of magic, noise, or light had accompanied its arrival, making Diana wonder if she’d just missed it sitting there all along.
Lea didn’t wait for a response, but poured the tea, adding a drop of milk and one of the smaller, broken sugar cubes, exactly as Diana liked it. She didn’t have the strength to dwell on how the odd fading figure sitting across from her knew about that little tidbit, and instead sipped her tea.
“My rescuer?” The caveman who had all but thrown her over his shoulder and kidnapped her? “That madman is the good guy?”
In which case this ghostlike figure was the good gal, which seemed a bit of a leap at the moment. She didn’t look like a monster, but she did look crafty.
“Of course. Cadan is your guardian, assigned to watch over you.”
“Watch over me? Why? And why am I even here?” Frustration was quickly being replaced by exhaustion. She just wanted a nap. No. Buck up, buttercup. This is not the time to be napping.
“To remember who you were and to accomplish what you must.”
“What I must?”
“Precisely. Whatever you were reborn for. You’ve already experienced catalyzing events back in America. Soon, something will jog your memory and you’ll remember your past and the task that you were reborn to accomplish. But enough of that. Go on now—Cadan will meet you in the morning so that he can keep you safe while you do so.”
“Cadan? The bodyguard?” The thought exhausted her even more. She didn’t want to see him again.
“Guardian. Cadan is a Mythean Guardian. He works for the Praesidium, the department that protects us. Now off to bed with you—that tea is beginning to make you drowsy and it is best if you’re in bed before it takes full effect.”
It was the last thing Diana heard before she collapsed back into her chair.
CHAPTER SIX
Esha opened her eyes in her flat at the university, shaking so hard that her knees felt like they’d give out. Thank the gods for her ability to aetherwalk with the Chairman. Traveling through the aether that filled the space between earth and the afterworlds normally didn’t take so much out of her, but after what she’d witnessed down there, it was no surprise.
“Oh, Chairman, what the fuck wa