Page 99 of Inception

I swallowed hard and stepped into the darkened apartment, my anticipation reaching its peak. Gabriel followed in behind me and flipped on the lights before double-bolting the front door.

I turned slowly, peering into the skeletal apartment as I tried to reconcile myself to the fact that Gabriel lived here. That he spent his days and nights here, all alone in this tiny apartment in the middle of hell. It was downright depressing.

There wasn't much to his place—a small kitchenette on the left with no appliances except for a mini fridge and stove, and a bare-boned living room on the right that housed a black leather futon and small wooden coffee table. It was a far cry from the lavish family home I’d woken up in the first night we met.

“So this is where you live,” I said, doing a listless spin.

He moved in from behind me and placed his hand on the curve of my back, guiding me into the living room. “Yes, this is where I stay when I’m in town, which isn’t very often. Kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom,” he said, ending with a gesture directed at the two closed doors on the far right of the room.

“So why didn’t you take me herethatnight?” I wondered.

“You needed first aid, food and water, and blankets amongst other things.” He directed me to a seat on the futon. “All of which were things I did not have here.”

I sat down and looked up at him with skepticism. “You’re telling me you don’t have food or blankets here?”

“What purpose would I have with any of those things?” he challenged, pulling up another chair next to me.

“Right. Sorry.” Nice one, Jemma.

“It’s perfectly alright,” he said, brushing off my faux-pas.

“So what happens when you bring a date home? Don’t they find it weird that you don’t have like, basic amenities? Or do you only date girls that are, um...the same as you?”

“He doesn’t date at all,” answered a familiar voice.

I turned abruptly, startled by the unexpected voice, and found my sister standing in the threshold of Gabriel’s bedroom door like a passing specter from some alternate reality. It had been so long since I’d seen her in the flesh, I almost didn’t recognize her. I almost didn’t trust my eyes.

“Tessa?”

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“When did you...I mean, where did you...?” I shook my head unable to string a cohesive set of words together.

We had spent so many months apart. What could I possibly say to her that would solidify all the thoughts and emotions running through my mind in this moment?

“You cut your hair,” I said stupidly, not moving from the couch. An elementary observation about her hair ought to do it.

She nodded unceremoniously, tucking a strand of her chin length jet-black hair behind her ear.

I took in the rest of her features—her heart shaped face, her round cheek bones and ash gray eyes, and of course, that alabaster skin that could make a porcelain doll jealous. It was all there. Everything was exactly the same, but somehow different. More defined—ripened, weary. She carried the expression of a girl who had lived one too many nights in the desecrated shadows.

“What are you doing here?” Gabriel’s voice startled me. He was standing now, staring at her with a foreign intensity I couldn’t quite decode. “I thought you were on assignment.”

“I was—Iam. I don’t have much time. I came to see Jemma,” she said, turning to me. “I came to give you something.”

“Okay,” I nodded wearily, still in a state of disbelief. “Like a present or something?” Shehad, after all, missed my birthday being that I was in the hospital, but was this really the time or place?

She held out her fist in response and opened her palm. A long ruby red crystal fell from the center, dangling weightlessly from the silver chain wrapped around her finger.

Gabriel’s eyes swelled in horror as he watched the necklace rock back and forth in the air like a pendulum.

“The Blood of Isis.”

29. THE IMMORTAL AMULET

“The blood ofwho?” I asked, feeling the thickness in the air press down on me like a cold, wet blanket.

I could almost swear I saw Gabriel take a step back from the corner of my eye. Like he was physically afraid to be near the necklace. Whatever it was, it had him shaking and suddenly I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be around to find out.

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