Note to the reviewers and all the readers: since the story's MEANT to be twisted, every chapter will be pretty unpredictable. I've already said that, so sorry if you don't see what you wanted to see in Chapter 7.
Chapter 7. Strange Symptoms
Louise's POV
"Well, should we dig further through my memory and find my parents' phone numbers?" I asked, grinning widely. Nurse Sprat nodded and clicked some icon on the magicomputer screen. The screen grew red, and white letters appeared on it:
ERROR: NO INFORMATION FOUND
"What?" I cried, distressed.
"I… I feared it wouldn't happen…" Sprat whispered. "Either the magicomputer's mistaken or the Scarlet Hand rubbed the detailed memory away. Anyway, it's very bad."
Suddenly, I felt an unexpected heartache. It was like if my heart had stopped. I squeaked and my body became weak. I fell on the ground.
"The poison…" I breathed. "I think here it is…"
Nurse Sprat and Veronica forgot about the magicomputer and ran to me. Veronica found a jar of cold water on the table and filled a glass with it, then giving it to me. While I was drinking the water, Nurse Sprat checked my heartbeat.
"Hmmm… Odd," she said. "The heart is all right. It shouldn't have felt pain at all."
"It does, nevertheless…" I said.
Mr. Canis and Henry Grimm carried me to a couch in the other end of the tent.
"I think it's better for you to heal at first," Sabrina said. "Then we'd contact your parents. What if the sickness is magical?"
"It has something to do with the poison," I said to myself. "I'm quite certain."
Later
Nurse Sprat was reading different cardiology books to find out anything about my strange symptoms. Meanwhile, I wasn't getting better. My brain was overwhelmed with a flow of memory, but I couldn't understand anything: it was too blurry. My heart hurt, and it pained me to breathe. Every single healing magic potion available was given to me.
I heard some shouts from the other end of the fort.
"What's that?" I asked nervously.
"Oh, nothing. Sabrina and Puck are fighting as usual. Nothing for you to worry about," Nurse Sprat said.
The shouts continued.
"Hm, their fight seems to be especially furious today," the Nurse frowned, as if slighty confused.
Suddenly, after some time, Daphne rushed into the medical tent:
"Granny's here! We all thought she was murdered! But she's here! I don't know what to think! She's here! At the fort's door!"
"What?" we cried in unison. I already knew that the Master of the Hand took over Relda Grimm's body long ago, and I was sure that "Granny Relda" had been killed by Anthony's poison! Nurse Sprat seemed even more startled: she used to be a good friend of Relda's.
An old woman pushed past Daphne and went inside the tent. She looked exactly like the woman who turned out to be body of the Master.
"N-Nurse?.." she said with tears in her eyes. The voice wasn't one of a man - it was a soft voice of an elderly woman. "C-can you bel-lieve me at last?"
"Granny, if it's you, tell us how you stayed alive," Sabrina pleaded as she joined us. "Louisette - this girl on the couch - was ordered by one of the Hand traitors to bring the poison that would supposedly kill Mirror - and you. She had to barely taste the poison and look at her now! Her heart is aching badly. And it's amazing that you appeared to drink a glassful of it..."
"I didn't drink any poison," Relda said loudly. "The last thing I remember before being possessed is the Book of Everafter. Then - a long blackness, nothingness, vacuum... and I open my eyes and find myself perfectly alone in a forest, on the beach of the Golden Brook - you remember it, right?"
"General Seven told us about it once. It's two miles away from the Scarlet Fortress," Daphne nodded. The rest of the Grimm family heard the story and hurried to come to the entrance of the medical tent.
Suddenly, I recalled where I had found myself after the memory loss. A brook nearby... the forest... the Scarlet Fort two miles away...
"Oh!" I exclaimed. Everybody's attention turned to me.
"It's just the place where I was put somehow - where I woke up after the memory wipe!" I cried.
Jake Grimm took a map out of one of his countless pockets and examined it:
"There's the only brook two miles away from the Scarlet Fort," he announced. "The Golden Brook."
"The two events are surely connected!" Daphne cried. Relda dug her own pocket, took out a notebook and a pen, and wrote the fact down.
"You're my real mother!" Henry grinned happily. "You always have your notebook with you!"
In the evening
The Grimm family was finally reunited. After the greetings and a small family party, Relda and I helped Veronica with summarizing all this mysterious case. Veronica wrote in her journal:
Nearly twelve days ago. Louisette Susannah Edwards wakes up not far from the Golden Brook. She has a purse with a photo of hers and an anonymous warning letter. She has no memory of her life in her mind. She goes in a random direction and gets trapped and enslaved in the Scarlet Fort. Anthony and Gerald Oldshoe escort her to the Crimson Tower. Mirror is in Relda Grimm's body.
Today morning. Anthony reports of his Master's heart attack. All Everafter slaves are sent to use healing powers for Mirror. While everyone's gone, Anthony gives Louisette a bottle filled with liquid - supposedly a medicine. Louise brings the bottle to the main building of the Fort, and the guards force her to taste the liquid. The "medicine" is cold and bittersweet. An hour passes, and no symptoms appear. The medicine's taken to the Master. Louisette comes to Anthony, who tells her that it had been a strong poison. He leaves her alone, and some time later, the news of the Master's death start spreading. In all the mess, Sabrina Grimm rescues Louisette and brings her to Fort Charming.
Nurse Sprat helps Louisette to restore some memory, but, suddenly, Louisette starts to have a queer pain in her heart.
Today evening. Relda Grimm wakes up in the same place as Louisette did twelve days earlier. She's alone, all she has is her notebook and her pen (in the pockets). She quickly figures out her position and hurries to the fort.
"A very odd case," Veronica said, after writing it down. "What do we have here now? The same place... huh... obviously not a coincidence. What else do we have? Anthony gives Louise... Louisette the poison when they're all alone. He sends all the slaves and Gerald away! He doesn't want anybody to see it. But wait a minute - he's the one who first informed the people about Relda's heart attack. He told Louisette about the poison. And who started shouting about the Master's death, Louisette?"
"Call me Louise," I cringed. "I don't like long names... Well, I think, I'm almost sure it was Anthony who shouted first."
"He wanted to make everyone - and Louise in the first place - think that Mirror and I are both dead," Relda said. "And he must have done something that freed my mind."
"Well, I have dozens of questions for your version," Veronica shrugged.
"I have them myself. It's just a "beta" version, you know. Questions are the following. Why did Anthony do it? Why did he free me? How could he set me free in the forest, when I was alone? Why was everybody sure that Mirror was dying and died? Why did he send Louise to drink the poison? If he wanted to kill her, why didn't he do it simply - choke, stab, hit the girl? He had all the rights to do it."
"We have a lot of work!" Daphne said joyfully.
"We need to scan your memory, Relda," Mr. Canis offered. "This can help. It helped Louisette, after all."
"All right," Relda agreed.
