31. Chapter 31
Yareli eased herself into bed, releasing a breath.
After returning, she had paced in front of her bed; anxiety had taken root, delaying what she knew was inevitable.
As she lay, eyes wide open, she wondered why she couldn’t muster excitement.
Wasn’t it her family? As dread coalesced, she pinched her cheeks.
No matter the truth, she had to face it.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
The familiar lake materialized in her mind, the black tar bubbling in the distance.
Ripples stretched outward from her feet as she approached it, reminding her of the water’s tempest under its calm surface.
At the edge of the tar’s dark stain, she stalled, waiting for a sign, a slip of a memory.
Anything. When nothing happened, she sighed; it was going to be all or nothing.
When she touched it, pain exploded in her temple, and she stumbled headfirst into the tar.
Memories streaked past her, their contents blurring together, giving nothing away.
She clutched her head. The pain was the worst it had ever been, and a sense of foreboding filled her.
Last time, she had fallen into the memories.
The lake’s water had surged into her like it was returning them to her.
This time, she was suspended in what seemed like a cavity where the tar churned and swirled in a spherical jail.
She gritted her teeth and wrenched her hands away from her, attempting to grab a memory.
It slid off her fingers like sand. She tried again and again to no avail, but the memories would not come.
“Why?” she yelled into the void. “Why won’t you come to me?”
A rolling lightheadedness set in, her movements sluggish. In one last desperate attempt, she thrust her head into the memories.
She gasped, eyes fluttering open to her dark room. Her temple throbbed, her chest rose and fell in quick succession, and her eyes burned. She hadn’t remembered. Erick’s words came back to her.
You need to let the memories come slowly.
She bit her lip, holding back a sob. She had been frightened, uneasy about remembering her past, but she had wanted it.
She wanted to know more about her mom, her Spanish…
her brother. The realization hit her—she had a brother.
She had briefly remembered him and forgotten about him in the Curse Eater’s nightmare.
It was enough to push her over the edge; she cried in earnest until she fell asleep.