I woke up feeling refreshed despite not having gotten much sleep, which was a good thing because Kat and Ari were even more hyped up than I'd expected them to be. Ari came out in a red bikini and jumped up and down on the pull-out bed until Kat and I finally threw our pillows at her.
Jace knocked on our door a few minutes later, which sent me scurrying for the shower. He'd probably seen me with bedhead at some point in the past, but I wasn't going to put that image back in his mind if I could prevent it.
I got ready in record time. The shopping spree hadn't included any makeup, but that probably was for the best since we were going to be on the water. I pulled on the blue tankini, slid on a pair of cute black board shorts, and then pulled my hair back into a simple ponytail.
Just before I was going to leave, Bethany popped through the door. "Jace has breakfast ready, and he's looking back in this direction five times a minute. If your goal was to make him antsy I think you've succeeded."
"Hey, Bethany. How did you go through the door like that without opening it?"
"It's a fairy thing. It's going to go away once you start working effects and I'm no longer invisible, but I figure as long as I've still got it I should enjoy it."
"You seem like you know a ton about what's going on. Is that just a fairy thing too? Are you born with all of this knowledge?"
"Nope. You—I mean past you—told me most of what I know. I've learned a few things since then. Hanging around Jace hasn't exactly been the highlight of my existence so far, but there have been a few benefits. Most of that stuff didn't stick very well, though. You, however, are something else entirely. I remember every word you said to me, and since Jace found you and I've been hanging out around you things have gotten a lot better in the memory department."
"Wow, that had to be hard—I mean flying around Jace, waiting for him to track me down, not remembering what happened from one week to the next…"
Bethany shrugged. "It wasn't exactly a bed of roses, but I made it work."
She flitted around me, checking my appearance and then nodded. "So are you going to go out there or what?"
"I guess it's time."
"Just don't eat so much that your tummy pokes out above your shorts. I'm pretty sure that's not one of Jace's turn-ons."
"Gee thanks. Remind me to return the favor some time when you're obsessing about some hot fairy guy."
"Yeah, it's not going to be a problem. You'll have probably forgotten all about this conversation by then."
That shut me up instantly. She was right. I suddenly felt a profound need to start writing down everything I could remember about my life. I was about to start burning memories. It could happen any time, maybe even today, and once that started I was going to lose pieces of what made me the person I was. I was going to lose my memories of my mom.
Bethany buzzed around and then stopped on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Selene. I didn't mean to go too far. I've heard Kat and Jace make those kinds of jokes for years now. I thought it was just what you people do to each other."
"Yeah, I'll bet they joke around like that a lot. Probably someday soon I'll be joking along with them; I'm just not quite there yet. Somehow I never realized that I was going to forget my mom. It was staring me in the face this entire time, but I couldn't see it."
"I'm sorry, Selene. I wish I could have known her. I heard you and Ari talking about her that first night after we found you though. Years from now, after you've forgotten all about this conversation, I'll still be able to tell you what you and Ari said, word for word. I know that you Awakened are fond of your journals, but if there is ever anything that you want to know later on, you can tell me and I'll relate it to you whenever you want, as often as you want."
I felt like crying. Before it had been just because I'd been sad about my mom, but now it was at least partly because I was so moved by Bethany's offer. I tried to tell myself that it was too soon to start trusting her, that I needed to confirm that she was Seelie before I let myself open up to her, but it was too late. I could feel myself latching onto her emotionally, grabbing at the one person in my new life who would still remember things two or even three hundred years from now.
"Would you really do that for me?"
"Of course. That's one of the roles that fairies have served for thousands of years. Even when you forget, we don't."
"But you have no reason to be loyal to me. You said it yourself, I'm not your creator. I'm just a shadow of her."
"When you don't have anything else, even a shadow will do, Selene, but you're more than that. I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I'm not going to betray the secrets that I promised to keep for you so long ago, but I do value you. I'm going to value you forever. All of us Seelie fairies value our creators—we never leave you, but eventually you all leave us. It's just one of those things. Nobody has light incarnations forever. Not even Jace."