Page 115 of Find My Way Down to You

“I know.”

“No. I forgothim.” My entire body trembles. “I couldn’t remember that today was…is. Today is the anniversary of the car accident.”

Mouth flattened in a grim line, Cary says, “August, I know. You forgot because of me.”

“Because of you?”

His face is serious. Closed off like the boy I met in Viva Catalina’s. Not the one who held me in the greenhouse. Who pressed delicate kisses to my cheek in his bed.

“You”—the words stick to my throat—“did this.”

He walks inside, fingers flexing at his sides.

Absently, I close the door. I don’t want to ask my next question. It comes out anyway.

“How?”

Cary’s brow pinches. “Lethe. The water I use to bring you back. It is for souls, not mortals. It takes your memories, so you forget what you left behind. That is how souls move on.”

“It takes m-memories?” I stammer.

His eyes lower before he nods.

I tug at my curls. That doesn’t make sense. We’ve gone through those waters more than once. Nothing changed before. I haven’t forgotten anything else.

Except…I did.

Lake, the girl Max was dating. And Hal. I couldn’t remember how I got the day off from work. Or what today was.

Anger spreads like an unattended flame. My hands turnto fists. “You knew this would happen,” I bite out.

“No, not at first. I swear. You were the first mortal—”

“I don’t care,” I snap. “That’s all I have left of him.Memories.And you took them from me. Without asking. Without telling me!”

His dark eyes follow as I pace the room. He doesn’t say anything. Offers no explanation or apology.

My eyes squeeze shut, disgusted. Every moment I was with him, he was gentle and careful. Even when his tone was cool and distant. He stood between me and Cerby. Took me to the Meadows. He played music for me. Let me inside his world.

And I let him inmine.

Bitterness burns like acid on my tongue. “You could’ve told me. At any point. When we were—” My voice cracks. I’m not going to cry in front of him again. “You could’ve told me the truth. Thewholetruth.”

I blink my eyes open. Gold coils around his irises. A snake ready to strike.

“Just like you could have told me the real reason you kept coming back to Aides.”

The surprise knocks the air from me. “What?”

“All of your questions,” he says, venom in his voice. “If I remember every soul. Where they go. Asking me to take you to Elysium. If Death can bring back the dead.”

He moves closer. Every soft line I saw in his face yesterday hardens.

“I thought you came back for me,” he growls. “Until yesterday. When you finally talked about him. London, the boy you love.”

“Don’t,” I warn through clenched teeth. “Don’t say his name.”

Hollow eyes meet mine. “You want to see him again. You wantedmeto take you to him.”