Insight: Web of Hearts and Souls #1 (Insight series 1) Page 3

  Chapter Two

  My father put his arm around my shoulder and we began to walk in the direction of our house. His mood was shifting. He wasn’t as uptight as he was before. It was almost like I felt surrender in him. He’d decided dreading whatever was bothering wasn’t going to stop it, facing it head on would save him the misery.

  “Willow…you’re a gifted child, and I’m not talking about your creativity,” he began.

  My body tensed. I’d rehearsed exactly how I’d tell my parents about my weirdness, but I always chickened out before I said a word. It wasn’t cool knowing I’d stressed about something for no reason. Did they really know?

  “The gifts you have come, in part, from me,” he said in his familiar peaceful tone.

  I slowly glanced up and noticed the proud grin he saved just for me hugging the edge of his lips.

  “Which ones?” I asked warily.

  “Well, I cannot feel the soul of others, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  My stomach dropped. Did everyone know? Feel the soul of others, his rendition of what I did seemed more poetic.

  “There are many empaths, Willow. You should never feel alone.” His arm tightened a bit around me. “Here, I’ll admit, I doubt many come close to the clarity of your ability. It’s time for you to be proud of this, to stop managing your symptoms and take control of how divinely you’re made.

  Once home, Dad led me around the side of the house through the back gate. As we passed by he knocked on the kitchen window to get my mother’s attention. Her excitement and anticipation rattled me. Rarely was I as eager about something I was signed up for as she was.

  All kinds of scenarios were clamoring in my mind. Everything from being signed up for some ghost hunt to being tested in a special ability hospital—forever erased from my life.

  My heart hammered as I sat down in a patio chair and swore to myself that my parents loved me too much to send me away—or unveil me and my weirdness to the world at large. I could believe this all I wanted, under it all I knew an awakening was about to slam into me. I’d expected it near daily when I was little, right when I figured out how different I was. The day never came, no one said a word, but I never let the fear go that one day ‘a talk’ would come.

  I knew my mental freak out was causing me to feel things that were not real, but right then I’d swear the star on my wrist was burning my flesh as the largest spotlight in existence focused on it.

  No nightmare, no star, no talk.

  That freaking demon was about to turn my life upside down. He’d successfully broken into my reality.

  Mom made her way out to the patio with three glasses of tea and set them around the table. She then ran back inside and returned with her phone, iPad, and laptop. I kept my eyes down, waiting for her to settle. When she did, Dad continued.

  “Do you want to what I can do?” he asked, settling in next to my mother,

  I met his stare, silently answering.

  “I can see what is wrong inside the body.”

  “Anything?”

  A shallow nod.

  “You’re a really good doctor.”

  Maybe this was a college talk? A course change? No New York? I could use this empath trait in a career choice like he did with his ‘gift’?

  “Do you have a weird gift, Mom?”

  “Oh, no, I wish. I’m from this dimension,” she said innocently.

  My father closed his eyes.

  “Um...do what?”

  I wasn’t totally freaked yet. Mom liked to talk about breaking into a zone when she found a creative flow. For all I knew she was calling it a dimension these days—I avoided all ‘creative’ conversations with her like they were the plague. It was the way she said it, and how I watched my father tense like he was expecting an explosion of emotion, that had me even more on guard.

  “Grace...we haven’t gotten that far yet,” Dad said under his breath.

  Mom’s eyes widened, as her anxiety built.

  I sat forward in my seat. “You mean an actual ‘dimension’ not a state of mind? What are you trying to say? I’m part—alien? Seriously, you guys better be messing with me.”

  Nope, this was not ‘the talk’ I’d imagined. I expected weird, but not this weird.

  Dad leaned forward and put his hand on my knee.

  “Willow. Listen, you’re not an alien. This is your plane of existence.” His grin was pained. “You’re blood is from a different part of it, that’s all.”

  That’s all? No. This was not real. Wake me up!

