All I could do was wait and hope that the talisman would grant me my wish. I didn't think about the consequences of every single one I made, and this was the only one that I truly didn't care how it happened.
I was pretty sure Butterfly was ripping us off on the price of the Ginkgo memory pills, but it wasn't like I had much of a choice. She was acting very weird since she learned I had lost a little faith in myself and the talisman, but I hadn't sunk low enough to give it away like she thought I might. There were still plenty of mistakes I had to fix.
"Well, thank you for your help. I really hope these help our little situation, and I'll see you on Saturday," I said as Dominic and I headed out the door to go back to Tillamook. The little bell rang on our way out, and I wasn't looking forward to hearing it every ten seconds over the weekend and stressing that it could be my mother coming into the store.
"Remember, good vibes can cure all ailments," Butterfly said.
"What the hell does that mean?" Dominic mumbled, mostly to himself, as we walked to the car.
I shook my head. "Just ignore her. You always hated when she said weird stuff like that."
Dominic seemed to accept that and moved on. "So what are we going to do with these stupid supplements that won't do anything to help me?"
"I don't know. Do we know any old people who might want them?"
"What, like Dr. Reed?"
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket with a small laugh. "She's not old. The smoking just doesn't do her skin any favors."
Just as we spoke of her, an email from my school account came across my phone screen from Dr. Reed. Almost like the talisman (or Big Tech) planned it to happen that way.
Class,
I'm canceling class for the next week. I don't feel like teaching, and only a third of you show up to class anyway, so what's the point? Just take the online quiz I set up by next Sunday at 11:59. Or don't. Failing students always makes me smile.
Cora
I blinked a couple times. What the hell was that, Dr. Reed?
"I'd ask if you're okay since you look a little confused or angry or something like that, but I don't really care about the answer," Dominic said.
"Oh, shut up. You do care, and Dr. Reed must have started a new stage of grief or something. It really seems like she's depressed as hell," I said.
"Grief?"
"Remember? Her nephew died, and he was the reason she gave up fieldwork for teaching."
He shook his head. Right. He didn't remember.
"Maybe we should stop by and bring her something to make her feel better," I said.
"I don't think that's how that works."
"It's the thought that counts, and I really don't know what else we can do to help. It's not like I can just wish the kid back to life." I paused. Maybe I could.
No, Lindsay, and even if I could, I would probably screw it up badly. I had certainly done enough damage in the last week.
***
With a rotisserie chicken, a dozen bakery cupcakes, and a bottle of Ginkgo scam memory pills that now seemed like a really bad gift idea, Dominic and I arrived at Dr. Reed's house.
I didn't know much about grief or death or anything like that (and it seemed like a very good reason not to let anyone get too close to me in the future), but it was a reminder that Dr. Reed did have a soul under the cold walls she had built up over the years.
Maybe there was hope for me, too. I doubted it, though.
"Lindsay," he said suddenly and grabbed onto my wrist as we climbed up the few steps to Dr. Reed's front porch. His breathing sped up, and my heart sank into my stomach.
"What's going on?" I asked. "Do you need your inhaler?"
"It's back. I remember everything."
Everything? How would he know if he was remembering everything? But as a few tears blurred my vision and my nose started to run, I felt a similar sensation all the way down in my bones. Of course, I remembered everything that had happened, but for once, I had made something better instead of worse.
Everything. And it was all going to be fine.
"I knew I could fix it," I said to myself as a tiny sob snuck out as well. But I didn't even care that he was about to see me cry. The relief was far better than anything I could have hoped for.
"Oh, don't get too happy. I have a lot of questions, and I know that you have an answer for maybe one, will lie about not having an answer for another, and probably genuinely don't know what the hell the answers are to the rest."
Way to ruin the moment, Dominic. I bit my cheek. "What answer do I know?"
"You did that to make sure Jack's bandmates wouldn't remember the talisman, but you screwed it all up. Right?"
I nodded. "Yep."
"And why the hell would you hold my hand like that? Did you feel sorry for me, or did you mean it?"
I hesitated. "Is that the question you think I'm gonna lie about?"
He nodded. "I don't get it. I completely understand why you would like me, but it doesn't make sense that I would—"
I cut him off. "What are you even talking about? You were mean to me for weeks, and I was cute and fun about it for the most part. The real question is why would I like you?"
"Because you literally told me you do, and I'm smarter than you."
I crossed my arms. "You're not smarter than me. You're just more focused and better at school."
Before Dominic could admit that I was very right (and therefore smarter than him), the lock on the front door clicked. I had forgotten we were standing on Dr. Reed's porch in the moment. Whoops.
"What the hell are you two doing here? It's rude to argue on someone's front porch," she said.
"It's rude to try to trigger someone's asthma with cigarette smoke," Dominic said.
