Chapter 5
Agatha suddenly threw away her hand, and her steps were light and fast, like a ghost wind, floating forward. Billy followed closely behind, looking back at Rio that was getting farther and farther away, while jogging to try to keep up with Agatha's light steps that were almost not touching the ground. The sun shone through the gaps between the leaves, shining on the two of them in a mottled manner, but it seemed unable to dispel the haze in Agatha's heart.
"Agatha! Agatha, wait for me! Where are you going?" Billy tried to reach out to grab Agatha's clothes but caught nothing.
Agatha seemed to be in another world, turning a deaf ear to his call. She looked straight ahead but didn't pay any attention to anything. She pursed her lips tightly, and the corners of her mouth drooped slightly, revealing a hint of bitterness that was not easily detected. Her eyes moved quickly, and she fell into deep thought, with her fingers curled up slightly on both sides of her body and trembling slightly. It was an indescribable fragility and helplessness, completely different from Agatha's usual strong and cold image.
"Agatha! What happened to Rio? She seems to remember nothing - she doesn't even remember me, the "rule breaker". Was she like this before? Agatha, did you do something bad to make her lose her memory?" Billy asked a series of questions like a string of cannonballs, trying to get a clue from Agatha.
Agatha's boot heel suddenly scraped against the rock, and the sudden stop caused the gravel to fly. Billy was caught off guard and bumped into her back, his knees hit the stone surface heavily, and the dust raised a golden mist in the morning light.
"Why did you stop suddenly?" Billy patted the dirt on his body and stood up, muttering, and when he looked up, he saw Agatha glaring at him.
"I shouldn't have agreed to help a kid who can't even walk steadily to find Toby who is not sure whether he is dead or alive! Secondly, how can you say that I did something bad? Why don't you think that it was because I sacrificed myself to save you, a "thief who destroys the sacred balance" who shouldn't exist in the world, that Rio was angry and caused her to become this pitiful, stupid and naive? Or, it is because you destroyed the balance that our respectable goddess of death now remembers nothing!" Agatha floated in front of Billy's nose and shouted loudly. Her voice exploded in Billy's ears like thunder. With every word she said, she pushed Billy back a step until his heel hit the stump, causing him to stumble back and almost fall to the ground again.
"Hurry up, if you keep falling every three steps, Toby's bones will be drumming when you find him." Agatha said without looking back, and the heel of her boots crushed a few dead leaves. She took three steps and turned around suddenly, and her cloak spread out like a crow's wings. "One last thing! I fucking hate people yelling at me. I'm DEAD, not DEAF! Understand!?" Billy was nailed to the spot. He looked down at the shadow in front of the tip of his shoe - the edge of Agatha's cloak was trembling slightly on the ground, like the last spasm of some dying creature. He swallowed his saliva and followed silently, stuffing countless questions and the finger that almost touched the ghost back into his pocket.
What happened to her? Did she really remember nothing? - Agatha thought, reviewing all the knowledge in her mind but couldn't find any reason to explain Rio's amnesia. Agatha didn't want to believe the fact that Rio had lost his memory. Well, although they did quarrel, fight and even avoid each other (of course, Agatha's one-sided) after Nicky's death, they were indeed not "ex-wife relationship" - theoretically, neither of them mentioned divorce, so their marriage status was obviously in a state of continuation - being able to be the only partner of death actually made Agatha proud of herself.
"It's not just amnesia..." Agatha's fingertips suddenly pinched into her palm.
"What?" Billy stopped suddenly, "What did you find out? Rio - is the world going to be destroyed again?" He opened his arms in panic and blocked Agatha, like a frightened baby bird.
Agatha's expression froze. Damn, she actually let out her true feelings. She took a deep breath and slid her fingers from her eyebrows to her lips. This habitual action always helped her regain the illusion of calmness.
"Listen, teen," she slapped Billy's arm out of the way, "Rio is...damn wrong. Amnesia? That's the least of it." Agatha's voice suddenly became dry, "She actually feels pain - real pain. The goddess of death, the embodiment of the law of the universe, is shaking with pain now. Not like us before -"
"Agatha! There are still people here who are not yet adults!" Billy immediately covered his ears: "Please don't give me more psychological trauma, okay? Thank you!"
Agatha's fingertips tapped the air impatiently: "Rio shakes with pain whenever she tries to remember - other than that, she looks like a perfect goddess of death." Her tone was full of stinging sarcasm.
"Is this why you didn't tell her your name is Agatha, Agnes O'Connor?" Billy suddenly opened his eyes wide, "Isn't she your ex-wife? You are still so concerned about her feelings and her condition? You still love her, don’t you?"
Agatha's ghost body suddenly materialized and grabbed Billy's collar: "Listen to me, teenager: First, we are not divorced in either legal sense or witch rules; second, I don't love her but it doesn't mean I have no feelings for my wife. You saw what happened before I died; third, I am a considerate and good woman; fourth-"
She suddenly let go, and her ghostly fingertips slid across the translucent curve of her neck: "My wife is really fucking hot, is this reason enough?"
Billy wanted to say something in disbelief, but in the end he said nothing.
"Let's go, leave here quickly. If a group of people want to catch ghosts and do some strange spells, I believe there will be a second group or even more people who want to do this. It's not safe here." Agatha glared at Billy, left him and floated forward in a hurry.
Agatha's fingertips unconsciously stroked the new name - "Eyre Livingston", and each syllable was carefully considered between her pale lips and teeth. It was similar enough to "Rio Vidal" to satisfy her pathetic selfishness, but strange enough not to cause pain. How thoughtful, how ironic.
Eyre now wore the same emerald green robe as before, and her eyes were still the warm brown that would put sunflowers to shame. When she looked at her with those puppy eyes, Agatha's ghost body actually had the illusion of a heartbeat.
"Damn it." Agatha closed her eyes suddenly, and the sunlight penetrated her eyelids and dyed her retina blood red. She suddenly remembered that when Nicky first saw Rio after his death, the goddess of death was also wearing a green robe, but her eyes were filled with anger and sadness instead of smiles.
(When did her sunflower turn into thorns?)
She knew that she had to let go of the past and face reality. But how easy was it to do this? Her heart was full of contradictions and struggles, as if she was bound by invisible ropes and could not break free.
But I don't love her. I really can't love her anymore.
"I hate you." Agatha whispered to the void, her voice so soft that it was blown away by the wind as soon as it came out. She had said this for hundreds of years, but at this moment, she could not taste the slightest hatred.