by K. K. Allen
She speaks. Her voice perfectly familiar.
“It’s you.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“It’s you.”
If it’s possible for my heart to lunge out of my chest and fall onto the floor, then that’s exactly what’s happening right now. My mom is staring back at me as we hold hands.
“You remember me?” I choke through the ball of emotions building in my throat. “Mom, I’ve missed you so much.”
And just as soon as my heart plopped onto the floor, my mom stomps on it, crushing it into the wood. Her hand jerks away from mine, and she sits up, flat against the bedframe. At the same time, I feel my father pulling me to my feet and wrapping his arms around me. I’m full-on crying now, unable to hide my devastation.
“It’s you. He claimed you. Who are you?” my mom asks, whipping her head around. “Where am I?” She returns her focus to us, as if she’s afraid to look away.
“Grace, you’ve been through a lot, but you’re safe with us. We’re your family. We’ll take care of you.” Paul is so gentle when he speaks to her.
She glares at him. “You are not my family.” She shakes her head, her eyes losing focus for a second. “I don’t have a family. Why am I here?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Paul asks. “Before you saw Erebus claim Kat?”
Grace seems to consider what he’s asking. “You’re Kat?”
I nod my head, unable to hide the sadness pouring from my eyes. “Yes. I’m Katrina. Your daughter.”
There’s an unmistakable flicker of something registering in her mind, but it’s gone just as quick. “Who’s Erebus? Is that his name? The man in black?”
“You don’t know his name?” I ask. My stomach churns on empty. After all these years and all her sacrifice, she doesn’t even know his name. And then I remember her journals. She knew his name at one point. Before he took her memory again.
She shakes her head. “He never told me his name.” The look on her face breaks my mangled heart. Erebus not only took her memories, he took her entire sense of awareness too. He’s positioned himself as her life, as if she’s merely an extension of him, there for his taking whenever he wishes.
“I was baking a cake. That’s what I usually do on Saturdays. I bake.” It takes me a minute to realize she’s finally answering Paul’s question. Something in me stirs as I remember how amazing our apartment always smelled on Saturdays. She did love to bake.
“That’s the last thing I remember before waking up in a strange house. There were others there too, but we never spoke. He left me there for days, but I couldn’t get out.” She tilts her head in my direction, a flicker of recognition lighting her eyes. “I don’t remember much. The days flowed together for the most part. But there was one night … I ran to the window to watch the lightning, and it was raining so hard. That’s when I saw you through the window. You were on the beach. With a boy. You were so sad.” Grace looks as if she’s empathetic to whatever pain I felt, and I ignore the intense stare coming from my father.
That was the night I learned of Johnny’s house and the fact that he grew up near the. Oh, my God, Johnny’s family lived right next door to Erebus and his Followers. Could that be why Erebus had Johnny’s parents killed? To protect their identity if they ever made the connection?
As disturbed as I am, I focus my attention back on my mother. She was there watching us the entire time, except she didn’t know who we were.
Her expression twists as she remembers more, eyes widening with a shudder of her shoulders. “He came for me later that night and claimed me again. He didn’t release me until the night he left me for you.” She looks directly at me, eyes blazing, but when she shakes her head, the look dies.
Her entire demeanor aches with confusion. She’s spent so much time allowing someone to abuse her body and mind that she’s forgotten how to think on her own. I want to throw my arms around her, grip her tightly, and beg her to remember me. But with her memories taken, so is our reunion. “What do you remember after he claimed you?”
She frowns. “Nothing. I can’t remember anything when he claims me.”
None of us speak until Paul breaks the silence. “The man who possesses you is not a good man. Your name is Grace, and you’re my wife … at least you were my wife before you left me seventeen years ago. You took our daughter when she was a baby and moved to Silver Lake, North Carolina where you raised her for almost sixteen years. Then you died … or at least we all thought you died. Katrina moved here to live with Rose, my mother.”
