Page 40 of Monster's Mystery

“Right.” I rubbed my hands nervously on my skirt. “Well, here goes.”

I cast the spell on her, her pupils widening until her eyeballs were black with them. I could feel the magic tied to me moving through her memories, touching each one rapidly, like a wave of water cresting on a beach, each memory a grain of sand. They all had a similar feel, soft and delicate. Finally, the wave of magic reached the end, and withdrew back inside me. Valerie’s pupils returned to normal.

“I didn’t feel any difference in any of them,” I said apologetically to the girls. “Do you feel any different?”

Valerie shook her head. “Are you sure the spell works?”

“Valid question.” Paige turned to me and I braced for the accusation. “Repress one of my memories and then search for it.”

I blinked, surprised. “I don’t know how to repress a memory.”

“Oh, that’s easy.” She quickly taught me the spell. “I guess they don’t teach that to theregularstudents,” she said with a sneer.

“Or maybe they only teach it to the people who need to sneak around,” I snarked back.

She stuck her tongue out at me, but I ignored her.

Focusing on the interview that we just had with Valerie, I snaked my magic into Paige’s head and probed around, finding the memory easily. A pulse of magic down our bond, and the memory turned more solid, somehow, sinking to the bottom of the pool of her memories.

I withdrew and took a deep breath. “All right. Hold very still, just like Valerie,” I said.

“What do you mean, just like Valerie? We haven’t interviewed her yet!” Paige snapped. “Just get this over with so that we know it works.”

I guess the repression spell works.

I felt pleased with myself.

Once again, I said the spell created by my ancestor and sent my magic forth into Paige’s mind. Even though I knew what I was looking for this time, I let the spell progress at its own pace, slowly sinking through her memories until it reached the repressed one. It felt like a stone, hard and smooth. The spell wrapped itself around the stone andsqueezeduntil hairline cracks appeared on the surface and it burst, returning to normal.

Job done, I left Paige’s mind and sat back, pleased. “Well? Do you remember now?”

“I would say it works,” Paige said.

We turned back to Valerie.

“If the spell works, then why couldn’t it find one in your mind?” I asked, confused. “It’s obvious that you were missing, and you have no memory of where you were. So if the memory isn’t repressed, where is it?”

“Taken,” Paige said grimly. “If it’s no longer in her mind, someone took it. Probably the kidnapper. Memories are impossible to destroy, so even then, he must be storing it somewhere else.”

“What could be used to store a memory?” I asked myself out loud. “It would have to be a specialized vessel.”

“Bodies of water work fairly well,” Paige said. “Not the ocean, but freshwater. A lake or a pond. A well.” She frowned. “We’ve got a well on the academy’s property. Maybe we should check it out.”

“We should. During the pep rally. We’ll get my friends and make a trip out of it,” I suggested.

“No, that’s too many people. We don’t know who to trust,” Paige insisted.

“Fine.” I shrugged. “Aiden and Bruce, then.”

“Better.” Paige turned back to Valerie. “We’ll do our best to find your memory. If you can think of anything that might help us, please let us know.”

“Where were you found?” I asked suddenly. “Were you in one place and then suddenly somewhere else?”

“I was in the library, and returned there as well, but I was facing a different direction,” she said. “And the clock was much further ahead than it should have been. I missed a whole day of school.” She pouted. “I was really looking forward to today.”

“What was supposed to be today?” I asked.

“I had my first real Care of Magical Creatures class. We were going to be introduced to one of the school dragons.”

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