The Memory Keeper

Chapter 23

Natalie wanted to run to her friend, but kept her feet rooted.

"Piper," she breathed.

Her assistant closed the door behind her. Natalie had not noticed before how frizzy her hair looked, or the deepness of her eyes, as though smudged with dark makeup. As much as Natalie hated to admit it, Piper almost looked like the witches from Stagwood, all raggedy and fierce.

"I saw the way you looked at me," Piper said, "like this was all my fault, yet you apologized like it was yours." She shook her head. "I told you Colette sees all."

"Why am I off the hook? What information did you give her that made her decision to release me so easy?"

The witch spread her fingers out before her. "I cannot tell you."

"And why is that? If it is about me, then what is the problem?"

Piper adjusted the cuffs of her long-sleeved blouse. "Three days, she said."

The mind weaver swept over to the window and drooped onto the nook, tipping her head to the pane. Frost clung to the glass like hand prints, and trembled if ever so slightly with each guffaw of wind off the mountains.

"I hope today did not count as one of them."

There was a slight chuckle from Piper at this, and she moved further into the room. When the mind weaver looked back, she was at least happy to see not all of the spark had been diffused from her assistant. Behind these walls, no matter how sparse they were, there dwelled the stifling dullness of Colette's mind weavers, who did not know how to smile or have a normal conversation.

Or if they did, they did not show it here. What kind of life was it? Natalie asked herself. What were they offered in exchange to live here, far from civilization, where there were more opportunities, places to see? Where they might perhaps find love? She had always heard it was the fame, when they visited the towns, and fortune, for visitors seeking a Cape Colette mind weaver paid almost thrice as much as they would for someone like Natalie. Freelance mind weavers were not as trusted.

"Wish we could bust out of here tonight," Piper said. "Not that I don't appreciate the free food and feathery coverlets on my bed. But I miss Coldton."

Natalie made room on the nook for her friend, who sat and crossed her legs. They looked at each other for a minute.

"What? A witch can't miss Coldton?" She smiled.

Natalie shook her head quickly. "No, I was not thinking about that. I guess I was thinking about how much I hate Coldton."

The witch's already large eyes widened. "I don't understand."

"My parents lived closer to Stagwood. As a child, I remember playing by Swan Glade. I would help my father collect lotus or hyacinth and make a flower crown for my mother. I remember the wind mills on the outskirts."

"Are you saying you want to live there?"

Natalie smiled down at her hands on her knee. "Don't we all think of things like that once in a while? To be in another place, perhaps start all over. We don't always do it, and end up staying where we are needed."

Piper frowned. "If you moved away, I don't know how we could continue to work with each other."

"We don't know if Colette will allow us to even if we help Peter in three days. I mean, why separate us now? Only you and I have worked with him. We are the only knows who know how to finish what we started."

Piper ran a hand over her face and looked out the window. "Just when I was thinking that things were looking up."

A hand over Piper's, Natalie said, "Things are looking up. I never said I was moving away, and for all we know, Colette won't separate us. But even if she does, she won't be able to keep us from being friends. Don't forget that, Piper."

Her friend smiled a little and then turned toward the rest of the room. "Did they leave you some wine?"

"I actually did not look."

Like a cat, Piper stretched her long legs out of the nook and stood. She walked over to the bureau and found the basket with the wine bottle inside. "Peach wine," she said. "This is a very small bottle. Isn't this supposed to be Cape Colette's famous wine, too expensive for just anyone to buy?"

Natalie shrugged. "Let's open it, then, shall we?"

Piper had not waited for approval, she had already slipped the opener into the cork and was pulling it out. There was only one wine glass, which she filled for Natalie. Only half the bottle remained, and Piper drank straight from it. Back on the nook, the women clinked glass and porcelain bottle together.

After a few thoughtful swallows, Natalie felt the courage to ask again, "What did you tell Colette that helped me, Piper? Did you take the blame for something I did?"

She shook her head. "Nothing like that."

"She said it was a complicated story."

"Exactly. And right now I just want to sip this delicious wine and not repeat it for a second time."

"I am almost out of those capsules you made me."

"Good, you won't need them in a few days."

"Why?"

Piper clinked her bottle to Natalie's glass. "Cheers, boss."

With an eye roll, Natalie dropped the questions and let the smile take over her face. At least she knew her friend was okay, they were together, and Peter's sessions would be over very soon. Things could be normal after that. She and Peter could see each other without the constant tug that was Flower, the worry Peter would forget Natalie to chase the past.

There was a slight tap on the door. They would not have heard it if they were still laughing. The young women looked at each other before Piper said, "Enter." They waited with hitched breath.

When the door opened, they were surprised to see Colette. After standing, glass and bottle at their backs a little shamefully, Natalie offered the queen a seat, but she shook her head and gently closed the door behind her.

"I just wanted to tell you," she said to the mind weaver, "that though I am disappointed, I do not disrespect your bravery to take on a client with a request quite dissimilar to the usual. You did not give up on him." She glanced at Piper and back. Without waiting for a response, perhaps not expecting one, she continued, "And I have a confession."

Piper and Natalie looked at each other and back at the queen. The pane shook with the mountain's thunderous winds. "Most of my mind weavers are here because of a rule they had broken, but proved loyal in the end, discovering new abilities I did not think our kind capable without destruction. I think you may have proven two new ones. I would not offer three days. I would offer none at all and send for Mr. Sheinfeld myself. Why don't I, you may ask? Because I do not doubt your ability to keep Mr. Sheinfeld's memories and weave one in their place. I think I knew something was not quite right. I spoke to his parents at Coldton palace's dinner party. They told me their son was visiting you for sessions, that his intentions were not as he said they were. When I asked what they meant by that, they told me he did not truly want to forget the person he loved."

She looked melancholy for a moment. "Upon a closer look at the two of you, while you danced, I think I knew what they were trying to tell me. So I asked a few more questions, and decided even then I would call on Piper in a few weeks' time to gather the full story. And she did not let me down."

With an appraising look at the witch, Colette said, "You have yourself an assistant unlike any other. Almost nurturing, if you ask me."

But Natalie could not register anything the queen had said after "he did not truly want to forget the person he loved".

She cleared her throat. "Your three days do not start until tomorrow, of course. I've already sent a letter to Mr. Sheinfeld, as well as his parents, so that there is no dallying. Then I will call for the three of you to examine your work." Her soft features crinkled at the brow. "If all appears well, you may just be one of my most powerful mind weavers known to date."

She brushed a lock of strawberry colored hair behind her hair and moved toward the door. Just before she left, she turned back. "I meant what I said about consequences, Natalie. But I believe in your case, you shall receive all of which you have lost. And it is up to you what to do with them."