Noah and Cooper looked at each other and back down at Chrysie.
"You don't recognize me? At all?"
Chrysie studied his face. "No."
Noah sighed. "You've got to be fucking with me." He looked back up. "What do you remember?"
"Excuse me?"
"You know nothing?"
"Well, no, I know-" They stopped talking, eyeing the pair warily. "Why do you care?"
"Look, Chrysie, we're trying to help you. Please."
"How the hell do you know my name?"
"Can I try?" Cooper shot a glance towards Noah, who shrugged. "I'm Cooper. You wouldn't know me anyway, but that doesn't really matter. What does matter is that someone's taken over the castle, and I think they blocked your memories. The same thing happened to your sister, and sort of to me." Chrysie raised an eyebrow silently, letting him continue. "We - and by we I mean Noah, myself, and four other people that are somewhere in the area - are trying to...restore peace and shit to the castle. Everyone cheers, everything's back to normal, we all go home."
"Eloquent."
"Shut up."Cooper glanced back at Chrysie. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that we're not here to hurt you, we're just trying to fix this, and if you do remember anything, it would be absolutely fantastic if you told us."
Chrysie was quiet. "How do I know I can trust you? And since when do I have a sister?"
"You don't, other than our word. But they've locked you in here, and we're giving you a chance to go free." He shrugged. "And for all of your life. She's older than you."
More silence.
"Fine. I remember..." They thought for a second. "Two people behind bars...and then two more kids trying to fight me...and my arm?" They looked down at their right arm, next to their shoulder. "That's all."
"Would you mind if we cut across that?"
"What?"
"Would you mind if we took a knife and - you know - cut the point of contact?"
"Yes. Yes, I would mind. A lot."
"Fair answer. How about this; you let us do that and it should get your memories back. If it doesn't, I'm sorry, but now you just have a cut on your arm. Either way, we cut the ropes and get you out of here."
"Is there, like...no other way?"
"Not that we've discovered."
They sighed. "Fuck it, why not." They tensed as Noah knelt down, knife in hand, and quickly dragged it across their arm. They sucked air in through their teeth, wincing. "Shit."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, just...surprised."
"Well, well, well. Isn't this a touching reunion."
Everyone froze.
YOU ARE READING
Shadowstruck
FantasyA girl wakes up in a forest with her memory wiped. Now they have to figure out who's behind The Uprising and, more importantly, how to stop them. If they can stop them. They're losing time. And the gods aren't on their side.
