Time Eternal by Lily Worthington Page B

never seen that man until yesterday?”
    She nodded reluctantly, not sure where this line of questioning was leading to. Cold sweat started trickling down her spine underneath her white and navy blue pinstripe shirt.
    “And when Agent Velakios found you, you were unconscious. You thought your brain had an overload of images of people whom you don’t know but you feel an extreme familiarity with?”
    That’s when her mom started sobbing quietly. Skyla went to her mom immediately. Embracing her, she looked at her dad, her heart racing. “What’s going on, Daddy?”
    Her father got up from the sofa and went to the mantelpiece where they kept the family photos. He reached for the photo frame on the far left, the one that had been taken when Skyla had come home from the hospital. Her hair was very long, all the way down to her lower back, and her skin was much paler. In that photo, she looked exactly like the girl in the painting at Rei’s townhouse. Oh my God, it couldn’t be. Could it?
    Her father turned around to face her. The distraught look on his normally warm face said it all before he went on. “Skyla, there’s something you need to know.”
    “No…” One of her hands covered her mouth as if she could prevent the truth from coming out while her other hand clutched her mother’s like it was her only lifeline.
    Not giving her a chance to say any more, her father sat down next to her mother and then looked directly into her eyes, “Skyla, we’re not your biological parents.”
    She was too stunned to react in any way. Her dad held her sobbing mom and gently murmured, “Dear, we’ve no choice. She needs to know.” His voice cracked.
    “Mom, Daddy, it’s not true.” Skyla looked at her parents holding each other like a couple grieving the loss of their child.
    “I’m afraid it is. And we’re sorry that we’ve kept this from you for so long.” Her father’s steely courtroom voice was back. “Laura prepared us for this day.”
    “Why—why didn’t you or Mom tell me this before? And what does Aunt Laura have to do with this?”
    She had never seen such sorrow in her dad’s eyes. He had always been the rock of their family. She remembered the countless times he had been by her side during her recovery in the hospital and the physical and speech therapies that came afterward. She remembered the comfort and support he had given Aunt Laura in the months after Uncle Johan was declared MIA. But now, her dad’s normally calm and confident façade was breaking down. He looked at her with regret and deep sorrow.
    “Because you’re our government secret.”
    If she had been shocked by the fact she was adopted, she was even less prepared to hear what her father had just said. She had known there was more to her past than her parents had let on, but not in a million years would she have thought she was some kind of government secret.
     

Chapter Nine
    “Director Jensen.” Rei spoke from the shadows in the dimly lit room, catching his prey by surprise. The slight form of the woman ducked behind her desk in a quick, fluid motion and surfaced just as quickly with a handgun, now pointing it in the general direction of his voice.
    She spoke in a stern, authoritative tone, befitting her station. “Show yourself.”
    Not wishing to waste more time, he stepped out from the shadows in the opposite corner from her and held up his arms casually, showing her that he was not armed—at least not visibly. His saber was hidden underneath his black leather trench coat.
    “Who are you? And how did you get in here?” Now the gun was aiming directly at his head. Her posture was tense, ready to shoot.
    “Ah, your so-called time distortion—a.k.a, wormhole detection technology.” He smiled and dropped his hands to his sides, disregarding the little lady’s deadly aim. “I am Rei Dusan.”
    Her stand remained firm and ready. “Should I know you?”
    “You should if my intel is correct. You were part of the team who