I rolled my eyes. That was a long time ago. "We saw that you were canceling class for the next week, so we wanted to check in on you and bring you a few things."
"And in this case, we means Lindsay," Dominic said.
That was another point for me. I was slightly nicer than him, which was definitely an attractive trait.
Dr. Reed let out a long breath as she took the chicken. "Well, I appreciate it. But I'm really not teaching this week. Every other student besides you in that class is a dumb piece of shit."
I grimaced. "That's a little harsh, don't you think?"
She shook her head. "Not at all. Come on in."
Well, I thought it was a little harsh. I was only doing better than everyone else in the class because Dr. Reed and I had our little deal worked out.
As we stepped inside, I remembered the little stone family that she found on one of her excavations in Titris Hoyuk. If I wasn't mistaken, she had named them after the Turkish word for rock: kaya.
It had been a while since I paid them a visit, so I stopped by their glass display case to say hi.
"So did Lindsay tell you what she did to start the argument we were so rudely having on your front porch?" Dominic said to Dr. Reed.
"No, and I'm already on her side, so don't tell me unless it's going to support a hypothesis I have," she said.
"What hypothesis?"
"I still think there's some destiny shit going on here, and I think fate's got you two together for a while," she said and took one of the cupcakes out of the box after she set it on the coffee table in her living room. She scraped the blue frosting off and right into the trash before taking a bite.
"Then yeah, I'll just not tell you," Dominic said.
Smart. I wasn't in the mood for that conversation either.
Dr. Reed let out a small chuckle. "Well, I've got my own research to support it, so I'll let it slide."
"You have what?" I asked.
"I told you, Lindsay, research and excavating is a hell of a lot more fun than teaching a bunch of dumbasses and grading their shitty papers," she said.
What was I expecting from her? All I knew was that it was not that.
"Since Lindsay's not very good at keeping her family problems to herself, why don't you tell me about yourself, Dominic?" she asked.
Oh, wonderful. A presentation of her research.
"I don't like how you phrased that, so I will not," Dominic said.
"Your father certainly has an interest in your family history, doesn't he?"
Dominic hesitated before he spoke. "Well, I'm not him, so don't start asking me questions. I never cared about what kind of shit he put on the Ancestry family tree website."
"I'm not talking about Tiffany or your mother. I just meant that your father's family has been in Oregon since the Oregon Trail, and they were in Massachusetts before that," Dr. Reed continued.
"Okay, Tiffany is not family. She's a homewrecking whore."
I looked over to Dominic. "Who's Tiffany?"
Dominic ignored me and kept his attention on Dr. Reed. "So you just wanted to dig up some dirt on me? Is that your new anthropological excavation project?"
Well, Tiffany, I will find out about you soon enough, but so far, you don't seem very nice.
Dr. Reed shook her head. "It was about the talisman. Think about it, Dominic. It's the Oregon Trail we're talking about here. If you're making one of the most dangerous treks across the country to start a new life, what are you taking with you?"
"Dysentery?" I guessed.
"Jesus Christ," Dr. Reed muttered under her breath, but I heard it loud and clear.
I smiled. At least I thought I was funny.
"I don't know, I would probably bring a gun," Dominic said.
If I was on the Oregon Trail, I probably would bring one too, but why was that always his first thought?
"You're thinking the exact same way I am. Talismans are for protection too, but just a different kind," she said.
"Okay, so that's a hypothesis about how it could have gotten here, and I think we all know that it wants me to be around it because of the whole stalking but definitely not stalking thing, but that doesn't answer why Lindsay of all people found it," Dominic said.
"Destiny," she said. "Lindsay's a part of your life now, and she's going to be for a while if my thoughts are correct."
"So you don't know, and you're trying to make something out of nothing," Dominic said.
"Nothing?" I asked. "You're really telling me I stressed myself out and brought your memory back for nothing?"
"That's not what I—" He hesitated. "Not nothing. I'm obviously just upset at the situation—" He hesitated again. "We're leaving, Lindsay."
I crossed my arms. "Oh, we are? Who died and left you in charge of me?"
But Dr. Reed smiled to herself as if her depression was cured. "Are you two telling me you can't see the fate happening right here?"
Well, we definitely could, but we were doing a great job at bickering and ignoring the truth of it now that Dominic's memory was back.
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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for reading!
So now that we're beginning to get closer to the end of the book (I have a tentative plan to get us there now), I'm beginning to think about how I want to fix some of the problems in this book, and there's just so much that needs to be cut. The second talisman is definitely a goner, so you can just forget about it at this point. It's not real anymore. And there's so much recap, like we all just forgot what the fuck has happened up until this point. I need to do better and keep this train on its track. Jeepers.
So if you would be so kind to help me out a little bit: what has worked for you in this book? What hasn't?