The Heart woman sat with Levana’s hands in hers, her brow furrowed, her lips pressed together. It was a while before her expression changed. Very subtly—a tightening around her eyes, a slight parting of her lips. Her fingerstightened on Levana’s, and we only noticed because she gasped.
“Oh, dear…” Vesta whispered.
“What?” Levana opened her eyes. “What—what is it? Did you find something?”
“Sshhh.”Vesta’s eyes stayed closed. Her expression changed as if she were cycling through different emotions every few seconds—surprise, focus, confusion, fear.
And then something that looked very much like awe.
“This is extraordinary,” she finally breathed, and finally her eyes opened.
“What? What’s extraordinary?” Levana demanded, leaning forward now.
Vesta let go of her hands and sat back in her chair, looked at Master Talik, and she wasshaken. Genuinely, deeply shaken.
Then she nodded, only barely. “This is the queen’s work, all right,” she said. “It’s the most intricate memory magic I have ever felt in my life—and I have felt a great deal.”
Nobody breathed for a long moment, and we all hung onto what she’d say next.
“It’s not an extraction,” she continued, a hand to her chest, the other closing the lid of her Timekeeper Clock. “The memories are indeed all there. Perfectly intact, perfectly preserved. She sealed them with her own signature.”
They’re there, they’re there, they’re there!cheered the thoughts in my head, like I’d had doubts without realizing it, and I only found out now when I felt all that relief, but…
“So can you undo it?” Levana urged her. She looked on the brink of tears right now. Most of us were.
Vesta didn’t hesitate. “No,” she said. “I cannot.”
My eyes closed. Tears pricked the back of them, but I focused on the hot air going down my throat. Held it for asecond, then exhaled slowly. Squeezed March’s hand with all my strength.
“The magic is keyed to the caster,” Vesta explained. “Every thread of it is woven with her magic, her very blood.” She paused. Looked at her own hands, then back at Levana. “I can feel your memories, dear girl, but that’s all I can do. Only the woman who hid them from you can give them back. I am powerless.”
She said it like she was surrendering. Like she was…defeated.
“So, that’s it,” March said, his voice thick. “Only the Red Queen can give us our memories back.”
Every gear in my body malfunctioned. My heart skipped beats and my lungs refused to fill.
“Yes,” Vesta said, delivering another blow to my chest. “Only the Red Queen.”
28
Vesta tried again with Mimi, then Russ, then me.
The result was always the same—she held our hands and closed her eyes, and after a long silence, she’d open them with a sigh and awowand anI can’t get through.
Which was why I had the feeling she insisted on trying again, because she wanted to feel what she calledthe most intricate memory magic in the world—she wasthatfascinated by it. She respected it—you could just tell by the look in her eyes.
And when she felt all that she wanted, she insisted we followed her to her yard for tea, and Master Talik eagerly accepted. I didn’t know their story, but he seemed very fond of Vesta.
Outside in her yard, she brought tea and cups for all of us, and before long she was telling stories the way some people breathe—constantly, naturally, without seeming to notice she was doing it.
Like maybe she liked talking to people.
Like maybe she’d been all alone for too long.
I resisted the urge to ask herwhy. It was too personal.
She told us about a Heart boy who once tried to bond his memories to a tree because he was too shy to give them to the girl he loved. The tree accepted them, apparently, and grew glass fruit for a season before the magic faded.
