The Memory Witch

by Wood, Heather Topham

  “I don’t want to be a witch. I just want to know the truth,” I gritted out between clenched teeth.

  Stella leaned over and grabbed my hand. It was a rare sign of affection and I was shocked by it. “Is it that important to you? Don’t you realize how much pain it will bring you?”

  “I rather have the pain than the not knowing,” I insisted. “I run these scenarios in my head and I sometimes suspect that these ideas are much worse than the truth.” Her mothering was my gateway to convince her to return my memories. “Please, give me the choice to know the truth. I’m strong enough to handle it, you know I am…”

  Stella patted my hand and left me without a reply. I clenched my teeth until my jaw ached. I dug my nails into the palms of my hands until I drew blood. I was resolute. I didn’t anyone to help me to uncover the lies that have been spoon fed to me. I was sick of being underestimated and I would prove everyone wrong. I wasn’t a weak little girl who needed to be coddled. I was a smart and resourceful. Before long, I would take back control of my life.

  ***

  February came and I began to grow despondent. I had less than five months left at the Chadwick House to retrieve my memories. As time passed, my opportunities to unearth the spell were slipping away. I wished Mason had remained my ally—it would’ve helped to have him aid in my search.

  Many of the clients we were helping started to irritate the hell out of me. I had no qualms offering my help to those who were sick and in pain. Many of the other complaints came across as whiny and superficial. One woman traded her dead mother’s journals in exchange for a charm that would make her appear ten years younger. Another client signed over his 401K in order to get an attraction spell for a neighbor he had been lusting over.

  This was not going to be my future.

  I sat in her office waiting for her to bring in our latest client. I had spent the morning trying to mix together several ingredients to make my own potion to recovery my lost memories while Stella met with a client. I hadn’t been successful yet, but if I kept trying, I hoped I would find the right mixture on my own.

  My attention was diverted as Stella entered with a middle-aged woman with soft brown hair and arresting emerald eyes. This woman’s eyes reminded me of my own mother. Since the discovery of her deception, I had limited contact with her. I talked to her on Sundays, but kept the conversations short, claiming I was too busy to talk for long. I heard the hurt in her voice and it tore at me. Yet, it was hard to have a real conversation when I knew we were both lying to each other.

  I was slouched in the chair and trying to not let my dark mood get the better of me. I felt alone and unhappy. Stella had told me more than once to snap out of it, but it was hard when I felt like I was stumbling through the year with no clear destination in my mind.

  The woman gave us both a tight smile and sat down. She introduced herself as Marie. She had a grace about her that screamed good breeding and money. Her three-piece suit and stiletto heels were designer and costly. I was curious about what she wanted that money could not buy her.

  “What is it you would like us to do for you?” Stella asked after the woman was done gawking at us. We were quite the sight to the outsider.

  “It’s not for me…it’s about my daughter Celia. She’s ten and I have my concerns about her.” I sat up straighter in my chair and leaned forward, curious to hear this woman’s request.

  Her lips pursued. “I thought with time she would come into her own, but she’s failing in every way. I want a smart and beautiful daughter who will be successful like her parents. Instead, she’s twenty pounds overweight, a C student, and does not excel at any of the extracurricular activities I’ve paid good money to put her in.

  “I want you to do a spell that gives me the daughter I deserve. Make Celia a lovely and talented girl.”

  Before she could continue, I shot out of my seat in rage. “You despicable human being!” The woman cowered back as I glared at her. “How dare you try and change your daughter? Just because she’s doesn’t fit in your perfect little mold!”

  “Quinn!” Stella snapped and grabbed my forearm. “Remove yourself this instance. I’ll deal with you later.”

  I spun on her and growled, “I’m sick of you trying to change me too. I’m fine just as I am.” I grabbed the headdress and flung it across the room. It grazed by Marie and broke into small pieces as it landed roughly against the wall. The only sound in the room was the crystals rolling across the wooden flooring.

  Spinning on my heel, I ran out of the room. I crumpled up my cape and tossed it on the floor as I motored through the hallways. Stomping up the stairs, I made my way to the bathroom to splash water on my face and try to ease my rage. I skidded to a stop as I came upon Mason on the floor under the sink. He rose up onto his elbows at my noisy entrance and held a wrench in his hands.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I snapped.

  His voice remained cool. “Stella said the sink was draining slowly. I was fixing it,” he explained and added, “I thought you were working.”

  “Well, I’m not, so why don’t you leave? Come back and finish it later,” I commanded.

  He stood up. “What the hell is your problem?”

  “Just go. You’re Stella’s lap dog, so why not be mine? You know if I wanted to, I could make you do whatever I wanted,” I threatened.

  Mason towered over me. “I’m nobody’s lap dog and I’m not afraid of a bratty witch.”

  I wanted to hit him. I knew it was illogical to be this angry with Mason, but he just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. All of the rejected feelings that I had hidden since the early morning at his cottage were rearing their ugly head.

  I pushed him hard against his chest. The wrench clamored to the floor as he fell back. His hand encircled my wrists and he pulled me to his body. I tried to scramble out of his hold as his hands moved around my waist and lifted me up.

