"You know, I do have other customers to attend to"

Leah looked around at the empty street, "doesn't seem like it"

The guy sighed, "Is this your first time here? what part of 'illegal dealing' don't you understand?"

Leah bit her lip, "I know what I want, I just don't know what that is"

His lips quirked, "Do you have a degree in communication by any chance?"

"No, why?"

"Never mind" the guy swung the door open, "just get in before you attract any unwanted attention"

Leah stepped in, her muddy boots leaving marks on the carpet. Not that she noticed, of course, she was too busy staring at the brightly coloured glass bottles that lined almost every inch of the room.

The guy, Shane, she thought he said his name was, gestured to the tiny couch, "take a seat and let's figure out what you need"

She did as he said, settling down carefully. He sat on the floor in front of her, studying her, "start from the beginning"

"I have a mission" she began, "but I don't know what it is"

"That sounds incredibly counterproductive"

She winced, "I don't know what happened, one minute I was driving my car to the grocery store and then next thing I remember is standing in front of your house"

He looked annoyed, "I don't live in this dump, I live in another dump about three miles away"

"I know I'm supposed to be here, but I can't remember for what"

"Okay does your head hurt, do you feel nauseous and are your ears ringing?"

"Yes" she said, "do you think I might have hit my head somewhere?"

He looked at her like she was crazy, "of course not, obviously someone hit you with a memory spell"

"A what?"

"A memory spell? Wipes out your memory?" he said it slowly like he was talking to a child which would have normally pissed her off but today she couldn't find it in herself to care.

"How did I end up here then?"

He shrugged, "memory spells can't erase instincts, you've probably been doing this for some time"

"Well then, do you recognise me?"

He cocked an eyebrow, "don't you think I would have led with that?"

"Right" she knew she was asking stupid questions but her head was pounding and she was confused and a bit freaked out and it was understandable that her brain wasn't working at full capacity.

She glanced around the room, "can any of these potions fix me?"

"Do you have any cash?"

"Uh" she emptied her pockets, "no"

He shrugged, "it's okay, we don't have a memory spell antidote anyway but now we do know one thing about you"

"What's that?"

"You are either a very irresponsible person or the thing you're here to buy doesn't require cash" he gave her a once over, "I'm going to go with the second option"

She leaned back against the sofa, "so what are we going to do now?"

"This isn't a 'we' problem, it's a 'you' problem"

She removed the watch from her wrist and handed it to him, "does this make it a 'we' problem?"

He took it and carefully examined it, "yeah okay, let's go"

"Where?"

He looked at her thoughtfully, "well you look a little peaked so you should probably take a quick nap while I search the recipe for the antidote then we can go get the ingredients, fix you and you can get out of my hair"

She settled into a sleeping position on the sofa, as uncomfortable as it was, "sounds like a plan"

**************

When she woke up, Leah didn't feel any less tired. Shane was sitting in his usual position on the floor with a sheet of paper in his hands. He looked up immediately, sensing her movement, "good, you're up, we don't have any time to waste"

She blinked, "why?"

"Well, if the antidote isn't administered within 36 hours, the spell becomes permanent" he said, cheerfully.

She bolted up right, "what?"

"Oh, don't worry, you'll be fine, three out of ten times the Seedflower comes up exactly on the day of the full moon"

She looked incredulous, "those are really bad chances"

"Guess we'll find out"

He was already out the door, and she ran to keep up with him. After twenty minutes of walking in the blistering sun, she found herself in a tulip field. Shane was wading carefully through the plants till he stopped gave a cry of triumph and held up a blue one.

She squinted at the flower, "am I going to have to eat that?"

He chuckled, "no, I need to mix it with the Seedflower petals and then you eat it"

She bit her lip, "you mean if we even manage to find it, what if it doesn't come up today?"

He handed her the flower to stuff in her bag, "I find that thinking positive thoughts make me relax, you should try it"

"You're not the one who doesn't know who you are"

"I mean, do we actually know who we are in general?"

Her lips quirked up in a smile, "is this your way of cheering me up?"

Shane scoffed as he walked past her, "uh no, I don't really care about you"

She grinned as she followed him out of the field, the headache that had plagued her for the last two hours already easing.

*********************

Shane held up a finger to his lips, carefully stepping forward. Leah stayed where she was, resigning herself to the fact that he was the boss on this one.

He crouched down for a minute, peering through the long grass, then he stood up, "I can see it"

"Great" Leah stood up too, "let's go get it then"

He gave her an exasperated look, "this plant is very rare, okay? It's never just left unguarded, there's always something"

"Something?"

"Yeah, some kind of magical animal"

"Shouldn't you know what it is?"

