Spell Robbers by Matthew J. Kirby Page B

he could see it. Clearly. She didn’t know him.
    “Can I help you?” she asked.
    This wasn’t possible. This could not be happening. He hadn’t believed Agent Spear when he’d said she wouldn’t know him. But now that he’d seen it for himself, it felt like something had broken loose inside him, something jagged and sharp, migrating around in his chest. He couldn’t help it, he started crying.
    “Oh, I’m so sorry.” She got up and came over to him. “Here, what is it, who are you looking for? Let me help you find them.”
    He shook his head. He swiped at his tears with his sleeve and got himself back under control, even though the pain was still slicing through him. “I’m okay,” he said. “I’m fine.”
    “Are you sure?” She looked at the bandage on his head. “What happened to you?”
    It was her. Her eyes. Her nose. Her smile. But he wasn’t him, not to her.
    “It’s nothing. I’m fine,” he said. “Ha-have we ever met before?”
    “Hmm. I don’t think so. Is your mother another teaching assistant? Or a professor?”
    “Teaching assistant. But I think I got the wrong office.”
    “Do you want me to help you find her?”
    “No.” He pulled away. And that hurt, too. “No, I’ll just call her.”
    “All right. But come back if you can’t find her.”
    “Okay, thanks.”
    “Wait. Before you go, what’s your name?”
    “Ben,” he said, his own name catching in his throat.
    “And what’s your mom’s name?”
    He hesitated. “Heather.”
    “Really?” She smiled. “What a coincidence! That’s my name. If she works in this building, maybe I’ll run into her sometime.”
    “Maybe you will,” Ben said.
    He left, and he could feel her watching him stumble down the hallway. Once he reached the elevator, she gave him a little wave and went back into her office. He pushed the down button, and ended up on the first floor without even remembering the elevator ride. Maybe she just needed time. Time to recover from whatever they’d done to her. To him.
    Outside on the street, he turned toward home. He’d go and wait there, and see how she reacted when she saw him in their apartment. She’d either be normal about it, or he’d really freak her out. Either way, he had to try.
    He passed a campus newspaper someone had left on a bench, and the cover headline caught his eye. It was a story about a gas explosion in the basement of the Castle. No one was hurt, the article explained, but the building was old, and discussions were under way about whether to tear it down or renovate it. The article also mentioned that Professor Madeleine Hughes of the Physics Department, whose lab was at the epicenter of the blast, had been missing since the accident, but that she was not believed to have been present at the time. No mention of him or Peter.
    Ben threw the paper in the trash and kept walking.
    He reached their apartment a short while later, but found Agent Spear leaning against the door like a tree.
    “What are you doing here?” Ben shoved past him to get to the lock. “I could call the cops.”
    Agent Spear stepped aside. “You could. But that won’t end well for anyone, including you. How will you feel when your mom denies you’re her son to the police? What’ll happen to you then? The cops will take you, they won’t be able to find your parents, and you’ll go into the foster system.”
    Ben pressed his forehead against the door. “This is insane.” He squeezed his eyes shut, and punched the door hard. “Why are you doing this to me? She needs me!”
    “Not anymore, son.” Agent Spear put a hand on Ben’s back. “She never knew you.”
    “But she’s here.” He thrashed the agent’s hand away. “If she never knew me, how come she’s still here and everything is the same?”
    “Detachment doesn’t undo cause and effect. It just breaks the connection of her consciousness and yours.”
    “But I remember her.”
    “And you always will, I’m afraid.”
    Ben clenched his