Chapter 1: Visitor of Silver

For a small price, a Collector can make you remember things you have never done.

In 1815 England, Meera Sterne defies societal expectations to play the dutiful daughter, marry into a rich family, and become the property of a man. Instead, she runs away and trains under the aloof and distant Aurelius Mackleberry, spending her days buying and selling memories.

A stranger visits her trainer for a crime from years gone. Aurelius Mackleberry owes a debt with his life -- and his time has run out. Meera must unravel the violent and bloody past behind the wonders of Collecting memories and save the life of a man destroyed by his own magic.

For Open Novella Contest 2020.