  I squinted my eyes closed willing myself to shoot up in my bed. Maybe that was it? I never woke up this morning. I was still having a wicked night of dreams. My mind was trying to reason why the nightmares were back. That’s all.

  Dad patted my knee to get my attention, shattering the dream hope I was pushing. “Listen, when you do what you did tonight, you’re using a string, and those strings connect other dimensions. I’m from a different one.”

  “String—?”

  He cleared his throat. “This is a lot. I get it. It’s fine to be disturbed, but it’s not okay to deny you didn’t sense how different you are from others. How aware you are.”

  A not so comfortable silence fell over us. Dad had a way of making crazy not seem crazy. He called it as it was. When what was bothering me was right there in black and white I knew I was never far from reaching a balance. Getting the issue in black and white was the hard part.

  “Ready?” he asked when he saw me relax a bit. I was overdue to get me right. I was over outrunning myself.

  I must’ve nodded or something because he said. “The string is like a hallway that leads to other doors, and behind those doors are dimensions much different from this one. Honestly, I do not completely understand the way you’ve taught yourself, but you do pass through the string.” His eyes raced across my confused expression trying to gauge how I was grasping this revelation.

  I went to speak a few times before the words finally came. “Those—those people I help are normal. They don’t look any different than we do,” I claimed. I was only half lying. They may look as human as the next person, but I never got what culture they came from. Some seemed futuristic, others like they were in the past. Hardly any fit the world I knew.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  “These dimensions are only different because of the choices made as a whole,” Dad assured.

  “Wh—why are you telling me this now?” I asked unconsciously rubbing my wrist.

  Dad glanced at Mom, then back to me. “It is time to go home,” he said quietly.

  “What? This is home. This town is perfect, safe, and beautiful.”

  No. No. No. I was not leaving my safe zone. Not until I had a chance to absorb this reality check.

  “My dimension would make this world humble in its beauty.”

  “Why are we here? Why have you had us live a lie? Why have you not told me that I’m not crazy for all these things that I can do?” I stood up and shifted my weight back and forth. Mature thoughts were no longer holding back the rightful reaction anyone would have when they were about to be ripped away from all the knew.

  Dad shifted in his seat and looked at Mom. She smiled, encouraging him to go on. My father then stood and put his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. His hazel eyes had shifted to a light green, which matched the tranquility I felt coming from him now. He smiled faintly, “My dimension, Chara, has a trait: we all leave to find our soul mates. We are driven by a feeling deep inside.”

  Oh dear God, the only thing I could think about when he said that was my blue-eyed boy. Every part of me seemed to become aware at once. What if I could find him? What if he was real? A wave of heat washed over me—my body was humming. I was more willing then than ever to hear Dad out. My blue-eyed boy got me in a silent world. I knew he could get me anywhere. I needed that right now. I needed to feel like I wasn’t alone. Like I could handle anything.

&n
bsp; Dad grinned when he saw my eyes light up, he let his hands fall from my shoulders.

  “I left at twenty to find your mother. When she decided she would rather live in my dimension, I went to find another traveler to help me lead her home. The storms inside the string closed my passage. I found other passages over time, but by then you were born. It was safer to stay.”

  I knew this man. He was holding something back. Like details. “Storms,” I repeated, still not understanding what a ‘string’ was.

  “Not like rain and thunder. The string is made of energy; it flows, sometimes too aggressively. We always guide a new person home with the help of a seasoned traveler. If our dimension is not in your blood, all you will see is darkness. It can be frightening,” he said, glancing back at my mother, trying to warn her of what she would have to face.

  “So, is the storm over now?”

  “Not really. We just think it’s time,” he said as I sensed dread saturate his emotion. He wanted to go home, but he wanted to go on his own terms. Something had pushed him. Me, it had to be me.

  “If you couldn’t get Mom there, then how are you going to get us all there?”

