"I found out about the Black Queen," Tristan said immediately as he entered Irene's room.
He didn't see the suspended pot, but his voice broke Irene's concentration, causing the pot to fall and shatter on the floor.
"Oh no, your aunt is going to kill me! There go my savings," Tristan grumbled. When he noticed Irene holding her phone, he asked curiously, "Were you just on the phone with someone?"
"Yes… Roman called me," Irene responded.
Tristan scowled. "Oh. What did he want?"
"I don't know. He probably just wanted to chat," Irene answered with a shrug. "But never mind that, what's this about a queen?"
"Oh yeah, so after we talked to Eugene, I started doing some research about the history of Blackwood," Tristan replied.
Irene raised her brows. "And?"
"And it got me thinking about the old legend of the Black Queen," Tristan said, and Irene stared at him blankly.
He continued, "She's a popular urban legend here. You and I grew up hearing scary stories about her. Supposedly, she was based on a real person. People say she had all these crazy supernatural abilities… People called her a—"
"Witch?" Irene said, cutting him off.
"Yeah. Spooky, right?"
"You think so?"
Tristan shrugged. "Well, yeah. Aren't witches usually, I don't know, evil?"
"Witches aren't real, Tristan."
"That's not true. There are practicing witches all over the world."
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Come on. After all that's happened and everything we've heard, you must think there's still got to be some mysticism left in the world."
"What else did you find out?" Irene asked.
"Tons. But I don't want your aunt to find me up here again and get me into more trouble. We should head to the library and talk about it. What do you say?" Tristan said, and Irene considered his words for a moment before she nodded, got up from her bed, and followed Tristan out through the window.
At the library, Tristan opened his laptop and a binder full of photocopied material.
Irene's mouth fell open. "Whoa, you researched all of this?"
"Yeah. You probably don't remember, but I'm kind of awesome at researching stuff."
"Seriously? That's amazing!" Irene complimented, her eyes dazzling, while Tristan's cheeks reddened as he looked up at her, as if he didn't believe she was being sincere.
"Are you teasing me?"
"What? No. It is amazing. It's a perfect skill to have. And you just said you were awesome yourself, silly," Irene said, while Tristan's eyes sparkled at her words.
"Yeah, but it's one thing to think that to myself; it's something else to hear it from the girl I'm—" Tristan paused, realizing that he was about to give himself away. "I'm best friends with," he completed, avoiding eye contact with Irene.
"It's not something the old me would have complimented you for, is it?" Irene said, and Tristan shrugged as he finally looked up at her, smirking a little.
"Who cares? A lot of my best features go unappreciated. I'll live," Tristan said, flashing her a smile, and Irene looked at his beautiful smile, suddenly finding him attractive.
'Dang it, Irene! Focus on what you came here for.'
"Fine. Tell me about what you discovered then."
"Well, like I said, the Black Queen legend is based on a real person. Alisha York, specifically," Tristan said, as he showed Irene a page on his laptop of an old newspaper dating from the late 1600s. Alisha York was an immigrant from Holland, one of the first. Some sources I found said she was among the first people in the area tried and found guilty of witchcraft. She was sentenced to death."
"Yikes," Irene muttered under her breath.
Tristan continued, "But get this: legend has it that after she was burned at the stake, villagers still saw her walking around Blackwood. That's where we got the legend of the Black Queen. They say she still wanders the city of Blackwood looking to exact her revenge."
Irene couldn't help but shiver. "And you think Alisha York is the spirit that Eugene saw standing over my body?"
"I mean… I don't have any solid evidence, but that's one theory."
"But why would she want revenge on me? Why would she erase my memories?" Irene asked confusedly.
"Who knows if she did? All we know is that something strange and unexplainable is happening in Blackwood. And I want to get to the bottom of it so we can get your memories back," Tristan said with an unreadable expression in his eyes, while Irene gazed at him, transfixed for a moment.
She couldn't help it but she was feeling like Tristan wanted her to remember something important about him. 'Was she perhaps imagining things?' Irene wondered, pursing her lips together.
Suddenly, she remembered that she had an appointment with Doctor Martinez scheduled in an hour.
"Oh, crap! Tristan, I have to go. I'm supposed to be at the doctor's. Sorry," Irene said, rushing out of the library, while Tristan nodded as he watched her retreating figure with a small smile dancing on his lips.
*****
Blackwood Hospital,
It was Irene's first appointment with Doctor Martinez since she was discharged from the hospital. While waiting for the doctor, Irene was thinking back to what Dax had said to her the last time.
Doctor Martinez checked all her vitals, then took a seat across from Irene almost casually. She asked her a question, but Irene didn't manage to catch it. "Sorry, doctor, what did you just ask me?"
"I asked how you were feeling. Have you found that you're having trouble concentrating on things lately?"
"Huh? No, sorry. I just had something on my mind from school. Sorry, I'm paying attention. Go on."
Doctor Martinez nodded, then made a note in her chart as she looked closely at Irene once more. "And your memories, has anything surfaced yet? Names, faces, anything like that?"
"Actually, I remembered my cat, Dax."
"Really? That's promising. Any blackouts? Haziness? Additional memory loss?"
"Well, I'm not sure, actually. The other night, I was talking to my cat, Dax. And when I woke up the next day, it was sort of like I couldn't remember what was said," Irene said, while Doctor Martinez blinked her eyes.
"You couldn't remember what was said in a conversation with your cat?" Doctor Martinez repeated, giving her a strange look.
"I mean, I was talking to him; he wasn't talking back. Haha. You know, like you do with your pets. It's kind of silly now that I say it out loud. I wouldn't worry about it," Irene said, then made a mental note not to blabber about Dax in front of anyone again.
She didn't want anyone to think she was going crazy.
"Are you getting enough sleep? I know that can be hard at your age, in your last year of high school."
"Well, I have been studying to catch up with chemistry. Apparently, it's my favorite subject."
"Really? Oh, your mom would be proud to hear that."
"You knew my mom?" Irene asked, her eyes sparkling at the thought of learning something about her parents.
Doctor Martinez looked away, as if she wished she could take her words back. "I knew both of your parents, actually. I'm sorry. It was unprofessional of me to let that slip. I know it must be a sensitive subject for you. I can't imagine what it's like in your condition to hear about losing them for the second time."
Irene ignored the doctor's statement, her eyes curiously watching the woman's face. "What were my parents like?"
Doctor Martinez took a deep breath, thinking. Her smile was distant and sad as she answered, "Your mom was a pharmacist. She loved her work. She made an effort to get to know everyone who walked through the door. I sent a lot of patients in need of special care her way. She had a gift for getting people to open up about their problems in a way they didn't want to in my office."
"And my dad?"
"Your dad was a librarian at the Blackwood University library. I met him when he helped me with some of my undergraduate research papers. He's the one who made me realize that I wanted to come back here to practice medicine instead of staying in the big city. Together, your mom and dad were the heart and soul of Blackwood. They loved helping people."
Irene smiled as she listened to the doctor's words. 'So my parents were kind people?' she thought, then asked the doctor, "Who do you think I resemble more? My mom or my dad?"
Doctor Martinez considered her for a moment before answering. "Your mom, I think. And not just because of the chemistry thing. Speaking not as your doctor, you've got a good heart, but I can tell you have a bit of a stubborn streak in you. You probably get that from her."
"I wish more than anything that I could remember them," Irene mumbled.
"It's not fair that this happened to you. I'm committed to getting your memories back, you know, so you can truly honor their memory."
"Thanks, doctor. I want to get them back too," Irene said, smiling gratefully at the doctor.