"I've never actually prepared an antidote for a memory spell before" Shane said, glaring at her, "which means I've never had any use for the Seedflower before so excuse me if I don't have all the answers"

Leah held up her hands in a gesture of surrender, "okay fine"

He bit his lip, "I can't see any movement and if we wait any longer, there's a chance we might not get to the flower before it dies."

She shrugged, "so we go get it"

He sighed, "I guess there's no other option"

They both stood up and Leah gestured to the other side, "you go that way" she whispered, "if you see it, yell"

He made a face at her but did as she said. She took a step towards the right and mistakenly brushed against the rock they had been crouching behind. She heard the sound of metal cracking against rock and instinctively put her hand inside what she thought was going to be an empty pocket. To her surprise, she found the golden watch she thought she had given Shane as a form of payment. She was just trying to puzzle out whether her memory was playing tricks on her when she heard a yell. She shoved the watch back in and ran the rest of the way. She caught sight of Shane, his face pale. Right in front of him was a rock with a.... rat on it?

She couldn't help it, she doubled over, laughing.

Shane didn't move a muscle, "would you stop that? This thing can kill you with a touch"

"It's a rat"

"It's a Glatus"

"A what?"

"The most poisonous creature I have ever heard of, you make contact, you're dead"

"Oh" Leah stared at the tiny creature with newfound respect as it bared its fangs at her. Shane was carefully trying to sidestep the rock without attracting the attention of the Glatus who was now focused on Leah.

"Hey, little guy" she cooed, "what are you doing all the way out here?"

The Glatus didn't stand down like she thought it would. It simply continued glaring at her, like she had singlehandedly killed its entire family. Shane was almost at the other end of the rock when it turned. Leah didn't hesitate, she reached down to her boot and threw the knife she found there right at the creature, pinning its tail to a crack in the rock.

Shane swallowed, "how did you know how to do that?"

"I don't know"

He didn't say anything, he just turned towards the path leading to the Seedflower, not even sparing her a second look. she looked at the struggling Glatus one last time, before following him.

When she caught up with him, he was kneeling in front of what was possibly the most beautiful flower she had ever seen. It was light pink, the petals lined with tiny seeds that sparkled in the dark. She stared at it, mesmerised as Shane carefully began plucking off the petals one by one. He put them into a tiny pouch strapped to his waist, "the last ingredient is the water from the river, then we're done"

He gave her a slight smile, "you'll know who you are soon"

She chuckled, "I hope it's someone worth knowing"

"I think it is"

When they reached the river, the sun had set completely and the moon was already out, bathing the water with a soft glow. It was beautiful and Leah realised she was already feeling a lot better. What she didn't know was whether it was because she was going to get her memory back or because she was finally starting to enjoy this little quest. Too bad it was almost over. Shane had already poured some river water into the potion vial that contained the rest of the ingredients. He shook it and handed it over to her, "good luck"

She took it from him, warmth flooding through her as their fingers brushed. She had just uncorked the vial when she sensed movement behind her. She whipped around, the knife in her hand, extended towards the rustling bushes.

The man who stepped out looked annoyed, "this wasn't part of the plan"

Leah took a step back, pushing Shane behind her, "don't move an inch"

The man looked unfazed, "I paid you fifty gold coins for this, you were supposed to get the body to the river, you said you would kill him at the shop."

She could feel Shane tense, "what are you talking about?"

The stranger shrugged, "I guess it doesn't matter, you can just finish the job now"

Leah found that her grip on the knife was shaking, her head was pounding and chugging the potion was starting to seem like a very good idea. It would clear some of her confusion at least. That's when she met his eyes, the guy she was supposed to murder, the guy who had helped a confused stranger, the guy who had apparently done it all at no cost, the guy who was now staring at her with hurt, betrayal, and resignation in his eyes.

She turned back to the tall man, "you might not want to see this, it is most definitely going to get messy"

"That's why you were supposed to do it at the shop" he grumbled, averting his eyes.

"Kick me in the shin" she whispered behind her, "and run"

Shane looked confused, "what?"

"Kick me" she repeated, "and run"

There was a pause and then he gave her a half-hearted kick and took off. She fell for dramatic effect even though she barely felt anything. Shane looked back as she fell and hesitated. She glared at him and mouthed 'go' before yelling in pain.

The man who ordered the hit turned back towards the scene, managing to catch a glimpse of Shane disappearing among the trees "what are you doing? He's getting away"

She struggled to her feet, "what did he do? Why do you want him dead?"

He looked confused, "what do you mean? You're the one who wants him dead, I just want a body"

She shook her head, "what are you saying?"

"You said you'd been after this guy for years and if I paid you fifty gold coins, you'd let me have the body after you were done making him suffer for everything he'd done to your family"

Leah gasped, a sick feeling setting at the bottom of her stomach. She grabbed at the mud on the riverbank, finally finding what she was looking for. She held up the bottle, studying the dark liquid before chugging it down.