Katrina grimaced. This was one of the reasons people would cross over the road if they saw Dante walking towards them.

“You not looked at your auragraph collection lately?” he asked, probably aware of what she was thinking, “You had a couple of pictures I bet Godhand’d kill for,”

Katrina thought back to the pictures she’d been developing. The auragraphic camera captured images of things invisible to the human eye, such as electromagnetic fields, but nothing that could be labelled ‘heresy’, even if Phoenie was insistent that it could take pictures of ghosts!

“Heh. So you don’t remember then?” said Dante.

“Remember what?”

“The wings.”

Katrina’s thoughts began to distort, as if someone had gone back in time and changed history. One moment she was wondering what bizarre hallucination Dante had been having this time, and the next she was recalling cloudy images of auragraphs with butterfly wings, as if remembering something from the her childhood or a surreal dream. Dante must have noticed the confusion on her face because he was giving her one of his rare half-smiles.

“Bet you thought I was having another ‘hallucination’,” he said, and then his expression turned dour, “People have a habit of forgetting things recently, like that monster attacking during the midsummer exams. Go on; tell me that was a hallucination too,”

Though they were like brother and sister, there were times when Dante’s voice took on a harsh, accusing tone even with Katrina, and it made her feel ashamed for all the times she’d doubted him in the past.

“I’ll go check the files,” she said, “If I find them, I’ll let you know. Don’t worry; I think I can remember seeing those pictures too!”

Dante managed another half smile and closed his eyes, a sign that he was content with the situation. In the past, Katrina might have tried coercing him along with her, or just saying goodbye when she left, but experience had taught her that Dante was ready to be left alone. He didn’t like getting pulled into things unless he knew exactly what he was doing, and he hated trivial conversation, hellos and goodbyes included. Most people thought he was impolite, but Katrina knew it was just his way. “Say what needs to be said and nothing more. Words are precious.” she recalled him saying.

When she reached the Veritas ‘office’, Katrina found Phoenie sorting through some files on her desk with a puzzled look on her face.

“Hello, Kat,” she said, “I’ve been having a few issues with the next edition of the paper, and would you know things just don’t seem to be adding up? I’ve got a report from Andromeda on recent environment restoration developments, but my notes don’t mention commissioning her to research it! And what on earth is a ‘leansídhe’?”

“I don’t suppose you’ve found any auragraphs of Phantasia?” asked Katrina.

Phoenie looked up and a bemused expression. “Sweetie, why would you take auragraphs of Ms. Celeste?”

Katrina shrugged and moved over to the filing cabinets. “Dante thinks I have,” she said, knowing she had to choose her words carefully now, “He thinks our memories have been altered somehow.”

Chapter 15
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