  “I met a friend of mine, Ashten, last night. He’s on his way home to get his family. They’ll help us all get there.”

  Shifting my eyes between my mother and father, I tried to imagine what they were not saying. I didn’t trust my imagination right about then.

  “What’s your plan? For us to just vanish? I have friends here. I have a life here. We all do.”

  “Willow, trust me,” Dad said in the same fatherly tone that had always pushed me to do something I was terrified of.

  “What are you not telling me? You didn’t just wake up this morning and say, ‘Gee, I think I’m going to tell Willow that we’re from another dimension, ha ha, she will love that,’ did you?”

  My mother stood and put herself between my father and me.

  “We’ve been thinking about it for a while. Libby is already six. We want her to grow up there.”

  “Why didn’t you want me to grow up there?” I asked sarcastically.

  “It was just different then,” Dad said.

  “Sure.” I breathed, pointing out how unbelievable that response was. “Same storms, storms bad enough that you need an entire family to help us abandon our lives. But now is better than then. It was better for me—,” my voice became thick with emotion as my eyes filled with tears I wasn’t going to let fall. “—it was better for me to bring people in my life. Love them. Better for me grieve for them as I deal with this bombshell.” I swayed my head. “There’s no reason you could have worth the pain I’m about to go through.”

  I expected shame, perspective—something to flash into their emotions. The unwavering course they remained on promised me whatever their reason was, my pain was worth it. A necessary sacrifice.

  “Listen,” Dad said as gently as he could across his firm tone, “We were told someone very dark was in the string. It wasn’t safe for you then or now,” a sea of deep emotions swarmed through him. “If I have one chance to take you to dimension in your blood, I’m going to take it. You need this, Willow. More than I’m ready to tell you.”

  He dropped his head; the regret for how this was all playing out was obvious in the expression of his body. “I wanted you to have all the time you could in this part of your life. You deserved to understand the human condition the way this dimension teaches it.”

  “Teaches,” I repeated.

  He lifted his eyes. “The youth of this dimension displays elements you will find in each you visit. You were safe, learning an unspoken lesson.”

  “I’m happy,” I pointed out through emotion that was threatening to flood me.

  “You will be happy and safe where we are going.”

  “If we get there, right? Gotta make it past the darkness and storms in some passageway full of energy. We gotta get Libby through that, she’ll never understand what’s happening. I can’t even make it click.

  “Ashten has very strong boys. They are the elite of the travelers from Chara. They’ll make sure we weather the storms and make it home safely.”

  Mom wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “Willow, tomorrow we’re going to tie up some loose ends, then the next day we’re going to go home where we belong.”

  “Are we never going to come back?” I felt the tears burning, begging to fall.

  “We’ll come back to visit, but we belong there,” Dad said.

  “What am I supposed to tell my friends? I have known them my whole life. You want me just to disappear, like they mean nothing to me?”

  As I spoke, both of them were shaking their heads no.

  “I’ve called all of their parents tonight,” Mom said. “I told them you were accepted to a school in Paris. They’re happy for you.”

  The phone rang, and my mother reached to answer it. When the person on the other end of the line spoke, I heard her begin a well-practiced goodbye speech.

  Too stunned and angry to ask any more questions, I rolled my eyes, then turned and stormed into the house before running to my room.

  I pulled myself into a ball on my bed and swayed back and forth. I thought everyone I knew, how they got me through things without even knowing they had. I thought so long and so hard my head hurt and somewhere in the middle of it the tears fell as I started to mourn a life I wasn’t ready to let go of.

  I heard something hit my window not long after I found dazed quiet with my thoughts.

  Knowing it was Dane; I wiped my eyes as I walked to the window. I quietly opened it and climbed out onto the rooftop. Having done it more times than I could remember, I grabbed the branch of a large oak tree by my window and made my way down, feeling Dane’s anxiety as he braced himself to catch me if I fell. Once on the ground, we walked quietly to the edge of the yard where we sat on a small bench. Dane’s pained emotion grew heavier. I knew then my mother had already called his.

