The Lost Girl... (Faith, Hope and Tranquillity #1)

CHAPTER 18

Lily’s POV

I was holding onto Silvers back as we rode back to the apartment. I was in deep thought, and I knew Silver was trying his hardest to not say anything as every time I sighed, he tensed up.

If I accept that I am a lost elf princess and something happened to me, to cause me to lose my memories then the only memory I could recall would be when me and Celeb were playing hide and seek. That seemed like my last memory of my old life. I was trying my hardest to remember how the dream went. I remembered running through the woods and I was happy, but then I became scared because everything went quiet and then I only remember black smoke…

The black smoke! There was black smoke in my bathroom a week ago when I had a dream and I’m sure, definitely sure there was black smoke when I disappeared. Could wherever the black smoke be coming from be the person who’s trying to block my memories?

I still didn’t understand why anyone would want to block my memories, I mean sure if Dae was jealous of Celeb I get he would want to try and win me over but the book makes more sense, him trying to turn people against me, not try to hurt me and block off my life. I’d always thought when I loved someone I would do anything in my power to protect them, so surely if he loved me, he wouldn’t want me to lose my family, only Celeb… I realised I was biting my lip and it had started to bleed.

I got off the bike as we pulled up into the parking area under our building and took of my helmet, shaking my hair loose from the helmet. I was just about to pass the helmet back to Silver when I felt a finger slide just under my lip. I looked up into Silvers eyes but he was smiling sadly.

“You always used to bite your lip when you were thinking… Are you ok?” He asked. I simply nodded in answer.

We arrived back at the apartment and I walked to my sisters… wow that’s weird… my sisters, my family… It made me smile thinking of them that way, even if I still wasn’t sure of Silvers intentions. I smiled as Silver opened the door.

“Sere, what did you do to your lip?” Hope/ Estel asked loudly, even though she was glaring at Silver. I noticed and immediately stopped her thinking.

“I’m sorry! I bite my lip when I’m thinking or nervous…” Estel still continued to glare at Silver who just shrugged.

“I didn’t do anything, get off your high horse Estel!” This caused me to laugh, thinking back about our vision. Silver smiled at me with a lop-sided grin, not a full smile but a knowing one. I blushed and tried to make my way to the bathroom to wipe it over, but Estel grabbed my lip and mumbled a few words. The next minute I felt a sharp sting then the blood stopped flowing. I felt my lip to find it was fully healed.

“T… Thank you! That was… amazing!” I was completely in shock.

“You’re welcome” She said happily smiling from ear to ear at me before grabbing me into a massive bear hug. “I’ve missed you Sere. Now let’s talk about starting training with you.”

Before I knew it, it was 6pm and I remembered I had agreed to meet David. I didn’t mention this to everyone but told them I needed to get home. I said my goodbyes to everyone promising to join them the next morning to begin learning about my powers. I walked slowly to my room, wondering what to do next. I needed to get to the bottom of the black smoke, I didn’t know how but I knew that was the root of the problem. But how would I start?

I didn’t want to bring anyone into this, if Silver was really Celeb, he wouldn’t hesitate to help me but David had planted the seed in my head that he might not be who he says. He could be Dae or even someone else and on the other hand if David was really Celeb, he would help too but again, I wasn’t so sure he was. Something felt off about David, but I didn’t think he was evil… even if he was behind all of this.

If the visions were correct in either of the circumstances it made the other one Dae, that’s how they knew so much about me. The dreams were only switching those two around. So I couldn’t chance letting either of them know the other knew anything about what was happening. I sat on the sofa in my apartment and started to put my hair into a high ponytail when I heard a knock at the door.

“It’s open!” I shouted knowing it would be David.

“You really shouldn’t be so trusting Lil!” He said as he closed the door behind him. He had a bouquet of flowers in his hands which made me frown a little when I saw what I thought they were.

“I don’t know anyone else who would visit me at home!” I smiled at his remark. “Awww, are those for me?” I smiled. I went to grab a vase, blushing as he handed them to me. They were purple lilies. I looked at them, a slight frown again, as my head split in pain. My left eye stinging the worst it had in a while. I tried not to grab my head and smiled but the pain was showing through my gritted teeth.

“Are you ok? Don’t you like them? I thought you loved lilies?” He frowned, looking at me.

“No! I do love lilies they’re my favourite. My heads just hurting again… The flowers are beautiful.” I said looking at him cautiously.

“Oh…” He looked a little panicked but I wasn’t sure if that was because he could tell I was cautious of the lilies or if he was worried about me.

“Its fine, it might help trigger a memory, I’ve noticed the headaches are usually followed by a vision…” I trailed off. He just nodded and reached for a vase for me. I put them into the water as my head continued to throb. This pain was different to the pains I had around Silver. Could this be what it felt like when a memory was being supressed? Or the opposite? When a true memory was trying to push through. I shook my head and turned to smile at David.

“Drink?” I asked putting the flowers on my kitchen windowsill.

“Yes!” He said, plonking himself on the sofa, a lot more relaxed now. “OH!” David shouted as I was pouring drinks. “I had a thought! I think we should get away from here for a few days. You have time off and I haven’t had a holiday in years. Jason can run the company for a few days… What do you think?” I had to stop myself from pouring juice all over myself as I looked at him in shock.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“Well, I was just thinking about getting you away from anything that could hurt you. I was thinking how we could regain your memories with protection. Your migraines got worse when you met your new friends…” He looked down glaring at his hands. “And if something is trying to stop you remembering your past then being further away from them, or indeed anything, might help right?” I understood his logic, but I had started with the headaches at least a week before I met Silver and the rest. When I hesitated, David stood up and walked over to me grabbing my hands.

