Author:
M.J. Swenson has been writing stories since elementary school and earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. Besides writing and reading, M.J. also enjoys playing music and video games.

The wind ruffled the red and orange leaves of the half-wire trees, and strangers walked on either side of Lysandra, keeping their heads down, never once casting a glance at her. A perfect day for masquerading. If only every day could be as perfect as this one.

Lysandra’s skirts swished around her ankles, and she held them up just slightly with her hands as she ran. She parted the crowds on the street with hardly a motion, and no one even looked up to wonder why she ran when they didn’t. The wind rushed through her long auburn hair, catching it on the breeze just as it caught those leaves on the trees around her, real or not.

The wind did not rush through her hair when she sat in the window back at her father’s house—the screen blocked it. And her father’s servants seemed to think it was unbecoming of her to stare dreamily out the window in the first place.

Rewriting Memory

She stumbled backward into the door opposite Simon's, her back slamming into the metal bars that made it up. The guard had come running down the hall. He cast a look at Lysandra, but, seeing no severe damage, he turned back to Simon.


"Prisoners aren't allowed to make contact with anyone, even visitors," he said.


"He's not a criminal!" Lysandra exclaimed. "Morpheus Rose is the real criminal."


"Unless you can prove it, miss, it's not our problem," the guard snapped. "Ferry, you go sit down. Miss, I'll take you out of here."


"Lysandra, I'm truly sorry," Simon called after her as she left the hallway.


Lysandra stepped out into the rain again, but this time she couldn't run. She stood, shivering, in the rain. Morpheus Rose had lied to her all this time. He had her memories, which was the reason he could trigger them so easily.


But then how had Simon been able to bring back those memories, as well?


Chapter 43