- RORY -
Everything is a panicked, painful blur. The people dining. The hushed whispers as I pass. The jumbled words I somehow make out when I'm questioned about what I'm doing.
What happened? What's wrong?
I'm looking for a friend, I say. I need to find him. Maybe he's in the lobby.
Someone grabs my arm to guide me away from the guests, and I don't have the energy to refuse. At least if I'm here, in plain sight of so many others, then whoever or whatever was after me has to stay back. It was real, it will hide in the shadows until I'm alone again. It's just something I instinctively know—something my nightmares were warning me about.
My eyes find him—Luciano. Seeing him in reality when I was just with him in that nightmare steals my breath, and I stop walking, stop allowing myself to be led. He is smiling, speaking with an older couple. Looking poised and handsome and like the only thing in the world I've ever known for sure is safe.
