Inheritance Games Amnesia

Mysterious Fireman

Avery wakes up hearing tapping from inside the wall of the fireplace. There is a small amount of light in the room. She gets up and pulls on the torch next to the fireplace, having no idea how she knows what to do. The wall inside the fireplace moves up, and one of the Hawthorne boys is standing behind it.

"Took you long enough, Heiress." Jameson quips, stepping out of the fireplace.

"What... How..."

"Secret passageways in the walls."

"Not very secret if everyone knows about them."

"Not everyone does."

"What are you doing here?" Avery is pretty sure this is Jameson, but does not remember much about him.

"Came to see you."

"Couldn't you have used the door? You know, like a normal person?"

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, nothing about me is normal. You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah?"

"If yes is no, and once is never, how many sides does a triangle have?"

"What?"

"If yes is no, and once is never, how many sides does a triangle have?" Jameson asks again. When Avery first came to the estate, that's the first thing he asked her, a riddle.

"A riddle." Avery responds.

Avery walks outside the house, needing some air. Her sister and her had just arrived at the late Tobias Hawthorne's estate, after being told she was named in the will. Most of the Hawthornes were in the living room, but they had to wait for all to arrive before the will could be read. She walks outside and sees a boy, supposedly one of the Hawthornes precariously balancing on the balcony. He's shirtless and clearly drunk.

"You're going to fall." she observes, trying to look at his chest but failing.

""If yes is no, and once is never, how many sides does a triangle have?" the boy replies, jumping down. She takes a second to think about it.

"Two." Avery replies as they walk back inside.

"Heiress?" Jameson asks, slightly concerned, seeing her spaced out expression. He's starting to worry if something more is wrong from the accident.

"Two." Avery answers, coming back to reality.

"Avery, what's wrong? You like spaced out." Jameson asks, taking a step closer.

"I'm fine. I just remembered something." she answers, "About my first day here."

"When I first asked you that riddle." Jameson finishes. "You might have hit your head during the explosion. Come on, the others will probably be in the dining room for breakfast." he says, leading her out of her own room. Eli, her personal guard at all times and Oren, her head of security follow.

"Jameson, what's this about?" Nash asks, holding up a text on his phone

that says "911 dining room" Libby is following close behind, looking more worried when she sees her sister is with Jameson.

"Are you planning on telling me what a 911 text means?" Libby asks. Both Avery and Jameson are sitting at the dining room table, but don't have any food in front of them.

"Whenever we get this text," Xander says, leading Max into the room and showing her his phone, "we have to drop everything and be there for our brother. We each can only use it once a year. Avery raises an eyebrow at how Max comes in holding Xanders hand.

"Sit down and I'll explain." Jameson requests and the others sit down. Grayson quickly walks in and follows suit, Xander grabbing a scone first. "The bombing has clearly affected Avery more then we thought." Jameson starts.

"How?" Libby asks, interrupting him, almost out of her seat. She hasn't noticed anything else wrong with her sister and spent a couple hours with her the day before, after she woke up. Nash grabs her hand.

"Some of her memories are gone."

"It's not much." Avery counters.

"You don't know how much it is." Grayson says protectively, which causes Avery to question if her and Grayson were dating even more. Jameson glares at Grayson. Eli smirks in the corner, but no one notices

"Ave, when did you first notice?" Libby asks.

"Last night." Avery says, looking at her sister.

"And you didn't think to tell anyone?" Nash squeezes Libby's hand tighter.

"It was already late, I didn't want to wake you."

"Mom said this might happen." Max finally says. Grayson and Jameson stop glaring at each other to glare at Nash, who remains calm. ¨Come on, let's go see her.¨ Max says, leaving Xander, and she and Avery walk out of the room.