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Then I eased my phone from my pocket and texted home.
I didn’t have a curfew, and my parents didn’t expect me to check in with them for everything I did, but theyhadrequested that I at least give them the courtesy of a heads-up if I didn’t plan on making it home on any given night.
So I wrote them a quick message.
Not going to make it home tonight.
And I started to pocket the phone, only to remember that Parker had been sending me some kind of gift. So I wrote to him too.
Change of plans. I had to leave the party before your gift arrived, and I’m not going to make it to Archer House, either. Can you give everyone my apologies?
He responded almost immediately.
What the fuck?
When I heard footsteps approaching, I knew I didn’t have time to fill him in with all the details, so I merely wrote:
Tell you everything tomorrow.
And I re-pocketed my phone just as the girl entered the kitchen.
Setting a hand against her heart, she exhaled in relief and said, “Oh thank God. You didn’t leave me.”
“Still here,” I assured, waving hello. “Any luck remembering your name yet?”
Her shoulders slumped dismally. “No. It’s starting to drive me crazy too. I mean, why can’t I justremember?”
“Whatdoyou remember?” I wondered.
“Not much,” she reported, wrinkling her nose in depression. “I know I woke up outside on the beach in the dark. Then, there was this boy?—”
“What boy?” I asked, shaking my head over his second mention.
“Yeah.” Pointing at me, she said, “I thought that was weird too. He was just a little kid, standing along the shore all by himself. And when I called to him, he spun around in surprise, as ifIwere the strange part of everything. Then he told me he’d take me to his brother to get me some help, except when he took off, he ran so fast I couldn’t keep up with him. And suddenly—I don’t even know how—I was on the roof until, seconds later,youappeared, walking down the beach. It was all like something straight out ofAlice in Wonderland.”
“Yeah,” I murmured, furrowing my brow in confusion. “That’s weird.”
“You’re telling me,” she mumbled as she ran a hand through her hair. “It makes absolutely no sense at all.”
“How about we walk around the house,” I suggested. “Maybe something familiar will jog your memory.”
She made a face, clearly not thinking that plan would work, but then she shrugged. “I mean, I guess. I certainly don’t have any other ideas.”
“Okay.” Nodding, I started for the living room, hoping to spot some family pictures or something that she could recognize. But there weren’t a whole lot of personalized pieces in the front room either. It was probably her summer cottage that her family also rented out as an Airbnb or something.
But I tried anyway.
Motioning to an interesting lamp sitting on an end table next to the couch, I asked, “What about this? Anything?”
She lifted one eyebrow at me. “It’s a lamp.”
I deflated, then motioned toward the television on the wall. “What about movies or television shows? Do you have a favorite?”
“I’m sure I do,” she said and plopped down onto the couch to stretch out across the cushions, obviously done with walking around the house.
Crossing her bare feet at one end and draping an arm over her brow at the other, she groaned in delight before telling me, “I mean, I’ve been impatiently waiting for the final season ofStranger Thingsto drop since—ooh!”
Popping upright, she gaped at me before asking, “It’s still 2024, right? January?”
