Hold Fast - Part Eleven
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here. This episode contains some mature content.
Bouncing down the sidewalk, flying a few feet into the air with every step, going just high enough that every rise and fall makes my heartbeat stumble anxiously. I’m in a big hurry, desperate to get where I need to go, aware that I’m already late -
“Whoa, Keane, what are we doing?” asks an extremely unexpected voice to my right.
I look over in bewilderment, and find Aiden bouncing along at my side.
“I don’t know,” I pant, gasping for breath. “I’m late for work! But I’m also gonna get there too fast!”
Aiden looks down in confusion and amusement, tossing his chestnut hair out of his eyes. “But why are we bouncing this high every step we take? It’s like the sidewalks are trampolines.”
“They are,” I point out, struggling to catch my breath. “And don’t ask me why, because I don’t know! It’s always like this. I always go way too far past the flower shop, have to come rushing all the way back, and then completely miss it again.”
Aiden lets out a panted laugh. “You’ve had this bouncy sidewalk dream before?”
“This one is part of the rotation for whenever I’m worried about something-” I break off in confusion, blinking hard at Aiden. “Dream… I’m dreaming? What are you doing in my dream?”
“Getting a workout, apparently,” Aiden pants, half-laughing. “Shouldn’t be surprised your stress dreams involve exercise. Matter of fact I should have assumed it’d be built right in. Foundational.”
“Did you just feel like hanging out even while we’re asleep?” I laugh helplessly, once again bouncing just a tiny bit higher than I’d like.
“No, but that’s a great idea, why didn’t I think of it before?” Aiden looks around at the blurred Ketterbridge sidewalks flying past. “Let’s pick a better dream to hang out in next time, though. Do you have any dreams that aren’t stress-based?”
“Didn’t know I’d be expecting company,” I gasp, through my wheezing breaths. “Shit! That was the shop, all the way back there! I missed it! Oh my god, and I have the opening shift, which means we’re gonna miss the delivery-”
“Doesn’t matter, dude, it’s just a dream,” Aiden reminds me brightly, as we both spin around and start bounce-running the other way.
“Oh,” I answer, surprised and relieved. “Yeah, that’s right. Wow, this dream sucks a lot less badly when you’re here.”
“I still kind of think it sucks,” Aiden says frankly, startling an indignant laugh out of me.
“Oh, okay! And what are you dreaming of, Callahan? If it’s so much better then let’s just go there!”
Aiden blushes, gives his shoulders a casual shrug. “Stuff. Don’t worry about it.”
“Is it better than this stuff?” I ask, following up the question with a stream of curses as we go bouncing straight past the flower shop again.
“Oh, definitely, but-” The blush in Aiden’s cheeks deepens, his voice picking up a defensive tone. “I mean – look, I’m not responsible for whatever I’m dreaming about, alright? Dreams just happen to us. I can’t control what’s-”
My eyes widen at this enticing bit of stammering. “What is it, Callahan?”
“I’d really rather not describe it to you.”
“Okay, now you have to take me there,” I laugh, struggling for another breath. “Come on, please? You made me so curious, it would be cruel not to let me know now!”
“I… alright, fine.” Aiden catches my hand as we bounce into the air again. “Hold on tight, okay? I’m not exactly an expert on navigating from dream to dream.”
I look over at him in alarm. “Then should-?”
My voice is lost as everything around me melts into colorful misty strangeness. Everything goes dark for a second, very deeply dark. A floating sensation comes over me, like I’m drifting through outer space.
Then suddenly I’m somewhere. And I’m no longer panting, or half in a panic, or running. It’s the opposite, actually. I’m feeling very peaceful and languid. Unwound.
I slowly open my eyes, and discover that I’m in a beautiful, wild garden. The grass beneath me is pillow-soft. Masses of flowers spread off in every direction, growing right up against my body. Birds are chirping peacefully somewhere. The air is sweet, honeyed with natural perfume… it smells like hundreds and hundreds of flowers, and – like oranges, a little bit.