I listen as Paul tells the CliffNotes version of our story. There’s so much to catch my mom up on, but will any of it mean anything to her? Just telling someone they are your flesh and blood doesn’t make them love you or feel loved in return. Sharing a life and creating memories are what bonds loved ones together. Without that, there’s nothing but emptiness.
Paul has inched his way to the other side of the bed, and Grace is captivated by his story. “Erebus will be back for you, and if he claims you we’ll never see you again. I’d like for you to stay with us and work on regaining your memory.”
“Why did I leave you?” This is the first question she asks, and I want to back out of the room and let them have their privacy. This conversation suddenly feels like an intimate one.
I look at my dad, watching his face fall and the light in his eyes fade. “Our family history is complicated. We were very much in love, but when you found out that my family’s bloodline descended from magic, all you wanted to do was protect our daughter. So you took her away and threatened to expose our family if I ever came near you two. I’ve been watching from a distance ever since.”
She faces me, her face distorting as if she’s in pain. “You were fifteen when you thought I died. How old are you now?”
“I’ll be eighteen in June.”
Grace has a faraway look in her eye, so my father steps around the bed and pulls me out of the room. “Let’s give her some time.”
“What are we going to do? We can’t keep her locked up here, but we can’t just let her go either. She seems so confused. He’s more than possessed her. He’s brainwashed her to the point she thinks he’s her reality.”
My dad strokes my cheeks with his thumbs and gives me a tight smile. “I know.” He sighs. “What about you? Are you okay?”
It’s not easy to think about myself right now. “I’m fine. Really.”
He doesn’t pull his eyes away. Instead, he squints as if searching to see if I’m telling the truth. Then he releases me and smiles. “I’ll stay with her for a while. We can work with her on her memory. There might even be something Circe can do. I can go see her later, but I’ll need to rest to replenish my energy. Last night took a lot out of all of us.”
I exaggerate a nod, understanding all too well. Then I tilt my head. “I know what you’re going to say, but when we’re rested, I can go to Circe. We already know Erebus can’t get to me when I’m wearing this.” I don’t need to see my father roll his eyes to know he doubts I’ll keep the pendant on my wrist. “I won’t take this off again. I promise. Let me go, please. Once I get to the plant, I’ll be fine.”
To my surprise, he doesn’t argue. “Maybe you’re right, but I just don’t feel comfortable with you going there right now. Give it a day to rest.” He wraps his arms around me and rests his chin on my head. There is comfort in his embrace despite our situation. “I’m going to stay with your mother, but we can take shifts if you’d like. Maybe our conversations will spark something in her memory until we can get to Circe.”
I peek over his shoulder. My mom is staring at us, probably listening to every word. “Okay, I’ll be back soon. I want to check on Rose. Is she okay? Johnny said she wasn’t feeling well.”
Paul sighs. “Yesterday took a lot out of her, Katrina. She had to use a great deal of magic to keep Grace from Erebus. She’s a strong, stubborn, old woman.” He laughs. I smile.
“Dad,” I say before walking away
. I know what I want to say; I’m just not sure how. “Thank you for coming back and for always loving me, even when I didn’t know you did. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
His hold around me tightens, nearly crushing me with its force.
From the look in his eyes and the smile on his face, I know that was exactly what he’s been waiting to hear.
Sometimes we look back on our lives and realize we traveled too fast. We shut out the painful moments and pray something better will come along. We escape life as our coping mechanism. We’re surviving, but we’re not living. We forget we can ride the turbulent waves. We can even control them. But sometimes we think it’s easier to drown … until that one day we wake up and recognize that it’s too late, and that there’s a life we forgot to live.
I doubt this is the case with my grandmother. She’s not the type of woman who cowers with defeat or hides herself away in mourning after the death of her husband. She’s bold and fearless and has lived every second of the life she’s been given. Still, looking at her now in her weakest form creates an ache in my heart.
