We finish the rest of breakfast. The silence is terse and awkward. I’m not sure why Stevie feels uncomfortable. Maybe she heard us fucking, or the fact that she knows I killed my mother. Dax probably doesn’t know what to say after unloading on me what he most likely thought was a bombshell. I almost blurted it out, took Stevie’s advice, and told him everything. But after hearing the softness in his voice, how he wishes he would have been better, how he didn’t allow himself to love Ryan, I couldn’t do that. How can I possibly be responsible for hurting Dax. So, today is going to be for potions, experimentation, and the start of setting the world back on its axis.

I walk Dax to the front door once we finish our breakfast. Both of his large palms cradle my jaw. “I’m going to fix everything. I just need you to promise me you will stay safe.”

“I promise,” I say as he places a tender kiss on my lips, his thumbs gently circling my face.

“Remember to let me know if you leave the house.” He gives me a stern look that does things to me.

“I will not leave the house. Go catch that psycho bitch who is trying to body snatch me.” He glares at me before he creates a portal and steps in it from my front yard.

I walk back to the kitchen where Stevie is sitting, hands perched under her chin. “What’s the plan?”

“Create a potion that makes people forget, test it on Clover and then give it to Ryan so he will forget me.”

Stevie sighs and nods her head. “You sure you don’t just want to tell him the truth?”

“After last night, there’s no way. He told me about how much he would like to be human, so he wouldn’t feel the way he does about having a son.”

Stevie gapes at me as she takes down her grimoire, leafing through the pages. “You know this is something that will get you in trouble with the council, right?”

“It’s worth the risk,” I say. Leaning over her shoulder.

Her pointer finger follows a few lines of texts. “I think if we modify this potion for reinstating someone’s memory, we might make it work.”

“I knew I could count on you,” I say as I start collecting some of the ingredients. Lavender, alder cones, elderberries, frankincense, graveyard dirt. “I gotta say, I’m impressed you already have all of this shit in the kitchen.”

Stevie is unmoving, with her hip propped against the counter. “I think we should talk about last night.”

“I think we should forget about it.”