Read Haze for Free Online

Melbourne.’
    ‘Why do you have to go south at all? Can’t you call the hospital and ask if anyone remembers you?’ She gets up and stacks the empty plates on the next table.
    ‘If we can find the nurse who told me Jude was dead, she might know something that will help Rafa work out who changed my memories…Maybe give us a lead on what happened to Jude. It’s not really a phone conversation.’
    Maggie cradles her plates. ‘When are you going?’
    ‘Not until Jason gets back. Hopefully he’ll find what he’s looking for today.’
    She readjusts the stack in her arms. ‘You don’t have to wait. I’ll be fine.’
    ‘Yeah, Mags, after shadowing you for the past two days I’m just going to leave you here alone.’
    ‘Do you really think Taya or Malachi will try something?’
    ‘I don’t know but I’d rather have Jason here, especially if he’s armed with something that means you can’t be forced to shift.’
    Maggie presses her lips together; I know how much she hates blink-of-an-eye travel with the Rephaim.
    ‘Taya won’t hurt you—she wouldn’t be game—but I don’t trust her not to take you for leverage again. Or fun. No way are we making it easy for her. Plus’—I give her a meaningful look—‘Jason made me promise we wouldn’t leave until he’s back in Pan Beach.’
    ‘He still feels guilty about lying to me.’
    ‘You know it’s more than that.’
    She drops her eyes. Another glance into the cafe. ‘Let me know before you go, okay?’
    When she’s gone, I sit back in my wicker chair and watch the world pass by. Two women in bikinis and matching sarongs cross the esplanade, deep in conversation. They have the same pleasant round face and mousy hair. Mother and daughter. The younger woman uses her hands to demonstrate something and her mother throws her head back, laughs loudly. I swirl the coffee in my cup, catching the froth on the edges. I never had a moment like that with my mother—not even the fake one. The sun loses some of its comfort.
    I pick at a piece of willow sticking up on the armrest. My real mother. What would it have been like to know her? To grow up in a coastal village in Italy with Jude, alongside Jason and his mother? The three of us maybe never fully understanding what we were, still having each other. But Nathaniel found Jude and me like he did the other half-angel babies, killed our mother and took us. Jason escaped his notice because he didn’t realise two women from the same village fell pregnant to the Fallen. So it was Jason who got to have a mother. Jason who got to be part of a family—a real family. I’ve never made friends easily, but a big Italian family? That would have been different.
    Maggie is already coming back out of the cafe. Her eyes are locked on me, her steps stilted. There’s someone behind her, close, as if they’re waiting for an opportunity to pass. A flash of black hair.
    Shit. Taya.
    I push back my chair and stand up.
    ‘Calm down,’ she says to me over Maggie’s shoulder. ‘I didn’t come to fight.’ Her hair is pulled back in its usual militant ponytail.
    ‘Then step away from Maggie.’
    Taya holds up her hands. ‘Not even touching.’ She doesn’t try to stop Maggie hurrying to my side of the table.
    Taya is wearing a t-shirt the colour of a murky ocean. It’s the first time I’ve seen her out of black. The dressing on her neck is the only evidence of Tuesday night’s hellion attack.
    ‘What are you so twitchy about?’ she says. ‘You knew I was coming.’
    She’s right. I should have been paying attention, not sitting here feeling sorry for myself.
    ‘Where’s Malachi?’
    ‘Not here. Where’s Rafa?’
    ‘Not here,’ I mimic. We watch each other for a few seconds. ‘If you didn’t come here to fight, what do you want?’
    ‘I’ve ordered a chai latte, so that’ll do for a start.’ Taya sits down, puts her feet up on the chair opposite. Her shoulders are loose and her face is relaxed—as relaxed as