I smell like the rose and geranium gardener’s salve I use on my hands, and the salt of sweat, and the soft canvas I roll my gardening tools up in when I store them.
And… I’m naked. Laid out on my back beneath the leaf-heavy boughs of a big tree. Rich, golden sunlight is pouring through it, falling in thick bars and light patterns across my bare skin.
Lazy and relaxed in the warm, heavy air, I stretch out and sigh contentedly. The garden caresses my body, and the sunlight does, too. The sunlight does – more.
The slow, subtle way the glowing heat dances and moves all over me… as if it’s holding me in its loving hands. Moving slowly down my open thighs, sliding over my hip, licking slowly up my neck with infinite tenderness. Tracing paths across me over and over again as I lay there too entranced to move. Each time leaving me a little more breathless.
My mind starts to turn soft and hazy, my cheeks growing flushed, my breaths picking up. The garden around me becomes vague as all my focus turns to the slow play of the sunlight over my body. The golden heat kisses my eyelids. Warms my hair. Skims the hollow of my throat, skates so lightly across my parted lips. The way it slowly, deliberately travels across my chest makes me tremble.
My breaths are growing ragged, my head flung back and my arms flung up above my head, my body melting into pliant helplessness. My cheeks are glowing with a blazing crimson blush. My pulse has hit a slow, throbbing rhythm, but my heartbeat is fluttering wildly.
The sunlight just keeps on slowly roaming all over me. It caresses my cheek, and feels like leaning my face against a warm palm. I subconsciously spread my legs a little more, panting as the sunlight rolls softly, teasingly down the inside of my thighs. My thoughts are almost too fuzzy to be called that, now, but a vague thought catches at me through the sensory paradise.
“Aiden?” I moan softly, panting through his name.
“Mmm?” a very deep, husky voice answers.
“Where are you…? I know it’s you… how are you doing this to m-me…?”
“I’m the sunlight in this dream,” he murmurs back, his rumbling voice just as breathless as mine. “I think it’s ‘cause I get jealous of it a lot, when I see it all over you.”
“What…?” I let out a dazed laugh, my head falling to one side as the sunlight slowly glides up my jawline. “Hey, I don’t have m-my camping beard.”
“Because you didn’t have it when I first started having this dream. It was last summer. After that day I hung out with you while you worked in your mom’s garden. You were planting that tiny orange tree.”
That explains the soft musical clinking I can distantly hear. It’s the sound of the brass rain chain above my mom’s garden, dancing in the breeze.
I blush even deeper. That day was before Aiden and I got together, when we were just friends. I remember he sat beside me while I planted the orange tree and gently wove some western honeysuckle into a supporting willow trellis. My mom was out of town and asked me to take care of it, but I ended up working on her whole garden for hours, because I didn’t want that day to end. Aiden was there relaxing in the flowers beside me, watching lazily. Talking with me, smiling quietly, his warm blue eyes reflecting the coral-colored skies.
He was even more quiet than usual. I remember wondering what he was thinking about.
“This – this isn’t exactly what happened that day,” I pant, moaning a little, my back arching up from the grass.
Aiden’s voice is starting to pant, too, rough and deep with hunger.
“You never lived out anything in your dreams that you denied yourself in real life, Jamie?” he purrs softly.
I keep thinking my cheeks can’t get any hotter or darker, and being proven wrong.
“Oh,” I manage, struggling to catch my breath. “So… this is a repeat dream, then?”
“A favorite,” Aiden murmurs, his quiet voice smoldering with passion.
I try to sit up on my elbows, and discover that I can’t. I’m laid out as helpless as the open petals of the wildflowers surrounding me. I feel hands of sunlight on my hands, circling around my wrists. Weaving between my fingers.
“Aiden,” I laugh, the blush in my cheeks positively crimson now, “I can’t control w-what I’m doing.”
“Duh, you can’t just do anything you want. It’s my dream. It happens the way I’m dreaming it.”
