"What have you done, Nyron?!"

"Later. We need to get out of here." Nyron took her hand hesitantly, as if expecting her to recoil in disgust. When she didn't, he turned into the street with Liliya on his heels.

"Where are we going?"

"My place. Just until we figure out what to do."

They ran through the darkened city, evading streetlights, until the shadows had swallowed them and they could be sure nobody was following them. Nyron lead her through quiet streets and deserted alleys, where their footsteps echoed along the walls.

"How could you do that to that boy, Nyron?" Liliya hissed, ripping her hand out of his once they finally slowed down a little. "You ruined his life. You ruined a whole family of lives!"

Nyron's face fell. "I told you, it was an accident! I never meant to hurt him, I swear!"

"You never should have done it in the first place! Stealing memories, it's... It's wrong. It's evil."

Nyron peered around a corner before gesturing for her to follow. "How can it be evil when they ask me to do it? These people come to me, Liliya. They want me to erase something. It's like..." He thought for a moment, fiddling with his earring. "Like a surgery. They can either save a patient's life, or if it goes wrong it could kill them."

Liliya scoffed. "Don't compare yourself with someone who saves lives!"

"But it is similar. Don't you see? When you help your trauma patients, you save their lives too, right? You make their lives so much better, so much more bearable that you might as well have brought them back from the dead."

As they turned a corner, Liliya had no idea where they were. She didn't know this part of the city. She'd have to rely on Nyron to get home once this nightmare was over.

"But all of those patients of yours could also be healed by simply taking away the memory of their trauma. It's much quicker."

"You don't understand!" Liliya raised her hands above her head in frustration. "Those trauma's help shape people. They make people who they are."

"Yes," said Nyron. "But not always in a good way. Some people just want to go back to the way they were before."

Liliya opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again when she remembered her mother's words. She'd wanted to forget, too... They walked in silence for a few moments.

"Why didn't you stop? You said you never meant to hurt anyone. When you hurt that boy, why didn't you stop?"

Nyron sighed. "I was in too deep at that point," he said. "Honestly, at that point in my life I was just doing what I could to survive."

"What are you talking about?"

Shaking his head, he pulled a hand through his hair. "It's a long story. My best friend from university got into trouble with money when the government pushed that law that forbid fortune telling. His family had a fortune telling business and they lost everything. He couldn't even finish his degree."

Liliya felt a shiver run down her spine at his words. The situation he described was much too similar to her own current situation.

"To pay the bills, he got into the black market business. I never found out exactly what he did, he wouldn't tell me. He died during one of his gigs. Left his family with even more debt. I volunteered to take his place, so they wouldn't have to deal with it. They got me into memory stealing, because it brought up a lot of money. The first time I took someone's memory – Donny's – went terribly wrong. But at that point going back wasn't an option."

Liliya's jaw had dropped by the end of the story. He'd taken up memory stealing out of kindness? To help out his friend's family?

Did that fact really change anything?

As they rounded yet another corner, she said, "Did you make all that up to impress me? Because it's not working."

Nyron laughed heartily. "I made up one or two details. I'll leave it to you to decide which." He grinned and winked at her playfully.

She was just about to respond when he stuck his hand out to stop her. The smile had melted from his face. "Look."

Liliya followed his gaze to the car with the red and white stripes, parked at the corner of the street. Police.

"They surrounded my house." Surprise with a hint of annoyance shone through in his voice, as if he wanted to add, "How could they?"

"My friend Kit, the one who's a policewoman, she told me you're one of their main suspects. They must've got something on you."

"Oh." His shoulders sagged. He made such a sad face that he looked a bit like a lost little boy. "Well. I guess I'm not going back home then."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be going to your place?"

Liliya finished re-braiding her hair for the umpteenth time and tied her hairband around the end. "Unless you have another idea, this is the best one we've got."