Rose sleeps as I curl up beside Charlotte on the couch.
Charlotte has her arm around me and is stroking my hair. “How are you feeling?”
I shrug. “Physically, better by the second. Emotionally, a wreck. Mentally, confused. Erebus is still out there; my mom is alive but doesn’t remember me; and these strange memories are beginning to surface—memories that aren’t my own.”
“Erebus’ memories?” she asks, shocked.
I nod. “Somehow I was able to fight him through the invasion. I was stronger than him. My mom doesn’t remember anything when she’s possessed, but I remember almost all of it.” I cringe and then look into her eyes. “Charlotte, I could hear his thoughts. He was remembering things about my mom. About the day I thought she died. And other things … It’s all a jumbled puzzle right now.”
We sit in silence, and I’m grateful to her for not asking too many questions. The thoughts alone are overwhelming. Charlotte has always known just the right thing to do and say.
When Rose wakes, Charlotte steps out of the room, and I move to her bedside, a smile on my face. “It’s been an adventurous two days, hasn’t it?”
Rose doesn’t speak right away, but her eyes appear moist as she gives me a tight smile. “You can say that.”
I pull myself onto the bed and lie facing her. “Do you need to go outside to reenergize? Would that help?” She looks so weak and tired, nothing like the Rose I know.
A tear falls onto her cheek, just one, triggering something in me. Then she sighs. “It’s getting harder to hang on, dear. But it’s all worth it.” She reaches out as if to stroke my arm, but her hand just rests there. “You’re in good hands between your father and your mother now.”
I frown. To anyone else, my situation may feel like a dream come true, and in a way, it absolutely is, but it’s also a nightmare. I don’t get a complete sense of comfort when I think of my mother, especially since she has no clue who any of us are.
“She can’t remember anything, Rose. It’s just like when she first arrived here as a teenager. Did you know my mother kept journals?”
Rose moves her head an inch to examine me. “You read her journals?”
“I read some of the entries. Erebus would visit her, and she’d have nightmares about him. He gave some of the story away when he invaded me too. He said she chose him. She didn’t choose anything. The moment she took off her pendant, he took her, and he made it seem like—”
Rose squeezes my arm, telling me it’s okay. “The important thing is that she’s back. I told Paul to talk to Circe. She might have something that can help her.”
“Circe is the energy source,” I say knowingly.
Rose lets out a heavy sigh. My guess is she’s relieved to be rid of the secret. “Yes. Well, more people know now, but it’s still important to keep her hidden. Her magic and knowledge are too powerful for just anyone to get ahold of her.”
“Does this mean I can ask you questions now?” My interest is piqued.
Rose grins. “Yes. My secrets are yours now, Katrina. The secrets were only to protect you. I hope you know that, dear.”
“I know, Rose.” I smile. “At first I thought the Solstice energy contained at the plant was the secret, but after speaking to Circe, I understood. Erebus blamed Circe for his misery.”
Rose nods. “Miserable people will always find someone to blame their problems on. Erebus was the cause of his own misfortune, and Circe was no better at one point, but she’s become a useful ally. We keep her safe from him, and she invents recipes to keep our world safe and thriving.”
“Solstice energy, huh?” I grin.
“It’s our greatest accomplishment,” Rose states proudly. “Your grandfather was a genius, Katrina. He created a purpose for our magic greater than anyone had ever attempted. He was an environmentalist and detested pollution. The way Normals insisted on destroying nature for selfish gain kept him up at night. His life mission was to find a way to create a sustainable energy source that wouldn’t deplete the world of its natural resources.
“I once told you, what we take from the earth, we give back. It’s a cycle of life that keeps us powerful and healthy. We give back to the environment in ways that Normals can’t. And that’s the Summer legacy. Not an island we created, or the magic within us. All of that is great, but it’s what we do with that magic that makes us special.”
I no longer need to ask questions. Rose is telling me everything.
