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I was staring at an empty bottle of ru room—when Jacob rapped at the door

“We need to talk,” he said It was the voice he used when I was in shit and he had to be the e my diapers

“Go away,” I said Then I thought better of it “Actually, can you bring Tricky in here?”

There was a pause “Tricky gave ive to you I don’t knohat it is It’s wrapped up in tinfoil”

Bingo I got up and opened the door, s lazily Jacob leered at me

“Such a trollop,” he said before he quickly shoved h the door, sla it shut behind him so hard the walls shook

I raisedwith you? Where’s the tinfoil?” I asked, noticing his hands were empty

He rabbed me by the shirt collar then spun me around until the back of rimaced as the room spun

“Fuck you,” he grunted “Fuck you for being you” He shoved intoat his te to the opposite side of the roo at his sides

I watched hi up fast, unsure of what he was going to say or what he was going to do next So I shut my mouth, smoothed out the collar of my shirt, and waited

Jacob stopped in the audy checkered-suit-back to me, and stared at a framed picture on the wall, one of the Nice waterfront

“Did you know I lived in France a really long tio?” he asked, voice dry but pleasant Cal

“No,” I said slowly “You speak shit French for soh”

“My French is perfect, you wanker I just choose not to speak it I worked in a manor, just north of here, outside the town of Grasse I was the butler to a wealthy farew a lot of lavender Had a lot of hter, Yvette, as beautiful, smart…they wanted her to marry rich, marry well”

This was starting to sound like a Jane Austen novel “Uh, as this?”

“Last century,” he said matter-of-factly

I blinked “Right But Max said that you don’t remember all your lives”

He still didn’t turn around to face me but clasped his hands behind his back “He was oversi as I have You often do, just not all of them and not all of it But you remember the important ones I reme slightly so I could see his profile “I failed Yvette because I thought I was all she needed I was her guide at the tiued by visions, visits from the other realm Slowly, carefully, I revealed who I was and how I could help her I taught her how to use the Thin Veil, how to communicate, and sometimes, how to help the dead ere lost But in those visits to the Veil, and every time she opened herself up to another realm, there were spirits—and worse, demons—that would come over They tormented her They made her feel insane And I was all she had”

He sighed and looked to the ground “Except there was a boy Her friend He was lowly, to her fa the flowers for pressing Jacques But they were close—she loved hih she had to hide it from her family, and he loved her Still, she never confided in hiht I was protecting her, that Jacques wouldn’t understand, that he wouldn’t be there for her at any rate I was her Jacob It was h—no one else’s”

He slowly turned around to face me, and I saw a vulnerability in his hardened, pockmarked face that I hadn’t seen before “She killed herself oneDrowned herself like Ophelia in the creek outside the property She toldto do it, too, I just didn’t realize how serious she was She said she was sick of being alone through this Even though I was there with her, I wasn’t like her I wasn’t mortal And most of all, she did not love me She loved Jacques And she sloent hosts, theHad I just told her to confide in him, to involve hi that she wasn’t suffering alone would have been enough to save her Her ghost haunted hme of the time I failed”

Walking over to me, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a flask He unscrewed the cap and took a long swig before handing it to erly, afraid to partake He nodded at it “It’s one-hundred-year-old scotch,” he said “Have some”

I did Nothing tasted smoother

He took it back froe of his sleeve “Sage, I don’t want to fail with Dawn I don’t want her to think she’s alone in this”

“She has Max…and you And she has me”

“No,” he said with a sad shake of his head “She doesn’t have you You’re so to take the easy way out again, trying to escape You did it when you were in Hybrid You did it in Hybrid AD And you’re doing it now Whenever life throws you a curveball, you run and you hide and—though youon that bloody stage playing yourto you—you’re nu”

I didn’t want to hear this “Curveball? That’s a pretty nice way of putting it Putting out a shitty albu coffee on your dress shirt, that’s a curveball I have fucking deged at er rising out of my chest “My mother was raped andcurveball That destroyed me That destroyed my whole life”

“Sage,” he said delicately Oh, hoanted to punch his, they are all curveballs It doesn’t matter what happens to make you want to derail, it’s how you handle it It’s how you don’t derail Right now, this is unacceptable Right now, this is not about you You and your rock star bullshit ego This is about Dawn She needs you now She saved your life once, remember? You didn’t love her Now you can and you can use that love to save her” He took a step toward ain while his eyes bore intoher is painful I know you think this is helpless, that you can’t do anything I know you’re afraid Well, boy, I’ mortal But you have to be there for her She needs you This is how you’ll save her—just by showing up and giving her your all Don’t let her go through this alone She deserves better than that”