Chasing Starlight 💫

22. Ashala. Part 3.

Ash:

With her hand still in his, he captured her waist and released his wings. Ash stared over his shoulder, watching his black feathers fan rapidly as they lifted off, remembering not to touch them at any cost. In under a minute they were back on the top of Seal Rock, landing near the edge. Scared of tumbling over the side, Ash peered down. That's when she spotted six symbols in a language not from this world, etched into the rock. They were scrolled, beautiful, familiar.

"Angels lie. I am yours, always," she read aloud. Ash reached down and skimmed her hand over the words, and felt as if she'd done that very thing, here, recently. Lifting her necklace from the collar of her dress, she flipped over the star pendant and read the same symbols.

Last night, Ash had been undressing when she'd discovered the necklace. She'd stared at it for hours, wondering how it had come to be around her neck. Now, as she looked back down at the engravings in the rock it was as if the universe was giving her clues to unveiling its owner.

"Did you know this was here?" she asked, pointing down at the symbols on the rock.

Keenan just smiled and peered at the seals on the shelf below.

So annoying. "Did you write this?"

"You could say it was me. In a sense."

"Did you or did you not write this?"

"If you can't remember, I'm not telling you."

"Aghh!" Ash turned towards the shore, counting down the minutes she would have to endure holding his hand. "This is not the way to make me like you, Keenan. And I'm guessing your plan revolves around me liking you. If you returned my memories—"

"I would love to oblige. It would upset Lücan no end—"

Ash beamed with absolute happiness. Finally, I'm getting my memories back!

"You're not, actually," Keenan announced, killing Ash's smile. "Much like Will, it benefits me greatly that you have no recollection of how these symbols on this rock came to be, or how that necklace appeared around your throat. All of that tinkering Lücan has done to your brain is a gift I would wish for time and time again."

Oh God. That vindictive, conniving...

There was a sensation of someone tugging in her mind.

Studying Ash, Keenan laughed to himself.

"Yes, laugh to yourself," she snapped. "Whatever memory of mine you've dredged up, enjoy it. I'm not about to beg you to tell me."

"No, no, this one's funny," he said. "Lücan made you stupid."

"What?"

"He lowered your IQ substantially, so you wouldn't draw attention to yourself at school. Had quite the opposite effect. That last visit to the principal's office was hilarious."

"Why?" Ash was ready to whack him in the chest. "I didn't find it funny."

"The principal had thought you'd cheated, and while your previous assignments were looked upon as poor, you were right about the existence of aliens," he says, waving a hand at himself and Ash as proof. "Your assignment on wormholes was reasonably advanced, only due to the fact that your normal IQ was returning."

Ash frowned, thinking back on the past few months up until now. "Huh. That makes sense. Things do feel easier."

Keenan raised a brow. "Not that easy, I imagine. After your driving lesson with Lücan, he repressed your IQ again. Not as much as before, as he'd just announced to the principal that you have a tutor. Perhaps he realized he'd made you too stupid before. Same with your physical abilities. He's quashed those, too. Explains the running earlier."