“Since we started Solstice Energy in Apollo Beach over four decades ago, we’ve opened up plants all around the country. There are sixty-four coastal plants in the U.S. alone, and we’re expanding inland quickly. As you’ve probably gathered by talking to Johnny, our plants were built in Solstice communities. Large Enchanter populations contribute to greater energy conservation. In turn, those Enchanters who stumble upon our towns, lost like Charlotte was, find us because of their attraction to our energy storage. It’s the same energy that repels Erebus.”
“If our energy is expanding at this rate, then why isn’t Erebus repelled by our entire community?”
Rose grimaces. “Therein lies our key challenge. We’re not quite there yet. We’re able to choose certain structures and landmarks to protect us, like our home and Summer Island, but it takes a great deal of energy to repel an Equinox—especially the God of Darkness himself. With Paul back in town, though, we’ve already made vast improvements.”
An image of my mom staring back at me with those dark, empty eyes at the gate of the energy plant gates triggers more confusion. “Wait a second. How were you able to protect my mom within the boundaries of the plant?”
Rose waves a hand in the air. “Grace was stripped of her darkness long ago. You know this. I assume it’s the same reason she can survive possessions for long periods of time.”
“What about me? I was able to push him out.”
Rose smirks. “When are you going to believe me, Katrina? Your powers will continue to surprise you. You just have to believe in them.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
It must be nap time in the Summer household. As I’m drifting off, I force my eyes open to find Rose snoring beside me and Charlotte passed out on the couch. The house is silent as I get up and make my way to the bottom floor. It’s not exactly a picture perfect moment with my mom sleeping soundly in the bed and my dad’s head hanging over the back of the chair. His mouth is wide open, allowing absurdly loud snores to escape. But the sight warms my heart all the same.
I’m exhausted too. Thoughts of my bed lure me upstairs to my room where Johnny sleeps, nestled peacefully under my covers. I smile. Just the sight of him sends pleasure signals through my entire body.
Ignoring my father’s rule about the covers, I slip into bed beside Johnny, too cold to care and not daring to ask him to move. I inch closer, nuzzling my chin on the side of his arm and inhaling his scent. As I draw little ci
rcles with my finger on the fabric covering his stomach, I sigh. As much as I know he needs to sleep, I think I need him to hold me more.
“Johnny,” I whisper.
He stirs to the sound of my voice, turning to face me. His eyes squint as they open, and then he smiles before drawing me in so I’m flush against his skin. My head nestles in the crook of his arm. All is silent except for his slow and steady breathing. His entire presence is intoxicating.
Instinctively, I reach up and touch his chest, but I find my hand hovering above it instead. I want to reach through his shelter and steady his beating heart, the same one that’s stolen mine. If he only knew the thoughts circulating through my mind right now.
I trade my finger for my lips and kiss his chest before inching my head back onto his arm. The moment my eyes land on his, I’m imprisoned by his gaze. If he continues to look at me like this through hooded eyes, he might as well throw away the key because I’m never leaving.
“What are you doing?” he asks, his voice husky. He snakes his other arm around me, running it up mine and leaving a blazing fire in its wake. “You’re going to get me into trouble.”
“It’ll be worth it.” I smile.
As bold as I might sound, my nerves are tingling under his concentrated gaze. The only sound that comes next is the rustling of the sheets as he wraps them around me before bringing his mouth down to mine.
We’re wrapped together, but my hand is free to roam his back above the imaginary boundary of his waist. Just touching his skin beneath his shirt and tracing the formation of his muscles is intoxicating. His touch mimics mine as he slides his fingers from my neck to my lower back until he’s palming the dip below my waist. When he presses me tightly to him I gasp and force myself to pull away.
His face is still on mine and he’s moving toward my neck. “I was so afraid,” he says. The heat of his words on my face is too much. I push my head away and steady my breaths. After a moment I laugh.