by Diana Nixon
I was holding Eileen in my arms when suddenly she moved, opened her eyes and gasped as if she was suffocating from the lack of air.
“What happened?” she asked, puzzled, looking around.
Something flipped inside my head as if someone had turned the light on and I could see again after what felt like an eternity of being in the darkness. And Eileen looked the same as usual. She wasn’t my obsession anymore. She was just the same girl she had been all this time – my best friend’s girlfriend.
I sat tiredly on the floor with my head in my hands. I couldn’t believe my own memories. I didn’t want to believe! Now I really wanted to die. To die and to forget everything that had happened, to find some inner and outer peace.
“He’s coming around,” Marion said.
“Christian, can you hear me? It’s me, Eileen.”
I couldn’t find enough strength to get up and look at my safe and sound friend. At that very moment I felt like nothing on earth. I didn’t feel anything and I didn’t see anything. I was swallowed by the betrayal. It was eating me alive and despite the fact that somewhere deep down I knew that it wasn’t a betrayal in fact, I still couldn’t get over my grudge. I hated the entire world around me, I hated myself and my weakness.
“Is he okay?” I asked, still sitting on the floor.
“Something’s wrong,” Marion said.
“What’s wrong?” I asked indifferently.
“Christian, you… you don’t remember me?” Eileen asked, panicking.
“Who are you?” he asked in response.
“Oh, God… you don’t remember,” she whispered, shocked. This time it wasn’t a question, it was a statement.
He doesn’t remember her? How is that possible? I got up and came to the bed.
“Christian? It’s me, Evan. Do you remember me?”
“Evan, what happened?” he asked. “And why on earth do I have such a horrible headache?” He touched his temples.
“Welcome home,” chuckling sadly, I said. “You don’t remember anything?” I asked, sitting on the edge of my bed and watching Eileen out of the corner of my eye. She was shocked.
“I remember falling asleep on your couch,” Christian said, watching us curiously. “How long have I been asleep?” he asked, making me smile. Marion and I exchanged glances.
“His memory will come back,” she said reassuringly. “It looks like Eric’s illusion was stronger than I expected.”
“Okay, so what shall we do now?” Eileen asked, crossing her arms furiously. Of course, she couldn’t believe that Christian didn’t remember her of all people.
“Wait,” Marion said. “If we try to bring back his memory with the help of magic it will hurt him even more.”
“But why he doesn’t remember me? I can feel our bond again, I know what he’s feeling now, but he doesn’t even remember me! What the hell?!” she exclaimed, tears in her eyes. Oh, God, no matter how mad I was at her, I so wanted to help her. She didn’t deserve any of those failures.
“Calm down, Eileen,” Marion said, coming closer to her. “He will remember you. He just needs more time,” she added, squeezing her trembling shoulders. “We are lucky enough to have him back here.” She smiled to all of us.
“Yeah, my dear friend, she’s right,” I said, turning to Christian, who was watching Eileen thoughtfully. “You put us to a lot of trouble. Do you recognize this place?”
“Your room?”
“Well, thank God, you remember this at least. Can we inform the others about our coming back?” I asked Marion.
“I think, yes,” she replied, touching Christian’s forehead. “It looks like he remembers everything, except.…”
“Me and a few last weeks?” Eileen prompted sarcastically. “Great!” she muttered, turning away. Even now I so wanted to embrace her. I couldn’t help myself. Some part of me was still craving for her. And my fake memory about me kissing her passionately wasn’t helping matters. “I’d better go and call Patrick and Amelia,” she said, heading for the door. She didn’t turn around to look at Christian, she just left, shutting the door behind her, and I felt my heart, breaking silently into small pieces. Again.
As soon as she was gone, my friend asked, “What happened here? Who’s this girl and why did she say that I don’t remember a couple of weeks?”
“Wow! Slow down, man. I’m sure you want to know everything, just don’t ask so many questions at once.” I laughed, trying to distract myself from thinking about running after Eileen. “Actually, I don’t even know where to start…” I said, looking at Marion. She was still there with us.
“I think you should start with Eileen,” she said.
She was right, I had to tell him about Eileen first, because she was the one with whom the story started.
Listening to me, Christian couldn’t stop asking more questions I didn’t really want the answers to. When did we first meet? How did we start dating? How many dates did we have?
“Hey, would you let me finish the story, please?”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” he said, smiling. “It’s just… so weird. Anyway, what was there after her birthday?”
Talking to Christian I could feel Marion’s presence behind me. She was cleaning the room after our magical experiments, picking up different plants, dishes and stuff. When the room was cleaned I turned around to see that some of my furniture was misplaced, but I liked the way she had done everything, so I smiled and nodded approvingly, saying thanks. It was a little strange to be back to my room again after spending so many days on Eileen’s small couch. Now all my possessions were mine again.
Telling Christian everything that had happened in his absence, I realized that at that moment he felt even worse than me. He was confused and didn’t know how to behave in Eileen’s presence. I was still mad at her, but she did her best to bring him back. She deserved my respect and forgiveness. Just a few minutes of being bound with her let me realize how strong the emotions of the bond we shared were.