  “You know, you were supposed to use the nightmares to keep you from going to New York, not send yourself to another continent,” Dane whispered.

  “I don’t think we’re going to find an excuse to keep me here,” I uttered, covering my face with my hands, trying to hide my raging emotions.

  “You’re eighteen, you could just tell them no.”

  “Yep, and you could tell your mom that you don’t want to have anything to do with that diner.”

  It wasn’t that we were afraid to go our own way; it was just that we had no idea what we were supposed to be doing. Until that moment came, we would listen and follow.

  “What am I going to do without you, Willow?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe if you’re not hanging around me so much you might find a girlfriend,” I teased.

  Dane crossly glanced my way.

  “What? I know Monica still has a crush on you,” I said, trying not to laugh out loud.

  “Monica likes everybody,” Dane bit out, rolling his eyes.

  “Hey!” I said in her defense, even though it was true.

  “I didn’t mean it in a mean way. She’s not what I’m looking for,” he said as he leaned forward.

  “You’ll find her,” I promised, rubbing his back.

  “I’m going to tell you something weird, Willow,” he said letting his gaze meet mine.

  I wasn’t sure how much more “weird” I could take tonight. “I’ve never seen you as more than a friend,” he said with a ghostly smile that held volumes of memories of the two of us. “But, I get this feeling that if I stay close to you, I’ll find what I’m looking for.”

  We sat in silence for a while, staring at the night sky.

  “Dane, will you do me a favor?”

  He glanced at me, surprised that I had to ask.

  “Will you watch out for Olivia while I’m gone?”

  Dane nodded, understanding why I was so concerned. Olivia had lost her parents when she was only ten. She now lived with her cousin Hannah. Those two
could not be more different. I think I’m the only one that understands Olivia and that’s only because I can still feel her grief and loneliness.

  “You’re coming to the lake tomorrow, right?” I asked.

  “I have to work most of the day, but I’ll meet you guys out there after my shift.”

  “They said we were staying that long?” I thought we were just going to get some sun and go home, but I hadn’t read a text in hours. The plans could’ve changed a hundred times. Monica’s planning skills were erratic and always evolving.

  “Yeah, they’re supposed to build a bonfire. I think a lot of them are camping out. It’s supposed to be a big farewell thing for you.”

  “You know I love you guys, but I’m not sleeping out there,” I teased, elbowing him.

  “Ahh, come on. You’re not scared, are you?”

  Just then, the back porch light kicked on and my father opened the door. I felt a little anxiety rise inside of Dane. My Dad stared in our direction. A surge of confusion came from him. Dane stood with me, reaching for my hand as he walked me to the patio. He hugged me then politely nodded to my father before he left.

  I kept my eyes down and passed by Dad. I made it halfway up the stairs before he said anything.

  “Willow.”

  I stopped mid-stride, then turned to look at him standing at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn’t understand what he was so confused about.

  “You can feel the way I feel about your mother and the way she feels about me, right?”

  I lifted a brow to point out the obvious yes to that question.

  “Do you feel that way about Dane?”

  “Yeah, right, not even close, Dad,” I said as I started to climb the stairs again.

  “Are you sure? If you did, that would change everything,” he said, climbing the stairs after me.

  I froze and looked down. It would be so easy to lie right now and say that I did, but would they let me stay here, where I knew it was safe?

  “How?”

  “I told you that our dimension believes you are supposed to be with your soul mate. If you feel that way about Dane, then he’s your soul mate, and we were wrong about you,” he explained.

  I sat down on the step where I was standing. The emotion between my parents is beautiful. It’s a love that’s unconditional. I felt that way about the blue-eyed boy I’d dreamed of. I couldn’t remember ever not loving him.I would even say that I loved him more, but then I realized that my father had let something slip.

