Spells for Forgetting

August searches his mother’s home for records, remembering his life with her after his father, Calvin, left them. Noah comes to his door and welcomes him back. He tells him that his wife, Emery’s mother, has passed away and kindly asks August to avoid Emery while he’s in town. August agrees.

Emery goes to see Nixie, who is making candles. Emery helps with the process while they discuss the day’s events. Nixie is concerned about her and says that her relationship with August was “no ordinary childhood love” (88). She accidentally mentions the town where August lived after Saoirse Island, and Emery realizes that Nixie knew where he had gone. Nixie confesses that Emery’s mother and August’s mother wrote to each other for years. Betrayed, Emery goes home and looks through her attic until she finds the letters from August’s mother. She learns that he and his mother changed their surname from Salt to Somerfield.

Emery processes her discovery and remembers the months she spent searching for August online, hoping to find where he went. Eventually, her parents confronted her and told her to stop looking. Emery goes to see her father with the letter and learns that he knew where August was but hid the truth from her.