Once introductions were done, Booker looked at Harry and Buck, licked his lips, then asked, “You introduced them, right? Harry and Buck?”
Smiling, I said, “Yes, I did.”
“But you know they’re not really there, right? Which doesn’t make sense unless we’re all having the same hallucination.” Then his eyes filled with tears. “Oh no. I’m still dreaming, aren’t I? Is this a new vicious attack? It knew I was scared and lonely,so now I’m seeing people who aren’t here.” He bowed over, wrapping his arms around his head.
Alarmed, I glanced at King for help. He came right over and put a hand in between Booker’s shoulder blades and patted gently. “You’re not seeing things. We should’ve warned you about the ghosts.”
Booker stayed bent over but peered up at me. “G-g-ghosts?”
I hunched down in front of him. “Considering what you’ve been dealing with at night, you can’t possibly doubt the existence of spirits.”
“I…I guess I’ve never thought about it.”
I held out my hand and waited for him to take it. He hesitated, then placed his palm in mine, and I stood, helping him to stand back to his full height.
He stared at Buck and Harry, and that same shy grin appeared as he waved over at them. “Hi. I’m Booker.”
Harry strode over and bowed smartly at his waist. “Master Booker, it is a pleasure to meet you. Please let us know if we can do anything to make your stay here more enjoyable.”
Booker’s gaze darted around. “Oh, I don’t want to be any trouble. I won’t be here long.”
Not wanting to have this conversation right now, I led him over to the table. As I sat him between me and Ego, his eyes widened again. “You’re Ego…like Ego, Ego. Oh my gosh. You’re famous.”
My idiot cousin started that slow smirk that drove fans wild when Scotty came over with a stack of plates and slammed them onto the table. His lips were tight with disapproval, and Ego dropped the popstar act and held out a hand to Booker with an authentic, friendly smile.
“Hi, Booker. It’s nice to meet you. I just learned about ghosts, too, and well, pretty much everything that’s not supposed toexist outside of books and movies, so we can be mind-blown together if you’d like.”
Booker nodded tentatively. “Yeah, that actually…might be helpful.”
Elyse and Gran stared across at each other, having some sort of silent communication—unless they could speak telepathically. But no, they’d tell us if they could do that, wouldn’t they? Yeah, of course.
Anyway, Gran looked around the table, bestowing a warm smile on each of us. “Elyse is going to offer this morning’s gratitude and then let’s eat before we hit the heavy stuff.”
The nod Booker gave Rosie was full of relief. Now that he’d taken a shower, he probably wanted to eat and then get some sleep. Hopefully, as a former tether and a High Priestess, Rosie would have an idea of how to give him some uninterrupted shut-eye.
Elyse placed one hand on top of the other on her chest, above her heart. “We are so grateful today for our loved ones and those assembled with us. We’re grateful that we’re here to nurture each other, support each other, and bear each other’s burdens. We’re grateful for these privileges and opportunities and don’t take them lightly or the people chosen for us for granted.” She offered each of us a kind smile and followed it up with, “Now let’s eat.”
Chance stared down at his mom until he caught her eye, then he smiled at her with such love and pride on his face that I knew everything that had happened in Willowhope since we’d arrived had healed their relationship. Elyse winked at him, then they started filling their plates.
Booker had been so unsure and tentative since the second we met him, and I wanted him to eat and enjoy his meal without pressure, so I filled a plate with all the goodness before us and set it in front of him. “Don’t force yourself to eat what youcan’t finish.” I pointed down at Patchy. “He’ll happily clean your plate.”
“Thank you,” he whispered, and I was glad I’d taken the initiative. I didn’t want to be pushy or overbearing, but I’d been the new kid at school more times than I could count, and I remembered how nerve-wracking it felt. How many times I’d worried about every move I made, and he’d been through enough. I didn’t want that for him.
We all tucked in, pointedly focusing on eating instead of staring at Booker. Stevie appeared at one point, surprised to see Ego back, and they ended up chatting about all the things my cousin had managed to accomplish since he left here yesterday. It was a surprising amount, and as much credit as I had to give Delaney for arranging his schedule, I was in awe that my cousin had done all the things and was still moving. He’d come straight here as soon as they’d finished up, so he’d been awake a full twenty-four hours.
As we finished up, Harry waved to everyone to stay seated while he cleared the table. Gran suggested we all tell a little about ourselves instead of forcing Booker to give his story, and so we went around the table. Since we’d barely gotten a chance to give Ego too many details, he and Booker both had a lot of questions that we all happily answered.
“So that’s how you two ended up in my dreams?” Booker asked.
King and I had gone last, explaining the Dreamwalker and tether to him. “Yep,” I said. “We’re sorry we ditched you that first night, but we’re so new to this, and we didn’t know how to help you.”
“Wow.” Booker shook his head. “I can’t thank you enough for coming back. Even if you can’t save me from that thing, it’s nice to know that I’m not losing my mind.”
“No, baby, you’re not,” Gran said. “Now, why don’t you three fill me in on these dreams?”
Booker told her what he’d been experiencing, and we filled her in on our end.
“It sounds like we’re dealing with a mimic, and my boys will one-hundred percent be able to help you after I tell Sky what to do,” Gran said when we were done.
