squeezed her tighter, breathing in Flori’s earthy scent, which reminded her so much of Calla that it made her heart both lighter and heavier. And when she’d soaked up every possible drop of strength, she let go and stood to face Mr. Forkle. “Okay. If you want to give me back my memory, I’m ready. But… I don’t understand why you brought me here to do it.”
He turned to the stately manor, his gaze centering on one of the upstairs windows. “You’re not the only one who needs to have a memory returned.”
“What?” Sophie raced in front of him, shaking her head so hard, it made her neck hurt. “No. We’re not doing that. Amy doesn’t…”
Her voice trailed off as her sister’s screams flooded her mind.
Sophie, please—stop!
“No,” she repeated as Flori started humming again.
Mr. Forkle wrung the edge of his cape. “How much have you remembered?”
“Not much,” Sophie admitted. “Just that… I hurt Amy somehow. She was begging me to stop.” Her voice cracked, and she turned away, wiping her eyes. “What did I do to her?”
“That is a question better shown, not told,” Mr. Forkle said as he slowly stepped around her.
Sophie scrambled in front of him again. “Maybe it is—but you’re only showing it to me. She doesn’t need to know that.”
He slipped by her again, his steps more determined. “She disagrees.”
The words took a couple of seconds to sink in. “Wait. Amy knows about this?”
“Of course. We talked at length this morning. Mind you, I didn’t give her any more specifics than I’ve given you. But I made it clear that it was a difficult moment for both of you, and that I thought it would be best if you faced those complicated truths together. And she agreed. She’s far stronger than you’re giving her credit for. She’s…” His steps faltered for a beat, and his voice had thickened when he added, “She’s something I never expected. I knew I’d be aiding your parents in the birth of one child, and that it was possible they might have children on their own afterward. But I’ll admit, when your mother told me she’d gotten pregnant again, I was mostly concerned about how that would complicate things for you. Your differences from humans would be more noticeable with another child providing a constant direct comparison—and your sister had no problem teasing you as she got older, which sometimes posed a challenge, like it did in your lost memory. But… there was something so special about the bond you two formed. And that connection shouldn’t be ignored, especially when you’re facing a decision like this.”
“And what decision is that?” Sophie demanded.
“One thing at a time,” he told her. “First, we must give you all the facts.”
“But—”
Loud barking cut her off.
They’d gotten close enough to the house for her family’s beagle—Watson—to realize they were there and switch into guard-dog mode.
“It’s fine,” Mr. Forkle promised when Sophie, Sandor, and Flori all froze. “As I said, Amy knows we’re coming. And in case you’re wondering, I asked her to clear your parents from the property. She said she’d invent an urgent errand to send them away on.”
That was probably better—the idea of facing her parents now that she’d been erased so thoroughly from their memories would be a special kind of misery.
And yet, the part of Sophie’s heart that would never forget how it felt to have them tuck her in at night and kiss her cheeks and call her “Soybean” felt like it had been jabbed with a sharp pin at the missed opportunity. So she had to ask, “Why couldn’t they be here? I thought seeing me can’t trigger anything anymore, now that I’m… you know… gone.”
“That’s correct,” Mr. Forkle told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “But it would be very hard to explain why a strange adult male is at their house asking for alone time with their daughter and another young girl, don’t you think?”
Sophie grimaced. “Yeah… They’d definitely call the police.”
“As well they should,” Mr. Forkle agreed. “And that’s why we should stop stalling. I doubt your sister was able to buy us more than a couple of hours—and while returning the memory itself won’t take long, you two will need time to process and discuss. So once again, I have to ask: Are you ready?”
He offered her his hand again, and Sophie reluctantly took it, letting him guide her the rest of the way up the path, to a short flight of stone steps that