“I can see that!” I’m barely capable of speaking through the desire burning in me, the haze of mounting ecstasy. “I can also see where this is going, I think… and I just… mmmm… want to remind you that we’re asleep…”
“I know,” he murmurs, his smile clearly detectable in his voice. “But this is so nice, I can’t convince myself to wake up. Not yet, anyways. Maybe, um – maybe do me a favor and just embrace it? This is even hotter knowing it’s actual you, not just dream you…”
Unable to stop myself, I let out a whimpering moan as the rich sunlight pours down over me, melting into me.
“But – what’s – gonna happen when – we wake up?”
~~~~~
“Well, I hope you’re happy!” I tell Aiden, still blushing. “This is the one pair of sweatpants I packed for this trip, you know! Now I’m down to my boxers at night.”
“Guess I was smart to sleep in only my boxers.” Aiden is smiling up at the ceiling, his arms thrown up above his head in the hammock. “My sweats are still fine.”
I let out a helpless groan, stuffing his boxers and my sweatpants into the laundry bag. “How was I supposed to know any of that would happen?”
Clearly Aiden didn’t know any of that was going to happen, either, because he’s a dazed mess with a giant goofball grin on his face, his blue eyes glowing with delight like someone unexpectedly handed him an incredible present.
“What did happen?” I ask, after a second. “In the dream? Why don’t I really remember? I just realized that I only really remember how it felt. Not what happened.”
“Because it was my dream, not yours,” Aiden answers in a dreamy, distant voice, like he’s busy reliving it. “I wouldn’t have taken you there if I thought you’d remember, dude. That would be way too embarrassing. You knowing what goes on in my secret dreams? Can’t have that, Keane.”
“You have to tell me,” I insist immediately.
“No,” Aiden sighs blissfully, drawing an indignant laugh from me.
“But-”
“That’s private.”
“The hell it is! I was there, I was part of it!”
“Still.”
“Aiden-”
“Save your breath. I won’t tell you.”
“Oh, I hate you! You big awful jerk, how monstrous-”
“Come back here, baby,” he rumbles, smiling sweetly, reaching out a hand for me.
I stop mid-sentence, breathe out a flustered laugh, then climb back into the hammock with him. We snuggle up naked together, both of us trying to catch our breaths. Technically all we did was sleep beside each other, but both of us are still trembling and hazy-eyed with lingering pleasure as I bury myself in his arms.
Very gradually, my heartbeat settles down. My surroundings fill in for me. Our little cabin is blue-tinted, so the sun must only just be coming up outside. It feels so good to lay stretched out in the cool darkness, enveloped in Aiden’s toasty warmth.
“Is there a reason you decided to climb into my dream and then pull me into yours?” I finally whisper.
“Ah – it was kind of an accident.” His sleepy voice vibrates through me, melting me against him. “I was trying to get to Robin’s dreams. See if there was any magic around them.”
“Oh.” I lift my head, gazing down at him in surprise in the rainy half-light. He smiles at the lock of red hair that tumbles down from the rest, lifts one hand to twist it softly in his fingers. “So how did you end up in mine? You couldn’t get into Robin’s?”
“No, I could. I was right there, but I realized at the last second that it probably wasn’t cool for me to just stroll into her dreams. Could’ve been something private. I – had something private going on in mine.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” I laugh helplessly.
He gently tweaks the strand of my hair that he’s playing with. “So I pulled back and tried to go into my own dreams, but I stumbled into yours. Got curious about what the hell you were doing when I saw you go flying wildly down the street. Seemed like you might be in need of help.”
“You’ll be very impressed to know that’s one of my less embarrassing stress dreams,” I inform him. “There’s even a more embarrassing version of that one, where the same thing happens but I’m only as tall as a little gnome.”
Aiden lets out a burst of soft laughter, staring at me like I’m a mystery. The rumbling of his deep voice against me is sweeter than something sugar-coated.
But he grows serious again, gently pinches my cheek.
“I’d ask why you’re having stress dreams, but between that rescue and everything else we’ve got going on here… I don’t have to.” He lets out a quiet sigh, his blue eyes darkening with sadness. “I’m sorry, Jamie. I know Guardian life is hard. I can’t help feeling bad. I don’t want you bouncing up and down all night long because of me.”
