Memory's Wake Omnibus: The Complete Illustrated YA Fantasy Series by Selina Fenech Read Free Book Online

if she still had a working phone.
    The only other things she found in her pockets were a piece of cherry gum and a knife. One look at the knife told her it wasn’t the kind you take camping, it was the kind you threatened people with. Is that who I am, the kind of person that threatens people? She decided to keep the knife to herself. Eloryn already looked at her sometimes as if she was dangerous, and maybe she was, but that wasn’t the sort of thing she wanted to find out about herself. Besides, she wasn’t the only one keeping secrets and Eloryn’s seemed much bigger than a knife in the back pocket.
    Memory wiped her hands on her jeans, but gave up when it only made them dirtier. Resigned to eating even more dirt than she had already, she unwrapped the gum and popped it in her mouth. The candy cherry flavor rushed across her tongue, unfamiliar. She turned to Eloryn. “So, Princess, what was that all about?” Memory realized that she hadn’t even known Avall was a monarchy. Then again, she only knew the name of the place because Eloryn told her.
    “It meant nothing.” Eloryn kept her eyes averted.
    “It didn’t look like nothing.” The way Roen had grabbed Eloryn, moving her against her will, left Memory with a strange, ill feeling inside. She discarded it, filed away with all her other confusing emotions, and tried to judge Roen anew. She hated how handsome she found him, how she just wanted to touch that soft caramel hair, and how when he smiled, she couldn’t help but like him. It made it hard to say no to him, and left her wondering if she’d made the choice to go with him for the right reasons. Why was everyone she’d met so far so damn pretty! Amnesia or not, Memory knew pretty people lied too. Everyone lies, her heart told her.
    Wow, learned something new about myself. Turns out I’m a cynic. Surprise. She looked at Roen walking ahead of them. Not very tall, lightly built; Memory kept telling herself the two of them could overpower him if they needed to, but the way he moved revealed a casual, confident strength that made her worry.
    “Really, I just felt faint, from exhaustion. That was all.” Eloryn blushed so earnestly Memory had to suppress a giggle.
    “I heard what he said, Lory. He said Princess. And with the kneeling and all.”
    Eloryn’s eyes shifted as though looking for a way out of a trap.
    Memory sighed. “Look, I’m working with nothing here, know nothing except what you tell me. Why the hell would you leave out a detail like being a princess? Seriously, if it’s for reals it’s kind of cool, right?”
    “We’re nearly there,” Roen called back to them before Eloryn could give an answer.
    So intent on needling Eloryn, Memory hadn’t noticed the rich orange cast of light falling into the tunnel up ahead. They were at the tunnel’s end, and it opened out onto an untended set of terraced fields. The sun had just begun to brush the sky with color as it fell toward night, and lit the dried crops to a burnished copper.
    Eloryn and Memory caught up to him where he waited at the exit, haloed by the golden light. He pointed through the rambling reeds to a small rundown cottage.
    “That’s where we are going.” He gave a small cough and Memory thought he almost seemed embarrassed.
    “My parents and I live out of town because, in a way, we are also running from something.” He began walking forward again, but slowly this time, not letting them hang behind. He directed them straight through the web of unharvested corn stalks and twisting weeds, bending them out of the way. Dry stalks crunched satisfyingly under their feet, releasing wafts of musty mud fragrance.
    “My parents, you see, are Grand Duke Brannon and Grand Duchess Isabeth Faerbaird. You may have heard of them?”
    Despite Eloryn’s studied indifference, her voice held an edge of suspicion. “I have. But if you were their son, you would be a prince, then?”
    Memory swallowed her gum, coughing. “What, seriously?”