Free Ascending the Veil by Venessa Kimball Page B

tender touch and his harsh sounding words. His eyebrows are furrowed and his eyes resemble a storm ready to erupt.
    I’m about to ask him what is wrong when Monica agrees, “Yes, let them know that she is awake and seems to be stable.”
    Hesitantly, I nod at her and turn to leave with Xander, but he is already out the door. As I head for the door to catch up with him, a soft sob comes from behind me. “Wait.”
    I turn to find Isabel walking over to me. As she stands before me, she gently holds my hands in hers. “Thank you for bringing her back , Jes.”
    An impetuous knot tangles in my throat. I can barely squeeze out the words. “Yeah, you are welcome.”
    Isabel looks beyond me and lifts her chin. “Can you tell Xander thank you for me?”
    A little uncomfortable about Xander’s quick escape, I nod and smile. “I better catch up with him to tell the others.”
    I squeeze her hand, and then leave the room in search of Xander. I round the corner by the nurse’s station and see Xander standing in the middle of the hallway with his back to me and his head downcast. Without even concentrating, I heard his thoughts. “He killed my parents. For God’s sake, he killed her mother! How can I feel sorry for this man? How can she feel sorry for him?”
    I slow my pace and soften my steps, not wanting to startle him. I see his shoulders tense under his shirt as his hands push deeper into his pockets and he rocks back on his heels. My foot accidentally scuffs along the tile floor and Xander whips around to face me. Xander’s brief moment of vulnerability instantly fades and the indecipherable facade he has decidedly adopted around me is back in place.
    “Sorry, I didn’t mean to...”
    Obviously irked, Xander runs a hand through his hair. “Don’t be sorry alright!”
    I didn’t need his attitude right now. I roll my eyes and walk past him. “Fine. Isabel says thank you since you were in such a hurry to leave!”
    I hear him groan in frustration as I continue to walk, but he says nothing to redeem himself.
    Xander quickly catches up to me on our way back to the cafeteria. I look out of the corner of my eye at him and wonder what he saw when I went into Corinna’s mind. Did he see my interaction, I mean Corinna’s, with Sam? Could that have him on edge with me?
    Screw it, I’m asking. “When you followed me into Corinna’s mind, what did you see?”
    Xander slows his pace, but does not stop. I follow in suit. He opens his mouth to say something, and then quickly shuts it. He scratches the side of his head, looks at me, and then looks down the hall. “Well, I really couldn’t see as much as I could hear and feel.”
    Oh crap! Me and Sam, he felt what I was feeling. That is why he can’t look at me. I stop in the middle of the hallway and cross my arms over my chest. “And, what did you feel?”
    Still walking, Xander realizes I have stopped, turns, and walks back toward me slowly. He leans against the wall across from me, rests his head against the wall, and closes his eyes. His voice is croaks, “All of it.”
    I can’t imagine what he thinks about me after hearing me, I mean Corinna, talk and “interact” with Sam in the way I did. Sam was the only person he trusted for years, and then he used him, deceived him. I just twisted the knife that had already cut him deeply by having this intimate moment with him as Corinna. “It wasn’t me, Xander.”
    Xander slowly pushes off of the wall and stands in front of me. His eyes search mine with compassion now. “Jes, I know it was Corinna feeling those things for him, not you. She is linked to Sam. It makes sense that you would feel Corinna’s emotions for him.”
    He isn’t mad at me. A wave of relief fills me.
    Then Xander’s jaw tightens and I feel the worry resurface. “It wasn’t just Sam being sadistic and evil , Jes. Michael, he orchestrated everything Sam has become.”
    Xander looks down at his feet and shakes his head. When he looks back up at