“I don’t believe you about that last part,” I answer flatly.
Aiden blinks, then breathes out a laugh, screwing his face up in an attempted frown. “You know what I mean.”
“Mmm.” I snuggle back up to him, trailing my fingertips over his chest. “Don’t worry, Sugar Maple. As I’ve said many times before, it’s all worth it. Besides, now we know that dream sex creates real-life laundry. That’s – good to be aware of. Wouldn’t have learned about that if you hadn’t had to rescue me from my stress dream.”
“And I guess at least I didn’t explode Moondancer’s windows during the dream sex, which is a fucking miracle,” Aiden says drowsily, drawing a sleepy laugh from me.
He presses a kiss onto the top of my head, his thumb stroking my shoulder. We lay still for another moment in the blue dawn, listening to the muffled pattering of the rain on the ocean. The golden hammock gives off a dim and soft glow beneath us.
“Aiden.”
“Mmm?”
“What do you think is going on with Robin’s dreams?”
“Tell me what you think is going on, Keane. I have a feeling we’re thinking the same thing.”
“I’m wondering… if maybe one of the illusions has magic specializing in dreams? Like how Violet is good with memories?” I lift my head to look down at Aiden again, thoughtfully chewing my lip. “Robin started having those dreams two nights after Faith went missing. That’s when Faith ran into the forest, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” comes the soft, slow-spoken answer, “But the illusion in this territory is dead.”
“Yeah, I know… still, someone is sending dream messages to Robin. Ones that have something to do with Faith. Who or what could do that besides one of the illusions?”
Silence falls as Aiden takes some time to think about it. Neither of us can think of another explanation.
“Hopefully this can help us find her,” I murmur, resting my cheek against Aiden’s chest.
“Am I the only one,” he says slowly, “Who’s worried we might not find her? I hope we will, obviously, but everyone seems so sure. Except Robin. I didn’t want to say so in front of her, but like… it has been over two weeks. Faith has been alone in the forest for most of that time. You used to be pretty scared of the forest at night, so I don’t have to tell you about all the dangers…”
“No, I know.”
I’ve been trying not to think about that. I also know that even so far as foraging for food goes, the old-growth isn’t really an ideal place. Especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s too optimistic to hope that Faith stumbled into a field of wild seascape strawberries right next to a reservoir of clean water.
Still, even knowing all that…
“It’s just – having you here, babe,” I tell Aiden. And then, when he lifts an eyebrow in confusion – “Having a Guardian around changes things.”
“Yes, but bear in mind I’ve failed a lot of rescues,” he whispers back. “It doesn’t always change things.”
I tap his nose with my fingertip. “Even so.”
Aiden watches me as I slip out of bed and reach for my clothes. I pull on my boxers, then stop, realizing that he’s sitting there with sudden anxiety in his blue eyes.
I drop my shirt and hurry back to him, feathering kisses all over his face, taking his bearded jaw in my hands.
“Don’t start fretting, babe!” I brush a kiss onto his lips, then draw back and look earnestly into his eyes. “I didn’t mean that it’s all on you. I just mean that you – you’re good for morale.”
Aiden gives me a small, grateful smile, then rolls onto his back in the hammock. He scoops the illusion’s necklace off of the lower bunk and holds it up to look at it. It sits innocently motionless in his hands, as if it wasn’t glowing and rumbling at all last night. Aiden examines it closely as I get dressed.
“Should I get going on breakfast?” he asks, sitting up.
“Yeah, and maybe summon Will, tell him everything we learned? I’m gonna run to the campground real quick so I can get reception. See if Ralph said anything.”
“Be careful,” Aiden murmurs, protectively pinching my cheek. “I’ll be right there, if I hear anything in your note.”
That reassuring thought keeps me nice and warm as I walk through the dawn darkness up the path to the cabins. Three days of on-and-off rain has turned the ground to thick, soft mud, but the fallen pine needles make it easier to walk. The air is crisp and cold, full of the muffled music of droplets on their journey down from the canopy.
