Tony walked down a hallway with forest-green walls and pictures of a very blonde and happy family displayed in sickeningly gaudy frames that were arranged in asymmetrical patterns all over the walls. A black cat wove itself between his legs as he walked, meowing and purring as if it wanted him to pick it up. He did. He never could resist a purring cat, and he stroked the cat's fur, letting it purr into his arms comfortably as he looked for Lucy. He hadn't gone far before he heard voices coming from an open doorway up ahead, and Tony set the cat down and tiptoed closer so he could peek around the corner without being seen by whoever was inside.
The sun was shining through a large floor-to-ceiling window that had long curtains of fine pink lace that were being blown across the wood floor by a gentle breeze. Two little girls were playing together at a little table with a tea set and dolls, and both of them were wearing dress-up clothes that looked like they came out of a Disney movie.
"Pour me some tea," one of the girls said, tossing her curly blond hair over her shoulders and straightening her blue Cinderella dress. The other girl had hair as black as midnight, and it fell in stunning waves around her shoulders. She looked at the other girl with bright green eyes but didn't say anything.
"You don't mind, do you?" the blonde asked in a tone that made it clear she had no choice in the matter.
Tony could spot Lucy without effort; even at this young age her hair and eyes were unmistakable, and he watched as she reached across the table and poured what appeared to be real tea into the other little girl's mug.
"Now be a dear and get me another pillow, would you?" the blonde girl said.
Little Lucy complied, walking across the room—her purple dress dragging behind her as it was far too large—to grab a pink pillow from the bed. She brought it back and put it behind the girl's back for her and then sat down again, no expression evident on her face.
"You don't mind doing things for your dear friend? Do you, darling?" the blond girl asked in a very confident and condescending tone.
Lucy looked the girl in the eyes for a moment, and then a smile spread across her face and she said with genuine enthusiasm, "I love doing things for you."
Tony watched in disgust as the blonde girl continued to use Lucy to meet all of her petty whims and demands, and Lucy continued to comply, seeming happy to do so. But Tony noticed that when she sat down she put her hands in her lap and clenched and unclenched her fists over and over again. He felt tempted to interrupt their tea party and stop the ill treatment of Lucy, but he had a feeling it would be a bad idea to make himself known right then. Instead he watched for what felt like hours until the scene before him began to melt like a wax figure sitting too close to a flame.
The world changed, and Tony was standing outside on a hot day, standing next to what appeared to be a rather worn-down-looking mobile home. The window was open right next to him, and very carefully he looked inside.
Lucy was sitting on a faded couch with a pattern of flowers that was so worn from overuse that you could barely make out what it was. Lucy was a little older than she had been in the previous memory—maybe eight or nine years old now—and she wasn't alone in the trailer. A boy who looked very much like her, with black curls and green eyes, was sitting on the floor while a woman who looked nothing like either of them walked back and forth.
"I don't see what the big deal is here? We need the help; you ain't cheap to raise!" she said, waving her hand with its fake nails at the two children, who both sat silently, looking at the floor.
"I'll do it," the girl said.
"No! You can't let them come again, momma! What they're doing is hurting her!" the boy said, suddenly standing up and pointing at Lucy.
"Moppy, you don't raise your voice at me like that, or you can sleep outside and see how you feel about respecting your momma!" the woman said with one hand on her hip and a look in her eyes that made Tony believe what she said. Tony couldn't believe this woman was Lucy's mother; for one thing she was extremely blonde, and her skin was tanning so dark it was hard to separate her from the brown paneling that surrounded her in the RV.
The woman looked at her children and waited, but when they said nothing else she went over to where Lucy sat with her head down and gently lifted her chin with her acrylic nail and looked her straight in the eyes.
"My little lucky duck, you know we need the food these men bring us? Don't you? Just help them one more time. I promise this will be the last time," she said, but Tony saw her cross her fingers behind her back, and the brother saw it too.
"She's lying, Lucy!" the boy said, making the mother stand up and walk over to him and slap him upside the head. "No ifs, ands, or buts about it—you ARE sleeping outside."
