The Memory Thief

by Lauren Mansy

  His hands lock into fists by his sides.

  Madame traces my mother’s face with the tip of the blade. “For four years, her memories have been fractured, spliced together in ways that made it impossible to distinguish fact from fiction. But when she began healing and all those tiny veins of memory were reconnected, the strength of her mind surprised me. I read her to find more information about Porter, but seeing you,” she points to my father, a wicked grin on her face, “was a lovely surprise. Deep, deep, deep within Gwendolyn’s mind, there were tiny fragments of memory that revealed your greatest secrets—not only are you Julietta’s father but I know you own a variation unlike any other.” She twists her head in my direction. “I believed Greer was dead. You should’ve let your father stay buried in that Maze, Julietta, because losing everyone you love all in one day . . .” She clicks her tongue. “What a tragedy it will be.”

  I force myself to hold to the truth. Madame may have fewer, tinier cracks than most but we just need to find one big enough that we can slip through.

  “And who might you be?” she says with a glance at Reid. “Oh, another Sifter . . .” She spits out a laugh at me. “Who knew you had friends other than that runt of an orphan?”

  Reid holds me back when I lunge at her.

  “I will make myself very clear. If you wish your Gwendolyn to live, you will do exactly as I say,” says Madame to Greer, mock sorrow on her face. “Because if you don’t, your precious daughter will watch her mother die before suffering the same fate.”

  My fingers twitch, aching to clasp her throat.

  “If you can really transfer Gifts, then what I want is unreadability,” Madame seethes, pointing at me with the tip of her knife. “Take her Gift and give it to me.”

  “Never,” says Greer.

  “Oh, but the hour is young.” She slices the knife across my mother’s forearm.

  I scream. The hardest thing isn’t seeing the river of blood on her thin gown, or the way my father jerks forward so I have to pull him back. It’s how my mother reacts. She trembles, her expression briefly one of anguish.

  “If that isn’t stitched up in minutes, she’ll bleed out long before she’ll wake from her coma. Tick, tock, Greer,” Madame says. “Tick, tock.”

  Greer clutches my neck and whispers, “I’m sorry, Jules. Trust me.”

  I’ve never felt anything but trust for him. But as pain explodes at the base of my skull, I jerk out of his grasp. My sight dissolves into white flecks, my temples pulse in sharp beats. I stumble before my legs collapse.

  Reid wraps his arms around me and lowers me down.

  Curling into myself, I will this pressure to dissolve, frantically searching for answers. How was Greer able to take my Gift with my unreadability? This fire lit deep within terrifies me, proving that nothing’s impossible.

  As Madame watches me withering on the floor, a ghost of a smile haunts her lips. “Give it to me. Now.”

  “Open your mind,” Greer says. “It won’t work unless you put your guard down.”

  She presses the knife against my mother’s throat. “Do not test me.”

  “Open your mind,” he repeats through gritted teeth as he steps toward her, “and I will give you what you want.”

  As my Gift seeps into Madame, her eyes flash with light, glowing as brightly as the sun. Her body trembles as she cries out.

  Greer collapses in front of her. The knife in his hand, now covered with blood, clatters on the tile beside me. He clutches his chest, some unseen wound opened the instant he shifted my energy into Madame.

  She whips her head in my direction, her smile growing until she meets my eyes. Her face twists with rage before she screams, “You’re still . . . you’re still unreadable!” Greer is too weak to fight back as she slams his head against the wall. “What did you do?” she shrieks.

  Warmth drips down my neck. I touch the base of my skull and wince at the pain. My fingers are soaked with blood. I grind my teeth at the wave of nausea. Greer nicked me near a bundle of nerves, but why? I squeeze my eyes shut as Madame lunges toward me.

  Reid steps between us.

  “The energy around you . . . I can see it now.” She gazes at Reid, a hunger in her expression that makes me shudder. “It’s glorious.” She clutches Greer’s collar, whispering near his ear, “If you thought you could protect your daughter by giving me your Gift instead of hers, you’ve never been more wrong.”

