Chapter 19

• Despite his preparation tips, my stomach completely bottomed out and then bounced back up to stop in my throat. I squatted down and moaned. “That,” I lifted a hand, not even knowing if Michael still stood there, “is much cooler in theory.”
• Someone held a cup of something near my face, just the aroma helped. I looked up to see Leone offering it to me. With shaking legs, I stood slowly and took the cup, holding it under my nose and inhaling. He stepped back and a sweet, red-headed lady stood there smiling at me. She motioned. and I saw a chair beside me, and sat down quickly.
• When my stomach was back down where it belonged, I looked up to see I was sitting at the biggest table I’d ever seen in my life. The little red-haired lady came out with a tray and then set it down. There were several other trays spread out already. Michael was sitting on my left side, six, I counted, chairs away from me and Leone on the right, just as many chairs away. There were a lot of chairs. They sat there looking at each other. Not speaking, but facial expressions kept changing like they were.