Page 64 of Gift from the Tree

“Lunch will be here in a few. Willow, Gaster said you had something you wanted to share with us,” I say, focusing back on her. Her cheeks pinken as she finds my full attention on her.

Glad I’m not the only one affected.

Shitty of me to be the only one knowing what’s going on.

She looks at Gaster first, and when he gives her an encouraging nod, she turns back to us and takes a deep breath, then slowly releases it. This must be important if it has her this nervous. She gets nervous, but so far, the lot of us are on the receiving end of her attitude, understandably.

“I had another memory unlock. Well, two actually. I guess that’s what’s happening. I don’t know what they are, honestly. This morning when I was working with Gaster, then in my enchantments class.” She holds back on sharing the whole story, a coping mechanism, a way to shield herself by gauging our responses before opening up completely.

It’s infuriating that she feels compelled to do this with us, but I recognize that we haven’t provided her with enough reasons to trust us with the unfiltered truth right away. Our reactions will ultimately determine whether she feels comfortable sharing everything.

Draken’s the first to chime in. “You didn’t tell me that. That’s great,” he says proudly, like it doesn’t matter what she saw. He’s just happy she saw something.

“I didn’t know what I should or shouldn’t say in front of Oakly, then one surprised me in class. And I wanted to tell you all together.” She looks around the room before looking at me. “Is he coming?”

I give a small shake of my head. “I don’t believe so.”

“Oh,” she says low, and I instantly pick up on the hint of disappointment in her tone. “I’ve had my magic since I was fourteen years old.”

Silence. Tillman, Draken, and I are still as statues.

The same age we all emerged.

Impossible. How?

“How do you know you were fourteen? What did you see?” Tillman asks, shifting to sit with his elbows on his knees.

“I know I was fourteen because of the dress I was wearing. I got it for my fourteenth birthday. But I was a late bloomer and it no longer fit come my fifteenth birthday,” she says quickly, quietly.

I can tell she’s embarrassed to talk about it, but that’s just another thing she wouldn’t know. Females in Elementra don’t begin to menstruate until their gifts emerge, typically within that first year, and typically much older than that. She’s an early bloomer by our standards.

She goes on to tell us both brief memories she saw, and I notice that both just happen to show up at the exact time she needed them to, one prompted, one not.

“Even with the memories that it’s shown me, I still feel confused, like there are a whole lot of dark spots I’m missing. When I see them, I feel loved and comforted, like whoever’s in these memories with me is someone who means a great deal to me and me to them. But the memories only unlock when the stone sees fit. I don’t know how or if I even can force them all out.” She looks at each of us, hoping we have an answer.

“I don’t believe you’re going to be able to force them out. Like I told you this morning, when you enchant something with your magical essence, only you can control it. I believe whoever sent you the Memoria stone has enchanted it to show you things as you need them. You’re going to have to learn as you go. I also believe they’ve bound your gift, which makes me believe it’s something rare.” Gaster looks at her like he wishes it weren’t true and he could unlock it all for her. Fuck, me too.

“Based on the things you’ve been shown so far and the mystery of the person in the memories with you, I think you have a whole other side of life full of memories you can’t remember,” I conclude. Someone’s altered or erased a large chunk of her life.

A knock on the door causes all of us to stop our conversation. As soon as the kitchen leaves, Gaster stands immediately and begins loading a plate and walking it over to Willow. Me and Tillman look at each other, and I send a laugh through my mind to him. He’s absolutely starting to spoil her. But seeing the smile she gives him when he hands her the plate, I can understand it.

“So, kitten, what do you want to do about this?” Draken asks before stuffing his face like he’s been starving sitting here.

“Well, I don’t know what to do. I was hoping that you all could help me,” she says in a small voice, struggling to ask for our help.

“You know you can have whatever you want from me,” Draken says, winking at her.

“We’ll do whatever we can, Willow,” I promise her. The faster we can figure this out, the better.

Tillman grunts his agreement. He isn’t a talkative man unless it’s just us brothers and Gaster, but by the look Willow just shot him, she isn’t going to put up with grunts and groans as a way of conversation. She’ll pull him out of that giant shell he lives in.

“That isn’t the only news we have to share today,” Gaster announces, putting his plate down and turning to Willow. “I’d like to share what happened with you and Oakly this morning here with them and then I’ll explain it to her this afternoon, if that’s okay with you?”

Her face brightens with a new wave of embarrassment, and she scrunches her nose up. “You think that weird thing that happened is something we need to share?”

“Don’t be embarrassed. Once I explain it, you’ll understand why it happened.”

“Okay then,” she says, ducking her head down.

---