Across the Universe by Raine Winters

Author:Raine Winters [Raine Winters]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Raine Winters
Published: 2015-06-22T07:00:00+00:00

Elli is not behind the desk when I arrive to the Archives Room. I wander through curving tunnels and past thousands of dusty books before I find her standing in front of a set of shelves. She analyzes the bindings, mumbling under her breath as she ticks off each title.

“Don’t you want to read more than what’s on the outside of them?” I ask.

She jumps and turns to me. Her eyes are distant at first, but once they focus on me she grins. “Making sure everything is where it should be. Can’t be too careful after finding those pages missing the other day.”

I shuffle my feet and stare at my toes. Noticing my unease, Elli adds, “What brings you here now? Another hunt for the truth? Need a question answered that only my books can give?

“I went to see the boy again. Noah. I can’t stay away. I’m supposed to watch a whole universe, make sure it’s safe, but all I can do is look at him.”

Elli lets her expression go soft. “I don’t blame you. There’s no love in The House—not like there is out there in the worlds we watch over.”

“We kissed.” I don’t know why I say it, but it comes out anyway. Maybe I need to tell someone. Mark the moment in history when it happened.

Elli’s gaze drifts far away again. She lifts a hand to her lips, brushing her fingers across her mouth. “A kiss. How did it feel? Momentous? Extraordinary? Tingly?”

“All of the above.” I sigh, dropping to the floor and leaning my back against the shelves. “I have a horrible feeling that something bad will happen to him. To all of us. I want to protect him, but I can’t think of a way how.”

“You could bring him here. Hide him in The House. Ferret him away in one of my tunnels and visit him in secret every night. Wouldn’t that make things so much more romantic?”

I look up at her, confused. “Even if it won’t break every rule of The House, how is it even possible to take him home with me?”

“Poor girl,” Elli says. “You don’t know half of what you’re capable of. Has it ever crossed your mind that you’re not the only thing you can turn to smoke?”

“You mean I can transform others as well? Why hasn’t Nim ever told me that?”

Elli shrugs. “Because she’s not supposed to. The House forbids anyone from doing it. You aren’t the first Watcher to get attached to a life form they’ve found in their universe. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone found out they could bring home a pet? There’d be strays hanging around everywhere!”

“Has anyone tried before?”

“Yes, once.” Elli inclines her head so that the shadows swallow up half her face. “It didn’t end well. A Watcher brought home an entity once—this huge, tentacle-covered thing—and Dante showed no mercy. Threw them both into the void the minute they showed up.”

“He’d do the same to Noah, and I can’t let that happen.

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