Now I looked at things differently. It was just enough to remember that being bound with her I was ready to sacrifice everything for her. Even my love… because at that very moment she was the most important person in my life. And she loved Christian the same way, because he was her everything. Deep down in my heart I admired her and all the things she had to do to bring her love back.
I smiled sadly to myself; I knew I would never be able to be mad at her forever. I still loved her, even if that love was so different from the one I felt being a part of our bond. There were a lot of questions I wanted to get the answers to, but now Christian’s return was so much more important.
The first member of the Fairey family, whose presence I felt fifteen minutes later, was Amanda. She was standing at the threshold of my room, afraid to come any closer. Her emerald eyes were full of happy tears and the same happy smile was playing on her lips. She was twitching her sweater nervously, so I smiled and said, “Don’t worry, if you take a step closer, he won’t disappear. Our sleeping prince is finally awake!”
She was so focused on her brother that I doubted she heard my words. She came to my bed where Christian was lying and said seriously, looking into his eyes, “If you ever dare to do this again, I swear I will never forgive you!”
“Deal, sis,” my friend replied, laughing. “Come here."
"I missed you so much!” she whispered, throwing herself into his embrace. “You have no idea what we had to go through without you!” she complained, making him embrace her ever tighter.
“Yeah, I heard about that,” he said, releasing her. “Where are Mom and Dad?”
“Running here, I guess,” Amanda replied, wiping her tears. “Eileen saw me in the hall and told me about you.”
“Where’s she, by the way?” I asked, still worried about the outcome of our magic operation.
“She stayed in our room, saying that she needed to be alone for a while. What happened here? She looked like walking hell!”
“Tell her, Christian,�
� I said, turning my head to Marion. “I think we should find you a room to stay in. Come with me, I’ll show you where the guest dorms are.”
“Thanks, Evan. I’m really tired and I need a rest,” she said, following me to the hall.
I didn’t want to interrupt the Fairey’s family reunion and I needed to talk to Eileen, so I volunteered to accompany Marion.
“Are you okay?” she asked, watching me thoughtfully, though I was sure she knew that I was far from being okay.
“No better than I should be.”
“You do realize that she didn’t have a choice, don’t you?” she asked, touching my hand.
“I know.” I nodded.
“Don’t blame her for lying to you, Evan. You don’t know how hard it was for her to do that. But she chose you to help her because she knew you would understand. That you would forgive her, no matter what.”
“And she was right,” I said. “I can’t be mad at her anymore, though I really, really want to be. Not after what I felt myself. I know that she wasn’t doing that for herself. She did everything for Christian. And I would do the same,” I added, only now realizing how very true my words were.
“Good.” Marion smiled, squeezing my hand. “We still have a lot of work to do together.”
“And that’s why I decided to lay aside my grudge.”
The guest rooms were in the same building where Patrick’s apartment was. Leaving Marion in one of them, I went back to our dorms, but then stopped in Embry’s jasmine garden for a while. It was my favorite place in Dever.
The night was unusually silent. And I needed a few moments of peace and quiet. I closed my eyes, enjoying the aromas filling my body and mind pleasantly. I relaxed and sat on a bench listening to the sounds of nature around me. I still couldn’t believe that we were back. I was so glad to know that Christian was all right. Well, almost. I was sure that Marion would do her best to fix his memory, though she still refused to use magic.
My own memory needed some treatment too, as the visions of Eileen and me wrapped in each other’s embrace were still flooding my head. She didn’t know anything about them, and I wasn’t going to tell her, I just needed to find a way to erase them. And the sooner the better. Not that I was afraid of stalking her or trying to kiss her again, no. But I felt a little embarrassed for thinking about her that way. She was just my friend, and I wanted everything to be the way it used to be. Without any sexy illusions and dreams.
Going back to my room, I noticed that there was no light in Eileen’s room. But stopping at her door, I could feel her presence. Using my favorite key, I opened the door quietly.
Eileen wasn’t asleep. She was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling blindly.
“Just don’t tell me you want to cry yourself to death in the darkness.” I chuckled, sitting on the edge of her bed.
“What are you doing here, Evan?” she asked, without looking at me.
“The same thing as you are,” I said, lying beside her with one hand under my head. “I’m suffering from not sharing everyone's joy. So unfair, huh? We saved him, we should be celebrating now!” I turned my head to see her face, but she didn’t say anything. “You don’t want to talk to me, right?” I guessed. “And this is so unfair too, as I am the one offended here. I should be locked in my room now, crying in some dark corner. Don’t you think so?”
Silence. Again.
“Eileen, listen… I’m not mad at you. Well, maybe just a little.” I smiled, taking her hand. “I know why you did that.”
“You do?” she asked in surprise, turning finally to face me.
“I do.” I nodded. “Though I still have some questions. Can I ask them?”
“Go ahead,” she said, still watching me curiously.
“How did you manage to hide your true intentions? I had been checking your aura all the time!”
“Next question,” Eileen said and I blinked, confused.
