Domino: Strays: A Marvel Heroines Novel by Tristan Palmgren
Author:Tristan Palmgren [Palmgren, Tristan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: superheroes
Publisher: Aconyte
Published: 2020-10-06T00:00:00+00:00
Seventeen
It took me a minute or two to come to terms with what she was saying. I sat there for a moment, absentmindedly feeling out my bonds, trying to adjust to what sheâd said.
She was the reason Iâd come here.
Want to know the punchline to the joke my memory had been telling me all this time?
Her face wasnât the one Iâd been chasing.
It was close enough that I could see where my memory had gotten the image. There were some similarities, especially around the eyes. But memory is a fickle thing. Age and a hard life had taken more than their fair shares out of her, remolded her like potterâs clay. Iâd thought of her so often, and for so long, that I had stopped remembering her. Iâd remembered the memory, and then the memory of the memory. Iâd taken a real face, made an echo of it, and twisted it into an illusion. Iâd clung to it like a teddy bear until it had worn out and fallen apart. Trying to convince myself there had been something worthwhile in the place Iâd come from.
The best way to think of memory is as a terrible roommate. It leaves junk on the floor just to trip you up. Dirty dishes piled in the sink. Barges into your room unannounced. And it sure doesnât pay its rent.
More importantly, itâs not reliable.
I wished Iâd never come here. Iâd made myself into some kind of cosmic joke. And, punchline told, the rest of the joke â me â didnât have a reason to be here any more.
âAh,â I said, quietly. Then, âAmpersand.â
âYouâre more shaken than I thought you would be,â the woman said. âIâm sorry. I should have taken you to get a medical exam before bringing you here. My mistake. Iâll do better next time.â
ââNext time,ââ I repeated. Much as Iâd thought sheâd been about to kill me, I liked the sound of that even less. I asked, âYou expect me to call you âMomâ?â
She looked at me like a disappointed schoolmarm.
âMy name is Beatrice. You can call me that.â
The woman50 took my silence as an excuse to expound a little more. âMuch as I hoped we wouldnât meet again, Iâve kept tabs on your life. Things have changed a lot since the last time we met. And youâre right â terrible things were done here. I used to be just as much a prisoner as you.â
âJust as much as Lazarus is now?â I prodded. There was no mistaking what Iâd seen of Lazarusâs living quarters. It was a cell.
âLazarus is under guard for his own protection,â Beatrice said. âAnd you demonstrated even that might not be enough.â She tousled Lazarusâs hair. Lazarus, I noted, didnât react. âI wish I could have protected you the same way. They were close to killing you, you know. When you were younger. You would have been the last of your batch to go.â
In spite of everything I was trying to do to keep my cool, I could not keep a shiver from spreading down my back.
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