Ha! In ColeHollandville, my lips belonged to him and him alone.
I made my way to the kitchen. Juliana and Camilla were there, chatting easily as Camilla buttered a piece of toast.
“—not fair,” Juliana was saying. “She’s nothing special.”
Great. “She” had to be me.
“That’s not for you to decide,” Camilla said, and the show of support threw me. “Besides, guys like Cole Holland do not date girls your age.”
“I’m only two years younger than Ali!”
“Yes, but teen years are just like dog years. To Cole, you’re nothing more than a newborn.”
Harsh.
Juliana thought so, too. “I am not!” she snarled. “You take that back.”
“Do you hear yourself? How immature you sound?”
The younger girl glowered.
“Anyway, you just need to wait it out,” Camilla continued blithely. “It’s not like those two are going to get married or anything. High-school romances never last.”
And that was more like the Camilla I knew.
I cleared my throat, and both girls turned to face me. Juliana flushed with embarrassment and anger, while Camilla blanked her features, revealing nothing.
“Leave everything out when you’re done,” I said.
“I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.” Juliana tossed her hair over her shoulder and flounced out of the room.
Brat.
“I’m in total breakfast mode,” Camilla said. “Why don’t I just make you a slice?”
A peace offering? “Thank you.”
“Strawberry or grape jelly?”
BC—before Cole—I would have said grape. Now? “Strawberry.” He’d addicted me.
As she worked, she said, “I’ve been trying to decode the rest of the papers, but even when I read while in spirit form, I can only make out a few words. So I was thinking,” she added before I could reply, “maybe you could use your fire on me and share the ability.”
“How do you know about the fire-share?”
“There’s been talk.”
Already?
She was still an unknown entity, and I wasn’t comfortable sharing my abilities...or my secrets. “I’ll think about it,” I said, accepting the piece of toast she offered.
A flash of irritation she couldn’t hide. “You do that. Meanwhile, I’m going to give myself a tour of the grounds.”
She headed for the back door. I ate my toast and took off in the opposite direction. Destination: Reeve’s room. That’s where Kat would be. But I made it only halfway before I spotted Helen. She waited at the top of the steps.
Startled, I tripped. Good one, Ali-gator.
Great. Now even I was using that ridiculous nickname. Mind had to be misfiring. Which was understandable. This was the first time I’d seen Helen since I’d learned who she was to me—who I was to her.
Cole would insist I get rid of her. But I couldn’t. I just...couldn’t.
“You know who I am,” she said, hesitant.
“Yes,” I whispered, not wanting to draw attention to myself. I looked left, right. No sign of a slayer. Still. Better safe than sorry.
I motioned for her to follow me to my room. What should I call her? Helen? Or Momma, like before?
I closed my eyes against a rush of pain. Would calling her Mom be a betrayal to the woman who’d raised me? Who’d loved me as her own?
Get it together.
“I’d hoped you would remember,” she said after I closed the door.
Her words reminded me of the last dream I’d had. “Did you wipe my memories when I was a little girl?”
Anyone else might have blanched when faced with my anger, but not her. She held my gaze. “Yes and no. Like you, I was born with several abnormal skills. One allows me to reach my spirit inside a person’s head and cover their memories. Like I’m placing a blanket over their mind. It’s a defense mechanism, I guess, in case civilians ever see something they shouldn’t.”
“You covered mine.” That look in my eyes... I’d gone to my dad as a blank slate.
She nodded, seeming shamed but resolved.
“Uncover them. Now.” They were mine. I wanted every single one. I’d earned them.
“Ali—”
“You had no right,” I growled. “No right.” Those memories would have helped me. Then and now.
“I’m sorry, but it only works one way. I can cover, but not uncover.”
I ignored the rising tide of bile. “How am I remembering, then? Are the memories uncovering on their own?”
“Again, yes and no. I’ve been sitting at your bedside, telling you stories. Sharing my memories. It seems to be thinning the blanket, for lack of a better description.”
It was better than nothing, I supposed. She was trying.
There I went, seeing the best in her again.
I eased onto the edge of the bed. “What do you want from me? Why are you here?”
“I’ve been watching over you. Am watching over you.”
“I’ve never seen you, but I’ve always seen Emma.”
“Do you remember how Zombie Ali was able to cloak herself from prying eyes? Well, she inherited the skill from me.”