Page 117 of Beneath the Mountain Sky

As soon as the words leave my lips, the feeling washes over me again, but it isn’t what happened this morning. It’s the memory of it again. Retching violently in the dirt. On my hands and knees…

“Oh, God…” I stagger slightly, my head spinning.

Killian’s strong arm keeps me upright. “Another memory?”

I squeeze my eyes closed. “I can’t keep going like this. These flashes don’t make any sense. It’s like having a quarter of a puzzle and none of the pieces fit together.”

He’s quiet for a moment, allowing me to get my bearings. “I had a thought about that…”

I force open my eyes to meet his. “What’s that?”

“What if…” He pauses as if he’s unsure what he’s about to suggest is an actual option. “What if we tried hypnosis?”

“What?”

“Tony actually brought it up yesterday when you and Raven went back into the cabin. He said that on those true crime documentaries he’s always watching, sometimes people undergo hypnosis to try to draw out memories of things they’ve buried deep down. What if you tried that?”

He raises a brow hopefully.

I wish I could share in that hope, but I’m torn between wanting the truth, wanting to know, and being terrified of what I’ll find there.

Fear is a horrible thing.

It’s easy to try to hide from anything that might cause it.

More comfortable only to focus on joy.

But ultimately, there’s just one decision I can make, no matter how painful it might be.

“I’d do anything to stop this, Killian, to get my memory back and know what happened to me.”

He nods slowly. “That’s what I thought. Tony’s working on getting a larger search party organized. It’ll take a day or two. In the meantime, I’ll find someone who can come up here and meet with you. Or we can go to Asheville, if we need to. Anything to make you whole again.”

Whole again.

For so long, that meant having Killian, being with him, and feeling this warmth that I always do when we’re here like this. And now that we’re back together, and after what happened last night, I should feel complete. Like things are the way they should be.

But I don’t.

It’s like a giant piece of me is missing.

A part that is somewhere on that mountain.

Something that all these pieces of memory are leading me to.

15

KILLIAN

A familiar scent I never thought I would smell in the cabin again hits my nose the minute I open the bathroom door. My footsteps falter slightly as thirty years’ worth of memories slam into me.

Of Mom in that kitchen.

Of Willow with her.

Of the years they spent making my favorite dinner together.

Of sitting at that small table with Connor and Liam with full bellies and smiles on our faces.