Free In Memories We Fear by Barb Hendee

hair,” she said finally. “I wish I could dye it brown again and grow it back out.” She paused, trying not to sound sad. “I wish I could take out the nose stud and wear other clothes, any other clothes.”
    She would always appear exactly as she’d died.
    He took a step toward her, shaking his head. “No. I like your hair. I like the way you look. It’s you. Those girls I pick up in bars . . . They’re all fake, all the way through to the inside. You’re real.”
    Tragically, this was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to Mary, but she drank it in and looked back at her spiky magenta hair. He liked it.
    She didn’t know how to answer him.
    “I’ll try to book a ticket out for tonight,” he said, changing the subject since he may have been a little embarrassed.
    Julian’s warning flashed into her head.
    “Be sure to count the hours,” she told him. “London’s eight hours ahead, and I think the flight is something like nine or ten hours. You gotta make sure you’ll land in the dark.”
    “What? Oh . . . yeah, okay.” He pulled out his cell phone and his wallet. “You’ll meet me there?”
    “Sure. I’ll always meet you.”

chapter four
    LONDON
    A s Philip stepped from the taxi out in the Bloomsbury district, right in front of the Montague hotel, he was surprised by an unexpected sense of satisfaction. Eleisha climbed out behind him, staying close to his side and looking around. Instead of a suitcase, she’d brought a backpack, and she shifted its weight on her right shoulder.
    “Oh, this is nice, Philip,” she said, looking at the front of the hotel and the manicured flower beds along the street. “Better.”
    Wade and Rose’s taxi pulled up to the curb.
    Philip was beginning to think Eleisha had seen too many overromanticized British films. They’d landed at Heathrow and taken two cabs to the hotel. But throughout the drive, Eleisha had seemed more and more surprised—and appalled—to find that London was just another big, dirty, crowded city.
    Wade got out of the taxi and reached to help Rose step down to the sidewalk. Not for the first time tonight, Philip made a mental note to insist Wade buy himself a more fashionable coat. He was wearing a brown canvas jacket with big pockets, and the bottom hung at an awkward angle below his hips. Seemingly unaware that he resembled a bumpkin, Wade looked around. “Oh, good. Better.”
    Apparently, he was of the same mind as Eleisha. What had they expected? At least seven million people lived here. Some of it was going to be seedy.
    But Philip had handled the hotel reservation. He always stayed here on trips to London, and he knew Eleisha would like their suite.
    She walked over to Rose. “Are you all right?” she asked.
    “Yes, let’s just go inside.”
    Eleisha took her hand, and they walked to the doors while Philip paid both drivers. True to his word, Wade had managed to keep Rose quiet and calm—almost asleep—the entire trip. Although he wouldn’t admit it, Philip did find the prospect of having Seamus entirely at their disposal to be a relief.
    A bellhop came to get their luggage. Philip and Wade followed him inside and up to the suite.
    “Philip,” Rose said, stepping through the door. “It’s beautiful.”
    The suite was split level with one bedroom upstairs and one on the main floor. The color scheme was cream, brown, and light burnt orange. Most of the fabrics were silk, and a crystal chandelier hung over an antique coffee table in the sitting room.
    Philip had already decided that he and Eleisha would take the upstairs bedroom, Rose could sleep in the main bedroom, and Wade could sleep on the couch. Wade never minded that, and it was better for them all to stay together.
    Eleisha reached down to touch a silk throw pillow, and Philip just watched her, expecting to feel another wave of satisfaction that his greater knowledge of the world was finally useful. But the room was so familiar to him that, without any warning,