My heart thumped loudly, and I pressed a hand to my chest to try to keep it together.

“She’s alive,” I decided, still refusing to accept any other possibility.

He nodded. “There’s every chance she made it out alive. Many escaped through the doors before they were ripped away. And she was with Lucien, the Master Vampire of Valdor. If he could have saved her, he would have.”

Tucking my trembling hands under my legs, I fought through the panic. I had no idea what I’d expected to find when I’d started out on this journey. As always, I’d taken it one step at a time, dealing with the information as it came to me, but seriously… Seriously!

This was so much more than any shifters should be expected to accept. “Is there any way to return my memories?” I asked, figuring that would fill in all the blank spots and hopefully remove the low level of panic flooding my veins.

“A very powerful being has cursed you,” Gaster said, leaning in to examine me closely. I prepared myself for the bad news. “And, while it won’t be easy to break through the multiple crisscrossing lines of their power, there might be a way. It’s just…” He trailed off ominously.

“What? I’ll do anything.”

Crisscrossing lines? That had to be the wall of sunlight and moon beams I’d seen in my head when I’d been fighting against the memory spell.

“To break this spell, you have to break as well,” he said, ripping the Band-Aid off in one swift yank. “The spell has had enough time to infiltrate into your true self, and to remove it…” No one needed him to finish that sentence.

It really didn’t matter to me. Whatever the consequences, I’d take them. “I can’t live like this anymore, Gaster,” I told him, having no doubts. “Missing all of my memories and life-changing experiences. It’s worth the risk.”

Gaster nodded, and I loved that he didn’t bother to argue with me.

I might not be strong enough, but at least he was giving me a chance.

Sometimes a chance was all anyone ever needed.

17

When Gaster left to find ingredients for his spell, I spent my time pacing, stressing, and filling Sam in on the information she’d missed.

“The Shadow Beast?” she whisper-screamed, before shutting her mouth with a snap. She shook her head. “It’s too insane to even think about. I don’t understand how you lived this life, and it was all taken from you.”

“Gaster was very light on the details when it came to that,” I said, thinking hard enough to hurt myself, “and I’m guessing it’s due to the fact that he wasn’t there for a lot of the big shit that happened. I bet he doesn’t want to give me any false information.”