They walked in silence for the rest of the trip, keeping their heads down as if anyone could recognize them and sound an alarm. Liliya hurried him inside, shutting the door behind him with one last glance through the apartment hallway.

They sunk down on her sofa with a collective sigh.

"Now what?" Liliya muttered.

"You'll have to pretend you never left the house today," said Nyron. "And me... I guess I'll go into hiding. How far can those portals of yours reach?"

"Several planets over," Liliya muttered. "But let's call that Plan B, shall we? There must –"

She was cut off by her phone ringing. Kit.

"Hey, what's up?"

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

Liliya had to hold the phone away from her as her best friend hollered into her ear. "What the hell, Kit, can you not shout at me like that?"

Kit didn't even seem to hear her, as she kept raging on. "I've been calling you all day! I was about to come over and check on you. I was worried sick, Lil!"

Her eyes widened. If Kit came over and saw Nyron...

"I'm fine!" she said, forcing her voice to stay steady. "I've just been at home all day. I... I left my phone in my room and forgot about it. I'm sorry for worrying you, but I promise you I'm fine."

Kit groaned loudly. "Alright then. But I'm coming over tonight."

"No, not today! Uhm..." Liliya scrambled for an excuse. "It's just... It's my mum. It's better for her if she can rest. She told me the other day that she can hear us talk when we're in the living room." Lying to my best friend... I really am sinking low...

After Kit finally agreed they'd see each other another time, Liliya hung up the phone with a relieved sigh. She chucked it onto the coffee table and stared at it in disgust.

Nyron laid his hand on hers. She glanced at him, but couldn't hold his gaze. "Thank you for helping me," he said. "I know you don't agree with what I do. It means a lot to me that you decided to help me anyway."

"You were right," said Liliya quietly.

"What do you mean?"

Her eyes wandered over to the closed door of her mother's bedroom. "Some people just want to forget."

For a few moments, neither of them spoke. She could feel his eyes burning into her skin as he waited for her to elaborate. In the end, she shook her head and pushed herself up from the sofa. "I'm gonna go check on my mum."

The room was dark when she entered. Liliya wondered if she should shut the door and leave her mum to her much-needed sleep, or check if she was even still breathing. A sudden cough made the decision for her.

"Lily?"

"Yeah. I'm here, mum," she said as she closed the door behind her and sat by the bed. She switched the nightlight on.

"Oh, Lily, darling." Her voice sounded hoarse, frail. Her face was pale, eyes fluttering shut with every word. "I'm going to need some more painkillers. Can you get them for me, please?"

"Of course."

She didn't look at Nyron as she went into the kitchen to grab the medication and a glass of water. Her mother gobbled it up like sweets, lying back against the pillow and closing her eyes with relief. The mere knowledge of the painkillers kicking in soon brought her some comfort.

"I wanted to ask you something, mum." Liliya fiddled with the end of her braid.

"Of course. What's up?" Her voice now came out as barely more than a whisper, as if she'd almost fallen asleep again.

Liliya hesitated, not wanting to keep her mother from resting. But this was important. "Remember how you said you'd rather forget? You know... Dad and Rosanna? How serious were you about that?"

Her mother's eyes opened to look at her. "I know it's difficult for you to grasp, but I meant that, Lily. That awful memory is just making me weaker... Sicker. I'm sorry. It's the worst thing that ever happened to me. The sight of our house burning, knowing they were still in there... The smell, the smoke... It still haunts me every moment."

The hair tie dropped out and onto her fingers as she fiddled with it. "Because I, uh... I think I might know someone who can take that memory away. If that's really what you want."

Her eyes widened and she sat up. "You do? Oh, Lily, please ask them for me. I could die happy if I got rid of that awful memory."

She doesn't even question it, Liliya couldn't help but think as she watched her mother all but beg her to make it happen. She wants it so much, she doesn't even care how I know someone who can take memories.

"Okay," she said, her heart hurting in her chest. "I'll ask him."