Paying the Piper

Twenty-Four, Part 1: Aurora

Seeing Evie in my dreams the night of the bonfire was a reunion rather than a legitimate dream.

When my face broke into a big smile at her arrival, she must've known my memories had been restored.

"Evie! I've been to see Potomah and I got my memories back!"

The girl's face slowly sweetened with a smile. "That's wonderful news. It was past time for you to remember everything."

"I know. There's still so much I don't know, though. Like this. How are you here? How are you in my dreams?"

Evie shrugged. "I would've been a dreamwalker if I had lived and trained enough. It's the boundary I can cross through. Our people's skills are diverse. And that's what we do—travel the in-between places. Some piece of me must be left in your memories and dreams that I continue to exist here."

It was baffling, but digging into further was apt to just confuse me more. So I told her the most concerning news: "Cale gave up his memories of you. It was...it was to help protect me from Dorian. I didn't ask him to, but I'm so sorry."

She took a breath and glanced down. "It was his own choice. Maybe if I hadn't stopped visiting him in his dreams he would've made a different choice."

"Could you?" I asked urgently. "Could you still go to him in his dreams even now? Maybe seeing you again would help him remember you..."

Gently, Evie shook her head. "If Potomah took his memories, then I am gone to him. I no longer exist in his mind to be able to reach his dreams." She looked me in the eye. "You are the only one who remembers me now, Faye Wulfgaar. Well, you and Potomah since she has memories of me."

That seemed like the saddest thing I had heard anyone say.

"Is that how you know so much? Because Potomah has memories of you and memories of so many other things? Can you access her memories?"

Evie smiled. "The traces of me that are left can tap into the memories. It was how I was able to share some others' stories I had never lived through, but Potomah knew. I think she knows anything that happens in her forest."

I am Potomah, and my roots are deep.

The rest of my dreaming, we kept focused on happier matters, like the memories I had regained that day of my time with her. If I were the only who remembered her, I was determined to go over every memory I had, to ensure they remained fresh and intact in my mind.

And it helped to keep my sleep peaceful instead of dreading the inevitable moment when Dorian followed his Mark back to me.

On Saturday morning, despite going to bed late, I awoke early. The house was still quiet, but I couldn't go back to sleep. An idea was buzzing in my head, and I couldn't let it go. It was something I had never really thought to do before, even though it was extremely simple.

I Googled my name, my mother's name, my father's name plus the city...all the combinations I could think of. And when the articles began showing up, I stared. All this time, so much info had been available to me, and I had never thought to look it up. Most of the hits were online articles published by the local paper, the Gendormi Herald.

Now they were a click away. Just one tiny movement away from changing my life. But then, the information within wasn't wholly new. It was just going to be from a different perspective.

Nodding to myself, with that viewpoint, I could click one of the articles.

Highway Accident Leaves Two Dead