Page 87 of Zero Happily Ever Afters

“Yeah.” I chuckled. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. I use my magic without asking, too.” Ben paused. “I like to put up a barrier sometimes. Before bedtime. When Milo isn’t here. When…when you’re not here.”

“You don’t ever have to worry about The True Witch,” I said. “I would never allow her to touch you again.”

I wouldn’t allow her to harm anyone I cared about. I’d track her down the second my magic had fully healed.

Ben’s thoughts stirred to the raccoon-eyed dragon guy that spit fire at the ocean and killed the water with flames.

“You know, my branch will always wash away the ocean.” I knelt so my eyes met Ben’s. “I know that arcane branch is scary, but my telepathy is badass.”

Ben smirked at the ‘whoopsie’ word, reminded of how his mommy would say more whoopsie words when his daddy was at work. Then he thought about how scared his parents looked when the ocean hit them first when all their eyes saw was water.

“But what if the ocean comes back when you’re not here?” Ben asked in a whisper. “You can’t always be here.”

How I wanted to lie and say I could be here whenever he needed me, but I didn’t know how things would change in the coming weeks. Soon, the administration would have an official decision on how to handle the loss of Gemini Academy; I was certain I’d end up working over the summer or onlineor something creative and exhausting to make up for the lost learning time. God, I couldn’t even think about that can of worms right now as it opened up a whole new set of headaches. My students… How were they handling this?

“You’re right,” I said, feeling defeated.

Not the same defeat I felt when The Sisters Three had attacked, not the aching desperation to fall into my subconscious and disappear, but I did struggle to meet Ben’s gaze. I didn’t have an answer that would erase his all-consuming fear, fear that’d evolved into terror, terror that would soon swell into dread, dread that’d eat away at the last embers of joy that burned in this kid’s heart.

Milo or Finn would know what to say. Even if they didn’t, they had this enthusiasm, this joy, that carried people through the worst of bad news and kept them afloat. I’d never been like that. I scoffed, wondering how many of my personas had that type of positivity.

My personas.

They were asleep for the most part, declaring they didn’t need or require the return of magic to the subconscious. They had their shadows, they rested as the universe intended, and they believed I was finally ready to handle the full force of my telepathy.

But there was one who would gladly accept a piece of my magic, who would offer kind words, who would help because I’d made him to be the best friend I never found as a young kid.

“I’m gonna do something strange.” I scrunched my face. “It’s a psychic thing.”

“Like something Mr. Milo would do?”

“No, sort of a telepathy psychic thing.”

“Oh.”

I gestured with a single raised finger. “Hold, please.”

Which was ridiculous since time stilled to a damn near halt once I nosedived through my inner core down into the shadows of my subconscious.

It’d changed since my last visit, no longer a land of solid, locked darkness, but more of a murky waterless sea. I floated, drifted, swam through the abyss. Without my magic lurking in this place, it’d become a lot like other subconscious minds.

This place was infinite, endless, but I snapped off a tiny fragment of magic, allowing the purple light to guide me in the dark. This wasn’t some simple piece of magic I’d tossed aside. No, I’d conjured it with a directive to find the one persona I knew could definitely help Benjamin.

Weaving around other slumbering personas, the light finally reached the small boy who helped shield me from a big scary world with a goofy smile and a silly story for any occasion.

“Dorian.” Nico’s face lit up as his eyes glowed purple from the restoration of magic I’d offered. “How can I help you?”

“Not me. Well, I mean sort of me because I don’t know what to say to someone else who is actually the person you’re gonna help. Maybe. Sort of. Whatever. It’s probably a bad idea.”

“Words are difficult to find sometimes.” Nico nodded in this annoyingly kind way. “Searching for the right words can be a lot of fun, though. It’s like a treasure hunt for happiness. If you find the right words, you can make someone’s day brighter.”

“Ugh.” I shook my head. “How’d you come from my brain?”

“Just lucky, I guess.” Nico led the way out of the abyss, and we leapt back into the world.

When we jumped out of my thoughts, time had barely passed.

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