I huffed, then we both turned back to observe the now quiet child, snuggled back into her mother’s arms. The pacing continued, and she was back again in the land of sweet dreams.
“We did a good thing here,” Sky said.
I nodded in agreement. “I wonder why she was so aware of her spooky, though. She definitely knew it was there.”
Sky leaned into me harder. “Mhm. Probably because her little spirit is so new, and no one’s told her not to believe in things yet. Gran said the closer people are to their spirit side, the more impacted they’ll be by what happens in the Dream-veil. Don’t think her little soul can be more connected than now.”
I hummed in response, squeezing Skylar closer to me. There was so much we didn’t know. So many questions that needed to be answered, but Gran was still being pretty tight-lipped for some reason. And I had to admit that scared me more than anything.
Chapter 1
King
“King!”Sky yelled, jumping up and wrapping his legs around my hips.
Chuckling, I caught him. “What are you so happy about?”
His big, happy smile grew broader. “This is my favorite place in the Dream-veil.”
Glancing around the creepy field, I pulled my head back to really look at him. “Are you feeling okay?”
He giggled. So fucking adorable. “Yes, but when we have to send some spooky on out of someone’s dream, we don’t really get a chance to hang out.”
No, that was true. We’d ended up in several more people’s dreams since the night we helped Ego, but honestly, we pretty much had it down now. I still wasn’t sure what the whole Sky being my tether thing was about since it seemed to me like his biggest job was summoning his psychopomp to get us what we needed and send us home.
My stomach rumbled uneasily about the whole hanging-out thing. I knew Sky wanted us to spend more time together after work or on the weekends, and I wanted that too, but I still struggled with the fairness of it all. The birthmarks proved that him being part of this—my dream world—wasn’t actuallymy fault, but like soul mates? Those weren’t supposed to be real, and what if all of the excitement of this new journey was making him think or feel things that?—
“Earth to King.” Once he knew he had my attention, he tilted his head. “Where did you go?”
“Sorry.” I set him on his feet and gestured around us. “I guess I’m just wondering how we keep ending up back in this place when there’s nothing here.”
Which was true. I hadn’t actively been thinking that, but I was curious. Since Sky had been joining me in this space, the field surrounded by trees, I hadn’t been assaulted by bugs or anything. There were often the sounds of animals moving restlessly in the distance and the conspiracy of ravens, but that was it. We just came to this space and stood. Like he said, it was nice to hang out with him under the light of the moon, but also eerie.
“Too bad we don’t have a blanket or something to sit on,” Sky said. “We could have a picnic by moonlight.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Good grief, how could one human be so adorably attractive with every move they made? “Too bad your familiar doesn’t join us here. He’d probably get you anything you asked for,” I teased. That little psychopomp-pup was crazy about Sky. When we weren’t sending a spooky up into bits, he bounced at Sky’s feet or hung out in his arms, licking his face.
Sky’s face went contemplative. “Hm. I want to try something. Patchy,” he called.
“Patchy?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yep,” he said, popping his P. “I’ve decided that his name is patchy to match his coloring. Perfect, don’t you think?”
My response was cut off by the arrival of yips of joy as the pup—Patchy, apparently—appeared at Sky’s feet. My…boyfriend immediately dropped to his haunches and stroked his magical beast. “Hey, boy. Hi. You came. I didn’t know you’d appear if we didn’t need you. I’m so happy to see you.”
The two of them celebrated being together, and I smiled, watching them, but keeping one eye on our surroundings. Patchy hadn’t ever joined us here before, and a part of me was suspicious that he’d shown up this time because there was trouble lurking nearby.
“Hey, boy. I know you have a big, important job to do here, but it doesn’t look like there’s any trouble on the horizon. Do you think we can have a picnic?”
Patchy’s face tilted quizzically, eyeing his master with interest.
“I’m not sure he knows what you mean,” I volunteered.
Sky smiled brightly. “Of course. You’re so smart.”
I felt my face flush from his compliment. It didn’t seem like that big a leap to me, but Sky made me feel like every word out of my mouth was so special and important. It was so…nice. I knew Jetty and Gran loved me, and for years, they’d been the only two who didn’t make me feel like I was the odd man out when I spoke. But Sky was the only person who’d ever made me feel like the things I shared were worthwhile and important. Like I was insightful or something.
Honestly, that was part of what concerned me. Maybe the little crush he’d had before had exploded into more only because he thought my dreamwalking ability made me interesting and unique.
