“Do you want a drink?” Drew asks, nodding toward the bar.
I look at him and feel my cheeks getting red. “I’m sixteen, remember?”
Robert throws his head back and laughs, revealing the perfect smile that has won him so many awards. “She’s cute.”
Drew smiles, and I’m grateful he’s not laughing too. “The rules are a little different here. Physical age is only a number, and not something we tend to worry about. There’s no actual drinking age in this club.”
“You’re still new?” Robert asks me.
I shrug, suddenly feeling like a little kid. “I guess so.”
“We were all where you are at one time.” He looks around the room. “Don’t let anyone push you around just because you’re Shewi. Some of the Iawi forget what it’s like the first time.” He lifts my hand and kisses it. “I find it charming.”
“Come on, let’s get a couple of drinks and sit down.” Drew glances at his watch, and I realize that this is where we’re meeting up with his special guest.
We walk to the bar, Drew stopping briefly to greet a few people along the way. Everyone seems nice but vaguely condescending; even the guy who looks like he’s about my age treats me like a child once he figures out that this is my first time here.
“We’ll have a Scotch and your best chardonnay,” Drew says to the bartender. “Is that okay?” he asks me.
“Fine,” I say, thinking that maybe one drink will make me less nervous about being here. I turn and lean against the bar, being careful not to look like I’m staring. Everyone in here is well dressed, and there are more diamonds glittering in the dim light than I’ve ever seen in one place before. Even the people who wouldn’t be considered physically beautiful in normal circumstances have something about them that makes you look twice. I glance over at Drew as he’s talking easily with the bartender. With his perfect features, I have to admit that he’d probably make a person look three times.
“Drew!” In seconds he’s disappeared under a cloud of white faux fur. At least, what I hope is faux fur. All I can see besides the jacket are jet black curls and impossibly long brown legs sticking out of a very short leather skirt. When they finally come up for air, there’s a bright pink lipstick stain on his cheek. “You’re in town! You are coming to my show tomorrow night, then?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve got a lot going on right now.” He nods to me. “Portia, this is my friend Cole.”
And that’s when I realize who she is. I’ve only seen her in videos and at the music awards, but that’s definitely Portia Martin standing right in front of me. Until she leans over and grabs my face, planting an identical kiss on my cheek. “Any friend of Drew’s is a friend of mine,” she says.
Despite the perfume and hairy jacket, I can sense that she’s being honest, and I can’t help but smile back. “Thanks. It’s nice to meet you.”
Portia makes an expert pouting face. “You want to come to the show, don’t you? I’ll have two passes waiting for you both at the door if you’ll come. We’re running previews before the big tour that’s coming up. Say you will.”
“I . . . um . . .”
Drew discreetly wipes at the stain on his cheek, a lipstick stain most guys would kill to have. “How about I text you as soon as our plans are settled?”
“All right. But I’m going to leave them in your name anyway. At the Civic Center. About nine o’clock. I’ll be expecting you.”
“No promises,” Drew insists.
Portia grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze, and I swear I see her give me a little wink. “So nice to meet you, Cole. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing you around.”
After she leaves, I stare Drew down. “You’re friends with Portia Martin?”
He shrugs, his eyes sparkling in the dim light. “Sure. She’s just a person like everyone else.”
“Portia Martin is not like everyone else.”
“Hey, there’s a booth free over there,” Drew says as he hands me my wine. I slide in opposite him, and it doesn’t take long before we’re joined by two women and a man, all in their twenties, I guess.
From the introductions, I can’t tell what the women do, but baseball is mentioned a couple of times and I figure out that the guy must play for a major-league team. I file his name away, thinking that Griffon will probably know who he is, until I remember that I’m not going to be talking to Griffon anytime soon. It’s moments like these that are the most difficult—something comes up that I can’t wait to tell Griffon, and when I remember that I’ll probably never get to tell him, it hits me all over again.
I sip my wine and try to follow the conversations that are going on around me.
“She’s living in Georgia, can you believe it?” The dark-haired woman says with a thick southern accent. “The country, not the state.”
“Have you seen her?” Drew asks.
“No. She’s still physically a child and hasn’t had access to much technology up till now. She contacted me through the site, but it will probably be another five years before she can really join us. I’m so glad she did, though. I’ve been wondering what happened to her.” The woman looks at me. “Have you registered yet? It’s so important if you want to find people you’ve known in the past.”
“No.” I look to Drew for help.
“Cole is still regaining her memories,” he explains for me. “So I haven’t told her about the registry yet. Not much point if she doesn’t know much about her history.”
“Is the registry like a database of Akhet?” That must be what Janine and Sue were talking about that day.
“Exactly,” the red-haired woman says. She has a faint British accent. “It’s easy enough to find these days. You must be verified before you have complete access, and then you enter information about your past and your contact information in your present. You can find other Akhet you’ve known over the generations.”
“Like Match.com for us. So much easier than going all the way to Alexandria,” the man says with a smile. “That was such a hassle.”
The southern woman turns, and I see a diamond-encrusted ankh sparkling at her chest. She catches me looking and holds it up to the light. “Pretty, isn’t it? I was tired of the old one, so I had this made.” She nods to the pendant around my neck. “Yours looks like you’ve had it for a while.”
I can feel Drew’s eyes on me as I reach up to touch it. “It was just given back to me after a long time away.” I glance across the table. “Drew had it made for me. Centuries ago.”
The woman next to me puts one finger on the ruby in the center. “That seems fitting. The ankh isn’t just the symbol of eternal life; for us, it’s a promise that we’ll be together again in another lifetime.”
The word echoes through my mind as I run my fingers over the curve of the pendant. A promise I have no intention of keeping.
Fifteen
We’re in a cluster of people around the bar when Drew waves to someone across the room. “Excuse us, will you?” he says to the others as he pulls me away from the crowd. “The reason we came here tonight just walked through the door.”
“Who is it?” I ask, looking around.
“Right here,” Drew says, approaching a guy in his forties with tan skin and a little bit of gray at his temples. He extends his hand. “Mr. Ramirez?”
The man turns and examines Drew’s outstretched hand for a moment before taking it and breaking into a smile. “Drew? Please call me Frank.”
“Okay, Frank,” Drew says, looking relieved. “Thanks so much for agreeing to meet us here.”
Frank’s focus on Drew is intense, as if he’s blocking out everything else in the crowded room. “Not a problem,” he says. His speech is clear, but there is a formality to it that makes me wonder if English is his second language. Frank switches his gaze to me. “This must be the young lady you told me about.”