We Remember || ONC2022

Chapter Seven

"You jumped and that's when I found you on the beach," I said.

He laughed. He ran his fingers over the back of my hand, sending a new kind of shiver through me. "Not quite. At first, it didn't work."

"What do you mean?"

"I jumped and fell through the waters to the bottom and for many days it was the same. I tried and tried, again and again."

"I don't understand."

"I didn't either, at first. But I think that on the anniversary of his disappearance, the town's Remembering was close enough to a magickal rite that somehow it connected the portals. All those people remembering Alder. The pond is a place of memory magick, after all. That day, I saw your face, and I just knew that it would work."

I remembered that morning. A mostly forgotten dream came back to me now, riding through the water on the back of a black horse. The need to get out and walk the beach. The seafoam green sea glass, a memory of Alder found on the beach.

"I actually don't think that's what happened," I said.

"You don't?"

"No." I shook my head. "Well, maybe, I don't know." I laughed. "Maybe it was some combination of everyone in Saltash remembering Alder and that long dormant fae magick. Maybe it was the Goddess Below. But I really think it might have worked that day, because I'd been dreaming of you just before I woke and the moment you came through the portal, I was thinking of him."

"You think you opened the doorway?"

"Is that silly?"

"No, I don't think so. I think you're incredible."

"Oh, well anyway, it wasn't just me. It was the two of us, our magick connecting."

"That's a nice idea," he said, smiling.

"It's pretty wonderful, isn't it?" He nodded, gazing at me in a way that made me feel like our magickal connection was happening right now.

"I want to ask you something, Wyn."

"Oh, of course."

"One of the memories preserved by the lake was of my parents, just before they died," he said. "They kissed each other."

"Oh?" My breath caught and I felt something fluttering, trying to escape my chest. Joy, perhaps.

"I never thought I'd have anything like that. Never thought I'd even have a friend, so if that's all you want, I'll be happy. But I would like to kiss you."

"Yes, please."

I leaned forward, my eyes closing then opening, not wanting to miss anything. Our lips touched, softly and clumsily at first. And then I was on my knees, Alder's face in my hands. It was like diving into an oncoming wave, the power of the current rushing against your body, a glorious wind underwater. It was like bursting out of the sea on the back of a black horse.

After, we swam in the pond. The sand was softer under our feet than the sand on the beach, slippery and cool. The quality of the water felt different, too. Almost silken, soft and slow. At the pond's edge, we quietly observed the frogs on their lily pads. Alder whispered stories about the frogs and birds that lived in and around his lake, the names he'd given them.

We made a castle out of sand with our hands and I built my intentions into every turret and tower. Peace and a home and love for Alder. I'd do everything in my power to give it to him, though I suspected our path would be perilous. Lemon already knew that he was not the original Alder and the more time I spent with him, the more obvious it became.