I stop and lean back against the campground sign, gazing around. Everything has been so hectic since we got here that I’ve barely had time to notice, but this nature is beautiful. Even the crumbling cabins in the background add something. Tired and sore and worried as I am, I find myself stopping just to admire it. The waving branches against the fading darkness of the sky overhead, the cold wild flutter of the sporadic raindrops, the sight of my breath fogging and melting into the air.
The cloud cover momentarily breaks, giving me a glimpse of a remarkable number of stars in the silent sky. I stand there for a moment, appreciating it all, then slip my phone from my pocket and watch the notifications come in.
The first text to pop up is a picture of Blue looking wholly unapologetic, accompanied by a message from Noah that says: This fucker tried to bite me!!
I hope you didn’t try to wrestle him, I text back, struggling not to laugh.
From there I go straight to my messages with Ralph, to see if there’s been any news. There has, based on the single text he sent me:
Talked to him. Meeting is on.
My heart flutters nervously. Francesco Caterina must be on his way to town, then. I’m not sure how long it will take him to get here. I’m not sure where he’s coming from. But Ralph didn’t give me a timeline update, so I guess he wants us to stick to the original plan for now. We have a maximum of two days to find Faith.
It occurs to me as I text Ralph back that we still haven’t told Maggie what’s going on. We really should talk to her before she meets her uncle for the first time. I think Ralph is right, that we should let her hear the story from her family, but we should probably at least tell her that she has one.
My phone vibrates with a new text while I’m standing there thinking it over. I read the unexpected notification with surprise. It’s from Kaden.
Hey man, sorry to text you at this hour. Just wanted to ask if you got any updates about Maggie?
I start to text him back, and he calls me before I can finish.
“Hey, Kaden! Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he says, sounding slightly abashed. “Sorry, I just saw that you were typing a response, and I figured if you were up anyways I’d just call you.”
“Why are you up?”
“My knee is giving me a hard night, so I can’t really sleep and I’ve had a little too much time to think, and I, um… I’m just worried about her,” he admits anxiously. “Is she okay?”
Aw, I nearly answer. I catch myself just in time.
“Yes, she is!” I assure him instead. “I’m sorry, we haven’t really had a moment to update you! We talked to her twice, and we’re in touch with family of hers that aren’t Bruce. We’re hoping they’ll come to town soon, and, um – pick her up.”
“Shit, really?” Kaden lets out a huge exhale. “Thank god, man! What a relief.”
“I know, I agree! We are expecting some resistance from Bruce on that plan once he finds out about it, though. And we know now that he’s got a lackey helping him.”
“Oh. Fuck.” Kaden hesitates, then asks desperately – “Isn’t there anything we can do to help from here? It’s killing me to just sit on my hands.”
I take a second to think about that before I answer.
“Maybe… how’s Christian doing?”
“Oh, he’s alright! Up and moving. Demir, too. They’re staying here at the inn with us.”
“Christian hasn’t developed a sudden fear of sailing after the accident, has he?”
“No way. Matter of fact I think my cousin is pretty damn determined to prove to Demir that this type of thing doesn’t normally happen to him.”
I breathe out a laugh. “Perfect. In that case, can you guys find another boat you could potentially use, for if we need one in a pinch? Just in case. Otherwise I’m afraid a friend of ours might steal a Sea-Doo.”
“Um – alright,” Kaden laughs. “Sounds good. We’ll get right on it.”
“Cool! Hopefully this should all be over soon, and you can enjoy the rest of your break before school starts again. Will it be your senior year?”
“Yeah. The camping trip was Kendrick’s surprise for me, sort of a special treat before classes start again. Celebrate the end of my last summer break in high school.”
My face falls, my heart sinking. “Aw… that’s very sweet of him. I’m sorry that Bruce ruined it, and that now you’re spending the rest of it doing this.”
“It’s okay,” Kaden tells me firmly. “If it helps Maggie in the end, it’s okay.”
My smile returns. I let it happen, since we’re not video chatting. “She’s been wearing your jacket, you know.”
There’s a pause from Kaden’s end of the line.
“She is?” he asks, all casual.