  I tremble, now understanding why Greer cut me. He fooled Madame into opening her mind by making her believe he’d stolen my Gift. But all along, he’d been planning to sacrifice his.

  She laughs long and hard as she throws Greer toward me. “You will live just long enough so I can see the look on your face when I kill them. Porter, Gwendolyn, Julietta. Every single one.”

  Reid grabs Madame by the neck and slams her to the ground.

  Madame arches her back, throwing Reid off before he can stab her.

  When she kicks his knee, Reid yells as he collapses, his leg at such an odd angle that I know it’s broken.

  Crawling toward my father, I pull him close as his energy dissolves, his skin cooling beneath my fingers. It’s too similar to Penn’s death that my memories play with me, weaving between this moment and the one when I lost my best friend.

  “Father,” I cry, and his eyelids flutter open.

  “Let her take your Gift,” he murmurs between ragged breaths. “Give her what she wants. Trust me. Your mother is coming back, Jules, she’s right here with you.” His arms go limp, the flecks in his eyes fading. “We’ll always be together.”

  Something inside me quivers and breaks as Madame’s bony hand clutches my shoulder. I recoil at her grin, but it’s my mother who distracts her.

  My mother shudders, her chest lifting high as she gasps for air.

  “Mother!” I say, but her eyes are sealed shut, her body as still as it’s been the past four years.

  “Weak,” Madame hisses.

  As I look up at her, I see years of auctions and our cottage in Blare caught up in flames. I hear her giving orders to slit Cade’s throat and kill Joss. If Madame wins, the Ungifted Tribes will be hunted and slaughtered. The other Realms attacked and subdued to quench her lust for power. But before she does any of this, Madame will murder my family one-by-one.

  Laying my father gently on the ground, I rise to my feet and meet Madame’s stare. “If you want my Gift, come and take it.”

  “Etta, no!” shouts Reid. His raises himself up on his elbows but collapses once he puts weight on his knee.

  My challenge only widens Madame’s smile as I pick up the knife, flexing my fingers around the hilt.

  “That will not save you, little one. Nor will it save this boy you love,” she says.

  Darting around Madame, I lunge toward my mother. She’s convulsing, slips of air passing between her pale lips. Slipping a vial of compound from my pocket, I empty it onto her bleeding wound. “Stay with me, Mother,” I cry.

  Outside of the asylum, the roar of battle grows even louder.

  I look out the window. More Minders have joined in the fight . . . Minders wearing the color of the Coastal Realm. Hope rushes up inside me.

  Madame clutches my throat and pins me against the wall. “You are full of so many secrets, Julietta. Let’s see if your mind will finally open once you die.”

  Scorching hot blood courses through my head, flames licking my brain. My thoughts are jumbled as memories spark behind my eyelids.

  Cade smiles, laughs a little. Joss puts her hand over her heart. Penn looks at me as if I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. I know forever and ever, I will love him. All of them.

  As quickly as they appear, my friends fade away. First Cade, then Joss. Penn is the hardest to let go. I’m tempted to join them. To give up as Madame has always wanted. Instead I thrash and scream. She tried to use my past to destroy me, but it’s the weapon I need to keep fighting. The love of those who gave up their lives for me.

&nbs
p; My vision dims, a black cloud descending upon the queen of Craewick. But I don’t want the last image I see to be of hurt and hatred. I close my eyes and think of my father, my mother, and Reid when the world explodes.

  CHAPTER

  22

  I scrunch cool wet sand between my toes as the balmy air kisses my face.

  The waves are soft and low as the seabirds fly just above our heads, their calls mixing with the sound of my mother’s voice.

  Softly singing, she swipes her brush across her canvas, painting a scene as beautiful as the one spread out before us.

  Glancing up from my easel, I look over at my mother’s. A hurried sketch has transformed into something extraordinary, the face of a man I’ve never seen before. His eyes are as blue as the sky, and his face doesn’t need a smile to appear kind.

  “Who is that?” I ask her.

  She kisses the top of my head. “Someone who showed me what love truly is.”

