Page 40 of Enchanted Kisses
“Close your eyes,” Raysa said, gentle as always.
I did, already feeling light and lifted from the earth. The scent of strawberries grew so strong, I could almost taste them on my tongue.
My skin thrummed with burning electricity. Instead of wincing, I breathed through the uncomfortable sensation.
We dipped as if falling, but quickly evened out. Soon, I stood on solid ground and the fruity breeze faded away.
“Ta-da!” Raysa sang. “How’d I do?”
Hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion, I opened my eyes and staggered to my bed. Face first, I plopped onto the mattress.
“That bad? And here I thought the trip had been smooth. Granted, it’s been awhile since I traveled with a human…sorry, half-human. And the realm to Georgia is a bit of a journey. But look at you.” Raysa sighed.
I rolled onto my back and brushed a tangle of brown hair from my face. “Wow, Rays. Always the perfectionist. If it makes you feel better, the trip was much nicer than when I’d traveled with Caiden.”
“Yay.” She clapped and dropped onto the bed beside me. “The next time will be even smoother. It gets easier each time you travel. Soon,crossingwill feel like nothing.”
“Crossing? That’s what it’s called?”
“It’s fitting, don’t you think? Being that wecrossfrom one place to another.”
“Crossing. Sentries. Gods of Souls,” I murmured. “It’s all so fictitious. I can’t believe the stories Caiden had told me were real, and that I’ve known the truth this whole time. I always thought his stories were elaborate.”
“Or perhaps, something about them always seemed real to you. It’s natural that you’d instinctively be drawn to them…to us, even.” Raysa puckered her lips with thought. “What did Caiden have to do to get you to believe?”
“I was easy,” I said. “All he did was glitter and flash his eyes a few times and give me back my memories. That was pretty much it.”
“What about when he removed his glamour? What did you think then?”
I could tell by her grin that she thought I’d be pleased.
“That was harder to accept.” I made a pathetic face.
Her brows shot up. “You gave him a hard time about his looks? Only you, Lily. Only you.”
“Let’s talk about something else.” I checked the time. 4:15 a.m. I couldn’t believe we had gone to a different realm and returned before morning. “Crazy.”
She pulled her hair over her shoulder and combed it with her fingers. “What’s crazy?”
“All of it. My dad. Mymom. My life. Everything is going to be different now, isn’t it?”
She put her hand over mine. “It’ll be fine. You can handle it. You’ve been dealing with unexplainable phenomena your entire life. It’s just that your eyes weren’t open to it before.”
That was one way to look at it. “So what happens to me now? I don’t want to move, but won’t I have to join a realm?” The thought of leaving Dad was terrifying. It wasn’t like I expected him to come with me—I didn’t even know whether he could. But according to Caiden’s stories, all supernatural earth-beings had to belong to a realm.
“Not right away.” She gestured to the room. “You can stay here for a while—until the end of the semester perhaps. But your dad can’t know anything. It won’t help him, and Dr. Eve will have to erase his memory of what you tell him anyway.”
“It’s not fair.” My lip quivered. “He didn’t do anything wrong. He fell in love and had me.” I couldn’t help but feel like I was the cause of his doom, even though Caiden had insisted I wasn’t.
“Life, whether it be supernatural or not, is never fair. But it’s not as if you can’t visit your dad after you leave. Think of joining a realm like going away to the University of Georgia, like you planned. This would be for much longer of course, but you can still visit him like you would if you were away at college.”
“I was only going to transfer if he was still doing well, remember?” I’d resigned myself to staying here and working at the nursery full-time, pushing off my bachelor’s degree for however long was necessary if Dad relapsed again and needed me.
“Lily?” Her tone dropped to a serious octave. “You need to understand something.”
I gave her my direct attention.
“You can’t be forced into a realm, but you can be tricked into one. You have to be cautious of everyone. Both realms want you, and both can be persuasive.” She paused. “If the Realm of Death got their hands on you, it would be detrimental for you and the world.”