"I'll do it, momma," Lucy said quietly, her shoulders slumped.
"That's my lucky duck," her mother said, turning away from the brother and clapping her hands in delight. "I'll call them now," she said before leaving the room and the two children alone.
"Lucy, you can't do it! You said so yourself that it's making you forget who you are, who I am!" the boy said angrily.
"Just one more time, Milo. I have to do it one more time," she said with a pleading look in her eyes.
"No! I know a way that I can get magic, then I can get us food—all the food we need—and you don't have to help people like that ever again!" he practically shouted at his sister as he got up and walked towards the door.
"No, Milo!" she yelled, standing up and trying to grab at his arm, but he ripped it out of her grasp and ran out the door, leaving her standing in the doorway with tears in her eyes.
Tony couldn't help himself; he left his spot near the window and sprinted around the mobile home, not completely sure what he intended to do. But when he reached the other side the mobile home was gone. It was strange and disorienting to have the world around him rearranged without warning, and he rubbed his head and blinked his eyes as a new scene unfolded in front of him.
Lucy was sitting at a folding table in the middle of a clearing in a forest. The sun shone between the canopy of trees, and a man sat at the table across from her. Between them was a black stone like none Tony had ever seen before.
"Place your hand on the ssstone, child."
Tony shivered at the way the man said "stone," over-pronouncing the s-sound in a way that was all too familiar to him. He crept closer, staying behind the trees, to get a better look at the man, who was abnormally tall and thin. The man wasn't in the state of decay he had been in when Tony had seen him last; in fact he looked just like a man, wearing a black suit with a receding hairline, though his nose was abnormally long. He was the witch who had tried to kidnap Lucy in the forest garden.
"Will it hurt?" Lucy asked him.
"What hurtsss to some doesn't hurt to others. You have very strong powers, and the moonsssstone will help you access them. That isss all," the witch said with a smile that revealed only one missing tooth. He must have been quite young here, Tony thought, as he watched Lucy hesitate for a moment before cautiously putting her hand on the black stone.
What happened next happened so quickly that Tony could do nothing but stand there with his mouth open in horror.
Lucy did cry out in pain, leaning her head back and crying out as the witch assured her that nothing was wrong and that it would pass soon. But before whatever was happening could pass, Lucy's nose began to bleed, and she fell off her chair and fell unconscious onto the ground. The witch got up and walked around the table and knelt down in the grass, placing his finger on Lucy's neck as if searching for a pulse. He sighed and clucked his tongue, muttering, "Such a shame," before getting up and grabbing the black stone to leave.
Tony wanted to vomit. He wanted to leave this memory and go back into the real world and see for himself that Lucy was still alive. But before he could do anything, the boy she had called Milo came running into the clearing.
"Lucy! Lucy!?" he cried. "I'm back! You don't have to do this anym…" Milo stopped as he drew close to the card table and saw Lucy's still form lying on the ground.
"Lucy!" he yelled, running to her side and pulling her into his lap, cradling her head in his arms and weeping over her body as he rocked her back and forth.
"Lucy, I'm so sorry," he cried, holding her tight to him for a long time. Tony waited as the boy cried until he had no more tears left. Then he got up, setting Lucy gently back where she had fallen, and walked drunkenly out of the clearing, tears and snot running down his face.
Tony couldn't wait any longer. He ran to little Lucy's still form and put his head to her chest, where he found no sounds of a heartbeat, and began pumping up and down on her heart in an attempt to get it beating again. To his surprise her heart did begin to beat again, and her eyes fluttered open, the green inside them looking hazy and confused until she saw his face.
A painfully strong wind began to blow when Lucy saw Tony, and without warning it lifted him up and blew him away from Lucy, throwing him back against a large tree as a painful ringing filled his ears. The wind was so strong he was forced to cling to the tree with one arm and press his other hand over his ear. The wind picked up and the ringing got louder, and no matter how hard he tried he could not block out the piercing noise.