  Blackness envelops me. I scream, but nothing comes out. I’m trapped inside my body as this coma steals what’s left of the light. A better thief than I ever was.

  My father pulls me closer, whispering near my ear, “Madame already set out to destroy every piece of me and failed. This time will be no different.”

  I wrap my arms around him.

  “Oh, Jules, I love you,” he says quietly.

  Bit by bit, I feel myself becoming whole once again. “And I love you, Father.”

  A spark comes from my fingertips. Warmth travels up my arms and floods my chest. My heart beats in my ears, its rhythm drawing me back, back, back. There’s a hand in mine. With all the strength I find, I tap my finger three times.

  My baby girl. It’s a slight whisper, so faint I know it’s only my mind telling me what I wish to hear. I love you too.

  Through the slits of my eyes, I see my mother smiling down at me.

  Her cheeks are stained with tears, and her blonde hair is longer than it’s ever been. The side of her mouth droops to the left. One eye is cloudy, and she’s frail, her collarbone jutting out from beneath her billowy top, but I’ve never seen her look more beautiful in my entire life.

  I hug her tightly, not sure I’ll ever be able to let go.

  As she strokes my hair, I soak up the warmth of her skin on mine. I feel the strong beat of her heart and let myself cry. No longer fighting the emotions I was too afraid would shatter me. I let go of the regret, sadness, longing, and fear that this moment would never come.

  It’s a while before I draw back, only to look at her face, to watch her speak as if she hasn’t been in a coma the past four years.

  “You’re awake!” I cry.

  “I was trying so hard to come back to you, my sweet,” she says, the love I hear in her voice telling me she would’ve spent a hundred more years fighting her coma. “I heard you while I slept and felt your hand in mine. You gave me the strength to keep fighting.”

  “But it was all my fault, Mother,” I whisper.

  “No, darling girl, you saved me. This coma protected me. It kept Madame from reading my mind and gaining information she would’ve used against my father. If he’d been forced to submit to her four years ago, the Realms wouldn’t have been given the chance for rebirth.” She takes my face in her hands. “Your father and I always hoped that you’d grow up in a world full of light, but what a privilege and an honor to be a part of what destroyed the darkness. I’m so proud of you, Julietta.”

  As she pulls me close, I see an empty bed over her shoulder, where I imagine my father should be.

  I’ve never felt quite like this. Such happiness with my mother coming back to me as I try to comprehend my father never will. I finally understand what Reid meant about the energy which joined him to Penn. A connection now severed that hurts in a place so deep it’s hard to catch a breath.

  My mother follows my gaze. “His heart . . . without the energy of his Gift, it gave out—” A sob catches in her throat. “Your father would do it all over again to save you.”

  “But you never had the chance to say goodbye,” I say.

  “Oh, but I did, my love.” She smiles through her tears as she takes my hands in hers. “Before he died, he gave me memories more precious than I’ve ever known. Times of you growing up with the Shadows, the joy he felt getting to know his daughter. They’re all with me now.” She touches her heart. “You both gave me the power to break free of the coma.”

  I clutch her tighter, reminded of when she shuddered before she woke, of how my father spoke of her coming back before he died. It wasn’t his mind slipping but connecting with hers.

  “She’s coming back, Jules, she’s right here. We’ll always be together.”

  “My heart is heavy,” my mother says, “but the love I have for him will never disappear, not when it was built on something more than just the two of us. Even through the pain of believing he’d lost us both long ago, your father never stopped trusting there was good in the world worth fighting for. And if he can trust in that,” she kisses the top of my head, “we can too. The joy of knowing him will help us through the sorrow of saying goodbye.”

  Through my memories, I see my father as I’ve always known him. Housing a strength that came from a place Madame could never find or take away. He watches us from beside the window of my mother’s asylum room. He’s smiling, eyes glistening, and I begin to believe my mother’s words. That in the midst of heartache, his hope for the future only grew deeper roots.

  “And you, Julietta, are a legacy that we couldn’t be more proud of,” my mother whispers.