“Mhm. I think you made a good impression on her, even if you only had twenty minutes.”
I can practically hear Kaden glowing on the other end of the line.
“She didn’t deny the bloodthirsty allegations, by the way,” I add.
“No?” Kaden says distractedly. “Hey, listen – when you see her, maybe tell her that I hope we can hang again once this is all over? Only if she wants to, obviously. Or maybe should I – does she have, like a phone number, or…? No, no, nevermind. Nevermind.”
He sounds pretty deflated by now. He started hemorrhaging confidence halfway through that, and ran completely out by the end of it.
“Hey, don’t give up before you’ve even started, man,” I tell Kaden encouragingly, then stop myself, suddenly concerned.
Should I be encouraging this? Possibly not. Maggie is a Caterina, after all, and she comes with all the associated dangers and complications.
But I also kind of can’t help myself. I can tell how much they like each other.
“She doesn’t have a phone, but I’ll let her know you’re thinking of her.”
“Wait, man – maybe don’t put it like that!” Kaden says hastily. “Try and say it without no, um – look, I don’t know how she’ll like that, I didn’t have time to even try to impress her! If I’d had Clementine with me I could’ve played her a few songs!”
“What – Clementine?” I repeat, trying not to laugh. “Did you name your guitar after the guitar in Brütal Legend, Kaden?”
“I…” There’s a sheepish pause, and then – “Yes.”
“Oh, man. You are Ripley’s kind of nerd. You guys should really hang.”
“Hey, I don’t know what that means, but I’ll do whatever. So long as Maggie gets away from her dad. That guy is a nightmare.”
“Agreed,” I tell him firmly. “And we’re working on it. I promise.”
“Okay. We’ll be standing by.”
I’m smiling to myself as I hang up with Kaden. Seeing Noah texted me back while we were on the phone, I open the text he sent and instantly have to smother a sharp laugh beneath my hand. Somehow he managed to get a selfie of him and Blue, both of them scowling sternly at the camera.
Nah we’re friends now, Noah wrote.
“Oh, my god,” I murmur out loud, helplessly rubbing my temple.
Unable to resist the urge to tell someone, and also unable to summon Kasey at the moment, I text him back – Dude, Aiden and I had dream sex last night. I didn’t even know it was possible but we did.
NICE, Noah responds. High-fives flyin atcha, but also please don’t tell me anything about it. Unless it’s something I can also do with Melanie, in which case please list out the steps real clear in a nice easy to follow fashion or maybe some kind of visual guide and don’t include anything to do with Aiden in the descriptions. Me and Raj will carry on this scholarful work for you, brother 🫡
I bite back a laugh, then lift my head sharply, hearing a hard snap in the dawn quiet. My startled eyes find Maggie. She’s cringing at the same snapping sound, which as it turns out came from a twig beneath her boot.
She spreads her hands, frozen halfway to the campground sign, and glances furtively back at the keeper’s cabin. Seeing no movement inside, she turns around and silently rushes the rest of the way to me.
“I was afraid that would wake him up!” she whispers, a little out of breath. “Bonjou! I saw you from the window! Is there news? Tell me.”
“I was just talking with Kaden, actually!” I give her a warm, conspiratorial smile. “Don’t tell him I told you, but he’s hoping that you two will get the chance to hang out again. For longer than twenty minutes, next time.”
“Oh, yes!” Maggie says immediately, with a breathless smile. “Does that mean we are going? I will see him soon?”
“Soon, yeah! You won’t have only Bruce to talk to anymore.”
“Oh, I do not talk to him, he is too much of a pig-man,” Maggie scoffs disdainfully. “So most of the time I am talking to no one.”
She pauses, then breaks into a beaming smile. “The last few days have been very different!”
A stab of sympathy hits me in the chest, making me flinch. I twist the malachite necklace in my fingers, then gently catch Maggie’s wrist and draw her further behind the campground sign, where she’s less visible from the cabin. I’m hoping we have a few more minutes to talk before Bruce wakes up.