  “Let me go, you asshole!”

  As he carried me to my room, I scratched and punched at him. I was completely irrational. I wanted to inflict as much pain as possible on him. He shut the door behind him with his heel and dropped me onto my bed. “You need to calm down. You’re acting batshit crazy,” he said in a low and dangerous voice. He placed his hands on the outside of my thighs and moved within inches of my face. “Get your crap together or…”

  I didn’t let him finish. With my adrenaline still pumping, I forcibly grabbed him by the neck and pulled him in for a kiss. He didn’t hesitate by the switch in mood and kissed me back just as hungrily.

  I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him onto the bed with me. His kisses grew more explosive as he pressed against me. My mouth felt naked and exposed when he moved his away. He nibbled on my ear before running his tongue slowly down my neck.

  “God, I hate you,” I breathed.

  He chuckled. “Sure, I can see that.”

  Mason went back to teasing my neck with his soft lips. His hands cupped my breasts and my body begged to feel his hands on my bare skin. I shimmied out of my shirt and laid before him only in my silk bra and jeans. His eyes were greedy as he took a minute to look over my body. “You make me feel things for you that I have no business feeling.”

  I welcomed Mason back into my arms and shivered as he kissed my exposed skin. He caressed me through my bra and I felt my body responding to him in ways I didn’t think was possible. My lust for him was controlling every move I made. I gripped the bottom of his t-shirt and helped him pull it over his head.

  With his body pressed against me, I felt like every nerve ending had come alive. I ran my hands down the hard muscles of his back. As my fingertips made their way down to his lower back, I stopped moving. I snapped my head away from his mouth and stared openly at him.

  “Mason?” The question was in my eyes.

  The desire melted off his face as he scrambled away from me. I dove after him and spun him around. The movement took him by surprise and he didn’t have eno
ugh time to remove my tight hold around his waist.

  Time stopped. I sank back onto the bed with a horrified expression on my face. Angry raised scarlet scars covered most of his back. There was no rhyme or reason to the pattern of the markings, which made me guess that they weren’t from a single incidence. A couple of the marks were no larger than a dime while others were long slashes that measured several inches.

  “Mason, what happened to you?” I whispered. The anger and lust that had consumed me faded away. I now only felt frightened over what could’ve happened to him.

  “I told you we shouldn’t be involved and I meant it. I don’t want this,” he mumbled and picked up his t-shirt off of the floor. Crumbling the fabric into a ball, he placed it in his hand and headed towards my doorway. Humiliated once again, I pulled the blanket to cover my partial nakedness.

  Mason snuck a glance at me before he left. His hand froze on the doorknob and I could see the hurt in his face. At that moment, I understood that he hadn’t intended to inflict pain. He was simply too afraid to confide in someone.

  Dropping the t-shirt back on the floor, he came back to the bed. He sat with his back facing me. I dropped the sheet and straddled my legs around his waist. I propped my head against his back and waited for him to speak. “My mother…”

  I interrupted him. “Mason, you don’t have to tell me anything.”

  “I know,” he said hoarsely and I felt the rumble of his deep voice through the bare skin on his back. “My mother was a practicing witch when she met my father. My father was very handsome and successful and was known for his bed hopping ways. No one thought he would settle down, but then he met my mother. They fell in love and were together for about a year before she found out she was pregnant. As my mother gained weight with pregnancy, my father’s eye started to wander. When she suspected him of cheating, she decided to use magic to secure his fidelity. The spell would bind him to her and he would never love another.”

  I tensed at the strain in his voice. I was relieved he was able to share his past with me, but I also understood the ache of revisiting the past. I ran my fingertips down the marks on his back. When he straightened, I began to kiss them gently. Mason continued, “She…died while giving birth to me. There were complications and she lost too much blood.”

  “Mason, that’s terrible. I’m sorry.”

  He turned to look at me and gave a hesitant smile as he watched me kissing the raw skin on his back. “My father was left alone with a broken heart. Since she died during childbirth, he laid blame on me for her death. Since he knew my maternal grandmother was a witch that could hurt him, he never touched me while she was alive. The day after her funeral when I was ten, he beat me until I was unconscious.”

  Tears pricked my eyes. The worse thing was hearing his monotone voice. It was cold and clinical and I could see how he was mentally distancing himself from the story. “He beat the shit out of me pretty much on a daily basis. He would use anything he had on hand—his fists, chairs, dishes. He would burn me with cigarettes and whip me with belts. Anything I did in his mind warranted his rage. He hated me for taking away the one woman he could ever love. This went on for about four years until I had enough. I called my Aunt Stella and told her everything. She picked me up that day and I’ve never seen him again.”

  “Why didn’t anyone report it? I mean someone from school most of noticed…” I said.

  “He was particular about where he beat me. Everything was on my back. I was never allowed to take off my shirt, which pretty much kept me from ever going swimming in public. I always thought about telling someone, but I was too afraid. He always threatened to kill me. He said he would first break my dog Tuck’s neck in front of me and then choke me so that I could die slowly,” he said tonelessly.

