Eternally Yours 1 by Gina Ardito Page B

test.”
    The anger returned, simmering under a tight lid. “Why would I need a test?”
    “The Board believes you’re still holding on to some anger from your last few lives.”
    His temper boiled over, spilling from his lips in hot, stinging words. “Gee, I wonder why. One woman handed me over to the British as a spy during the American Revolution. Another ordered the doctor to pull the plug on my respirator when I would have awakened from a temporary coma. I think those kinds of events have given me a right to be distrustful of the fairer sex, don’t you?”
    “What I think isn’t important, Luc. What is important is that if you continue to nurse that anger, it may eventually overcome you. And if that happens, you’ll become one of the Furies you so successfully chase for us now.”
    Tossing his head, he snorted. “That’s ridiculous.”
    Sherman rose and walked toward his double doors, which opened on his approach. “The Board has invested a great deal in you, Luc. Don’t disappoint us.”
    Knowing he’d been dismisse d, Luc stormed past Sherman. “This isn’t over.”
    Two women had already brought about his downfall on Earth. He’d be damned if he’d allow a third’s insecurities to drag him down in the Afterlife.
     
    ~~~~
     
    While waiting for Luc to return, Jodie slumped in a cushy chair near Samantha’s desk. God, just to sit felt so good! Every muscle, whether real or simply energy, screamed for sleep. Even her eyelids ached. Meanwhile, her stomach voiced its own noisy needs, and her skin itched reminders of the thick layer of dry sweat and dust clogging her pores. What had Luc said? There have been plenty of times I’ve fought a battle to decide whether to eat, sleep, or shower first. Sleep always wins for me because the other two can be taken care of while I’m recharging the old battery.
    “Sleep first,” she murmured to her body, dispelling the debate.
    Not because she knew how the other two could be “taken care of” while she slept. But food could wait until she had regained enough energy to chew. And no way would her muscles keep her standing for a shower without a chance to rest beforehand. Therefore, sleep was the obvious winner.
    The doors leading to Sherman’s office swished open. Contrary to her exhaustion, Luc strode out with furious strides, energy bouncing off his form with the force of machine gun fire. “Come along, Ms. Devlin,” he growled as he stalked past her.
    She jumped up as if prodded with a pitchfork, struggling to gather excess static from the carpet at her feet to propel her forward. The now familiar rush of ions whipped around her , weak, but effective. A moment’s panic stole her breath as she broke into miniscule pieces of power, but the new surge of electricity reawakened her confidence. Closing her eyes, she envisioned herself as a spear of lightning, aimed for the floor of her room at the Halfway House.
    Sure enough, w hen she opened her eyes again, she stood in the foyer of her room. Atop the counter, the clipboard lay, at rest. The way she hoped to be soon. She yawned. Very soon. In fact, the bed only a few steps away seemed to glow like a neon Vacancy sign, beckoning her forward. On stumbling legs, she staggered toward the mattress. With the last ounce of bouncing atoms, she dove, face first, into its welcoming embrace.
    She slept, dreamless , with no concept of time, a machine unplugged. Rebooting…

 
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
    Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!
    The sudden noise jolted Jodie back to consciousness. An alarm clock? Here? In the land with no time?
    She sat upright, scanned the area around her bed, found nothing. Still the buzz rattled through her head, more annoying than a mosquito in a dark room. Where the hell was it coming from? Out of the corner of her eye she spotted purple lights dancing on the ceiling. The clipboard! The message currently transmitting from the Board flashed so brightly and with so much power, the characters reflected on the