Paradox - Progeny Of Innocence (bk2) (Paradox series) by Patti Roberts Page A

contain, control. She knew that anyone else having to exist in this perpetual state of mind would have required copious amounts of medication to sustain any kind of rational human behavior. In fact, anyone else in this state would be bound up in a straitjacket by now and deposited into the nearest mental institution. Angela squirmed in her seat, then sat up straight and concentrated firmly on Grace.
    Grace’s mind did a sudden u-turn and then ground to a sudden halt. She began to think about how fast the last five years had gone, since her father’s death. Since Wade, Angela, Josh, and - a dog yapped noisily at her feet, insistent on acknowledgment. It was Angela’s small bundle of white fluff and unfailing companion, Champsie, the West Highland terrier. Grace, as though understanding his demand, reached down and ruffled the fur on the top of his head. "Yes, and you too, Champsie."
    "Well," Angela began, trying to defuse the situation. "You walked down the hall-" Angela stopped speaking. Was she wasting her time, she wondered? It appeared that Grace had already moved on temporarily from that particular line of thought. Perhaps this was nothing more than just another one of Grace’s rhetorical questions? Maybe I should just go back to my reading, less painful for both of us, Angela thought, reaching for her book.
    Grace frowned. "Noooo, I don’t mean how did I get here? I know that. I mean… me, this life..." Grace pulled herself up straight in her chair and continued. "I see this beautiful place but there’s smoke everywhere, and there’s a girl and she’s me, but she isn’t me and she’s... Oh, I don’t know what I mean!" Grace slumped back in her seat and rubbed her hand over her forehead in complete frustration. Then with more enthusiasm she began again. "Everyone’s running, there’s a fire, I’m, I mean the girl, she’s crying… there is this woman, with dark hair. She is wearing colorful silk robes; she’s a goddess or something. Then I’m lying on the floor and I’m…" Grace couldn’t say the word. She didn’t know why, she had experienced so many deaths in her dreams that one more shouldn’t make any difference. But somehow it did. In this dream it felt different.
    Dead, Angela thought, but she kept that answer to herself. "Oh," Angela said, closing the book she had been reading, titled ‘ Human Ascent, ’ by Henry Gobus. Was Grace starting to remember, she wondered? She frowned. It was too early; Grace was not prepared…. None of them was prepared for what was coming. The diversity of natural disasters occurring across the world was just a hint of what was to come. There were still so many missing pieces that were paramount to any hope for attaining success. Grace pointed at the pile of books Angela had piled up in front of her. "I just thought that with all that stuff you read that you just might have figured out the answers by now."
    "I do have answers." Angela replied quickly with an indignant look on her face. But you’re not ready for those answers yet, she thought silently to herself.
    "You don’t have all the answers." Grace persisted, tilting her head and taking a bite out of the cold piece of toast she had all but abandoned on her plate. She washed it down with a sip of cold coffee and screwed up her nose.
    "About how you got here?" Angela asked, raising her eyebrows. And to herself, Oh, if only you knew…
    "No. Not that. This morning I asked you if these jeans made my bum look big, and you didn’t have an answer for that."
    "Oh good Gods," Angela moaned, reaching for the sanctity of her book.
    The coffee tearing through Grace’s nervous system was not proving conducive to Angela’s usual razor-sharp abilities. For the sake of the Ancients, Grace, Angela thought excruciatingly. Focus, focus, focus, or we are all doomed!
    Grace had known that asking Angela’s opinion about clothes or anything pertaining to the realms of fashion would be a futile exercise. She knew the question