April
Lucy's Age: 19
Geoffrey's text the next day wasn't necessarily a surprise but I found myself wishing that there was a way to avoid talking to him. I could always refuse to see him, but then he'd just stop by the apartment. Leaving town would be a simple thing now with all of the money that Mrs. Agosti had left me, but while that would solve the problem of having to talk to Geoffrey, it would mean that I'd given up on trying to convince him to take Venice and leave town.
I couldn't do that, at least not as long as there was any kind of chance that I could still succeed.
It wasn't a running date this time. This time we were meeting in a café a little ways off of Central Park. When I stuck my head into the hall and told the guys that I was going to meet with Geoffrey, Hal said that he'd go with me, which was how I found myself sitting in the designated spot with Hal sitting a few tables away, unsuccessfully trying to blend in with the rest of the clientele.
I half expected for Geoffrey to show up early for some reason, but I sat undisturbed for the entire fifteen minutes it took for the clock to finally advance to the actual meeting time. I'd flipped open the magazine that was already at my table to distract myself, but with each minute that passed by I got more and more antsy. I finally looked up five minutes after Geoffrey was supposed to have arrived and realized that he was sitting four tables over.
"How long have you been there?"
Geoffrey shrugged as he stood and moved over to my table. "Maybe fifteen minutes. You looked like you were pretty absorbed in your magazine so I chose not to disturb you."
He was lying, but I didn't understand why. Geoffrey waved Hal away, and once he turned back to me I decided to ask him.
"So why did you just lie to me?"
"It wasn't a complete lie. I really didn't want to disturb you."
"You were watching me, weren't you?"
"Would you deny a starving man one last meal?"
I shook my head. "You're hardly starving."
"Ah, but I am, just not in the way that the expression is normally used. I've gone without nourishment for so many years that I almost didn't recognize it when I came across it."
He was getting too metaphysical for me. I tried to steer the conversation to more familiar, if still uncomfortable, waters.
"Did you decide what you were going to do? Are you going away?"
"Yes to the first question and in a manner to the second."
"What do you mean?"
Geoffrey sighed and then looked around the café almost like he expected never to see it again. "This is my other favorite place here in the city. I stumbled upon it almost by accident twenty years ago. The pastries are really quite good. I don't indulge in sweets that often, but this is one of my favorite places to come and celebrate a special accomplishment."
He arched an eyebrow at me, almost like he was inviting questions, but I just motioned for him to proceed. I had no idea how any of this tied into anything.
"Sorry, I'm rambling. I've considered your terms. I could force you to come with me, but I have no desire to compel you because I know that I can't compel your feelings. You've rather expertly tried to box me into a situation where the only acceptable solution would be the solution you desire me to choose."
"So you're going to do it?"
Geoffrey shook his head. "No, I've come up with a third option, one that, although it is odious to consider, still represents the best route remaining me."
Geoffrey gave me a sad smile. "You will never really accept me in my current form, and yet I can't stand the thought of being separated from you for the rest of my days, even if it were to mean gaining my freedom."
"So what are you going to do?"
"You're right that Venice is in no small degree of danger because of her efforts on our behalf, so I've spent the last few hours implanting a series of false memories in people who were peripherally involved in this last skirmish. Imastious will eventually find those memories and he'll become convinced that it was me who caused him so many problems rather than Venice."
"So you're committing suicide? That's your solution?"
"No, this body won't die."
"What does that mean?"
Geoffrey pointed to his head. "I'm going to wipe all of my memories. I won't just move them to a safe spot inside my mind, I'll dissolve them. With a clear trail of evidence pointing at me, but with the me that committed the crime already gone, Imastious is unlikely to kill me. As long as Venice is careful to follow Imastious' orders to the letter, he's unlikely to scan her mind with any regularity, and even if he does ransack her mind he's unlikely to be looking for anything tying her to the events of the last few weeks. She'll be safe."
I could feel tears starting to pool in my eyes. "She'll be safe, but the two of you will still be under Imastious' thrall. I don't see how this is a solution."
"It's a solution because it gives me a fresh start. The person who has done so many terrible things will be gone. I'll truly be a new individual, and that means if you see me at some later point that there will be a chance for the two of us. You'll be able to love me without all of the complications that exist between us now."
The tears were flowing freely now, but I didn't care who saw me crying. "You'll be gone. The person you'll become won't recognize me, won't love me."
"No matter what happens to me, no matter what I become, I'll always fall for you, Lucy. All you need to do is spend some time with me. It's inevitable."
"Don't do this, Geoffrey! Please don't do this. Just run away with Venice, it's the better solution."
"I'm sorry, Lucy. You can't compel me in this any more than I can compel you to leave with me. I would rather face an eternity of slavery with the tiniest possibility that we might someday be together again than spend an eternity free but with a sure knowledge that you will never love me as much as I love you."
Geoffrey pulled a felt jewelry box from a pocket and slid it across the table to me. "Something to remember me by."
I tried to grab ahold of his hand as he stood, but today he was the one moving too fast. My hand caught only air as he backed away from the table with a smoothness that hinted at his supernatural speed.
"Goodbye, Lucy."
I must have gone into shock because I seemed to have lost time. I wanted to get up and chase after Geoffrey but I knew that doing so would be futile. He was faster and stronger than me and he knew the city much better than I would probably ever know it.
Instead of chasing after him I sat there at the table and cursed myself for being so practical, for not making the useless, grand gesture that the situation seemed to demand.
The black jewelry box contained a silver necklace with a clear crystal that was shaped like a tear. It was incredibly beautiful, but it didn't break the numbness that had overtaken me.
Hal carefully touched my arm sometime later. It didn't feel like much time had passed, but the length of the shadows out on the street seemed to indicate that it had been hours since Geoffrey had left.
"I'm sorry, Lucy, but it's almost to the end of my shift. Do you want me to have one of the other guys come here or are you ready to go back?"
"You can just leave, Hal. I'll be fine here."
"Geoffrey wouldn't like that. If you want to stay here then I really need to get someone else on their way over."
"No, that's okay. Let's go back to the apartment."
I couldn't help Geoffrey now, but I could at least make Hal's life a little easier today. It was a small thing to balance against all of the damage I'd done to Geoffrey's life, to Venice's life, but maybe a lifetime of small acts could begin to atone for my sins.