“I feel…normal.” She watched Tristan roll his shoulders with his eyes closed. The muscles in his neck shifted beneath the movement.
Nate twitched his lips. “Hmm.” He went to the kitchen and returned with a small flashlight in his hands. Clicking it on, he started examining her irises, pulling at the skin beneath her eyes to get a better look.
“Before you died, your eyes were glowing and your nose was bleeding. But now….” He clicked off the flashlight. “Now, you seem healthy.” Nate moved behind Scarlet and slowly peeled away her bandage.
Ouch.
“And your wound is completely healed,” he murmured.
Scarlet slapped a hand to her back and felt around. No scars, no wound…just smooth skin.
Nate said, “It looks like your body has completely reset itself.”
“Huh.” Scarlet nodded once. “So that’s…good? That means we have more time to find the fountain, right?”
The fountain of youth was the only sure way to cure Scarlet’s heart and undo the curse. Tristan’s immortal blood was embedded in her heart from a previous arrow incident—apparently, the two of them couldn’t be around an arrow without one of them getting shot—and now Scarlet’s heart was a ticking time bomb, slowly being ripped apart. The fountain was their only hope.
“I hope so,” Nate said. “But hey! It doesn’t really matter how much time we have because you know where the fountain is. So, yay…” He weakly pumped a fist in the air.
Scarlet looked at him in bewilderment.
Nate’s face fell. “You don’t remember, do you?”
Scarlet shook her head. “Remember what?”
Ah, crap.
Do I have amnesia again?
Nate exhaled. “After you were…shot, you told Tristan you knew where the fountain was.”
“I did?” Scarlet’s heart started to race. She glanced at Gabriel, who offered a shrug, then at Tristan, who gave her a single nod.
“Think,” Nate said emphatically. “Really think.”
Scarlet shook her head. “I don’t remember saying that.”
“Do you remember anything? Your previous lives? Your history? Anything?” Nate looked hopeful and desperate.
Scarlet tucked her lips in as she thought. “I remember my last life. With you guys…and the cabin. I remember having amnesia.” Wow, that sounded weird. “And I remember Laura…and school….”
“You remember your last life, here in Avalon, but no lives before that?” Nate asked.
“Just the bits and pieces I put together before I was shot.”
Tristan gently asked, “And you don’t remember saying you knew where the fountain was?”
His familiar voice sank into her pores, filling her with warmth and she wanted to scream in confusion. Why was she so attracted to him? And why had he been willing to die for her?
“No,” she said, mentally trying to brush Tristan’s voice off her skin. “I don’t remember saying anything about the fountain.” Scarlet felt helpless as she looked at Gabriel. “Why would I forget something so important? What is wrong with me?”
Gabriel gave her a sympathetic smile. “Nothing’s wrong with you. You just keep losing your memories, that’s all.”
Yeah. Nothing sounded abnormal about that.
“But why? Why do I remember you guys and Avalon and…” She looked at Tristan briefly, her thoughts charging at the memory of his kiss before he put her to sleep. Damn you, Tristan, and your hot lips and sexy tattoo. “…other stuff? But not the fountain’s location?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Nate looked at her intently.
Scarlet concentrated. “Um…I remember feeling the arrow go into my back…and then Tristan holding me….” Her cheeks heated as she remembered Tristan’s arms around her as she sank to the ground. His hands touching her, his eyes filling with tears. Scarlet cleared her throat. “And then…nothing.”
Nate twitched his lips. “You must have been in shock by the time you had the memory. And I’m sure Tristan clutching you like a toy doll probably didn’t help.” He glared at Tristan.
Scarlet felt guilt swell up inside Tristan.
When Tristan was near her, the immortal blood in her heart went crazy, pulling at her insides and bringing her closer to death. When Tristan touched her—which was pretty much never—the damage to her heart was even more deadly.
Which was probably why he never touched her.
And why she shouldn’t ever want him to touch her.
Right? Right.
Her eyes trailed along Tristan’s jaw and down to his neck. His eyes caught hers and she felt a trickle of desire run down his core.
Right.
“Don’t worry,” Gabriel said to Scarlet, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her.
Scarlet’s eyes darted away from Tristan as she flushed. I am the worst girlfriend ever.
Gabriel kissed the top of her head. “Everything’s going to be fine. With or without your memories, we’ll find the fountain.”
Nate smiled at Scarlet, his happy face shining at her. “Or, at the very least, we’ll keep you away from any stray arrows.”
Scarlet attempted a smile, but felt no hope. She was doomed to be a weird, sometimes-dead girl with arbitrary amnesia and a crush on her boyfriend’s twin brother forever.
Great.
She tried to take a deep breath, but the black corset top she had on held her ribcage hostage. She looked down at the formal dress Heather had picked out for her that was now covered in blood.
Heather!
Tonight was the winter formal dance at school and Scarlet had left her best friend, Heather, alone in her bedroom without an explanation when she’d run after Tristan.
Heather was probably freaking out. Scarlet whipped around and looked at Gabriel. “Does Heather know about me?”
He lifted a brow. “Does Heather know that Tristan tried to kill himself with a magic arrow, but totally screwed up and got you shot instead?” Gabriel gave Tristan a dirty look. “No. Heather doesn’t know.”
Oh-kay.
Clearly, Gabriel was upset with Tristan. And, from the looks of the living room, they’d had a pretty messy fight. Scarlet wanted to believe that their fighting had nothing to do with her, but she knew better. And the thought stressed her out.
“Okay, everybody needs to lay off Tristan,” Scarlet said, desperate to relieve some of the guilt pulsing inside the green-eyed Archer brother. She looked at Nate first, then Gabriel. “I’m the reason I got shot. Not Tristan. And it doesn’t matter anyway because I’m fine.” She ran a hand through her long, tangled hair.
I’m just missing a very important memory about the fountain of youth that could save my life. But, otherwise, I’m fine.
Scarlet looked around the room for a moment. Blood, broken furniture, more blood.
Yeah, she was out of there.
“I gotta go.” Scarlet hiked up her skirt so it wasn’t swishing on the floor, and moved toward the front door with sticky feet.
“Where are you going?” Gabriel asked. “You’re wearing a bloodstained dress and you don’t have any shoes on.”
Turning around, Scarlet sighed. “I just died and came back to life, Gabriel. I’m confused. I’m hungry. And I desperately need a shower. So I’m going home. We can resume our highly stressful what’s-wrong-with-Scarlet-and-where’s-the-fountain quest after I wash the blood and dirt off my body.”