  “Who was wrong about me? What am I?” I demanded as my body tensed.

  Dad sighed, as he climbed the few steps between us and sat down next to me.

  “I’m going to tell you a story,” he said.

  Trepidation washed over him.

  “Every dimension has different beliefs, rulers, and ways of living. There’s one dimension, Esterious, which is very dark.”

  My heart began to hammer as my nightmares flashed in my thoughts.

  “This entire dimension is ruled by the Blakeshire empire. The ruler of the empire is a man named Donalt. He has ruled that dimension for longer than anyone can remember.

  “When I was young, I was a traveler. We had taken numerous people to that dimension.” His eyes drifted to distant memories. “It always felt like a rescue mission rather than a love story.”

  He paused and looked over at me, grief echoed in his emotion.

  “We had never brought home someone who lived in the palace—a single noble, but a good friend of mine, Justus, came to me and told me it was his time. He wanted my help to bring his soul mate home, so I went with him. Esterious didn’t unnerve me, it was the approach to the palace.”

  Dad’s eyes turned green as he smiled, remembering his friend.

  “Justus walked to the gate of the palace, like he didn’t have a fear in the universe. There, on the inside walking by, was a young, beautiful girl. Justus looked at me and said ‘That’s her…’”

  He paused.

  “Long story short, she came home with Justus. Her name was Adonia, and her father was Alamos, Donalt’s highest and most trusted priest. The rulers regent, second most powerful being.”

  My father stared down at his wedding band.

  “Shortly after this I left to find your mother. What I know was told to me by Ashten Chambers. The story is every time Adonia would go home to see her father, they would ask her and Justus questions about our blood lines—how we traveled, where we went, things like that. Justus became convinced that old lore about Donalt was surfacing as truth. That Donalt was more than a man but a powerful evil intent to overcome other dimensions as richly as he had taken Esterious. Alamos was in his employ. Until Justus could understand the threat, he forbade Adonia from going home again. She missed her father, she kept dreaming he was hurt...she convinced another traveler, Livingston, to take her home. When Adonia arrived she was held captive. Livingston rushed home to tell Justus, and Justus, Livingston, and Beth, Livingston’s soul mate went to bring Adonia home.”

  His sorrow intensified. He stared at the floor as he continued, “When it was over, Livingston carried Justus’s body home. No one really knows what happened to Adonia or Beth. Ashten said that it’s been very difficult for Livingston since that day.”

  Dad paused swimming in a burdened guilt as he thought back over another life he had.

  “Years later, a little boy was seen alone in the strings. Livingston warned the people in Chara that Donalt and Alamos were controlling this child. I assume the little boy was Justus’. I don’t know any other way he’d be able to travel the strings.”

  Dad glanced to me, his eyes searched over my face carefully. “Livingston told Ashten that the child was looking for a girl that was born in the eleventh month and could feel the souls of others.”

  With those last words, my heart thudded deep and slow in my chest. I was born in November, and I guess you could say that I could feel the souls of others. As his eyes continued to search over my expression, it was easy to see that he was looking at his little girl, not the young woman that I’d become.

  “Over time, Ashten managed to learn how to navigate through the storms. He found your mother and me just after your sixth birthday. We knew that you were a powerful empath. We were living in one of the largest dimensions in the smallest town, hundreds of miles from any real doorway. We thought if we stayed here, you’d never be found by anyone from Esterious.”

  My mind replayed the last nightmare I had; the memory of the suffocating pain on my chest and the burn made itself known in the tense stance my body took. It was easy for me to see this evil world my father spoke of. I was easy because I was sure I’d been there, often.

  “Willow, are you okay?”

  “I don’t understand…why was some kid in another dimension looking for me?”

  “You’re a direct descendant of the first recorded people in our dimension. Livingston believes they’re trying to control a prophecy first made millions of years ago.”

