In the room, the Universe seemed suddenly to have stopped moving. So many things happened; I saw your tears and the tears of your dear wife, when that anonymous reader pronounced the name of that distant chapel.
You could no longer speak. Your smiling face grew serious. Your eyes filled with shy tears that trembled on your lashes, as if wishing to apologize for appearing there uninvited.
Even I had a lump in my throat, although I didn’t know why. I looked for my wife and daughter in the audience, because I always look to them whenever I feel myself to be on the brink of something unknown. They were there, but they were sitting as silently as everyone else, their eyes fixed on you, trying to support you with their gaze, as if a gaze could ever support anyone.
Then I looked to Christina for help, trying to understand what was going on, how to bring to an end that seemingly interminable silence. And I saw that she was silently crying, too, as if you were both notes from the same symphony and as if your tears were touching, even though you were sitting far apart.
For several long seconds, nothing existed, there was no room, no audience, nothing. You and your wife had set off for a place where we could not follow; all that remained was the joy of living, expressed in silence and emotion.
Words are tears that have been written down. Tears are words that need to be shed. Without them, joy loses all its brilliance and sadness has no end. Thank you, then, for your tears.
- O Aleph, Paulo Coelho -
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune. I just don’t like that feeling you get when you’re so into the story and it gets cut off too soon. Worse, by the time you get to read the next book (which by the way doesn’t exist yet and remains to be written), you would have forgotten what the previous one was all about. (Note to self: Re-read Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero and make a review.)
I am Number Four: The Lost Files: Six’s Legacy is an anecdote of what Six experienced as she was growing up with her Cêpan, Katarina. In ways, it’s like I am Number Four but this one appears a lot simpler and direct to the point. The most critical part of the book was being spotted and captured by the Mogadorians – and managing to escape. Only available in e-book format, the book is a valuable “filler” in understanding the sarcastic female character “Jane” in the movie, 