Sky:Although, if Iwasa spirit, then I could come see you whenever I want. You wouldn’t be able to keep me out.
Perplexed, I stared at his message, unsure what to say to any of that. He had a point about Mr. Harry. Chance’s butler had inhabited Willowhope Manor for well over a hundred years. No one knew that house or what it had been through better than him. At one point, when he was still alive, he’d even gone from being the butler to the owner of the grand home. These days, he helped Chance run the place.
I heard Gran’s shuffling steps, so I pushed down the idea of asking Sky why in the world he’d want to haunt someone as boring as me.
Me:My gran’s back. I’ll see you tomorrow. Please tell Mr. Harry thank you.
That would have to do for now.
Sky:Alllllright. I guess that means you can’t at least talk on the phone. I’ll see you tomorrow, King. Sweet dreams.
I ignored the way his calling me King felt as special as Gran calling me little prince and set my phone face down. Getting up, I met her at the doorway and took the mug from her trembling hands.
Once I had it, she reached up and patted my cheek. “Get ready for bed before you drink this, my little prince. It’ll put you under pretty quickly.”
I bent down and kissed her paper-thin, weathered cheek. “Okay, Gran. Are you going to bed, too?”
“I’ll stay up until I know you’re peaceful. In case you need me.” She smiled serenely, then left the room. She often said cryptic things like that, and I really had no idea what she meant. It wasn’t like she sat at my bedside.
Sleep tugged at me, pulling me under. I really hadn’t been getting enough rest at night in the months since Chance—and his family—had banished the specter haunting Beckoning Pond, the pond out at the back of the property line. The ghost had been killing innocents, and even though it was gone, my dreams had gotten stranger and more confusing.
In the past, I knew the places my nighttime wanderings had taken me. Or, at the very least, I recognized the countryside surrounding me. But lately, it was as if something was calling out, wanting…me.
I whippedmy head around at the field I was standing in. I didn’t recognize this area at all, except that I’d been here in my sleep the last several times I’d dreamed. It was disconcerting not to know where I was, so I stayed put, spinning in circles. There was an ominous heaviness in the air that had the hairs on my arms standing on end. What was this? What was going on?
I’d been seeing things while I slept for longer than I could remember, but it wasn’t like this. Never like this. In the past, I’d always felt like I was hovering over the top of a place, almost like I was flying overhead in a small aircraft, staring out the window. I observed the location and stored all the details I could remember in my head to record for when I woke up. But I never felt completely there. Not like an actual part of the landscape.
There’d always been clues to the location to research, as well. I knew the small town I grew up in like the back of my hand. With a living population of around 4500, it was hard not to. There were very few places that I hadn’t dragged Jetty with me to explore.
I didn’t recognize this spot, though, and it scared me. Almost as much as feeling the physical ground solid beneath my feet and the wind as it blew briskly against my face.
Was I in danger of becoming trapped here?
Had I been sucked into an alternate universe?
As much as I’d always geeked out on what my nighttime wanderings had shown me, I didn’t want to be stuck in them.
I loved my life. Sure, there weren’t a lot of people who would notice or care if I faded from existence, but there were some. My boss would notice if I stopped coming to work. We weren’t especially close, but he knew he’d be hard-pressed to find someone who enjoyed working in town records the way I did. As a historian at heart, I never got bored. There were always old records to research and interesting tidbits to find.
Then there was my best friend. Jetty didn’t need my friendship like he used to now that he had Chance, but we were like brothers.I didn’t have family outside of my gran, but even I knew that the bond Jetty and I had found was unique and special.
And last but not least, there was Gran. Who would take care of her if I disappeared out of existence? She’d stopped leaving the house years ago, and we rarely had company. How would she function? How would she live without me to take care of her?
A gnat landed on my face, startling me, and I smacked at it. Out of thin air, a cloud of them swarmed my head. Slapping at them, I jumped back and left the spot I’d been standing in this…space…for the first time. When I looked up, all thoughts ofgnats left my mind as I stared into the horizon at the outline of a mansion. One I knew that I’d never seen before. Holy goddess above, had I truly left Willowhope?
Fear paralyzed me, and I bit my tongue against calling out for help. Who would come to my rescue? I was alone. Completely and utterly alone…
Chapter
Three
HighPriestess
Kingston’s rustlingvibrated through the dream world. The young man’s powers had woken, manifesting far quicker than those before him. His fear was palpable and would awaken those who rode the veil between life and death, those who fought for a place back on the side of the undead.
Loading a brass censor with trident-shaped openings that swung from a golden chain with an incense blend that would calm and soothe him, while awakening him slowly, I made my way to my sweet prince’s room.
“Move slow, my love,” my favorite voice said in my ear.