  “What prophecy?” I asked with wide eyes, wanting to know what they were protecting me from.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said quietly. I could feel him struggling with a mix of emotions. Fear was there, and that was not helping me feel reassured at all.

  “Then why are you worried about it?”

  He grimaced. “You have to understand, they not only predicted your birth month they predicted the day, hour, and the very minute.”

  I continued to stare forward. My stomach was turning. The thought that I’d have to face that figure in real life one day was petrifying. I didn’t understand what I had done to deserve this.

  “Willow, the stars can be read a million different ways. They do not state our lives. I wanted to shield you from this in order for you to live a normal life.”

  Did he really think I had a normal life?

  “You could’ve at least told me I wasn’t insane. Do you know how hard it is for me to be in a large room with everyone’s emot
ions hitting me like a ton of bricks? Try and imagine puberty with my friends. That was not awesome. Not to mention the fact that people would appear out of nowhere, needing my help. Do you know I was convinced they were ghosts until I was like eleven?”

  “You hid the struggle well,” he said remorsefully.

  I closed my eyes. I knew it didn’t matter how angry I was. It wouldn’t change the past.

  That was the one good thing about this sixth sense of mine. I always knew where someone was coming from. I knew if they meant to hurt me or not.

  “My nightmare is the reason you’re telling me this, isn’t it?” I stated, looking down at my tattoo with the star inside the loop of the Ankh.

  Dad reached over and gently grasped my wrist, looking intently at the star as he spoke. “It was predicted that on the Blue Moon of your eighteenth birth year, all those who seek you would find you.”

  “All?”

  He gently moved his finger across the star.

  “I assumed the prediction meant your gift would be magnified and you’d be able to help more people. When I saw this mark, I realized that the prediction meant that the child would finally find you.”

  “ ‘Blue Moon’?” I asked wondering when that was and how I could outrun it.

  He let go of my wrist and looked me in the eye.

  “A Blue Moon is the second full moon in a month. It’s not very common.” He glanced down as his anxiety grew. “We only have eleven days remaining until the Blue Moon will rise. I want you safe in Chara when that night comes.”

  Eleven days.

  As far as I knew I had eleven days to live. That was enough to kick me into shock. “What if I didn’t have that nightmare?” How long could I have hidden from that demon in my dreams?

  “At twenty it would’ve been time for you to find your soul mate. I’m sure one way or another, nature would’ve showed you what you are cable of, even if I wasn’t ready for you to know.”

  “Why is twenty the magic number?” I was not a fan of uniformity, in any form. This rule sucked. It meant another two years before I’d find my blue-eyed boy, if he were even real. I had every reason to believe I would not be here then. I couldn’t see past the next eleven days.

  On one hand, I could be happy I knew him in my dreams. On the other—the one my emotions were clinging too out of self-defense—it would’ve been easier to make it through this not mourning him too. The boy gave new definition to unfinished business.

  “No one made a rule. That’s just when most get this urge. It’s undeniable…it’s all you think about,” he said, leaning back and smiling.

  “How do you know where to go? People can’t find each other in one dimension, much less several.”

  He stretched his legs out on the steps and looked at me.

  “Travelers can see several passages, but the others who don’t travel on a daily basis can only see one. The passage they see leads them to their soul mate. Once in the passage, they follow a feeling—whispers of the universe. The other person is usually looking for them as well. It really is a beautiful thing to witness.”

  “So how does a traveler know if they can see more than one passage?”

  “For travelers, their passage is always brighter in their eyes, like a beacon.”

  “So when I go into the string, I will see a beacon leading me to my soul mate?”

  Dad’s smile lessened a little. “The ‘beacon’ will shine when it’s supposed to.”

  “Okay, then tell me what the string looks like to begin with.” If there was a chance I could find my blue-eyed boy I was going to take it.

  He tilted his head and gave me a shy smile. “Well, it’s like standing in the center of a bright light. You feel surrounded by it. As you walk, you see hazes of different colors, they are the doorways to other dimensions.”

