“Stay,” I whisper. “I remember our father singing this.” He was putting me to bed, and he said he had a new bedtime song for me.
“Why doesn’t Cooper have to go to bed?” I hear nine-year-old me ask my father and point to Cooper’s empty bed while he stood in the doorway.
“I need him to come to town with me to refill our food supply,” my father forced out with a broken voice as he pushed my hair off my face and kissed my forehead.
I can hear my father’s voice as he sings the song, overlapping with the singing around the fire.
I want to stay
A while longer
A while longer so I’m with you
But it’s that time of night
For you to close your eyes
And dream of endless seas of blue
And when the morning comes
I’ll be right here with you
This is goodnight and not goodbye.
The memory starts to fade away as nine-year-old me starts to fall asleep and I watch as my father and Cooper walk out of the room. I feel Cooper put his arm around me and it pulls me fully to the present. “Cooper, our father sang this the night he left,” I choke out.
“You can remember,” is all Cooper says.
“What do you mean ‘can remember’?” Alexander asks.
“Our mother had to block all memories of me in her head so that she wouldn’t ask where I was. The guards would have made the connection that our father was actually making a plan not just running away,” Cooper says.
“Right, but why did you say ‘can remember’ of course she can remember we got our memories fixed,” Alexander asks.
“Since she has all her old memories back now things like this song can trigger these memories. It’s difficult to recall these memories on your own because of how long you’ve been without them, but they can still be triggered by things such as music or pictures,” Cooper explains, but I don’t even hear his voice. I’m tuning everything out except for the captivating humming.
No one talks for a long time after that. The sound of the groups humming and the forest surrounds my thoughts. Suddenly, Alexander is squeezing my hand and I become aware of the fact that the humming has long since subsided and everyone has started to get ready for bed. Cooper has gone to Mio and Cinder and they seem to be discussing last minute travel plans.
I glance at Alexander with a questioning look in my eye and he knows it’s about our plan to go get Zavy. Alexander just nods, lets go of my hand, and says, “Get some rest. I’ll wake you when it’s time.”
I lay my head down on the soft pillow. Before I fall asleep I look at my hand, where Alexander had squeezed it just seconds ago. There is a sort of warmth and comfort that came when he touched my hand. I might not be able to recall the feelings I had for him before, but I do know that I am starting to fall for him now and then I fall into a deep sleep.
Chapter 14
“Adaline,” I hear Alexander’s hushed voice in my ear. I slowly open my eyes and look around in confusion until I remember where I am. The idea that my father put this entire camp together is still new to me.
“Everyone’s asleep. If we’re going to go we need to do it now,” Alexander whispers. I nod silently and struggle to get to my feet. I pull my backpack on and slide our sword through my belt.
It’s nearly pitch black with the slight exception of the little moonlight coming through the tree branches. Alexander takes my hand in his. I look down at our hands and then up at his eyes. He holds my stare for a moment and then gently nods his head for me to start moving and leading the way. I tighten my grip on his hand and maneuver around everyone sleeping.
We walk away from the rest of the group and deeper into the forest. We’re completely silent as I lead Alexander toward where I believe the river I saw on the map should be. We inch ourselves forward slowly, careful to make as little noise as possible. With the twisted tree roots growing up out of the ground it’s a challenge, and we have to move a lot slower than I would like. We continue like this for what seems to be hours. Maybe it just feels like time is drawing out because of the heavy awkward air between the two of us. His hand in mine, the butterflies in my stomach, and yet I still don’t know the first thing about him. At first, we walk in silence for the simple fact that we don’t want to be heard, but now we are miles from the campsite and still don’t speak. It’s not that I feel like I need to speak to him because I think he understands me without me having to explain myself, but I also wouldn’t know what to say if I did need to talk to him.
“Adaline, are you sure you know where you’re going?” Alexander whispers, finally breaking the silence.
“Shhh,” I hush him. “Listen.” We both become silent again and stop moving. Off in the distance I can barely make out the sound of rushing water. I look back at Alexander and smile. “Yeah, I know where I’m going.” I turn and try to walk forward but Alexander pulls me back.
“This isn’t going to work,” Alexander breaks out.
“What?” I question back to him.
“What are we doing Adaline? Do you really think we can show up with some magic key and free Zavy and Toby? You know better than I do
