Pops shook his head. “No, son. This involves all of us. Gran and I aren’t sure how details are being hidden from us, especially her. I have spirits I check on and such, so I left early this morning, hoping that visiting my usual haunts would spark something.” He frowned. “It didn’t. I checked in with my Rosie after you all met this morning, and then went to speak to the Lorewarden in hopes he could shed some light on your current predicament since I can’t remember the part I played while Rosie worked her magic.”
“I thought the High Priestess said in these types of situations, it’s all up to the magic user. That all the Dreamwalker does is get you both to the Dream-veil. Isn’t that right?” Jetty asked.
Pops nodded slowly. “It sounds right, and there are things I can clearly remember, like doing what you’ve done with thespookies so far, King. But other things are like trying to see through a dense fog.”
I’d come in here concerned for Sky, but now I felt genuine fear. I kept expecting Gran and Pops to reveal more, help more, but if they were having issues with their memories…why? What did that mean? A whole new fear cropped up. One for my gran. It had been just the two of us—as far as I knew—for as long as I could remember. Could their forgetfulness have something to do with her and her health? I couldn’t handle something happening to her now. The idea of living life without her was more than I could handle. I needed her.
Lost in our thoughts, Pops and I were quiet and pensive. Jetty studied the ground, gnawing on his bottom lip, also lost in thought. I was glad he’d stayed around today. Between his stabilizing presence and knowing that everyone I cared about was under one roof, helped me. It didn’t solve anything, but I couldn’t even imagine how antsy I’d be if we weren’t all here.
When the clang of the door’s bell tolled, I stood immediately, ready to hear what Malcolm had to say. By the time I got to the front door, Gran, Sky, and Elyse were coming in from the main family room. Chance came trotting down the stairs, with Ego and Booker in tow. Henry appeared, ushered us all back into the family room, and disappeared to gather the rest of the family.
Sky and I sat closely in one corner of the couch. With his thigh pressed to mine and the silky smoothness of his palm nestled in mine, I took a deep breath. We were all here—together. Sky and I weren’t flying completely blind or doing this all on our own. We had found a family who would guide and support us as much as possible. I needed to hold on to that.
After introductions had been made, Malcolm shook his head, clearly bemused. “I’ve met ghosts in my time, but this is the first time I’ve been in a room with this many.”
“It’s our family,” Buck said proudly.
Macolm’s gaze trailed around the room, taking us all in. Even Trixie had joined us, which, with her and Stevie’s attachment, that tracked. A quick look at Scotty showed that he didn’t look particularly worried about her presence, so hopefully, his big brother splitting his attention wasn’t bothering him.
My gran stood up, completely in High Priestess mode, and made eye contact with each one of us as she said, “So Lee and I have some questions. Of all gathered here, at the moment, I’m the most experienced and powerful. There’s an issue with our memories. I’m not quite able to catch the fullness of what happens across the veil. I’m also worried about how long it’s been that way. I feel certain”—she focused on me—“that when King’s gift first manifested, I knew more than I do now.”
She shook her head. “Whatever, that doesn’t matter. Our first priority has to be helping Booker, which also means giving Skylar and Kingston whatever pertinent information we can. The Nightwell Grimoire had a section on containing mimics.”
“Containing?” Chance asked curiously.
“Yeah,” Sky said. “Basically, I’ll have to trap it.”
“Wow. Okay.” Booker rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you know how to do that?”
My man rubbed his hands together gleefully. “I do now. I’m going to practice this afternoon, but we’ve got this.”
My gaze moved to Elyse, seeking reassurance that he had a right to be as confident as he sounded, and she gave one sharp nod of her head. Well, okay then.
Malcolm hummed. “Yes, so I found that in our records, so I’m glad to have confirmation. While I didn’t find anything specific about the Dreamwalker’s role in this situation, I did stumble upon something interesting that I think you need to take heed of, King.”
He sounded super-serious again. He was using his Lorewarden voice as opposed to my usual laid-back boss at thetownship. “It’s important that the Dreamwalker stay behind the tether.”
“Why?” I asked. Everything in me balked at the idea of hiding behind Sky. He was mine to protect. The truth of that settled into the very marrow of my bones, and I squeezed his hand.
“From what our records show, the mimic’s only way to exist in this plane is to come through a living vessel. For that to happen, it breaks down its victim.” He frowned at Booker. “Sorry.”
Booker waved him off. “It’s fine. I don’t think there’s a nicer way to say it.”
Malcolm nodded. “So the mimic targets someone who it thinks can be easily manipulated so it can…possess their body, for all intents and purposes. As the name suggests, it mimics the words and the sound of the voice that will hurt its target the most. It can also imitate the look of the person its representing. All of these things weaken the vessel to give it an entry point.”
“Have you ever seen the mimic?” I asked Booker.
He shook his head. “No, and I looked for it when I first started hearing the voice. Since it sounds so much like my stepmom, I thought she’d found a way to stalk me even in my sleep.”
Sky blew out a breath, leaning heavier into me. “I can’t trap it if I can’t see it.”
“So then what are we supposed to do?” I asked, feeling my temper spike. It felt like we were all talking in circles.
“We’ll help Sky with his part, King,” Elyse said reassuringly. She turned to Booker. “I know you’re untrained as well, so we thought you might like to sit in this afternoon while we work with Sky.”
For the first time since we met him, Booker perked up. “Really? That would be awesome.”
Malcolm cleared his throat, drawing our attention back to him. “As I was saying, Kingston, you have to stay back. Once Sky begins the process of containing the mimic, it will try to flee. You”—he stared pointedly into my eyes—“are the only one it can take with it, and youwillbe out of our reach and trapped in that plane.”