“Why? I want to know! What spell did you use to hide the truth?”
“Next question, Evan,” she said stubbornly. “I won’t tell you anyway.”
“Okay.” I sighed, disappointed. “Then tell me. When did you manage to come up with that plan of yours? Before or after our meeting with Marion?”
“After. She told me about the spell I used to stop you in Eric’s dream.”
“So I thought.” I smiled in the darkness. Now my eyes were adjusted to the lack of light and I could see the lines of Eileen’s face near mine. “How about everything else?”
She hesitated for a moment, hiding her eyes under her lashes. Without looking at me she said, “Well, when I was watching your memories I….”
“You what?” I asked, shocked. “Are you saying that my feelings about your presence there were real?” She nodded guiltily and I shook my head in disbelief, wondering about the number of things I still didn’t know anything about. "I thought it was just my imagination.”
“I’m sorry about that too,” she said, a ghost of a smile on her lips. “Actually, it was the beginning of my plan. Later I decided to bind you with myself. Marion and I created a temporary bond, using the bracelet you gave me on my birthday. And this part is what I regret most,” she said, squeezing my hands. Even in the darkness I could see a few tears, glistening on her cheeks. I reached my hand and wiped them with my fingertips. “I didn’t know how hard it would be for you to break the bond, well, I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but….”
“It’s okay, Eileen,” I said quietly. I embraced her with both my arms, as I didn’t care anymore that it might seem to be too intimate, I just wanted to comfort her, and I needed to be comforted too, as a part of me was still broken and I wondered if that part was my heart. “It’s over,” I whispered, kissing her forehead and rocking her as if she were a child. “We are all here now, we are all alive and this is the only thing that really matters. Though, I can’t but admit that I liked being in love with you,” I teased her, smiling. She punched my chest, laughing quietly in response. “Now I know what Christian feels. Your love is so powerful and overwhelming; anyone would dream of sharing such strong emotions with another person. It’s more than magic, Eileen, it’s something so unbelievably beautiful. You and Christian are truly blessed to have and love each other so much.”
“He doesn’t remember me,” Eileen whispered. Now her love was nothing but pure torture and she couldn’t do anything to change it. I knew how much she wanted to be with Christian now and I knew how much she was suffering from being away from him. It was killing her almost the same way it was breaking me apart when I was going to let her go. But now we both were powerless and time was our last hope. No one knew how long we had to wait before Christian’s memory came back, and that uncertainly was simply unbearable.
“He will remember you,” I said reassuringly. “You heard Marion, she said he needed more time. Do you know what the most surprising part of your ridiculous plan was?” I asked, trying to distract her from sad thoughts.
“What?” she asked, shifting a little to see my face.
“That you thought you were a match for Eric. Were you going to kill him, freeze him, or what?” Eileen giggled, making two cute dimples appear on her cheeks.
“It looks like I’m not the only one having secrets here, right?” she asked mysteriously. “Where did you get that magical silver dagger?”
I nodded, knowing what she was trying to say. “You are right, I have some secrets too.”
“So you possess the magic of silver?”
“Yes, but I’ve never told anyone about it. Except for Tara. She was the one who helped me once to discover that ability.”
“Well, I didn’t know anything about it until Marion told me about the power of silver magic.”
“Does she possess it too?”
“No, but she knew someone who did,” Eileen said and I immediately felt a wave of worry in her aura. “Elizabeth Murray,” she added quietly, watching me carefully.
“My mother?” I repeated, surprised. “My goodnes
s! I had no idea! I thought that my gift was my grandmother’s heritage.”
“So it was.” Eileen nodded. “But first it was your mother’s talent and then, when you were born, she gave it to you. By the way, I have something for you,” she said, reaching forward to her bedside table. She clapped her hands and the room was immediately illuminated by a few dim lamps over her bed and coffee table.
“Wow! You have finally learned how to do that without destroying the entire room!” I exclaimed, laughing.
“Well, yes, I had some very good teachers.” She winked at me. “So my chandelier is safe now. Here,” she said, handing me a piece of silver jewelry.
“What’s this?”
“It belonged to your mom, her silver brooch. It used to be her amulet, but when your parents died, Marion found it with a note from your father, saying how grateful he was for everything she had ever done for him and his family. I thought that he gave it to her when she came to visit your mom.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said, caressing the thin silver lines. “Was it your weapon against Eric?”
“Yes, it was my last chance to get out of that dream. Well, besides from Christian’s box waiting for me here, and you, of course.”
“I can’t take it,” I said, handing the brooch back to Eileen.
“Why? It can be your amulet.”
“No, it can’t. The silver magic is very strange. If I didn’t create that thing myself or if it wasn’t someone's gift, it would never be able to protect me. But it can protect you, as it was Marion’s gift.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to keep it?”
“Absolutely. I don’t feel anything, touching it. But when you touch it, it radiates some special protective energy. You should keep it, I have my own amulet.”
“Okay,” Eileen agreed, hiding the brooch in the front pocket of her jeans.
“Do you mind if I use your couch tonight?” I asked, getting up. “My room is overcrowded now.”
