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“But what if I’m a horrible person?” he asks, seeing this as a real possibility. “Without my memories or a past, who’s to say I won’t end up being someone you don’t want to get to know?”
I place a hand on his chest. “Your heart won’t change, Damon. At your core, you’re a good person. You risked your life to save your people from your father’s tyranny. There’s no way you would turn into a bad person with or without your memories. Do you trust me?”
“With my life.” He raises a hand to caress the side of my face. “With my heart. With my soul.”
“Then trust me when I say I will find you.”
He nods, but I still see doubt in his eyes. Whether he’s doubting me or himself, I’m not sure.
When the ship reaches Dawn, Agatha lands it in the back courtyard of the castle and opens the outer door to let Simon and his men out.
“I suppose this is goodbye,” Simon says to me, holding Tripp in his arms. “Thank you again for saving us.”
“You’re welcome, and don’t lose hope. I believe my friend will find a way to help Tripp.”
Simon nods but doesn’t say anything more. He exits the ship with his son, hoping for a brighter future when his past is wiped away.
When Agatha lands in Midnight, she emerges from wherever it was she went to fly the ship.
Damon stiffens when he sees her, and I can see rage fill his eyes.
I touch him on the arm. “It’s not her fault. In fact, she’s the reason we’re not all dead right now. She went against the rules she was given by the fae to give us this second chance.”
“But why couldn’t she have picked some other way for you to prove humanities worth?”
“This is the way she has chosen, and we have to all abide by it.”
“Remember that the mind wipe will happen the second the twilight hour in the morning ends,” she says. “After that, I will take charge and place everyone into a deep sleep. Everyone will start their new lives in the place they need to be.”
“You make us sound like dolls you put up after playing with them,” Boris says harshly.
“That is an appropriate analogy,” she says. “Thank you for putting it into terms you can understand.”
Boris’s hands form fists at his sides, and he looks like he’s about to hit Agatha in the face.
“Why don’t we all go into the castle?” I suggest before my father does something he will regret. “Damon and Margaret will be changing soon.”
“We are,” Margaret says, holding Boris’s hand even tighter. “I can feel it coming.”
“The farther away I am from that thing the better,” Damon says, looking at Agatha in disgust. “It’s obvious she doesn’t have a soul, or she wouldn’t be tearing us apart from one another.”
“You’re right,” Agatha says, not looking the least bit offended by Damon’s harsh words. “I don’t have a soul, but I do have intelligence and the ability to learn. Perhaps one day, I’ll understand what you’re going through.”
“By then it will be too late.” Damon gently pulls me along with him out of the ship.
Upon entering the castle, Damon, his mother, and Oliver change into their wolf forms, making further communication with them difficult for the rest of the evening. Oliver runs off to find his father. I invite Jack to join the rest of us in the sitting room to spend the rest of the night together. He seems surprised by my offer, but since he’ll be the only person who will remember who I am tomorrow, it’s time he learned more about me, his daughter.
Boris and I reminisce about moments from my childhood and our escapades thieving from the rich in Dawn. We laugh, cry, and hug one another until the next twilight hour approaches. Before it does, we lead our four-legged loved ones to our respective bedrooms to spend the last hour with them in their human form.
“I love you, poppet,” Boris says, hugging me so tight outside his bedroom I can barely breathe.
“I love you too. You’re the best father a person like me could have hoped for. Thank you for taking care of me and raising me to be who I am today.”
Boris sniffs but he holds back his tears as he lets me go.
“Go on now,” he says. “Spend what time you can with Damon, and we’ll see what the new day brings when we all wake up. I’m afraid you’ll have a lot of work to do tomorrow. People will be upset about losing their memories and not knowing who they are.”
“I can handle it.”
