Chapter 17

“Nikolas!” Carly shouted, trying to get his attention before he went into Elizabeth’s room.

He turned around and looked at her questioningly. “Yeah?”

“I need to talk to you about Lucien. Do you have a minute?” she asked. He nodded and they went over to a group of chairs to sit down.

“Okay, this is going to sound crazy, so bear with me.” She stopped for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to say it. “I think Lucien is Lucky.”

Nikolas stared at her for a moment. He had been thinking the same thing ever since Laura’s reaction to him the other day, but hadn’t been able to figure out a way to prove it. He was shocked that Carly, of all people, would be thinking the same thing. “What makes you say that?”

She sighed. She knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to convince him. “Okay, I’ll admit that at first I didn’t even see the resemblance, but I never really knew him that well before he died, so I guess it’s understandable. Anyway, I found him sitting in Liz’s room yesterday. He was humming something, and I recognized it. Did Liz ever tell you about that song Lucky wrote for her?”

He nodded. “She mentioned it, but she never played it for me, why?”

“Well, she let me listen to it a couple of times. It was a really sweet song. Anyway, that’s what he was humming. I asked him where he heard it before, and he said he didn’t know, that it just popped into his head. Nikolas, she never played that song for anyone except me and Emily! How could he know it if he wasn’t Lucky?”

Nikolas shook his head. “That’s not really enough proof though. I’ll admit that I’ve thought about the possibility as well, but without something concrete, we’ll just sound like fools!”

“Well, how about the way he looks at her? He supposedly doesn’t know the girl, yet he sits with her almost all day, singing and talking to her. He’s so gentle with her, and he looks at her like he’s completely and totally in love. How is that possible if they’ve never met?” She pauses to think. “Look, he’s the right age and he looks like he could be Lucky’s twin. What do you know about him?”

Nikolas wasn’t sure what to tell her. He knew that Lucien didn’t want everyone to know about him, but he also knew that he had become friends with Carly in the short time he was there. “He told you about the whole Cassidine heir thing, right?” She nodded. “Well, all I know is that he claims that he grew up in Greece, was raised by Helena and some uncle from his mother’s side. I’ve got his name written down....” he dug a piece of paper out of his pocket and scanned it. “Here, his uncle’s name was Cesar Faison, his mother’s was Anna. He said he doesn’t remember much about growing up, that it was uneventful. The only thing else I know is that before he went to the Sorbonne, he never left Greece.”

“See, that’s too weird. How could someone live their entire live in one place with no contact besides their grandmother and uncle? Something is off with that, don’t you think?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I do. I think Luke is looking into his background. Maybe we should ask him if he found anything more.”

~*~

Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked around the room, trying to remember where she was.

“Hey,” a voice said softly from her bedside. She turned to look at the person and smiled.

“I knew it was you. I knew it wasn’t a dream,” she said groggily. “How long have I been here?”

“A couple of days, but I should tell you that I’m not who you think I am. My name is Lucien Cassidine. I’m Nikolas’s cousin.”

She looked at him strangely. Why would Lucky tell her something like that? Maybe he had amnesia or something. She decided to play along, afraid that he’d leave if she argued with him. “It’s nice to meet you, Lucien. I’m Elizabeth Webber,” she said and smiled.

His heart fluttered a little at her smile. She was so beautiful. He smiled back and shook her hand gently. “I hope you don’t mind me being here. I felt badly about what happened, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m better now, and thank you. I could feel you here, I think. You were talking to me, and singing, right?” She remembered hearing voices while she was sleeping, and she could have sworn at one point Lucky was singing her song.

He nodded. “I think I may have been humming once. Carly was here, too, and so were the Spencers.” He said the name with a hint of disgust, which she noticed.

“You don’t like them?”

He sighed. “I was raised to hate Luke Spencer, to hate all Spencers, really. My grandmother always forbade me from coming here, because she was afraid of what he might do. I guess my curiosity got the best of me, so I’m here against her wishes. I’ve run into him a couple of times, and while I don’t see how he could be a threat, I still don’t like him.”

She was surprised. Even if he had amnesia, how could Lucky not remember his parents? “Did you say your grandmother? That wouldn’t be Helena Cassidine, would it?”

He nodded and smiled. “Yes. She’s like a mother to me. My parents died when I was young, so she raised me along with my mother’s brother. I grew up in Greece, so this is my first trip to the States.”

Her brain was working overtime trying to process everything he had just said. She knew that Helena had done something to Lucky, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Well, look who’s up!” Carly said cheerfully, entering the room. She smiled at Lucien and went around to the other side of Liz’s bed. Nikolas came in behind her.

Lucien stood up. “I’ll leave you all to catch up. Would you mind if I stopped by later?”

Liz smiled. “Not at all. I’ll look forward to seeing you.” He squeezed her hand quickly and left.

Carly waited for him to go, then turned to Liz. “What was that?”

“That was Lucky, he just doesn’t know it right now,” she answered simply, smiling for the first time in long while.

Graphics Courtesy Of: