House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,70

when he saw the love that Brandt had for Brenna, Jerrik went against the prophecy and against their other friends, in order to help Brandt win a chance at having her. He had also become one of Brenna’s closest friends, too, and faithfully watched over Brandt and sent her letters over the course of their hundred-year separation. Brandt felt that they owed Jerrik more than a simple memory wipe. And somehow, Jerrik knew it was coming.

As he walked in the rain behind Erik and Colby, his memories of Brandt and Brenna washed away one by one with each falling raindrop. He was being given a chance to see them, the good ones and the not-so-good ones, and to smile and even cry at some of the moments they had all shared together. By the time they reached the apartment building, there was only one memory left, and it was one that Brandt had concocted and placed in Jerrik’s head himself.

Goodbye for now, my friend.

He saw Brandt as if he were standing in front of him and giving him a hug. He heard the words ring inside his head as if they were a memory that hadn’t happened until this exact moment.

I promise it won’t be forever, and I hope that you’ll understand why I’m doing this. We just need some time now, and it’s best for everyone this way. We’ll be talking again before you even notice we’re gone, I promise.

“I understand,” Jerrik said quietly under his breath as he nodded his head downward and his tears mixed with the rain that ran down his face.

“What did you say?” Erik asked him as he turned around.

“Huh?” Jerrik said as he lifted his head and wiped the rain from his cheeks.

“It sounded like you said something.”

“Oh,” Jerrik tried to remember what he had been thinking about as they had walked up to the apartment, but he couldn’t. “I’m not sure, must not have been anything important, though, because I can’t remember it.” He shrugged, and the three of them got onto the elevator.

“Hey, we didn’t pick up anything for dinner,” Colby said.

“Probably better to order in anyways, the rain outside is picking up,” Erik said.

When the elevator doors opened up into the apartment, Leif and Norna were sitting at the counter, having a cocktail. Leif eyed them to see what restaurant bags they had in their hands but was disappointed when it looked like they weren’t carrying anything at all.

“I thought you guys were getting food,” he said with a frown. “I’m starving.”

“We decided to order in,” Jerrik answered as he went to pull a handful of takeout menus from one of the drawers in the kitchen.

And just like that, the evening carried on with no memory of anything that was lost, no feelings that something was missing, no void, no trace of the two of them remaining at all. Brandt was sure to carefully preen the memories to cause no sadness between now and the time they would be reunited seamlessly with their memories and each other. Before they had left the apartment, he had made sure to remove any remaining traces of him and Brenna from the apartment, carefully hiding their things beneath the floorboards or behind panels in the walls and ceilings. They would not be missed, and when they were ready, they could come back, and the only ones that would have known about their absence would be themselves and their daughter.

With all of their friends and loved ones well and happy, and with Freya’s blessing to take their hiatus together, they had nothing to stand in their way of fulfilling their promise now. Brandt turned around as Brenna kept her arms wrapped around his torso. He placed a soft kiss on her lips as he faced her, and she smiled.

“Excuse me, friend?” a voice called from the opening up into the loft. It was the same restaurant worker from before. “I am sorry to interrupt, but one of your friends left this…for her.” The man waved a folded note in the air and pointed to Brenna.

She walked over and took the paper from his hand. “Thank you.”

The man nodded and went back down the steps before closing up the latch.

She immediately recognized Jerrik’s handwriting as she unfolded the paper. Brandt came to sit down beside her as she read the note aloud.

Dear Brenna,

Damn you two for always being one step ahead. I mean that, of course, in the nicest way possible. I knew you two would