Page 39 of Their World

Mason grabbed my arm, stopping me. “Do you swear you aren’t interested in him?”

“Who?”

“You know who,” Mason whispered.

Turning to face him, I set my hands on either side of his face and said, “I am not interested in King Jolmach in a romantic or sexual way.”

“I know I will share you with my packmates, with Trey and Kayden, but I do not want to share you with others,” Mason whispered.

Squishing his cheeks, I said, “Silly, birdie, I don’t want others.” Spinning on my heel, I skipped out of the barn, looked over my shoulder and said, “Come on, I’ve got to tell them my plan.”

When we returned to the house, I was glad to see everyone present.

“I have an idea,” I said to get everyone’s attention.

“Besides creating portals on your own?” Mason taunted.

Mom and Dad’s eyes widened.

“You didn’t?” Mom gasped.

“I can’t create portals,” I said and waved my hand dismissively. “Listen. Here’s the plan. Mom and Dad are going to go with me to the demon world, straight to the castle to speak to Jol … King Jolmach. We’re going to explain everything to him. Then, we’re going to come back, get the necklace, and go back to him, pretending it’s our first time talking to him and Jol is going to threaten us and fight Mom and Dad, convincing the Grand Advisor, who will be watching through the necklace, that the war is still on. Jol will continue to play along with the farce, but when we face off on the day of the war, we will instead work together to defeat the Grand Advisor. Once he is out of the way, then we can help with their world’s regrowth.”

“Why Caleb and Ember?” Grandpa Nico asked.

“Mom can create portals to take us to and from their world. Dad can fight the best and is the most resistant to siren abilities. And I will play the pathetic little princess bringing not just her king and queen, but her mommy and daddy to talk to Jol to try to keep the peace.”

“I’m going,” Mason snapped. “You promised.”

“You’ll have to stay in bird form,” I said.

He nodded. “Fine.”

“There are so many ways this could go wrong,” Riddick said. “I don’t like you three going without more backup.”

“More backup will look like an invasion,” I countered.

“How are you going to get there first?” Grandpa Nico asked. “Neither of them has been there to be able to create a portal.”

“I’ve been there and I can share that memory with Mom.”

“Wait, what?” Great Aunt Leona asked.

“Yeah, what?” Mom asked.

Looking down at the table I said, “That’s one of my other new powers.”

“Speak up, brat, we can’t hear you,” Great Nana Kara said.

“It’s one of my other powers,” I said louder and raised my head. “I can share memories directly to another person’s mind.”

“How many other powers are there that you haven’t told us about?” Dad asked and folded his arms over his chest.

“I don’t know, a few.”

“Ticks on a tortoise, Lily. Why haven’t you told us about this before now?” Mom asked.

“There are some things that happened while I was at college that I don’t want to relive, okay?”

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