Back in the safety of her house, Eve sat on the edge of her bed. Once she had kicked off her boots, she collapsed onto her back, thoughts racing. There was so much to think about! She'd gone off into the Blackridge Woods in reckless pursuit of dangerous adventures and returned with knowledge of the fate of a long-lost friend.
So that was where Seth had been all this time. Eve couldn't help but feel bad for him. She would've hated being trapped down there. Living in the Under Realm must have been boring at best and horrifying at worst. It was definitely not good news to find out that he was stuck working under the Underking, but at least he wasn't dead.
And he still didn't have his memories from before.
It had been about six years since the last time Eve had seen him, which wasn't long after the first time she'd met him. That was quite a while to be missing memories, but also plenty long enough to form new ones. Still, the missing ones would've counted for maybe twice as many years as the time they'd been missing, if Eve was counting correctly. If only—
Her bedroom door flew open, and her older brother Garreth stood in the doorway. "Mom said it's time for dinner," he said in an intentionally obnoxious tone.
Eve gave him a dramatic eyeroll and an exaggerated sigh. "Fine," she grumbled, making no effort to stand up. She was not in the mood to go eat dinner with her family.
Garreth turned to leave but stopped. "Don't think I didn't notice you were gone off in the woods today," he said.
Eve shot into a sitting position. "What?" She then attempted to adopt a not-suspicious attitude, settling back down, though she was pretty sure it wouldn't help at this point. "You can't prove anything."
"Your boots are muddy," Garreth said, nodding at Eve's boots, which were indeed muddy.
Eve stared at the boots, not knowing what to say. He'd caught her. She settled on "Don't tell Mom!"
Her brother laughed. "Don't worry, I won't," he said. "If you do my next load of laundry for me."
"You're so mean," Eve groaned, sticking her tongue out at him. She pulled off a sock and threw it at him. He dodged it and left the doorway, and she could hear his laugh fade in the direction of the dining room. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and stared at her feet.
Sighing, she climbed to her feet. She felt a sense of dread at the thought of attending a meal with her mother, a strange and rather unpleasant feeling that she'd only recently started feeling. As always, the feeling came along with the same thought: I can't wait to get out of here. She wasn't sure where she'd been longing to go, but she supposed maybe anywhere else would do. She was eighteen, but in Fair Folk tradition, their royal family tended to stay together in the palace—at least, for quite a while longer.
Trying to think of something to stall for just a minute, Eve recalled the button Seth had given her, snugly hidden in her pocket. It would supposedly allow them to communicate telepathically. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out. The little brown button rested in her palm, looking no different than it had before Seth had done whatever he'd done to it. How was she supposed to get it to work? Did she have to do something? Just think at it? Hello? Can you hear me? She cringed a little bit.
Yeah, I can hear you, came Seth's voice in her head, and Eve jumped. He sounded like he was trying not to laugh. You just sorta think at it. As long as you're holding it, I can hear what you want me to.
Got it. I just wanted to check to make sure it worked.
Good idea.
It seems to be working fine. But I have to go now.
Oh. All right. Talk to you some other time, then.
Yeah. Talk to you later. Eve slipped the button back into her pocket. Time to suck it up and go to dinner, she supposed. She reminded herself that she was definitely exaggerating how bad it would be. Family dinner was a lot worse in her head beforehand than it ever really was at the actual meal. She took a quiet deep breath and set off for her next challenge.
The dining room was grand, a large room lit by golden light from lanterns in the corners. Red curtains covered the windows, and tapestries hung on the walls. The large wooden table could seat many more people than were in the royal family for diplomatic meetings and such. Today, there were no important guests or mysterious visitors, just Eve, her two older brothers, and their mother. The four of them sat near one end of the table, with the chair at the head open. That was where Eve's father sat when they ate dinner with him instead of their mom, or when there were important guests and they needed to appear as a functioning family.
Eve sat in her usual seat next to Garreth, directly across from her mother, who sat next to Eve's oldest brother. Everyone else had already started eating before she got there. Eve took some of the food, noting silently that this was not something she wanted to eat anyway. They ate in awkward silence, broken only by a couple attempts to start a conversation, which immediately fell flat. As soon as she finished eating, Eve excused herself, brought her plate to the kitchen, thanked the cooks, and then went back to her room.