“Maggie…” I drop my voice to a whisper, meeting her eyes. “You know how our friend Ralph has been looking into Bruce?”
“Yes,” she whispers back, full of curiosity. “What did he find?”
“Well… as it turns out, by some very good luck, Ralph happens to know your uncle. They’re in the same line of work.”
Maggie blinks, once. She stares intently at me, slowly tilting her head to one side. “But I have no-”
“You do,” I break in gently. “He’s your mom’s brother.”
Maggie stares at me in stricken silence, her emerald eyes perfectly round.
“My mom’s brother?” she echoes dazedly. “She had a brother?”
“Yes. His name is Francesco, and he’s been wanting to meet you for a very long time.”
“What…? No, but…” Maggie’s dark eyebrows draw together in confusion. “Não entendo… why have I never heard of him? Why did he not come see me when she died in the car accident?”
A car accident. That must be the lie that Bruce gave Maggie about what happened to her mother. I have to work hard not to direct a raging scowl at the keeper’s cabin.
“He really wanted to,” I explain, carefully keeping my voice calm. “He went right there, but Bruce took you away too quickly. Francesco has been trying to find you ever since.”
Maggie falls silent, taking all of that information in. The growing dawn, peachy and diffused through the clouds, collects in her very wide eyes.
“So he – he wants to take me?” she asks softly. “I can go live with him, instead of my father?”
“From what I’ve heard, he wants very badly to have you back.”
Maggie’s emerald eyes grow very bright, then narrow in sudden suspicion. “And you are sure he is my uncle? He just so happens to know Ralph? Why should I believe it?”
“I’m told there’s a pretty distinctive family resemblance, but you’ll get to meet him and see for yourself.” I give her an encouraging smile. “Ralph is organizing that meeting right now. He’s sure about this, though.”
Maggie gazes silently at me, her fingers wrapped tightly around today’s sea-green necklace. She looks torn, hovering between breathless excitement and cautious uncertainty.
“I don’t know if this makes a difference,” I go on, “But we know that your mom planned to leave Bruce, before she died. She was making moves to take you to live with your Uncle Francesco and the rest of your family. So… it’s safe to say that she would want you to be with him.”
Maggie stares deep into my eyes, then lowers her unseeing gaze to the ground, blinking fast. A lot of emotions are flickering across her face, but her lips are turned up in a hopeful smile.
“Quick question,” I add hastily, “Your stance on drugs?”
She pouts regretfully at me. “I never get to have any.”
“Okay, sounds like we’re good there,” I laugh softly. “What about disreputable and illegal activities, what’s your feeling on those?”
She smiles eagerly, her roguish green eyes intrigued. “What kind? Tonight?”
“Okay, yep, so that’s fine, too. Well, I think you’ll do just fine with your uncle. We’re hoping he’ll be able to help out Faith as well.” I glance at the cabin. It’s still dark and silent, but I keep my voice to a confidential whisper just in case. “Nigel is on his way back here in a new boat, but we should have some time. Just remember, if Bruce tries to take you and run-”
“Tent stake,” Maggie finishes, nodding in vehement agreement.
“No, not tent stake!” I answer immediately, my eyes widening in alarm, a startled laugh breaking from me before I can help it. “Jesus Christ! Just call for Will or come and find one of us, that’s all!”
I’m about to add, and don’t say a word to Bruce about all this, but remembering her reaction the last time we gave her that directive I decide it’s wholly unnecessary.
I’ve also decided that Francesco should be the one to tell her the truth about Bruce, and about her real father. That story involves some very hard news, and I think she should hear it from her family. Although… it involves some good news, too. I think Maggie will be happy to hear that she has no real connection to Bruce.
I think she’ll be very happy to find out that her real dad was a true warrior. By anyone’s definition.
He went down trying to look after Maggie and her mom. Her mom went down trying to take Maggie back to home territory, where she’d be shielded from harm. Now, finally, we just might be able to get Maggie to the safety her parents wanted for her. Place her in the hands of someone who we know her mom would have entrusted her to.
“There’s a lot more to the story,” I promise Maggie. “We’ll take you to your uncle, and he can tell you everything.”
