Zoe

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My mind was blank as I looked at Scarlet. I had no idea why she was back or what she wanted, but I knew it couldn't be anything good.

"Why are you not wearing your usual depressing clothes? Willing to kill whatever now?" she asked, but then looked down at the ground and I saw as realization hit her. She opened her mouth to say something, but my mind had finally started to work again and I beat her to it.

"Where is the Priestess?"

Scarlet sneered. "You don't have to worry about her. Not just yet anyway."

"Why are you back here?" I asked next, and she opened her mouth to talk, but at the same time the door to the house opened and Felix ran out of it. He looked at me with fear and I knew he must have felt mine through the bond.

"Zoe, what..." he started, but then he saw Scarlet and he halted. Anger appeared on his face.

"Oh, so you brought the mate with you," Scarlet chuckled. "Well, now, that's just perfect. You see, I've always believed in an eye for an eye."

"No!" I yelled and ran to stand between them as Scarlet started to chant. But that didn't matter. Partly because me physically being between them wouldn't stop the spell. But also because Scarlet's eyes widened when she had finished and Felix still stood unharmed.

"It's not that easy to hurt a witch hunter's son," Felix said calmly to Scarlet and then walked forward to stand next to me.

I saw how Scarlet's eyes landed on the amulet, and her eyes narrowed. But a light also seemed to shine there. I knew what she would do, what she had realized. Though witchcraft couldn't hurt him, weapons still could.

Without really thinking, without actually caring if it would work or what I maybe would discover, I plunged forward. The only thought in my mind in that moment was that I needed to ensure that Scarlet didn't hurt Felix.

My hand connected with the skin on her arm. I saw her eyes widen in terror as I jumped into her life energy.

In difference from both Alex and Harry, Scarlet's physical life energy was perfect. It didn't come as a surprise for me. Being a witch, she had likely always healed any injury through magic. So as soon as I was connected, I instead went one level deeper to see what her labyrinth of memory threads would look like.

It was vastly different than both Alex's and Harry's had been. Though if I had to pick one, it looked more like Alex's.

There were all different types of colors weaving in and out of each other. But some shone brightly, while others almost seemed to be disappearing. It wasn't the same as the gray threads. Those had still looked strong. It really was more like some were disappearing, fading away, as if she was forgetting the memories.

It made sense that some memories would be weaker and eventually disappear. We didn't remember everything we had ever been through after all. But it seemed to be unproportionally much, and it made me wonder if Scarlet was actively trying to forget about certain things.

What though?

At that moment, I had forgotten why I had even dived into her to start with. Curiosity had taken over. And without a second thought, I randomly picked one of the dimmed memories to have a look.

I saw myself as a little girl, not more than five years old. I sat in the coven's library looking at complex pictures over a spell. Scarlet came up and sat down opposite of me. She was older than me and already a grownup.

"Why are you looking at that?" she asked me.

I had been too absorbed in the book to notice her, so when she spoke I was briefly startled. But then pouted.

"Because I want to learn and be the best!" I answered her.

She laughed. It wasn't the cold type of laugh that I had gotten used to hearing over the years, but one filled with warmth.

"Aren't you too young to worry about that? You should be outside playing instead," she told me, and I looked down at the book again.

"No one wants to play with me," I mumbled.

"I want to. Now come on."

She stood up and held out a hand to me. A hand that wore a glove. I watched myself hesitate before I took her hand.

It was when I had met Scarlet for the first time, or at least the first time we had spoken. I held that memory dear still after all those years, even though my relationship with Scarlet was far from what it had been then. But Scarlet... She was forgetting about it.

I felt hurt at the thought. Had our friendship really meant so little to her that she was fine with forgetting all about it?

I reasoned with myself for a little, deciding that it might just be a coincidence that she was forgetting it. That it didn't actually mean anything. I knew I would know though as I watched more. So I went into the next one.

It was a winter day and Scarlet walked in the snow towards something green. When she reached it, she bent down and lifted me up from the snow and into her arms.

"How can they just leave her like this?" she mumbled to herself as she carried me away.

Even though I was unconscious in the memory and as such didn't have any memories of my own of the event, I knew what must have happened. I looked to have been about ten years old, about the time when I had started practicing witchcraft. I had likely pushed myself to my limit and beyond and collapsed in the snow. And everyone else had just left me there.

I went through several other memories, and one thing was clear. The memories she was forgetting about was all related to me. There was a lot that I remembered myself. Us having fun together, Scarlet telling people off for teasing me, and me confiding in her about how awful the killings made me feel. But also several I hadn't been present for, but all of them were Scarlet defending me in different ways. Including trying to talk the Priestess out of using me.

As I watched it all, I realized how much Scarlet had been doing for me without my knowledge. But that realization was overshadowed by my hurt and anger. It seemed to me Scarlet did her best to forget our whole friendship.

I wanted to yell and scream at her. Hurt her as much as I was hurting. She had been my only friend. I had always cherished our friendship, even though it didn't exist anymore. But she... She seemed willing to just throw it away, and for what? What had I ever done for her to want to do that?

Anger seethed in me and I had a morbid curiosity to know the vastness of the betrayal I felt. I wanted to see all those memories that she didn't care about, so I knew exactly how angry I should be with her.

Recklessly, I threw myself into the next memory.

Scarlet was in a furniture store. She stood by a couch and read on a label attached to it. I tried to remember anything about the store to know how I fit in, but couldn't. It looked like a completely ordinary furniture store and definitely not a place I would have set my feet in unless forced. I also had a hard time seeing any of the other witches in the coven being there. Most, I was sure, would magically make furniture when needed.

"Honey, please don't jump on the bed," a male voice rang out in the store and Scarlet turned towards it and I turned with her.

As I saw the man with his daughter, I knew how it related to me. But it wasn't until the man looked in Scarlet's direction and I heard her whisper at my side that I realized how much it all related to me and my friendship to Scarlet.

"Mate," she whispered.