“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking over at my cousin’s bestie and my new friend.
The women in the circle didn’t even look up, hands locked as they stayed chanting some nonsense about some goddess giving the guys the strength and tools they needed to break the mimic free and return to us.
Panicked, Chance shook his head. “I don’t know. Sky’s twitching and he’s leaking tears.”
“What do we do?”
We both looked at the four women, but they still seemed to be lost in their own world. Pops appeared at Chance’s side. “Gran’s incense.”
Chance looked around and pointed at the swingy gold lantern thingy she’d brought over and waved around the house right after all three of them had fallen asleep. The smoke that had come out of it had smelled woodsy with hints of lavender.
I ran over, unsure if it was full or how to light or refill it or what, but Chance was right. My cousin was crying, so something was going wrong in that Dream-veil, and we had to support them on this side in every way we could. I grabbed the incense burner and looked at Pops. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Bring it to me,” Chance said. When I reached him, he stood up. “Switch me spots.”
As I sank to my knees, Sky’s face contorted and his body shook. King’s mouth opened in a wordless scream.
“Fuck! Someone help them! What do we do?”
The female chanting grew stronger and louder as Chance lit the incense and began to swing the thingy over the two of them. “Sing, Ego. You have to sing.”
Startled, I glanced from my two chargers up at Chance. “What? Why?”
“If I’m not mistaken, it’s your gift. You’re a sound witch.”
“Uh, what now?” I asked.
“No time for that, son,” Pops said. “You have to sing from your heart. Let your intuition guide you and give your cousin some of your strength.”
They made no sense, and I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. Who in the hell ever heard of a sound witch? But now wasn’t the time to argue about it. If they thought it might help, then who was I to argue?
Placing one hand on each of their shins, I closed my eyes, pushed down feelings of inadequacy and stupidity, and let the words that rose up inside of me fall from my lips. I’d do anything for Skylar, and I certainly couldn’t lose him, so maybe…hopefully, this helped.
Chapter 26
Sky
“It’slike we’re twins, you and me.
“They can’t see that you belong to me.
“You’re truly my brother from another mother.
“And it’s your love that carries me.
“Don’t ever leave me,brother of mine.
“My world would cease to shine.
“So always fight, to come back to me.
“And together, we’ll fight to be free.”
The wordsof the song Ego had written for us as middle schoolers rose up inside of me, overtaking the voice of my father. This ghoulish creature was nothing, and it couldn’t have King!
The slit it had opened was stretching wider, oh so slowly, as my candles held up, giving me more time. If this didn’t prove to King that he had something powerful, then I didn’t know what would. The only reason this dumb creature had even been able to open a space to get out of this pocket of the Dream-veil was because he held King.
“Go ahead, Sky. Why don’t you cry and give me some more of your excuses about why there’s nothing wrong with you. If that was true, your boyfriend wouldn’t be about to die here in the veil. Or should I take you over, you soft, weak man? I can leave the other weakling and become your echo instead. Go back in your body and let this tasty morsel be mine.”
