But how do I verify any of these ideas for a fact?

Am I not just back to square one, speculating and musing?

I recalled how his knowledge had come to the surface when faced with me using that exercise machine incorrectly. It had sparked some memory deep within him. A familiar situation. In his previous life, he had been around gym equipment… Just as he must have been around England for at least some period of his existence.

What if we took him to a familiar setting?

What if we took him to England? And more specifically, the IBSI’s headquarters?

I immediately saw a glaring problem with that. I did not know how many bases the IBSI had in the United Kingdom. How would we know which one he had been a part of? I supposed that the headquarters would be a good place to start… But that could lead us on a wild goose chase if it was not the right one.

Not to mention the risks taking him there would pose. Especially since we would need to get close enough in order for him to recognize the setting… How close exactly?

It was not so easy for us to enter IBSI’s headquarters. Fae were the only species we knew for certain could bypass their hyper-sensitive alarm systems—and only those who were fully fae, at that. I would not be able to get away with it, being half human and unable to transform into a subtle state like my father could.

Still, nobody seemed to have any other ideas regarding how we could move forward with Josh. There would be no harm in suggesting it to Shayla and seeing what she said. We could go to wherever the headquarters were—I believed they were in London, though I would need to verify that with the witch—and then play things by ear. Who knew? Maybe simply taking him to his home country would draw back a whole slew of memories, and we might not even need to approach IBSI’s territory. That would really be best…

Grace

Early the next morning, I found myself sitting in Shayla’s kitchen while she threw together a quick breakfast for herself.

“So is that where IBSI’s headquarters is in England?” I asked her. “London?”

“As far as I know,” she said. “At least, that’s where they used to be.”

“Then what do you think?” I asked, quirking a brow.

She took a seat at the table opposite me, a serious expression on her face as she munched on a bowl of granola.

“I think your logic is sound,” she said after a pause. “Taking him to his home country could very well be the trigger that we need, since it seems that whatever memories are buried within him have to surface naturally, rather than being forced by our artificial means… But—assuming that he really was a hunter, which is a rather big assumption—as you say, depending on how close we have to take him to hunter headquarters, this plan could come with a lot of risks.” She paused for a swig of orange juice. “That said, I don’t see any harm in taking him back to England and seeing what happens. We might not need to make it as far as their headquarters. We could check into a hotel somewhere, I suppose… But we would obviously need to keep a low profile. We can’t have anyone recognizing him.”

“You would need to forge some IDs for us, I guess?”

“Yes,” she replied, “if we’re to stay in a hotel… I’m assuming that you haven’t mentioned any of this to Josh yet?”

I shook my head.

“Right.” She stood up, downing the last of her orange juice. “Okay, we’ll do it. Just you, me and Josh.”

She dumped her bowl in the sink before grabbing her handbag and touching my arm. She transported us to the hospital kitchens, where we picked up some breakfast for Josh before heading upstairs.

As we entered his room and approached Josh’s bed, I immediately noticed something different about him. He looked terribly ill compared to yesterday. There was not even the slightest warmth to his cheeks—he was pale as a sheet.

“Josh?” Shayla said. “You feeling okay?” She placed an arm around him and propped him upright so that he leaned against the headboard.

“I’ve felt better,” he said dryly.

“Let’s give you some of this warm breakfast.” Shayla poured out a bowl of soup, but when she handed it to him, he shook his head.

“Really not hungry,” he muttered.

“Try to eat something anyway,” Shayla pressed.

He took the bowl from her reluctantly before gingerly raising a spoon to his lips. Then he retched, though thankfully, he didn’t vomit. He spat the soup in his mouth back into the bowl. He shook his head again, returning the bowl to the witch. “I can’t eat anything now.”

“I wonder why,” Shayla muttered. “Grace said that you were eating solids only yesterday.”

“I don’t know,” he replied, resting his head back. “I wasn’t feeling all that hot last night, but when I woke up this morning, I had an awful stomach pain—still have.” He grimaced.

Shayla and I exchanged worried glances.

His eyes turned to me, an almost apologetic look on his face. “Won’t be able to visit your gym this morning either,” he said.

I cleared my throat. “Josh,” I began, even as I considered that now was probably the worst time to be talking about a trip since he was feeling so unwell. “Shayla and I have been talking. Neither the witches nor jinn have made any headway in forcing your memories back so we were thinking that we ought to try taking you somewhere… To your home country, England. London, specifically, at least at first. That’s where the IBSI’s headquarters are located. We’re hoping that it might trigger something… you know?”