The Good Neighbor's Daughter

Chapter 19; Flip a Coin

       

The White Merchant's offer was strange to say the least. I didn't really know how taking a memory would work. Would he see my memory play through my head? Would I forget it ever happened? Would I live the rest of my life knowing that I had forgotten something but not sure what it was?

            None of that really mattered in the long run. I would have given up a thousand memories to see my mom right then and there. Now was when I needed her most and I was going to take the deal. It could have killed me for all I cared. I just wanted my mom.

            "I'll take that deal," I said, and amended myself. "Two memories. One from me, one from Spoons. You can take them both from me."

            I wasn't going to let Spoons get hurt in my family drama.

            "I'm afraid that's not how it works," the White Merchant explained.

            He was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. He looked so much like a little boy. His peacock colored curls stuck out in every direction. His appearance was a distraction. Big black eyes stared up at me.

            "If he's coming with you then he must pay his own fair," the boy said. "Those are the age old rules."

            "Then, change the rules," I demanded.

            "It doesn't work like that, Halfling."

            I huffed out a sigh and crossed my arms. Spoons tapped me on the shoulder then, and gave me a smile. I could see above his gums where the vampire teeth slid out. I didn't want to leave him behind, but I couldn't let him pay for my demands. I wanted my mom. He wanted an escape. He shouldn't have had to pay for me.

            "I'll pay," he said. The look in his eyes told me there was no disputing it. He would pay with a memory so that I could get what I wanted.

            "You shouldn't have to," I half-whispered.

            "But I will," he said.

            The White Merchant stood up at Spoons declaration and rubbed his hands together. He looked like a devious little prankster that way. His smile stretched out, revealing glaringly white shark teeth. That just reminded me of Crow more.

            She was dead. That panged in my heart, making me want my mom more. Everything that had happened today was making me go crazy. I'd be clinically insane by sundown. If I focused on one thing at a time, maybe I could make it out alive.

            "So shall we get to it?" the White Merchant said. "I have many other deals to make today."

            "Yeah," I said. "Let's do this."

            Somehow, the little boy was able to reach our heads. He seemed to float just above the ground as he reached up and touched my forehead with one hand and Spoons' with the other. Then, a darkness came behind my eyes. It didn't hurt, but I could feel him floating around in my brain. He bounced from one memory to another like a ping-pong ball. Once he settled on one I couldn't see it anymore.

            I searched my memory for the one he had latched onto, but I couldn't find it. My memory, whatever it was, had become invisible. I wanted to fight, but I couldn't move. I wanted to see what he was taking. What would I miss when it was gone?

            Suddenly, his hand came away from my forehead and then from Spoons'. He stood in front of us with a wide smile on his face like he had seen something interesting. I supposed I had just let a good neighbor poke around in my brain, but what would the fair folk do with me running around the woods and avoiding Harmony's population.