Maggie nods slowly, twisting the beads of her necklace through her fingers.
“Will I like him?” she asks nervously.
“Francesco?” I hesitate, then shrug my shoulders. “I haven’t met him, so I can’t say for sure. I can tell Ralph has respect for him, more than he’s willing to admit. We’ll just have to wait and see how you feel.”
Maggie bites her lip, her face lit up and glowing with mounting excitement.
“Hey, don’t you go back to the cabin looking like this,” I warn her sternly. “You need to face Bruce like nothing is different and nothing happened, understood?”
“Okay.” She giggles a little, then lets out a fast breath, rocking on her heels. “Okay. Okay.”
“Good. We’re going back across the inlet today to look for Faith again. Can you wait just a little longer?”
She takes a deep breath. “I can.”
I nod slowly, searching her face with my eyes, then break into a grin and nudge her arm with my elbow. “Start packing up your necklace collection.”
Maggie beams eagerly at me, then goes darting back to the keeper’s cabin. I affectionately watch her go for a moment before I head back down the path.
Will is waiting for me on the dock, leaning back against Moondancer, soaking in the view and the rosy dawn light. The inlet looks quite beautiful in this weather. The raindrops make its surface look like cobalt blue hobnail glass.
“Ah, Jamie!” Will lifts one calloused hand in a wave, straightening up to greet me. “Coming from the cabins?”
“Yeah, I just saw Maggie! Told her about her uncle’s existence.”
Will winces sympathetically. “And how does she?”
“She’s excited, more than anything. Enthusiastic about meeting him.”
“That’s well,” Will says, relieved. “Aiden just told me all that transpired while I was away, and thank goodness for that. The explanation you gave me last night did not do at all.”
“Last night?” I blink at him in surprise. “I don’t even remember that.”
“Yes, you were half asleep in the hammock. You summoned me and said you had a great deal to tell me, then you mumbled something about ransoms and dream spells and magic threads and stilettos. Then you fell asleep.”
“Oh, I’m so bad at explaining things,” I sigh, rubbing my eyes. “Why am I so bad at it?”
“Again, not your foremost talent, my dear friend,” Will laughs, accompanying me back onto the boat. “Aiden did better this morning.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think it’s high time Faith and Maggie were free from their so-called fathers,” Will says, adding an extra growl to the last few words.
“Amen,” I murmur, following him into the cockpit. “Well, hopefully we’ll find Faith today, and figure out what’s going on with the illusion. We lost our only magical thread, but at least we know where we’re going.”
“I had wondered if Robin’s sleepwalking had something to do with magic or the illusions,” Will says thoughtfully.
“I did, too, but I wrote that idea off because I don’t understand how it’s possible. The illusion that lived here is dead. Violet told us so.”
“Yes, it’s odd, isn’t it?” Will asks, running a thoughtful hand over his chin. “Then again, I’m also dead. Things happen.”
I let out a helpless laugh. “True.”
“Any thoughts on how to proceed?”
“I’ve – got an idea for an experiment we could do tonight. Operation where is Robin sleepwalking to. But we’ll have to see how Robin feels about the plan. Honestly, I’m hoping we’ll find Faith on our own first, so we don’t have to be in the forest at night. At least we can take the boat further up the inlet today, that should save us some time. Robin will get us there fast. She’s pretty damn determined-”
I break off as Robin comes briskly out from below decks, halfway through braiding her auburn hair.
“G’morning,” she says, heading straight for the rope keeping us tied to the dock. “Hold onto something. We’re setting out now, and the water’s a little choppy.”
I reach for Aiden as he comes out on deck to join us, but my eyes are following our captain in relief. She got some actual sleep last night, I can tell. Her eyes are bright and sharp again, keenly scanning the horizon. It’s abundantly clear that she doesn’t plan to waste any time.
She hauls the rope on board, returns to the helm station, and once again, we’re away. Heading up the rainy inlet as the rising sun breaks the peaks of the mountains and starts to pour down through the misty clouds.
Heading, I hope, towards Faith.
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