Penny watched in confusion as Miles closed his eyes, concentrating hard. He furrowed his brow and tried to draw an image of Luce in his mind. Considering he had only seen her when she's 17, it was considerably hard. He tried to picture his friend older face and a more mature body. Miles sighed after a second and looked towards the group. "I can't do it. I have to know what she looks like. Now, I mean," he shrugged.
"Here," Penny said, shuffling through her phone until she found a photo of her and her mom, standing on the beach together from a few years back. She handed the phone to Miles. He looked down at the picture and grinned. She looked so much the same as he remembered, yet so much different. Happier. In love.
He closed his eyes again and drew up the image in his mind then focused on reflecting Luce in front of him. After just a few moments of concentration, a shadowy figure appeared in the room. The figure slowly morphed into the familiar shape of Lucinda Grigori. Her long black hair trailed down her back, lightly touching her ivory skin. Her gray eyes were wide in confusion. Her tall, curvy frame was covered in a the same red dress that she had worn to dinner last night. After the reflection was finished, she looked around in confusion at everybody. Penny gasped when she saw how lifelike she looked, how real.
The whole room was quiet for a moment, taking Luce in. None of them had seen her in such a long time-the Throne forbade any of them to interfere. Arriane jumped up and down in excitement. Cam smirked to himself while Roland nodded his head in approval. Annabel beamed, Steven sighed. Miles and Shelby locked hands and stared up at her with longing. Leo seemed unfazed, while Penny's mouth was open wide.
"Well that went well," Miles announced after a second of silence. The reflection turned around in a slow circle, taking everybody in. Of course, she didn't know who anybody was except for Leo and Penny, and once she set her eyes on them, she smiled.
"Penny, where are we?" she asked. Her voice was so familiar to the others that they all seemed to lean in together.
"Umm...How does this work exactly?" Penny asked, not answering her fake mother's question. She wasn't sure how to talk to the reflection.
"I'll handle this," Steven said, stepping up. "Lucinda, we'd like to ask you some questions."
The reflection raised her eyebrows, taking in Steven's unfamiliar face, then bit her lip. She started cracking her knuckles (despite Daniel's hate of it) and finally sighed. "I guess that's fine." Reflections were usually compliant.
Steven nodded and looked towards Arriane, who just shrugged dramatically. How exactly do you ask this kind of thing? "Does the name Luce Price mean anything to you?" he started, hoping that was a good question. The angels nodded in agreement.
Reflection Luce thought for moment before responding, "Yes. It sounds familiar. I don't know from where, though. Maybe an old friend?" Steven's eyes widened at her answer. How much did she know?
"What about Pennyweather Van Syckle Lockwood?"
"Yes!" Luce chimed immediately. "She was one of my friends from high school, I think. Sadly, she died in an accident. Poor girl."
Arriane cringed and stepped up beside Steven, curiosity overwhelming her. "Have you ever heard of Sword & Cross?"
Luce thought for a moment. She almost answered know, but a lightbulb went off in her head. "Oh, that's a reformatory school, right? One of my distant relatives might've gone there. Something about a fire and a boy. I'm not sure, though."
"Oh my gosh," Arriane said in disbelief. How was this happening? What did it mean?
"Do you know who I am, Luce?"
"Arriane, right?" The whole room was silent.
"And what about me?"
"I might be mistaken, but is it Steven?" Luce asked, unsure.
"Can you name everybody in this room?" If she had a perfect memory of them, this would definitely be something to worry about. Is it possible that Luce and Daniel will eventually gain their memory back?
Luce glanced around the room and nodded. "Yes. Penny, Leo, Arriane, Steven, . . . Cam? Roland. I think Annabel. Shelby? . . . And Miles!" Everybody's eyes widened in disbelief. Maybe even horror. "Was that right? Sorry, I'm not the best with names."
"That was perfect," Arriane breathed. "What now?" she asked Steven.
"I . . . I don't know. This doesn't make sense. She-she shouldn't know this! She shouldn't have bits and pieces of memories. That's not possible!"
Cam stepped forward to take matters into his own hands. "How long was the Fall?" If she didn't get one of the harder questions, maybe it was nothing to fret about.
"The Fall?" she asked, confused. Obviously Luce wouldn't know what the Fall was in her mortal life. She couldn't. "I believe nine days."
Cam inhaled sharply. "And what was the name of your first love?"
She thought for a moment. "Lucifer."
"Who did you save in World War I?"
"Daniel."
"What was your last name in Helston?"
"Biscoe."
"What did you give Daniel in Tahiti?"
"Tattoos."
"Who were you married to in China?"
"King Shang."
"That's enough!" Steven roared, angered by Cam's interrogation. "It's obvious that she remembers things! Even is she doesn't understand how, they're in her memory.
The room fell silent. Luce's reflection looked scared and confused. "Miles, we're done with her," Steven whispered. Miles willed the reflection away and pursed his lips.
"How is this possible?" Roland asked.
"I don't know." Steven ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair, closing his eyes. He thought hard for a long minute. Was there any possible solutions? Any way to fix this and figure out what's going on? He couldn't find any. "Penny," he said, turning to her. "I need you to help us with this. This is very serious and the more information we have, the faster we can figure this out."
"Okay," she whispered. Leo placed her hand in his and she took a deep breath. "What do I need to do?"
