Forget Me by Francesca Riley

Author:Francesca Riley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult paranormal romance, teen fantasy romance, ya fairy tale myths and legends, fairytale retelling, clean ya romance, mermaid merman ocean romance
Publisher: Ocean Echo Books
Published: 2022-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

30. Skye. Battle Lines

Skye used her free last period to escape. It seemed like everyone at school was talking about the recent Bannimor events. And with Mike away, the weight of Sebastian weirdness speculation fell squarely on her shoulders, with Amber in charge of the anti-Skye movement.

Mike, who was a popular teacher, didn’t seem to be tarred with the same Sebastian brush as her and her dad. But having him around today would have been nice.

She caught the bus back to the village to avoid a tortuous return trip with Ethan, even though she knew she’d probably arrive back in Bannimor minutes before he did, despite her massive head-start. But the bus trip was similarly tortuous, the bus being half-full of thrill seekers pilgrimaging to the village.

What was it with Bannimor? It felt like every time she overheard conversations, they proved the rule eavesdroppers hear no good of themselves.

The histories of Bannimor weirdness and her family’s role in it was the hot topic. Sure, they didn’t actually name the Sebastians. And ‘cursed family’ could apply to lots of Bannimor residents right now: any that hosted ‘the returned’. But Skye had heard the one about a mother drowning herself to protect the village from her curse before. It shouldn’t still hurt. The story didn’t. Nor even the fact that it was now circulating among strangers. It was the truth behind the story that hurt. There was no happy ever after for her mother.

And now Skye was on her way to look at the memorial stone that didn’t mark her mother’s final resting place, and to field questions from her dad about his role in her mother’s death. She stepped off the bus into a haze of diesel fumes, hoisted her school bag onto her shoulder and turned towards the graveyard. She couldn’t recall a conversation she’d dreaded more. She hadn’t properly decided how much to tell him. What if she told him too much? Or not enough? Would telling him everything help him heal and let go of the past? Or throw him back into old obsessions? The truth will set you free, the saying went. Sometimes learning the truth felt a lot like misery.

*

Skye saw her dad’s car parked outside the graveyard on the hillside, just a few streets above the village shops. On either side, houses and gardens climbed steeper slopes, and behind them all, the Bannimor hills reared, dark with oak, fern, and other dense foliage.

Her father was already at her mother’s plot, and she joined him, leaning against his shoulder. He put his arm around her and together they looked at the memorial stone erected in loving memory of Ellie Sebastian.

“I guess we’re luckier than some families who visit here,” he said, his voice thick.

“Because we’ve still got each other,” she guessed. Her heart swelled with emotion. He rarely said this kind of thing. And it sounded like he had really let her mother go. They could weather this ‘crazy Bannimor’ storm as long as they had each other’s backs.

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