“I just don’t want anything getting in our way while we try and sort this mess out. I want you to remember everything and me and then we can start our new life together here, or…” He hesitated but only for a second. “Or back home if you want to…”

“I understand but going away together is a big step…” I hesitated. I thought about it, I mean I cared about this man. He had been with me through thick and thin and despite lying about his past… oh yeah! My mind reminded me what I had been meaning to ask. “Can we discuss this at the weekend?” I said holding my head. “Let’s just talk about us for now.” He looked a little upset but seemed pleased I hadn’t outright rejected him.

“OK Sweetness” He patted the sofa at the side of him and I walked over with our juice before I sat down, legs crossed on the sofa.

“Can I ask a question David?” I asked looking into his eyes.

“Sure Lil! Anything!” He said, his eyes sparkled as his happiness shined through.

“Well… if you knew who I was and everything, why did you lie about your childhood? Was it to get me to trust you?” He furrowed his brows.

“Yes…” I sucked in my breath in shock “And no…” Ok that confused me.

“Huh?” I asked stupidly, a very confused look on my face.

“Yes, I lied, but it wasn’t to get you to trust me. When I first came to this world, I needed a back story to fit in with people if I had a chance of finding you. I thought about the best way to find you and did a LOT of research. I found out about networking and set up the company in the hopes that one day I would speak to someone who knew you or hear something. So, I didn’t completely lie. I was young when I set up the company by myself and I needed a story where I didn’t have parents etc as they’re back at home…” He looked down nervously. When I thought about it, it made sense I guess. “I’m sorry I lied, but when you turned up for the interview at my company, I wasn’t even sure it was definitely you.” This made me look at him confused. I mean I had seen the memory of how me and Celeb met… the gold thread and song, surely, he would have recognised me straight away? “I needed to be sure and then when I knew it was you, I didn’t want to ruin the life you had worked very hard at. I figured I would bring it up eventually, but I wanted to find out how you ended up here first. I still don’t know fully…” He trailed off; he was nervously scratching his arms.

“Ok…” I answered, not really knowing where to go with this information. I mean, sure, I get him trying to keep me safe but surely one day I’d wonder why I wasn’t ageing the same as other humans or I’d accidentally use my powers. There were a lot of loopholes even if it was true. I got up to get some snacks.

“I’m hungry, want anything?” I said, nonchalantly. I was annoyed, confused, angry and tired. If he truly was looking out for me then why not just tell me? The same anger and confusion were the same for Silver. Yes, sure, he had shown me a vision of when we met, but I’d already learnt about that. He still wouldn’t actually tell me anything about the past.

“Are you angry?” He answered my question.

“Honestly?” I asked looking back at him from the cupboard. He nodded. “I’m not angry, more annoyed” I sighed heavily “And just extremely confused. I mean if you were protecting me surely the best thing to do would be let me learn how to use my powers, and surely our song and thread would have shown you it was me, regardless I thought we could fix this together.” He looked shocked, he almost spilled his drink.

“You know about the thread?” Have you seen it?” He asked looking down to his chest. This caught me off guard… I hadn’t… only with Silver… And I couldn’t tell him Silver told me about it.

“Yeah, I read about it online, some old myths and legends after I dreamt about how …” I bit my lip “…how we first met.” He looked shocked. “But no, I haven’t seen it yet, I just recognised the song you sang.” He nodded and looked deep in thought.

Suddenly we were interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

“I thought nobody visited you at home?” David said, his eyebrows raised. I panicked knowing it was probably Estel or Voronwe or maybe even one of the guys.

“They don’t, I don’t know who it could be.” I went to the door and looked through the peep hole. I saw it was Silver and groaned. This wasn’t going to be awkward at all. I opened the door smiling an extremely strained smile. “Hey Silver, did you stop by for those files from work?” I asked, glaring, hoping he would get the message but still talking through my gritted teeth smile.

“Erm… sure…” He answered with a brow raised in question.

“Bad news, I forgot them when I ran out yesterday. Can I get David to email them you over tomorrow? You’ll do that won’t you David.” Suddenly I saw Silvers eyes change and I knew his pupils were constricting meaning he was losing his cool. He stared at me, and I tried my hardest to talk to him through my mind like he said I’d done previously but I couldn’t. Suddenly my eye burned in pain again. Both Silver and David lunged towards me.

“Lil are you ok?” David said worriedly, heading towards us faster. I was trying my hardest not to sink to the ground.

“Are you ok?” Silver said grabbing my shoulders, not caring about David and only looking at me. I looked up at Silver who suddenly let go of me drawing in a sharp breath. I looked at him confused. “You are fine!” But I knew I wasn’t from his tone of voice; he was extremely worried. He looked inside the apartment at David, glaring, then seemed to notice something bothering him inside the apartment which caused him to widen his eyes in fear.

“Silver, I will deal with Lily from here. She needs to rest. I will send the files you want over tomorrow, just email me which ones it was.” Silver just continued to glare at David but didn’t say a word. Was he jealous? David steered me towards the sofa and I turned my head to Silver and mouthed. Text you later. He didn’t acknowledge me but shut the door and left, his face still particularly angry. I shook my head trying to get rid of the headache which had gotten worse.

“I’m sorry David, all of our dates seem to get cut short by my stupid migraines.” He was smiling like a Cheshire cat when I looked at him in apology. Even though my head was pounding I managed to look at him with a “What the heck?” face.

“You think these are dates?” He asked happily.

“Oh…” I said, suddenly feeling stupid. “They aren’t?”

“No, they are, I’m just happy you think so! Get some rest. I’ll come by tomorrow evening to check on you and so we can discuss the trip.” I rolled my eyes without him seeing as he pecked me on the forehead and waved, leaving for the evening.

My head was absolutely pounding but I ran for my phone which I had left on the kitchen counters and dialled Silver’s number.