“I…” I ran a hand through my hair. “I think that I grew up.” Turning my head to peer at him, I said, “I started going to school and listening to my classmates, and I…I quit believing.”
Sadness choked me. Was I the reason my gran’s life had become so lonely? So devoid of human contact? As Sky scooted closer, cuddling into my side and throwing one leg over mine, Patchy disappeared, along with the picnic basket, leaving only our water bottles and the blanket underneath us.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, King. You know that, right? It sounds like Gran and Pops wanted to give you as normal a childhood as possible. And kids forget. Look at Chance. His mom never stopped practicing her connection to the dead in front of him, but he stopped believing it, too. Even with it happening in front of him, he forgot the beginnings of his own gifts manifesting as a child.
“Maybe there’s a reason you forgot. Maybe you were supposed to. But you remember now, and you’ve got me. We’ll figure it all out together. You, me, our friends. You’re not alone in any of this now.”
I wasn’t, was I? I had a support system. A tribe who’d accepted me as is. Who cared about me and worried about me. I enveloped Sky in my arms—my favorite place for him to be—and inhaled his sweet citrusy scent, and let myself rest.
“King,”Gran called out, softly tapping on my bedroom door.
Blinking awake, I immediately missed the weight and warmth of Sky cuddled into my side, half on top of me. “Yeah,” I croaked, then cleared my throat. “Come in.”
She cracked the door open enough to stick her head in and look inside tentatively. “Oh, Sky’s not here?”
“What? No.” I sat up and dug at my eye sockets, trying to wipe away the last vestiges of sleep. “Why would he be?”
She stepped all the way in and flipped the switch, turning on the overhead light. “I don’t know. I guess I expected you two to spend the night together more.”
I sighed. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure Sky had expected the same thing. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to spend the night. If I went purely on instinct, I would’ve packed my bags and moved in with him from the start. But I didn’t want to saddle him with me and all I came with if he decided that being a tether wasn’t what he wanted.
Gran snorted, drawing my attention. “You’re a silly boy, my little prince.”
“Why? What? Huh?” She couldn’t know what I’d been thinking.
She sat down on the side of my bed. “He’s not going to change his mind about you.”
Or maybe she did. “Are you a mind reader?”
She cackled, leaning over and kissing one cheek while patting the other. “At times, but not with you. You’re my grandson, and I can read every worry that crosses your face.”
“Great,” I muttered. “But, Gran, seriously. He didn’t grow up with any of this. It’s like all brand new. Sure, he’s excited right now, but what if?—”
“He’s your soulmate, Kingston,” she said sharply, cutting me off.
Exasperated, I huffed. “Exactly. And that’s my problem. So he gets no choices? He came to Willowhope to live near his best friend. Sure, everyone says he had a crush on me?—”
“Including him,” she interjected.
“But that doesn’t mean he was looking for forever without any choices,” I continued like she hadn’t interrupted.
Her wrinkles bunched as her brow furrowed on her beloved face. “That isn’t how it works. King, this is a gift. Not everyone meets their soulmate. Most people don’t even know it’s a possibility, and here the goddess has brought yours to you. This is a time to be thankful. To embrace your destiny.”
I still had so many questions. So many things I couldn’t wrap my mind around. I started to respond, argue more about Sky deserving time to really figure out how dreamwalking would affect his life, when all the memories of my childhood flooded my mind again, and I gasped.
“Gran, will you tell me the story of the girl and her owl. It’s been so long.”
Her eyes went misty. “You remember?”
Feeling a little weepy myself, I nodded. “I do.”
“Oh my.” She stood up, a single tear streaming down her cheek. “You get up and around while I make breakfast, and then we’ll have a nice chat.”
And we did. She explained the presence of the black cauldron that had cramped one side of the counter in my childhood being back where it belonged and how assorted candle scones now dotted the walls. How a shelf that I’d remembered the night before that hadn’t been there in years once again existed on the wall above the table, lined with small purple jars with brown cork tops and my gran’s handwriting scrawled on the white labels on them.
She explained it all, and it was…awesome!
Chapter 2