  “Is it big? I mean, how do you know where to go?” I asked. Details, Dad, I need details.

  His eyes danced over my face as his smile widened. “There are three traits that define a ‘traveler’,” he said. “Seeing the passages is only one. Another is that travelers have the ability to feel their way home. Everyone has their own way of using that feeling to navigate. For me, I would picture my dimension in my mind, then visualize the paths to where I needed to go.”

  I looked at him like he was crazy. That didn’t make any sense. I knew where my house was, but that didn’t mean I’d always be able to find my way home.

  “You’ll see,” he said, laughing at my incredulous expression.

  “What is the third trait?” I asked hungry to know everything.

  “It’s the ability to understand every language.”

  “All of them?” I asked, astonished. That would have made the three foreign language classes I’d taken easier. Not that they were all that hard in the first place. I just hated all the rules in the written part of it.

  He nodded. “That one is very important. You see, travelers do more than just pass through the string. We also learn about all the cultures and help the person who is searching to abide by them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He laughed at the eagerness in my voice. “If you take someone to a dimension, they have to understand what is customary for the time that they live there. We teach them everything they need to know, then get them settled.”

  “Settled? You don’t just leave when they find someone?” I asked. That revelation was not helping my short window of time.

  “It just depends. In some dimensions, a fast courtship is customary. In others, it could last years. When I knew I was coming to this dimension, Infante, I planned to stay for at least a year, and if your mother had not wanted to leave, I would’ve stayed here for the rest of my life.”

  “So you would’ve left everything and everyone you loved?”

  “When you find your soul mate, you find the person that completes you. They are everything and everyone you love.” He paused. “I’m eager for you to meet your grandparents, though.”

  My mouth dropped open. I didn’t know I had any living grandparents. My mother’s parents had died before I was born, and my father had told me that his parents were in a beautiful place. I had taken that as Heaven, not another dimension.

  “Why have I not met them before?”

  “My mother, Rose, feared that if she came to Infante, your hiding spot would be revealed. She and my father, Karsten, just wanted you safe.”

  My father glanced down at my tattoo, then back at me.

  “You’ve never told me what your nightmares involve,” he said softly.

  I traced the star with my finger. “I help someone, then I see a dark figure.”

  “Every time?” he asked. I nodded. “Is this figure the only one you dream of?”

  I took my time answering, some secrets I needed to keep—I needed to believe they were a possibility. “I dream good dreams every night.”

  He didn’t push me to elaborate.

  “Are you sure you can get Libby to Chara safely?” I asked. “I don’t want her in danger because of me.”

  “Ashten said that they’d discovered new passages the storms have made. They’re trying to find a way home without passing the Esterious dimension.”

  I took in his confidence and let it calm me.

  “Do you want to ask me anything else?” he asked clearly wondering why I was being so agreeable now. It was the shock, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. He already looked too worried.

  “So, Chara is only different because of the culture? Do I need to learn anything before I go there?” Seemed like an obvious question.

  He beamed with pride. “Different cultures have come together as soul mates, leaving a perfect blend of harmony in their wake.” He stared at me for a second, then went on. “We have a simple faith. Life itself is a gift from above, and love is the most powerful thing in the universe.”

  “It sounds too perfect,” I said, trying to see it in my mind. The evil place in my nightmares would not l
et me hold any serene image.

  “You’ll be happy there. I promise,” my father said quietly. He looked so tired. “Tomorrow, just have fun with your friends. It may be a few months before I feel safe enough for you to come visit,” he said as he stood and began to walk back down the stairs.

  Months. Good. He planned to get me past this Blue Moon.

  He glanced up at me. I smiled then stood to climb the stairs, trying not to think about leaving my friends. Right now, I just needed to make sure that my family got to Chara safely. If evil was coming for me I didn’t want them in the crossfire.