She sat down on her bed again, feeling a strange, shaky sort of something. It had been a closely guarded secret within her family and a few of her parents' most trusted friends and advisors that Eve's parents had split up when she was younger. They couldn't let word get out for fear of public disapproval, but they had moved to opposite sides of the palace and took turns eating dinner with their kids on the days they both were home. It had been quite a while since it had happened, but it still impacted Eve's daily life. Today seemed to be one of the worse days, the ones where she thought about it often. At least she hadn't cried yet, she supposed.
Looking around at her familiar bedroom, Eve noted the way it was decorated just how she wanted it, her big and comfortable bed, the excess amount of clothes she had. The state of her room did not reflect the state of her life, which almost always but especially recently felt like it was falling apart. But she knew better than to take what she had for granted. Today's adventure kinda put that into perspective again. Seth probably didn't have half as comfortable a life as she did down there in the Under Realm.
Eve pulled the button out of her pocket again. How's it going down there?
Seth replied immediately. Same as ever. Kinda boring, but not bad. How about you?
I'm doing okay. Not much going on. Just finished eating dinner. A thought occurred. Did Seth get food in the Under Realm? Well, he must to survive. But she wondered what kind of food they could get down there. Did you eat already?
Yeah, maybe half an hour ago.
Good! What did you eat?
Oh, you know. Just some dead bugs and zombie brains, the usual.
Eve gagged a little but couldn't cover up a real laugh. That's gross, she told him.
Seth's laugh came through the coin just as clear as his voice did. Kidding, kidding, he said. I had a real meal. The garden you saw down here grows plenty of edible fruit, and sometimes we get stuff from outside, too. He didn't say anything for a few seconds, then though we do get a lot of dead bugs down here sometimes…
Eve laughed again. Please don't eat the bugs.
Whether I eat bugs or not is none of your business. I will if I want.
Then don't expect me to feel bad for you if you get a disease from it or something!
Wait, can you really get diseases from eating bugs? Ew. Maybe I won't then.
That's what I've been saying this whole time!
Okay, fine, you got me. I won't eat the bugs. No promises though.
With an exasperated sigh, Eve told him, That's good enough, I guess. A partial yes is better than a complete no. She thought for a moment. I'm glad I found you again, she said hesitantly, not sure how he would react to the reminder that she'd known him before. She'd been surprised at the fact that he hadn't seemed to want anything to do with his old life.
Seth was quiet for a moment, then yeah, me too. There was another slight pause. Uh…if you wouldn't mind, maybe don't mention it to anybody else please?
I won't, Eve said, wondering if she was making a mistake by that. Besides, I'd have to tell somebody I went to the Under Realm for that. I wasn't supposed to be there, and now I wonder if anyone would even believe me if I said I went there and survived.
Okay, that's true, Seth said. But thanks anyway.
You're welcome. And… I won't tell them, but I think you should know that you had—you have—people who care about you and don't know what happened. Maybe eventually you can let them know. Hopefully he wouldn't get mad about that. Be careful and stay safe.
After another longer silence, Seth said, yeah, yeah. I see you trying to tell me what to do. "Be careful." Like I'm gonna do that! And now I'm not anymore cause you told me to. Thanks.
A slightly nervous laugh escaped. Seth hadn't acknowledged Eve's statement about his family, but at least he hadn't responded negatively. All right then. Go get into a dangerous mess if you want. Talk to you later?
Yeah, sounds good.
Eve pondered a good place to put the button, eventually deciding on the back of a drawer in her nightstand. Her family wasn't the type to go through her stuff, so she wasn't really worried about anyone finding it, but a little hiding place was a good idea, she thought. Better to be safe than sorry.
As she shut the door, thoughts rushed through her head. Her adventure today had led to good and bad—she'd found Seth, but he still didn't have his memories. And he didn't seem to want them back either. She didn't know what to say to help him figure it out, but she did know one thing she could do: help him get his memories back anyway. She didn't know how that would work, but she would figure it out.
And just like a light switch had flipped in her mind, a plan started to form.
lately i've been thinking about
what's going to happen with you and i
i need a new religion
or i need a new lie
