Does that mean the lightning made us want each other? I can't say that's insane and impossible. The rules of the universe changed on the day the Echo breached the Earth and the two worlds merged. But Sefton didn't complete the transformation. Now the Echo is suffering from the loss of the only being in either world who could control the Brain.
And the people seated inside this tent think I'm the new Brain. Finding Sefton's castle hardly qualifies me to become the human controller of the Echo's mind.
Can my computer skills help? Well, we don't have electricity, so I can't do any actual programming. But maybe I can employ the mental skills I learned as a computer geek. I'm no longer the man I'd been before the apocalypse. The time I spent inside the Echo changed me in ways I still don't fully understand.
That's one more reason why I shouldn't have screwed Sarah, and why I will never do that again.
I rest my elbows on my knees and rub a hand over my cheek. "The lightning didn't kill me. Maybe that means the Echo wantsme to…do something. To figure that out, I need you to tell me everything about Sefton's plans."
"He wanted Allison to rule both worlds with him," Dax tells me. "She was the catalyst for the alchemical reaction, but he never intended for her to die. He killed Allison out of sheer rage when she ruined his plans. Willow brought her back to life."
"Right," Erin says. "Your brother didn't want Allison dead. He only wanted everyone else on Earth to die."
Dax shakes his head. "That's not quite right. He meant to force every human on earth to merge with their Echoes, which would imprison every human inside the bodies of the twisted copies of themselves. My brother called that the alchemy of souls. But he wasn't able to complete that part of his plan."
"Because you killed him," I say. "What else did Sefton want to do?"
"Turn himself into a godlike figure who would have total dominion over both worlds."
"What about his castle?"
Dax shrugs. "He never mentioned that. I had no idea he created such a place until Grant and Erin learned the truth during their mission into the Echo."
I gaze down at the dirt floor for a moment while I try to digest everything they've told me. How do I fit into this? Am I supposed to be the new Brain of the Echo? Or is my fate to protect Sarah? Now I'm seriously considering the idea that fate plays a role in my future. The world really has turned upside down and inside out.
My eyes force me to glance at Sarah out of the corner of my eye. I try not to wince, but every time I see her, I flash back to earlier in the woods. She had felt so fucking good, and I came harder inside her body than I'd ever come before. The woman annoys me. I don't want to want her. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that we wound up losing control and screwing eachother like crazy, since she loves to sunbathe in the nude. She's got a naughty streak, for sure.
But I have no excuse for what I did. I never even asked if she wanted it.
"Maybe I should give you Sefton's journal," Grant says. "You might see something in it that the rest of us missed. He was a scientist, after all. So are you, Gabriel, in a way."
"Computers are my thing, not quantum physics."
"Give it a try," Sarah says. "I can help you."
I raise my brows. "You're a physicist?"
"No. But I'd like to help. Maybe I was a scientist of some sort. I don't know."
Because she has amnesia. I still think it's bizarre that she just appeared on the beach one day, according to her friends. She looked like she'd been assaulted, though not sexually. I know that for sure because I took her virginity earlier today. And I hate myself for that. But we've got bigger problems than my guilt.
"I will take a look at the journal," I say. "And any other information you guys have. But I need to start where Sarah's story begins."
Her brows knit together. "I don't have a story. I'm amnesia girl."
"But you came from somewhere," I growl. Why? No frigging idea. Guilt, I guess. "We should start on the beach, just you and me."
Dax squints at me. "Why only you and Sarah? The rest of us know more about how the Echo has affected this world than you do."
"Yeah, but I have years of experience with the other side of the apocalypse."
Sarah stares at me, her eyes wide. "What do you mean years?"
"Are you deaf? Or just stupid? When I say years, I mean years."
"I think I understand," Dax says. "The same thing happened to me when Sefton initiated the alchemy of worlds."
"What are you talking about?"