Page 142 of Bite Marks

She didn’t wait before she turned around and bolted back around the thick curtains. We exchanged a look, knowing Dana wouldn’t be this agitated about something small, and followed.

Once we were up in her office, we clicked the door shut. The state of the room told me Garrett had enraged her, and she’d taken it out on whatever was at hand.

“What happ?—”

Dana didn’t talk. She simply picked up a piece of paper and shoved it in our faces.

A photo.

I was confused at first. It was me, Dana, Juniper, Ren, and Cherie from what looked like a few years ago.

But Vi was in it too.

The longer I looked, the more the memories came flooding back. Waking up together slowly, fucking each other into oblivion before doing each other’s nails or playing dress-up in my closet to decide what to wear for the day.

Vi and I… Vi and all of us.

I felt how much that quality time meant to me, and I couldn’t believe I’d forget something so integral to me.

Juniper gasped audibly.

“Yeah. I know. I just spent a few minutes looking at this myself. And I’m remembering things slowly. Like bits and pieces here and there,” Dana said.

“Fuck,” Juniper said as she sat down on one of the chairs. “This is why?—”

“Yes. This is why we seemed to… remember her somehow.”

“Do we think Vi remembers? Or Ren?” I asked.

Dana shook her head. Normally she was the calm, cool, collected one, but now even she looked lost.

We stayed silent for a moment.

I heard combat boots stomping up toward the office and knew exactly who it was. Ren came through the door moments later, looking just as scattered as we all felt.

“What happened?” Dana asked.

She ran her hand through her short hair before saying, “We went to the bank… The safety deposit box wasn’t her dad’s. It was Cherie’s.”

The entire room went quiet.

“What the fuck do you mean?” Juniper snapped, and I knew she was trying to make sense of all of it. “I can’t fucking think. These—fucking images—visions—memoriesare coming back?—”

“I know,” Ren said, cutting her off before shaking her head. “It’s happening to me too. It’s like a movie in my head, and like things are falling into place.” She stopped talking and looked at each of us. “It happened really fast. There were photos in there. Photos of all of us. When I looked at them, memories flooded back from when we were all together. When Vi was in our coven.”

And suddenly, it hit me. “I’m remembering stuff too, but it doesn’t make sense. Why would we forget?”

“Fucking Cherie,” Juniper mumbled.

“What?” Dana asked.

“After the attack… Vi was never the same. Do you remember? She was always scared, even of us. So Cherie… mentioned using compulsion to make Vi forget what happened to her.”

Just as I was about to ask, a memory hit me like a truck. Ren angry, shouting at Cherie while Juniper shoved her hands through her hair. The two of them telling Cherie she had no right. That they could work it out somehow.

It all came in flashes, and as I looked around, it seemed like everyone was having a similar experience.

Dana sighed and leaned against her desk. “We told her no; we told her we would never be onboard with it… But it would seem she went and did it anyway. With the bonus of doing it to all of us too, it would seem.”

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