“I guess I can tell you now. My wish just came true.”
Chapter Fifty-One
HOLLY
Holly moved quickly, working out her nerves as she and Ash walked Comet through the forest trail outside the Emerald House. The first day of the tulip festival had been magical, everything Ash had envisioned it to be, and Holly had felt an incredible sense of peace when she’d sent two lit candles in miniature boats down the river in honor of her parents. There were many human traditions she’d never fully appreciated until she experienced them for herself.
But concerns crept back as she thought about the next day. “We must disguise Auryn somehow, and we need a plausible reason for him to approach Isaiah to reverse the memory loss. But that’s not the worst part.” She took a deep breath, and Ash squeezed her hand. “If our plan works, how are we going to explain that Isaiah suddenly has his memories back? Sofia was so suspicious of him at the beginning. I worry that those suspicions will return.”
She glanced at Ash and saw an expression of deep concentration on his face.
“Maybe there is a way we can make it seem medically plausible. Like he saw something that suddenly triggered hismemories to come back. Isn’t that how it happens in the movies? Someone sees something familiar, and it all comes flooding in?”
Holly let out a breath. She hadn’t seen many movies, so she wasn’t sure what Ash was talking about, but that didn’t sound medically plausible to her. It sounded more like magic. “But how would we know what’s familiar to him that could be the trigger? We won’t know what his memories are until he gets them back.” Her stomach was tied up in knots. “I hate how manipulative this feels, Ash. Sofia is our best friend.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t like it either. But we both agree that Isaiah needs to get his memories back. We know that Sofia and Isaiah want that too. It’s the only ethical thing to do. So the main issue is that we can’t tell them how he lost his memories in the first place or how he got them back. We’re just going to have to trust their minds to fill in the gaps, I guess. Maybe they will think there was a minor head injury that wasn’t caught by the machines, and it healed over time.”
“And all his memories came rushing back, just like that?”
“Unless Auryn knows of a way to make the memories come back slowly.”
Holly shook her head. “Auryn doesn’t know much of anything. If he did, Isaiah wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. Thank the stars for Lumi Kringle. At least we know how to reverse it.”
“Maybe we can get Dr. Margo involved somehow,” Ash suggested, squinting slightly.
“I’d like that, but I don’t want to have to manipulate her. My magic won’t stand for that, and neither will I.”
“That’s it!” Ash said, stopping and turning to look at her.
“What?” Holly asked, startled.
“Your magic. It always seems to interfere when it’s beneficial. It brought us together.” He slipped an arm around her waist andpulled her close to him. “And it’s possible that all this happened to bring Isaiah and Sofia together too.”
Holly raised her eyebrows. The thought had never crossed her mind. “So what are you saying?”
“I think that magic has to be the solution. There must be a way it can smooth things over for Sofia and Isaiah, right? Make it more believable that he got his memories back suddenly. Maybe we just need to trust it.”
Holly thought about it for a moment. Her stomach still churned, but it relaxed ever so slightly. “So you think we just go with it? Cure Isaiah and take things from there?”
“Without coming up with a more deceitful ruse, yes. I think this is one of those situations where we just have to let things shake out and hope for the best.”
Holly couldn’t help but smile. The Ash she’d met in the fall would never have just left things to fate. He was a bit of a control freak, as Sofia would call it.Maybe the North Pole magic is rubbing off on him.
“Okay. You might be right. We get Isaiah his memories back and let magic take care of the rest.”
“It’s still really strange, talking about magic,” Ash said with a smile. He shook his head as he took her hand, and they began to walk the path again.
“But strangegood, right?” Holly asked, something tugging at her chest.
“Strangeverygood,” Ash replied, and he pulled her in for a kiss.
“I’m so nervous,”Holly admitted to Ash as they walked toward the outskirts of the festival, where Lumi and Auryn weregoing to meet them. Her stomach had been in anxious knots the whole morning as the plan with the elves and Isaiah loomed closer.
It was similar to the feeling she used to get when her Cheer meter sensed a powerful negative emotion that threatened to sap all the Cheer she’d collected. She was grateful she didn’t have to worry about that anymore, but relationships with humans weren’t completely stress free, especially when the situation had been caused by someone from the North Pole.
“It’ll be okay,” Ash assured her, pausing to rub her arms. “Trust the magic, remember?”
“Trust the magic, yes.” Holly took a deep breath and walked to the bench where she saw Lumi and Auryn waiting.
