Elyse snickered, but Gran shot him a sympathetic look. “You’re going to encounter many things in others’ sleep that you’d rather not see. It’s not just the aberrations that will give you pause.”
Pops enclosed her inside the safety of his arms again, and I wondered what that was about. I sighed. “I’m going to need time to wrap my head around this.”
Now Pops’ face went sympathetic. “Unfortunately, this won’t really be your choice, King.”
Gran shook her head. “I’m sorry, my little prince. I’m all out of remedies in my bag of tricks. You’ve met your”—she exchanged a quick glance with Pops—“tether.” She dipped her head toward Skylar. “The other half for your dreamwalking journey. If you don’t plan and take him with you, then you’ll end up there alone, which is dangerous. You could get trapped.”
“Well, I’m not letting that happen,” Skylar said, conviction in his tone. He leaned into me. “You’re stuck with me, partner. I’ll learn everything I need to know and keep you safe.”
My grandmother’s gaze met mine triumphantly, and I finally understood why she’d shared the fullness of my gift in front of him. I’d known people were wrong, that my gran wasn’t as crazy as many of the town’s people thought, but now I saw something in her I’d never known before.
Rosie Porter was a crafty ol’ gal.
Chapter
Fifteen
Skylar
It ended up being a long,longday. We spent hours in the dining room while Gran and Pops told us some of their adventures. As the day continued, Kingston’s shock slowly wore off, and he was able to ask questions coherently, even listening to the answers without pushing back—too much. I thought my involvement might be his biggest sticking point.
Kingston had grinned from ear to ear when his grandparents told us about their courtship, but the shadows in his eyes hadn’t faded, and he’d wanted me where he could see me at all times.
I didn’t hate it. In fact, I loved it. But the fact his walk last night had involved me had him so rattled that his vigilance was starting to freak me out more than I already was.
On the one hand, this was cool as fuck. I was the tether, anchor, support, or partner to a Dreamwalker.How badass!Also, uhh…I was more of a friendly ghost type guy. The evil spirits we’d encountered had really freaked me out.
“Are you sure you want to spend the night at my house?” I asked the big man in my passenger seat. We’d had dinner witheveryone, and then he’d grabbed an overnight bag when we dropped his grandmother off at home.
“Sorry. I kind of have to.”
“Because Gran said?” I questioned him again. He’d avoided answering that question multiple times since I found out he intended to come home with me.
“No, not Gran.”
“Elyse, then?” Once Chance’s mom had shown up in a swirl of color, knowing better than all of us the right questions to ask, information really started to fly around.
“Not Elyse, either,” he finally said. “I can’t let you go home alone because of me. I…I need to be with you so I know you’re safe.”
“Why won’t you tell me what you saw last night?”
He shook his head. “I will. But not yet. First, I need to wrap my brain around everything my gran told us today. It’s…”
“It’s a lot.”
“It is, and I don’t want either of us to end up doing something we’re not ready for,” he said stubbornly. He was talking about the tea concoction his grandmother had sent home with us. She’d said when we were ready, we could drink it together, and I’d be able to walk with him in his sleep. I’d wanted to do it immediately and see what he saw, but Kingston wasn’t ready to go down that road yet.
I had faith we’d get there eventually, so while his gran’s winks and nudges gave me hope that Kingston and I would end up together, maybe, hopefully, he still needed time. It was tough when I simultaneously wanted to cuddle into his lap and comfort him or climb him like a tree and ride him all night long.
At my house, we went straight into the kitchen, and Kingston flung the homemade tea bags on the counter and sighed. Since I was staying in Jetty’s old house, I assumed he knew the placeas well as I did. Not sure if we were actually making the tea, I gestured around vaguely. “Help yourself to anything you need.”
He nodded, settled down into a chair, and thrummed his fingers against the table. “I’m so sorry about this…craziness.”
“It’s not your fault.” I sat across from him. “If what your grandparents said is true, this was like, inevitable once we met.” I thought about how rattled he was. “I think I should be apologizing to you.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why in the world would you need to do that?”
“Without me, your powers wouldn’t have evolved. Your life would be simple.”
