Page 39 of Monster's Mystery

“Didn’t the teachers interview him?”

“They did interviewher,” Paige said meaningfully.

“Hazel’s back?” I gasped.

“No.” Paige shook her head. “Sorry to get your hopes up. But it’s another fire monster, just a girl this time.”

“Interesting.” I exchanged a glance with the others. “Why do you think that we’ll be able to get anything out of her when the teachers couldn’t?”

“You’re looking for a spell to access repressed memories, aren’t you? Well, I’ve got one.”

“How?” I asked.

“How did I get one, or how did I know you were looking for one?” Paige sounded smug.

I blinked. “Both.”

“I’m not going to reveal my sources, and I’ve been spying on you. It’s the next logical step.”

“Stop spying on me,” I snapped before sighing. “Fine. Bring the girl here.”

“No, you come with me. She’s in her room.”

“All right. But I’m going to continue looking for my spell on the way.”

Paige prevented me from bumping into anything as we made our way up to the top floor of the academy, meaning that this girl was in first year. I frantically flipped through the grimoire until I finally found what I was looking for just outside the girl’s door.

“Does this look like what you found?” I asked her, showing her the spell.

“Oh, I hadn’t found one. I just knew you wanted to beat me, so you’d find it in time.” Paige smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes and knocked on the door.

A pretty, dark-haired girl answered it. “Yes? What do you want?”

“We want to see if we can help you recover your lost memories,” Paige said, drawing the girl’s attention.

“What makes you think you can do it when the teachers couldn’t?” the girl sneered. She glared back at me. “I remember you. You jumped the line to speak to Professor Dunlop on the first day.”

“Oh, you’re the girl who gave me attitude?” I bit my tongue and counted backward from five in my head. “We have a spell created by my ancestors that is slightly different from the ones the teachers used. They were searching for the truth of what you said. We are planning on searching for repressed memories.”

The girl crossed her arms. “And what if I don’t want my repressed memories looked through? If they’re repressed, I obviously want them that way.”

I winced. “According to the grimoire, that’s not really how this spell works. It looks formagicallyrepressed memories, not natural ones. Andwecan’t see them, only you can. Would you be willing to try?”

“Fine.” She turned abruptly on her heel, leading us into her room.

I looked around, always curious to see how others decorated their home away from home. In this particular case, the room was divided into four, with three beds bedecked with color. The fourth was plain and barely decorated. The girl sat on the plain bed and pointed at two desk chairs.

“What do you need me to do?”

“You just have to sit there and relax.” I read over the spell again. “And I’ll need your name.”

“Valerie.”

“There might be a slight discomfort. I’m not sure. I’ve never done this before,” I said anxiously. “You can break the link by closing your eyes if you’re uncomfortable. Do you understand?”

Valerie glared at me. “I’m not two.”

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