Memory's Wake Omnibus: The Complete Illustrated YA Fantasy Series (94 page)
Read Memory's Wake Omnibus: The Complete Illustrated YA Fantasy Series Online
Authors: Selina Fenech
Tags: #Fiction, #Fantasy, #Magic, #Paranormal, #Adventure, #Young Adult
The room had been cleared of everything except the round table itself, and a crystal display case holding Memory’s iron knife. A mural had been painted on the wall that wrapped the space. On one side it showed Arthur and his knights, riding through flowered fields. Fae of all shapes and sizes fluttered around them or spied from the surrounding trees. On the other side of the room was an artist’s impression of the Veil door they stood before. Caliburn was shown illustrated within, stylized curling flames surrounding it, and behind that, a small, feminine silhouette, aglow with magic.
Memory wondered if it was meant to be her. She looked down at her silver hand and the stump it concealed. “Will I remember… everything?”
Eloryn tilted her head. “Yes.”
“But you don’t really remember pain, do you? I mean, I’ll see what happened, but I won’t feel it?” Memory grunted and stuck her tongue out. “Gah, I sound like such a coward. But seriously guys. Hand cut off. I don’t want to feel that again. Or anything… else.”
“The memories may be painful in themselves. But this time it will be just the memories returned, not the magic. Caliburn is the key, using it as a filter as it channels magic through the worlds. We can filter just your memories back to you.” Eloryn held her sister’s remaining hand. “Mem, I made a promise to you long ago that I would restore your memories to you. It’s a promise long overdue in its keeping. I think it’s time.”
“Yeah.” Memory exhaled the word. “You’re right. Let’s do this. I know I am going to see and remember stuff I don’t want to, but I do want to remember you, all of you. I want to remember me. I want to be whole again.”
They all clasped hands as they gathered around the doorway and the magical sword within. Memory took a long moment to look at each of her friends’ faces, the faces she didn’t really know anymore, but had and would, she hoped, know again soon.
“See you on the other side guys.” Her voice faded as Eloryn spoke her magic to the Veil door and the wind began to howl out a mournful tune. The flow of magic from Caliburn was directed through Memory, filtering through her, rushing through like burning ice.
“We should wake her up.”
Everything was warm, slow, and dark. The words drifted around Memory in her haze of sleep.
“No, we can’t. She has to recover on her own. Getting her memories back is going to be traumatic.”
“It’s been days. What if… what if she doesn’t wake up?”
“She has already relived her memories once, now she has to start all over and what is more, now there are new horrible memories. What if you had to recall every single detail about your life? The bad stuff, the stuff you don’t want to talk about, the things that cut you the most? What if she doesn’t want to wake up?”
“She wants to.”
“Then why doesn’t she?”
It’s okay. I’m here.
Her mouth and eyes didn’t want to work yet. But her mind was waking up. It was giving names to the voices. And faces. And pasts. The exact shade of Will’s eyes and the bad haircut he got when he was eight. The color Eloryn’s cheeks turned at regular intervals. The corner of Roen’s mouth that twitched up when he was doing something charming. Erec’s sandy complexion that was so much like his brother, Peirs’s. Peirs, who died to save her. Clara, who died to save her sister, and had lived to flirt with every soldier in the palace.
“If I had to live the worst again, I might never get out of bed,” she heard Erec say, and she knew he was thinking about Clara. It had only become clear after Clara was gone, the love he’d been harboring for her. Only clear to Memory now, now she remembered everything again.
Will spoke, his voice low and hoarse. “There used to be a story about a prince who kisses the sleeping princess and brings her back to life. Just a fairy tale, but I wish I had that magic, some way to help her.”
“Maybe I’ve been waiting for you to give it a try?” Memory croaked, her voice rough from sleep. She peeled dry eyes open and looked up at Will and her friends, standing around her bed. Daylight streamed through the window, making dust motes spark like pixies in the air.
“Memory?”
“Yes. It’s me. All of me.”
Will fell on top of her on the bed, scooping her up. She could feel his heartbeat against her chest, then more arms wrapped them, and she heard the small, squeaking sobs of her sister and Roen’s relieved laughter.
She took a moment to know them, really know them, to recall exactly who they were. Some of her memories were awful. She had done things and suffered things she almost couldn’t live with, but there were so many good moments too, memories of these people, her family.
“I love my cuddle fests,” she sighed, nuzzling against her friends. Then she pushed them away. “But I smell food. Get me to the food, I’m starving! How long have I been sleeping here, a hundred years?”
“Felt like it to me,” Will said.
“It was barely two days,” Roen scoffed. “How you ever waited those sixteen years I’ll never know. This fellow is the most impatient person I’ve ever known.”
“I’m so happy you’re home,” Eloryn said. She helped Memory out of bed, holding her hand and supporting her by the elbow on the other side. Memory noticed she was wearing her old broken heart t-shirt, and what seemed to be brand new sweat pants. She quirked an eyebrow, wondering where they came from, but was happy to be in their fleecy embrace regardless.
In Memory’s living room, every surface was filled with bouquets and garlands of flowers, and mountains of cakes and pastries. Rainbow colored roses from Loredanna’s rose garden filled the room with a sweet scent, and… was that a cake shaped like a hamburger?
No way.
The thought of Clara, missing this, being gone from their lives, drilled a deep hole of pain in Memory’s heart.
Alward, Thayl, Waylan, Peirs, Edele, Shonae, Clara.
She remembered them all. She would never forget them again.
Memory swiped the first delicacy that was within reach and bit through the flakey crust to the custard cream inside.
Maeve entered the room, wearing a palace maid’s uniform and balancing another tray of food. Her wild mass of brown hair was bundled neatly atop her head and she looked stronger and healthier than ever. She stopped abruptly when she saw Memory awake and eating.
“It is you!” she yelled, dropping the tray onto a table, and running in.
Memory was enveloped in a huge and almost smothering hug and she laughed, “Yes, it is me. Sorry I was gone for so long. How are the kids?”
“They are amazing, thanks to you and your friends. Some of them still have nightmares though, and might for a while yet.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t ask about them sooner.”
“How could you have?” Maeve said. She held up a fist, and Memory punched it three times then they both mimed an explosion.
Memory laughed. “You were totally just testing if I really remembered, weren’t you?”
“Maybe,” Maeve grinned. With Clara gone, Maeve had fought other servants off almost physically to be the one to take over her position as Memory’s only assistant. Maeve had known, even when Memory couldn’t, that it was what she would have wanted. Memory pulled the feisty girl back into a hug again as a silent thank you for that.
They all sat down together, relaxing on the floor and chairs. Not talking, just eating in silence, knowing they were all together again and that that was enough. The friends that were missing weren’t completely gone. Memory closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the weight of them, their loss, their lives, in her chest. Holding onto every precious memory.
She still felt fragile, brittle like fairy gold, from the return of her old memories. But she also felt stronger from the return of her newer ones. She no longer burned inside with all the excess magic she had felt her whole life. All that was left was just the normal, small Spark of Connection. No missing soul, no missing past, no longing for a family she didn’t know. She had everything she always wanted. She finally felt whole and complete.
The rest of the day was spent much the same, just enjoying each other’s company within the small space of Memory’s chambers. After a while Erec and Maeve left together, and then Roen and Eloryn as well.
Will hugged Memory close, and she leaned up to kiss him. His lips were warm and soft and she let herself melt into him. Memory closed her eyes, a smile blooming on her face. Finally, she was home.
The End
The Memory’s Wake trilogy has ended, but Selina Fenech has plans for more books for this world and other tales to tell. Sign up for Selina's newsletter to be notified when her next book is available -
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