  I hug my mother once again, overcome as I witness the strength my parents found together and apart as they fought their own battles and came out victorious.

  My heart swells when I hear my grandfather’s voice outside the curtain.

  “Oh, my girls, my lovely girls!” he says, kissing my brow and then my mother’s.

  There isn’t a hint of hatred on my mother’s face, and I know of the many things that happened while I slept, their reunion will be one I wish to hear about.

  “You gave us quite a scare, Julietta. How are you feeling?” he asks.

  “Better now that you’re here too,” I say. “You did it, Grandfather. You saved Craewick.”

  He touches my cheek, his face lighting up at his new title. “I’m not sure I had as much to do with it as you, child. Thanks to you and your father, Madame is downstairs under lock and key, the Gifts inside her destroyed along with much of her mind.”

  Sighing with relief, I touch my throbbing head. “There was an explosion and a flash of light before I blacked out. What happened between us?”

  “She tried and failed to take your Gift.” My grandfather pauses, his eyes shifting back and forth. “It’s a hunch, but I believe your unreadability reflected Madame’s own energy back onto herself, like sunlight on a mirror. Though repelling such a large amount of energy caused you to lose consciousness, your mind appears to be unaffected. You’re even stronger than I imagined.”

  “So that’s why Father transferred his Gift to her,” I mummer. “He knew she’d come after my unreadability.”

  “And destroy herself in the process. Madame failed to realize the higher she raised herself up, the harder her fall would be.” He takes my hand and then my mother’s. “There’s nothing more I wish than for Greer to be here, but I’m very thankful he lived to see the good he was able to do.”

  Clutching his hand, I sink back into the pillow as my mother rests her head on top of mine. Madame is no longer a threat, but what a high price we had to pay for her demise. Though as hard as it is to accept that Greer is gone, I feel a peace I can’t quite explain. It isn’t only his sacrifice which makes me proud to be his daughter, but like my mother said, the way he always lived for something greater than himself.

  The curtain whips open, revealing a grinning Felix and an elated Ryder.

  “I knew you’d wake up!” she cries, jumping onto the bed and pulling me close. “We did it, Etta. Can y
ou believe we really did it?” She draws back. “You should’ve seen the fight. After you destroyed Madame, her Minders got this glazed look in their eyes right before they went after one another. They were punching and stealing memories off their own allies. It was total chaos.” Ry grins at Felix. “We took them down after that, didn’t we?”

  “We did, my girl.” Felix kisses my forehead. “You’re incredibly brave, Julietta, just like your mother and this little one.” He swings his arm around Ryder. “I’m told she marched into Craewick right alongside Sorien and his entire army.”

  “That sounds about right,” I say, grinning at Ryder before I glance at the curtain. “And is Reid . . . ?”

  “He’s barely left this room for two days, my sweet. He should be back at any,” my mother glances behind her and smiles as Reid appears, “moment.”

  I sit up.

  His leg is splinted, there are stiches above his eye, and a deep bruise across his cheek. “Etta,” he says softly.

  My mother pats my hands and mouths, We’ll give you some time. She swings her arm around Felix, who helps her into a chair with tiny wheels beside my bed. “How about something to eat, hmm?” she asks Ryder.

  Ry holds her hand and walks beside her, while my grandfather follows close behind.

  Unspoken words feel heavy between us, but I can’t bring myself to speak to Reid. Gone is the rigid stance, the hard lines of his face. In the clear contentedness of his expression, he looks just like this brother as he takes the chair beside me.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” he says.

  I let out a quiet laugh. “I’m not that easy to get rid of.”

  “Etta, I’m not joking. You were just lying there, not moving. Pale as could be. If you wouldn’t have made it—”

  When I put my hand on his, it’s the energy I feel in his skin that tells me all I wish to know. That after all that’s happened, he’s willing to trust me again. “You were right about me,” I whisper.

  “Right about what?”

  “About everything. I pushed you away and you kept coming back. You never gave up on me,” I say. “And I promise that as long as I live, I’ll honor your brother’s memory.”