  Big fat tears were falling down my cheeks now. After I began hiccupping, Mason pulled me onto his lap. “What’s this? I didn’t tell you to make you feel sorry from me. Plus, it’s fine. Tuck and me came here to live with Aunt Stella when I was fourteen. He loved it here before passing away a couple of years ago.”

  “I hate him,” I said venomously. “How could he do that to his own son?”

  “He’s sick. The spell has made him obsessed with my mother. He can’t break his bond to her even in death,” he said with a shrug.

  “That’s why you hate witches,” I acknowledged.

  “Hey,” he said in protest and smoothed back my hair. “I never said I hate witches.”

  “But you would never get involved with one because of what happened between your mother and father,” I deferred.

  “I’ve just seen what magic can do to a person and that’s not something I want,” he admitted.

  I ran my hand through my thick hair. “I don’t blame you,” I agreed. “But did you ever think of using magic to get back at him? I could find a spell to make him feel the pain that he inflicted upon you.”

  He shook his head vehemently. “No need to get revenge on him. My father is in his own personal hell. He’ll never be able to move on from my mother and he no longer has me to take it out on. I changed my last name to Corey when I moved in with my aunt and never looked back.”

  “Then, what about healing the scars? Hasn’t your aunt offered to remove them from you? I know she has the ability. She got rid of this woman’s varicose veins a couple of weeks ago,” I chimed in.

  “I thought about it, but I can’t for some reason. It’s like I need the physical reminder of what magic can do,” he answered.

  His words made me shift my eyes to the floor. I felt like he was disgusted by what was in my blood. No wonder he had kept me at arm’s length for months.

  He lifted my chin up and brought my lips to meet his. He stroked the side of my face and said softly, “I’m not comparing you to my mother, and I don’t think less of you for practicing witchcraft.”

  “How can that be true, Mason?”

  “Because I have faith that you’re a good person,” he said and squeezed my hands.

  A knock at the door startled me. I shot Mason an alarmed look as I heard Stella say through the door, “We need to talk about the scene you caused downstairs. You almost cost me a client today.”

  I gave Mason a helpless stare before replying, “I’m tired right now. We’ll talk later.”

  “Open this door,” Stella said with an edge to her voice. Mason handed me my shirt and pulled his overhead.

  I looked panicked as he went to unlock the door. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”

  He waited for me to finish dressing before letting in his aunt. She strode by him and stood between us. Looking back and forth between Mason and me, she asked forcibly, “Anyone want to enlighten me as to what’s going on here?”

  I remained silent, but was surprised when Mason said dryly, “It’s really none of your business.”

  “The hell it isn’t. I warned you about going near her.” Stella’s gray eyes locked onto Mason’s face.

  He didn’t cower at her unsettling gaze—instead he gave her a bored look. “You don’t really have a say in the matter.”

  “Do you have any idea what I could do to you? I could have her appear disfigured each time you look at her. Or maybe you want to be just like her? I could steal away all of your memories so you won’t even recognize her.”

  “Stella…” I started to protest.

  Mason put a hand up to silence me. “Do it then. I’m not going to stop seeing her because you threaten me.”

  “Then, I’ll do something to her. Will that keep your god damn hands off my protégé?” she threatened.

  “Threaten either of us again and I’m leaving and taking her with me. She’s talented enough to do a protective spell that will prevent you from ever finding us.” Stella’s jaw dropped. I suspected Mason had never spoken to her this way. He continued, “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me, but this isn’t the way to earn my loyalty. Leave it alone.”

  Stella seemed too flabbergasted to respond. Mason gav
e me a reassuring smile after he saw my worried expression. I stilled as he crossed the room and gave me a kiss on the forehead. “Everything’s going to be fine. I’ll see you tonight at dinner.”

  After Mason departed, Stella looked at me as if I had two heads. “Is Mason the reason for your erratic behavior?”

  “That woman was a soulless poor excuse for a mother. She deserved to be called out on it,” I retorted.

  “So, you attack one of my clients and then sneak around with my nephew? I don’t remember this being part of the deal,” she said.

  “Look,” I said reasonably, “I’ve worked my tail off for you since I arrived. This thing with Mason…” I stumbled over my words before finishing, “won’t get in the way of my training.”

  “What about when he breaks your heart? I love my nephew, but I know his flaws better than anyone. He’s unable to be in a relationship, especially with a witch.”

  “No matter what happens, I’ll be here until the year is out, but I would like something in return from you.” I took a cue from Mason and refused to bow down anymore to her unreasonable demands.

  “And what would that be?”

  “I want you to lift the amnesia spell,” I requested.

  I could see the wheels turning inside her mind. Mason and I had the advantage right now. He wasn’t bluffing. I saw it in his eyes and I knew she did as well. Mason would disappear with me and she would lose both her caretaker and her apprentice in a single swoop.

  “You won’t leave? I’ll have your full attention despite any romantic feelings you have for Mason?” she questioned.

  “I swear it,” I said.

  “Then, I’ll give you what you want,” she conceded, but frowned as I grinned at her, “but be warned Quinn, you asked me to do this. I want you to know that I’m not dead set against this because of your mother’s wishes. I’m against it because your memories will only bring you pain.”