Page 64 of Box of Frogs
I screeched, ‘Let me have my freaking metaphors! Obviously I won’t really kill him.’ Frankly, I doubted I could. I hissed out a curse and started stomping around the room. A good stomp seemed about all that was left to me.
Morgan watched me for a moment before returning his attention to Artemesia. ‘Is her memory going to return? Or is there some sort of antidote she can take?’
Her eyebrows flew up. ‘You want her to be the same bitch she was before? She’s bad enough now as it is.’
I stopped my stomping. ‘Hey!’
Both Artemesia and Morgan ignored me. ‘Rubus did this for a reason,’ he said. ‘I need to know what he wants her to forget.’
This whole situation was as mad as a box of frogs. I bet even Julie’s scriptwriters couldn’t come up with anything as nutty as this. ‘This is ridiculous,’ I muttered. I put my hands on my hips and stared hard at Artemesia. ‘Well?’ I demanded. ‘Is there a cure?’
‘Not that I know of,’ she answered, holding her nerve. ‘I can look into it. But everything might not be lost.’ Her smile took on a triumphant edge. ‘This is why my uncle wishes he still had this book. The magic used to create the forgetting potion is unstable.’
I didn’t know why she looked so bloody happy. ‘Unstable? You mean I’m likely to explode?’
Artemesia laughed. ‘If only. No, it means that reality is going to seek to re-assert itself. Due to the magic bound in the herbs, the potion that must have been thrown down your throat is wholly unnatural. And nature always,always, seeks to re-assert herself. It’s why faeries were permitted to visit the demesne in the first place. We were needed to re-balance nature, for both our sakes and the humans.’
‘Yeah?’ I growled. ‘And how exactly is that working out for us?’
She gave my words a dismissive wave. ‘Something went wrong. But sooner or later the border will re-open and nature will take over once again. I have faith,’ she added serenely. ‘But that’s not what is important in this current scenario.’ She pointed again at the page in front of her. ‘The unnatural essence of the amnesia potion means that your body – or your consciousness, if you will – is going to continually try to solve the problem. You’ll be drawn towards situations and people where the truth will reveal itself. Without realising it, you’ll be forced to find out what it is that you’ve forgotten.’
It took a moment for her words to unjumble themselves. When they did, troubled clarity struck me like a thunderbolt. ‘Dave,’ I breathed. ‘I was supposed to meet him. My consciousness drove me towards him, which in turn drove me to you.’ I nodded at Morgan.
‘Sure,’ Artemesia said easily. ‘Whoever Dave is.’
I thought about it. The same could be true of Julie: a part of me could have known that she was a vampire, so I was drawn to her in much the same way.
I realised that both Artemesia and Morgan were staring at me and I hastily dissembled. ‘I was drawn to you as well,’ I pointed out to Morgan. ‘And I’ve still not even seen Rubus.’
Artemesia shrugged. ‘Probably because whatever counts as a soul inside you knew that Morganus would help you and Rubus wouldn’t.’
Morgan flashed a quick smug grin then tapped his mouth. ‘So, we just need to be patient and see where events take Madrona. Natural order, as in her memory, will be forced to re-assert herself.’
‘She might not remember consciously,’ Artemesia explained. ‘But she’ll be led towards people and situations that will provide the missing information to solve her problems.’
Morgan looked at me. ‘Where do you want to go right now?’
‘I want,’ I said through gritted teeth, ‘to find Julie.’
‘We don’t know where she is.’ His answer was annoyingly calm. ‘Where do youfeellike going?’
My stomach grumbled. I shrugged; if nature was the answer, then that was the call I would answer. ‘Food,’ I replied. ‘Preferably greasy and with as many calories as possible.’
He waved towards the door. ‘Lead the way.’
‘I really don’t see how this will work,’ I said doubtfully.
Artemesia grinned. ‘I reckon it will. I’ll hunt around and see if I come up with some sort of antidote but I can’t guarantee it will work. Even if I don’t find anything, you shouldn’t be concerned. Be patient and forces unseen will take you to where you need to be.’
Forces unseen. Yeah. Mad. As. A. Box. Of. Frogs.
Chapter Twenty
I took a bite out of my kebab, chilli sauce dripping down my chin and onto my fingers. ‘This is all very well,’ I said with my mouth full, ‘but Julie isn’t here. Time is still ticking. If we don’t find her, goodness knows what Rubus will do to her.’
Morgan, who was somehow managing to eat his food without looking like a messy toddler, looked at me assessingly. ‘You really are different without your memory,’ he said. ‘This interest in another person’s wellbeing is most unlike you.’
‘I only have your word that I’m a bad person.’
